One Piece

One Piece has been running for 15 years now and shows zero signs of slowing down. It is true that there are several anime and manga series that have run for MUCH longer, but that doesn't honestly excuse One Piece for how long it has overstayed it's welcome! One Piece has a diehard fandom and it is by far the highest in average rating out of the big 4 shonens. However, it is actually my LEAST favorite of the big 4. I'm dead serious, I really don't like One Piece and I will explain why.

One Piece reminds me of a line from one of my ... favorite movies: Shaun of the Dead. Shaun: "I like having him around, I've known him since primary school, and besides he's a laugh! Pete: "Ok, I admit on rare occasion he can be funny. Remember when he was up all night drunk playing Tekken 2?" Shaun: "Oh yeah (laughs) when was that?" Pete: "That was 10 years ago! When the FUCK is he going home!?"

While other shonen series at least try to mature along with their fanbase like Naruto going to Naruto Shipuuden or Dragonball going to DBZ, One Piece is the same goofy, juvenile crap that it was in 1999, right down to the eye raping HORRIBLE art. Another problem is that it tells a continuous story, which makes it difficult for new fans to get into it or get caught up without spending 5 straight months doing nothing but watching One Piece! Pokemon has an excuse for running forever and never evolving (get it?) because new games come out and each season Ash must move to a new region and catch more Pokemon. Most people don't continue to watch Pokemon, so it is constantly getting new fans that are experiencing Pokemon for the first time. Pokemon (insert edition here) is their first Pokemon game and the anime seems fresh and new to them. They haven't seen the original Pokemon series or played the original games and it doesn't matter! Detective Conan has been running for 20 years, but like the Sherlock Holmes short stories it took inspiration from, it is completely episodic with a new mystery each week and only a few established characters. A new audience can jump in anytime and it doesn't matter if you've seen the first 15 seasons. One Piece actually tries to tell a continuous story where it DOES matter what happened in the first 10 seasons. You can't just jump in at episode 600 and expect to really enjoy it and understand it. However, even you get all caught up with the 800 episodes of the Straw Hat Crew, it isn't worth it because the tone, characters, and quality of story telling never matures into anything that someone 16 and up and having half a brain would find amusing!

All of this isn't to say that One Piece is a particularly bad anime. I have seen some REALLY bad anime, but One Piece isn't on my list of anime I actually hate. One Piece is an anime that I consider mediocre, insanely overrated, and having run WAY past its time without having the grace or decency to take a bow. It is much like the Simpsons in that last regard. At least one good thing came out of One Piece....None Piece! If you haven't seen One Piece yet, I would recommend skipping this one, but still check out None Piece on Youtube, because it's awesome!

I haven't written a review in almost a year so i might as well start with this

80% of all user made reviews will be positive no matter what. The best way to evaluate anything is to read the negative reviews as well. This is a good rule to go by for anything (games, movies, appliances, etc) With that being said I'm not giving this series a 10.

Quick Review:
- Story (4/10) Its an infinite loop story, shounen boy being the greatest in the world and it follows him in all his wacky adventures.
- Art (6/10) It is indeed ... a very well animated series but you can easily see many common ways to for the studio to cut corners.
- Sound (8/10) Voice acting is top notch, everyone has a wide range of emotions but some overreact too much in one episode. Whats with all the yelling?
- Characters (7/10) You'll either love em or hate them (or both) Regardless you''ll have your share of favorites and luckily you will know all about them.
- Enjoyment (8/10) Main story arcs are great but what grinds it to a halt are the long drawn out situations in the vein of the Dragon Ball series.



Full Review:
I kept getting bugged and bugged about when i was going to pick this show up. Ever since 2004. Fast forward to 2008 and I finally picked up and started watching this show from episode 1. I started watching this show with very limited expectations since everyone keeps hyping the hell out of this show. And to be honest, the best way to watch this show is to have very low expectations. Because as soon as the story arc for obtaining Nami started (eps 031- 044), I definitely fell in love with this series.
That story ark had everything a shounen anime should have, comedy, drama, action, and serious business. Basically an edge of your seat roller coaster ride trying to figure out what will happen next. Sadly, the story arc's like this are far and few between. The structuring of most arc's usually focus on one or two of the main characters which is perfect for a long running series like this. Don't get me wrong, alot of the adventures are good clean fun which most will enjoy. It's fine if there's no continuity what so ever and plot holes you can fill a 10 gallon trash bag in. It's all about over the top slapstick adventures and it does that well, even perfectly.

