STORY=8
Its story is quite simple, a boy named Monkey D Luffy wants to become the pirate king, and he goes on a journey seeking adventure and new crew members. It's not definitely bad, but people are now criticizing its 'repeated' story arcs. They reach a new island, see its culture etc. and then find out that this island is not as peaceful as it seems to be as the are ruled by a dictator like antagonist, the crew gets split and in the end the enemy ends up with a beaten up face. BUT, heres my problem, aren't there many mangas that have repeated story lines? (even though they are not shonen, en example of diamond dust and Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso will be an elaborate one) It does not matter that the story is repeated one, what matters is its execution, of which one piece is a master. The arcs are different in every aspect except for their basic plot.
Another problem is that people are saying that one piece post-time-skip is of lower quality, is strongly disagree with this statement. One piece has always been a manga that has gone up and down for me. I loved Alabasta and Jaya arc, hated skypiea, liked enis lobby arc, disliked Thriller bark, and was blown away by marineford and dressrosa arcs. So no one can say that it is worse then before. And one needs to remember that Oda is building up the second part for another big war. Just like before the time skip. I'm quite sure that it will be better the marinefore. So patience is virtue.
CHARACTERS=9
Oda uses his ultimate move to bring color to his characters, flashback, a move very few people pay heed to. It gives great depth to his characters and ,to be honest, I was moved to tears by Nami's and Robin's as well as Luffy's flashback. And through these flashbacks, secondary characters are also brought to life.
One piece has its fair share of characters that people love and hate.And most of them are diverse in their characters. The most unusual of the pack are made Straw-hat's cre members. I mostly enjoy Luffy's nakama's personalities ( with honorary mention to Robin's , Chopper, Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy ). And then there are people like Enel and Spandam as well that I absouletl despise. Even Blackbeard is an interesting character.
ART=8
One of the many reasons why one piece has not reached world domination is because a lot of people are swayed from reading it due to it's art, which they have termed as 'childish'. I have seen other mangakas draw Sanji, and to be honest, I really do not think that they will give me the same feel to the manga. Deal with it, this art is perfert for one piece.
ENJOYMENT=9
It is the type of manga where it will be more fun and emotional if you read at least 5 chapters together, other wise the pace will kill you. It is one hell of a good read, lets hope that it does not become retarded like it's brothers. (Naruto and Bleach)
OVERALL=8
It can be frustrating at times but I'm quite sure that it will always keep you interested.