So why in the hell did I give the story a score of 4? I could make a 10 page essay if I listed them all but the main issue is its whole premise. It is a LONG RUNNING shounen anime. That means they will do anything and everything to make a story arc as long as possible. A perfect example is that the opening AND closing credits will average between 90 to 150 seconds each, a last episode recap will last around 5 minutes , and a next week preview will last for about a minute. Add all that up and that roughly adds up to ~15 minutes of non essential story telling. FIFTEEN MINUTES!! Granted, new story arcs wont have as much time shaved off to start but the typical formula will repeat itself every time. But even then its like why bother watching last weeks episode if you can almost tell half of last weeks story today? Its an infinite loop that we're doomed to be in.
Since they are a long drawn out stories, they also suffer from the Dragon Ball virus. Having a face off between good guys and bad guys for 30+ episodes and essentially 'filling' in the time with flashbacks or side stories really insults the viewers intelligence in my opinion. They even have the gall to replay back story arcs that lasted upwards to 10 episodes and 'rehash' the arc into one or half an episode. I could have easily skipped over 260 episodes if i knew they were going to do that. I know it is to acclimate new young viewers to how their lovable characters came to be, but isnt that what dvd's are for? Or at the very least, don't bother to tie them in to a story arc.
One more thing I must mention, try not to think too hard when people look like they're going to die one minute and the next, they're up and jumping around like nothing happens or any inconsistencies like that. It will make your head explode if you do.

If you are willing to forgive the aforementioned problems with this show (or any long running shounen anime) I'm sure you will notice they do carve alot of nice stories that you will more than likely enjoy. As the actual stories told in the series just look so much fun. It's like watching Indiana Jones NONSTOP. Although it will take forever for them to tell you a story, you'll either be laughing crying or enjoying the wackiness that is One Piece.

The creator did do a wonderful job of making VERY unique and non static characters, although some might appear typical or cookie cutter, they usually do something completely opposite or you will discover things you never thought would happen (inconsistencies aside). On top of that, the voice actors are very memorable and fit their characters awfully well. Although most of them yell more than i would like, the sheer number of cast members is staggering and is hard for me not to be impressed. I agree I am not a fan of a few of the main characters but knowing so much about them (due to side stories) its hard not to cheer for the straw hat crew!

This series is far from perfect, but it is very enjoyable.
6.6

Ah, One Piece. The anime adaptation of the best selling manga in the world. I used to like this show when I first started watching it, but sadly I don't feel the same way about it anymore.

So One Piece is a battle shounen anime, which follows the adventures of one Monkey D. Luffy, who aspires to be the King of the Pirates. He is the captain of the Strawhat Pirates, a crew consisting of both men and women, who all play an important role that helps keep the crew going, and they all have their own goals.

Luffy is our typical, dumb shounen hero, who is ... a glutton, grins a lot, and is happy-go-lucky. He is a rubber man, whom can stretch parts of his body, gaining this ability after eating one of these "Devil Fruits" when he was younger. The rest of the Strawhat Pirates all have unique personalities, with their own quirks, and you're likely to find a favourite among them. Although, some of them can be annoying sometimes.

The art style is something you'll either love or hate. It can be either appealing or unappealing to look at. In my case, I don't have a problem with it, and that there are worse-looking anime than One Piece. It's quite cartoony, and has a distinctive look to it. It's certainly a colourful anime throughout the series, with the exception of Thriller Bark, which is like a halloween-themed arc with dark colours being used instead of the usual bright and vibrant. The designs of the Strawhat Pirates look fine, both pre-timeskip and post-timeskip, but I do prefer Nami's sexier look she gets after the time-skip. But the show also has some of the ugliest-looking supporting characters you will find in an anime.

The animation is ass. Not gonna lie. Produced by the infamous Toei Animation, the animation is average and just looks outdated compared to other long-running anime that aired (or is airing) around the same time. It's just disappointing and I know it could look better if another studio had done it, or if Toei put more budget into it like in the films. Along with this, the fights (which are mindless) just look unimpressive and are dull compared to the fights in other battle shounen anime like Naruto and Bleach, and it also uses a lot of still frames. There are also no fluid animation for the most important fights that happen in each arc. It's just the same average animation they use for every episode. They never treat the viewers with flashy animation. Not even in the climax of an arc. Barely any of the fights are memorable, they don't have strategy, and the choreography for the fights just suck. I've never been impressed with a single fight in One Piece. So the only things you can really look forward to are some plot twists.

The sound effects are somewhat annoying. I personally hate the sound effect of a heart beating. It sounds gross and it doesn't sound anything like a heartbeat. The music is a mixed bag. It's upbeat most of the times, which goes well with the theme of the show. The first opening sounds amazing, and still is the best opening out of all the openings the show has had, but other openings, like the second one, are just painful to listen to. The main characters have their own theme music, which I always liked the idea of in anime in general, and they fit with the characters.

The pacing is fine from episodes 2 to 301 (episode 1 was slow-paced), but it becomes permanently slow-paced starting from episode 302. Most of the filler episodes are surprisingly decent. Though in latter episodes, there are almost no filler episodes to speak of, which results in snail-pacing for the canon episodes. I think the anime should've taken a break for a year or two at that point so the manga chapters could pile up, or they could've made more filler arcs so the canon episodes would have better pacing.

There are some things that have always annoyed me while watching this show, other than the fights. There is a lot of crying in it, from both main and supporting characters. Not only that, but they make these ugly, exaggerated expressions on their faces when they cry. It's probably a staple of the show, but it feels like they went way overboard with the tears, and it got irritating the more I watched the show and hear them wailing. They cry so easily. Accompanying this is the constant melodrama. Hate that shit. It tries too hard to make the viewers cry. The characters tend to overreact to danger in an anime where nobody dies in it.

Yes. There are a lack of deaths in this anime. Basically, for the most part, nobody dies in this show (outside of flashbacks). Like nobody. In an action show about pirates, where characters have been put into situations which would've resulted in certain death time and time again. This got noticeable the more I watched it, and this may be my biggest gripe with this series. It just feels strange that a show like this to not have any deaths for hundreds of episodes. Like I wasn't expecting any characters to die within the first 100 episodes or anything, but the lack of deaths started bothering me after a while. I also didn't expect any of the main characters to kill people or die themselves (because of plot armour which is reasonable since they are main characters). Although, I remember a moment when Zoro attacked with intention to kill these two bad guys, and was surprised that they lived? Like wtf? He was actually trying to kill them? Okay, so Roronoa Zoro is also known as Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, which means he has killed people before. But after he debuts, we never see him kill anyone, but he's the only person in Luffy's crew who we know that has killed people before. But damn, does it take a long-ass time for the first actual death to take place in the show.

I don't mind lack of deaths in an action anime that has a realistic setting (Shijou Saikyou no Deshi Kenichi, for example, which is more focused on martial arts and delinquents as the bad guys, so you're not expecting anyone to really die in a show like that as there's no intent to kill). But One Piece has a fantasy setting and the villains have intent to kill. And honestly it's unacceptable to me for an action/fantasy anime like this have virtually no deaths. Where's the tension? And it's a shame because there are characters in this show who are irredeemable pieces of shit that need to die, but you know they won't, and that will leave a lot of us unsatisfied. What also irks me are the moments where the show makes it look like somebody has died, but later on you find out that they didn't. In fact, there's a moment in an episode where this specific supporting character should've died because what he was doing meant that he had zero chance of surviving, yet he lived. He was no longer relevant in the story after that moment, so why not kill him off? It is one of the most bullshit moments I've ever seen in an anime, it ruined their sacrifice, and it made the character less memorable and less heroic. The show has more fake-out deaths than actual deaths.

After realising how rare deaths are in this show, I just roll my eyes whenever a character, in a non-flashback scene, says that they're going to kill or decapitate another character. We never have to worry about any character because they're just going to be fine in the end every single time. And speaking of flashbacks, why do most of the characters have to have overly tragic backstories? I get it! They had it rough! Stop making me feel sorry for everyone!

Another thing is that the villains aren't really memorable. Dragon Ball Z has Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu, and they're more memorable than any villain in One Piece. The villains in One Piece tend to have they're own unique laughs too, but it just sounds silly. I also think that shows like Hunter x Hunter and Yu Yu Hakusho has more interesting villains than One Piece.

I also don't really like the humour; it's just childish and involves slapstick and retorting. Things like Zoro getting lost all the time as a running gag. In other words, it's mostly unfunny, at least to me. Humour is subjective after all. And I just don't like the general tone of the series. You often see these minor, nameless characters commentating by screaming their lines to whatever is going on in front of them in a silly way in dramatic moments, and it's pretty annoying. Would've been better if it didn't have that at all. And the anime in general is a bit too goofy at times compared to other battle shounens, even if it is a comedy. I think Fairy Tail does it better when it comes to comedy in a battle shounen.

Overall, the main characters are the strongest aspect of One Piece, and is the biggest reason why I try to continue to watch the anime. I admit it's fun to see the Strawhat crew's adventures. It's a pretty silly show, not taking itself seriously at all. I guess people like the show for the worldbuilding too. However, the abundance of melodrama might be a turn-off for some people. The arcs are also formulaic for the most part, so it gets repetitive too. There's 2 retrieval arcs too, meaning Oda recycled something he already did in the story when he decided to do a second retrieval arc. There shouldn't be more than 1 retrieval arc, even if it is a different character they're trying to retrieve! And even if One Piece seems to be largely its own thing with its own original characters, Oda still decided to have a character called Blackbeard (or Marshall D. Teach) in it, and it's obviously based on the real life pirate Blackbeard (real name being Edward Teach), and I am disappointed with Oda for doing that instead of making all the characters fictional. If you have a lot of time on your hands, and like adventure, then consider checking this show out. But if you're looking for a battle shounen with spectacular fights, then I suggest you look elsewhere. The fights in One Piece are crap. Don't listen to anyone that says that the fights in One Piece are "epic" or "fun" or "cool as fuck" because the fights are the complete opposite of those things. They probably never watched Dragon Ball or Naruto or Yu Yu Hakusho etc where the fights in those anime are actually good and will give you goosebumps. So I myself grew tired of watching One Piece after the Thriller Bark saga. The show peaks in the Marineford arc, and there's little reason to continue watching this show after the timeskip. In fact, the first arc after the timeskip is one of the worst and most boring arcs I've ever seen, and I just wanted that arc to end as soon as possible. Honestly, I think the early episodes of One Piece, the East Blue Saga, are the best episodes.

Yes, you can believe your eyes, I really rated One Piece a 6.
But please! Wait before spamming the 'Not Helpful' Button.

I'm myself a fan of Shonen Anime, so I should happen to like One Piece, right? Right?!
Nope, not really. But let's delve a bit deeper.

Story: 6/10
The definitely most promising about One Piece is its absolutely unique setting.
The sheer vastness of the world makes this anime outstanding. And even better, in that kind of setting nearly everything can happen. Adventures on the ship, tropical islands, deserts, or some snowy winter paradise.
However, despite this promising world, each and every damn arc is exactly the same, over and ... over again!! Our crew gets to island XYZ. Some evil enemy appears and beats up everyone. I mean, look how scary this boss is (more to said boss in character by the way). After being beaten up however, the Nakama get a powerup, and defeat the boss. Repeat. And again. Aaand again.

Art: 6/10
I won't mention something about the unique Art-Style. Everyone has read up on that one already. Some might like the cartoonisch, and also childish, artworks. I don't BUT I wouldn't cut 4 points for such a reason. So what about those 4 points? Battleanimations. This single word is enough. One Piece has one of the lousiest animations in terms of battle of all time. Repeating scenes, classic cut scenes, everything. Just in the last fight I watched Zoro had a fight, where he parried an attack with his three swords. They change the camera angle, and suddenly Zoro holds only two of his three swords, with the last one being in his Saya. And the sad thing is, this isn't every once in the while, those mistakes are common occurences.

Sound: 8/10
First of all, the OST/Backgroundmusic. Even though some OSTs were misplaced, the most of the OSTs are pretty good and fit the desired atmosphere.
Second, the Voice acting: I won't hide the fact, that I like Zoros seiyu Nakai Kazuya. Ever since his first appearence in Gintama, he has been one of my favorites. The other voice actors did their share of work as well, I especially like Luffys, Namis and Choppers voices.
Last, but not least, the opening and ending section: I'll start with this. Later on, the openings get far too long with 2:30 each. Stick to the common 1:30 damnit! Well, whatever. Most of the openings and endings blend in really well with the overall tune of the show. I don't really like the openings and endings, but they fit, which is the most important point.

Character: 7/10
Can't really say, that I really like any of the characters (besides Zoro and Nami, but thats just personal oppinion) but they have their reasons of existence. Way worse than the main crew are the completely forgettable enemies. They have puny reasons for being evil, are completely incompetent, and worst of all, some of them even turn face (wrestlingterm: becoming one of the good guys) after being defeated.

Enjoyment: 5/10
What can I say? Some of the jokes were okay, but serious matters are painfully dump to watch, because the series is just completely unable to stay serious. Also, for a battleshonen, the battles are awfully bad. Well, at least I'm able to crack a wry smile. Every once in a while that is.

Overall: 6/10
Many think of One Piece as one of the Big Three Battle Shonen, together with Naruto and Bleach. Since I haven't seen Bleach yet, I won't compare those two, but there is no problem with comparing it to Naruto, right? Overall, Naruto wins by a large margin. Its battles are better, the soundtrack is better, the art is more detailed, the series can stay more serious, and whats most important to me: The whole skill system is more complex, but also way superior to One Pieces Devils Fruits etc. An example as ending? Okay: Why for example do Devils Fruits Users not loose their powers in rain? Due to Oda because its moving water. But at the same time they loose their powers in rivers. And strictly speaking: Oceans are moving waters as well. The only unmoving water I can think of are swamps.

If you got questions or feedback, its highly appreciated.

Oh, I can tell I am getting my full of Battle Shounens for the day. And maybe for the week. So it's time to put away revisiting Hitman Reborn for a while and review an anime I watched recently.

One Piece...oh boy. This is a difficult one to review. So let me just say this outright. There are two ways to review something. One, you compare it with its peers and see how it stands. And the other you test it on it's own merits. And you are probably going to say, "Oh test it on it's own merits that is good!" Well, I tend ... to do the former because that is the more Capitalistic of the two. Comparing it with it's peers to see whether or not you should take your time and money elsewhere. And in the end, the former fits more with the dictionary definition of a consumer review.

And here's the "but". But One Piece's peers are all Battle Shounens, and One Piece is an Action Adventure (Shounen is implied here because Action Adventure is usually aimed at a younger audience). Now, One Piece is an Action Adventure who is competing with other Battle Shounens...so you see my predicament. How can I compare something to other things outside of its genre? It just doesn't work. And that is just not plain fair.

But I must compare it to it's peers because it is competing with Naruto, and Bleach, and even smaller ones like Medaka Box, and the aforementioned Hitman Reborn. I must also do this because I have not seen any Action Adventure animes, and I can't compare it to stuff I haven't seen! So, I must grade it as if it were a Battle Shounen.

Story:

Usually Battle Shounens have bad stories, but this one takes the cake. This is the vaguest plot I have ever seen. And that is because there is no plot. There is no structure. You can look at Naruto and say that there is an overall plot and story line that adds up when you add in all of the arcs. But One Piece doesn't have that. The only plot that is in the show is when the characters are arrive at a new Island. Story: 1/10

Characters:

Now before you stop reading this review and hit the "Not Helpful" button out of rage. Or God-forbid begin hate commenting on my profile or even sending me death threats because your favorite animu doesn't have a plot; let me get onto the characters.

The characters in One Piece are surprisingly well written...To an extent. They all have their own goals and their own struggles which make them all grow together as a team. As a character story this anime does fairly well. Most of the arcs are there for the sole purpose of characterizing one of the characters more.

And that is fine, but my question is as follows: Why have none of the characters have had lives outside of seven years old?

Let me explain, whenever a character has a flashback to their past they are always seven years old, or a similar age. What, have they been stuck in the hyperbolic time chamber for their entire lives? I mean seriously all of these characters are in their early to late twenties....

What? They are in their teens? No way, those ages are arbitrary, there is no way Sanji is nineteen. And Luffy is seventeen. No way, Sanji is obviously in his late twenties. Maybe 28 or 29. But not Nineteen. And Luffy looks like he is 21. Who are they trying to fool? Seriously. And after the timeskip, Sanji looks like he is in his early thirties. I mean, he even has his Italian porno stache going on.

But I am digressing.

I am sure that these characters have had some other life changing conflicts outside of a very young age. I mean, the characters get more substance as they go on, it's just I feel that they could have done their initial characterization differently. Characters: 7/10

Sound:

I have had no problems with the sound, there are no tracks that particularly stood out to me or ones that I just hated. Sound 7/10

Art:

The art is definitely at the beginning of the series a 4/10. But over the years One Piece has gotten with the times and upgraded it's art to a 8/10. So I met it halfway and it is a 6/10.

Length:

This is a special criteria that will be added into the overall score because I feel that this needs to be mentioned. This show is 600+ episodes long. I love my long running series, Dragonball Z and Yu Yu Hakusho come to mind. But those were all 200-300 episodes long. And there is definitely a point where a show gets too long. Yes, Naruto is reaching it's 600th episode as well, if it has not already gotten there (I read the manga). But with Naruto you have the break between the original and Shippuden to break up the monotony.

So, I think that One Piece being as long as it is is detrimental to the series. It makes it intimidating for the newcomers to the series, like me, to get into the show. It's like, "Well, where do I start?" And beginning at the beginning is a long and hard road to get through, man. And you can't begin somewhere after the beginning because the characters are consistent in their characterization. It's not like Bleach where events happen and they are never mentioned again. One Piece is consistent to the point where the characters are constantly referring to past events. And after their characters get going, this becomes more frequent later on down the road. The time skip is an example.

So I am going to rate length like this. 10 being the perfect length for the show, like Madoka Magica. And 1 being so long, or so short, that there is no time to tell the story or characterize the characters, think Angel Beats.

So the Length gets a, 4/10.

Fights:

After giving length it's own special criteria in this review. I hesitate to add another special criteria. But since a lot of peopl- fanboys talk about the fights and compare it to Bleach; I feel they would not be justified if I don't put this in here.

For the fights I have not seen with getting as far as I did; I have looked up on YouTube and watched.

So, the fights are short. Like, really short. Most of the fights are below 15 minutes with all of the bull edited out. Bull being talking and scene transitioning to see what all of the other characters are doing for a couple of episodes. And this just does not compare when the same thing is done to other shows like Dragonball Z where if all of the bull is edited, the fights go on for 2:40:37 straight. Don't believe me?

Citation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB45FE6y_wg

So these are the shortest fights, but length shouldn't really matter, shouldn't it? And it wouldn't matter if the fights were sweet. And they are for the most part. I just wish that some fights were longer, like the fight between Luffy and the "Door Door" guy with the bull horns. I forget his name. But unfortunately the fight was wasted because the entire point of it was to show off Luffy's new ability.

And that is not to mention that some of the fights completely break my willing suspension of disbelief. Like the fight between Zoro and Kaku. I can't explain this with words. Just here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6WtrRogy_w

And the joke is that this is supposed to be taken seriously.

I saw a similar post in the comments. And that person was bombarded with One Piece sales figures to try and justify this. But I noticed that in doing so the One Piece fanboys dodged the question: How can anyone take this seriously? I'm sorry, but I can't. Fights: 3/10

Edit: Oops It appears I forgot the enjoyment criteria, forgive me. Please.

Enjoyment:

Personally I don't like Action Adventure shows. 2/10


Overall:

I guess I should end this with a miraculous conclusion that summs up everything and wraps it all up with a nice bow to boot. But I don't have the energy. Overall 6/10. Edited with Enjoyment this makes the Overall score 5.8/10 rounded up is a 6/10...wow.

I give up. Most people do that before even starting when they see that the series has over 400 episodes. I've watched 490 of them and I just can't take it anymore! I really don't like dropping a series and I generally try to avoid doing so, but the reason to do so is quite plain and simple: this show is a waste of time.

The first few story arcs are really interesting. I've even rewatched the episodes where Zoro joins Luffy a few times since it just really draws me in with its excellent story and characters. It's not like I just "got used ... to" the series and the newer episodes "seem" dull because of that; those early episodes were really just amazing. The filler episodes throughout the series are intolerable and water the series down greatly, but the main story arcs are quite interesting and can really hook you. The series kinda loses its charm after a couple hundred episodes, though they still keep it pretty fresh when they introduce a new main character. It's the filler that kills this series, really.

One Piece appears pretty cartoony at first glance, maybe even stupid. Some of the characters look pretty cool despite that (such as Zoro and Trafalgar Law), and it's a little refreshing to see a group of characters that aren't just a bunch of sexy beasts. Characters like Usopp just look unappealing and ridiculous at first, but even a guy like him can seem really cool as his character develops. I've got no problems with the artstyle, and the series has many serious moments that are convincing enough to make you worry about the characters despite the cartoony look.

The long opening themes are one thing, but the long recaps at the start of each episode are brutal and highly unnecessary. I think this problem starts around the Sky Island arc and continues on for the rest of the show.
Anyhow, I'm quitting at the Marineford war. That was 30 episodes of Luffy endlessly running towards the platform shouting "ACE!" while Ace would shout "LUFFY!" and "K...kh...hh...!", whatever that means. Half of it was just random pirates and marines firing their guns towards off the screen. I think the "war" atmosphere was really just boring and not suited to One Piece, especially since the all the fillers made it appear very slowpaced. The show lost its emotion and intensity. There are better things to come, but I can't handle these worthless fillers anymore. One Piece is nearly 500 episodes long and it isn't going to end anytime soon; they're only halfway to One Piece and the real battle is just beginning. I'm sure there'll be peaceful people living happily in the "New World" just like in the rest of the Grand Line, though, despite the fact that it's supposed to be the most incredibly dangerous place in the world.
30 episodes of straight bullshit. Well, I'm sure the worthlessness and stalling amounted to at least 100 episodes. There are some truly incredible series that are only 24 episodes long; you'd do well to watch some of those instead of sitting through One Piece fillers.

I recommend reading the manga instead; no fillers and the art is more interesting. I think I'd give One Piece a 9/10 if it weren't for the fillers. The last point would be saved for an ending, which this series will never have. Don't watch the fillers for completion's sake like I did; they really aren't worth it.

Okay, this is a LONG series, so it's kinda hard to review it as a whole because I feel completely differently at different points of the series. So I'll break it up into three sections

My overall score is based on the last section though.

First Section [Episodes 1 - 223]

I'd call this a pretty fun anime almost out of the gate. It was really exciting seeing a very unique world, unique premise and interesting characters to wonder about right away. I really enjoyed that a lot of characters were introduced very early on as very powerful people, but we were totally left to wonder about ... them. This is very essential to getting people excited about what's to come.

As far as the characters go, although they are all pretty one dimensional, they are all very likeable (except for Usopp, I can't stand him). Luffy is kinda hard to hate and there is someone to like for everyone in the series.

The story definitely drags a bit. Lot's of filler and pointless sub-plots that drag on for several episodes, but still pretty enjoyable. The main plot continued to thicken and it definitely was alive enough to keep me watching.


Second Section [Episodes 223 - 516]

I'd say this is definitely the best section in the anime. This is essentially the build up to the Whitebeard arc, but not before going to Water Seven and really spicing up the story with new, powerful characters and big character development between Luffy's crewmates.

Water Seven was good, but the chapter after that was a bit dull. Kinda just waiting for what eventually became the Whitebeard arc. Once that started, I was at the edge of my seat watching it all the way through. It does go on and on and on, but you finally get to see some badass characters fight and Luffy really stepping up in power quite a bit.

Very fun watch, even though some episodes are worth skipping. I very much liked this anime up until this point.

Third Section [Episodes 516 - 677 (ongoing)]

Here is where I really started to fall off. At first it wasn't so bad, but I progressively realized that I wasn't looking forward to anything in this anime, and as soon as I caught up with the release cycle and was watching weekly since about episode 590, I realized that nothing was happening on an episode to episode basis and as it kept going, even less would happen in each episode.

The last 20 episodes has been some of the worst. Every week I watch it for whatever reason, and every week I realize that I would have missed absolutely nothing if the whole episode was turned into a recap clip.

Episodes don't really begin until about 4 minutes and 30 seconds in, and even then, it's essentially rehashing the last 5 minutes of the episode before that. They spend FAR too much screen time with reaction shots, sound effects and a bunch of shit that doesn't matter and very little with progressing the story line. I don't think there has been an episode in a while that would take more than 3-4 sentences to describe literally everything that happened.

[Overall / Story / World]

I do like the premise of the power system in One Piece. It's a pretty simple idea and pretty flexible. You obviously have to dismiss some stuff that simply don't make sense, but you fine with it... at least at the start of the story. Later on though, you quickly realize how unpolished the power system is. You have literally no balance at all. Bad guys will crazy OP powers can seemingly never exhaust their power, but Luffy is tired almost immediately after he starts a long fight. And as they add more concepts into the system, the more you think to yourself, why did we never see this before if everyone can fucking do it?

They are all traveling the grand line, but seemingly every other pirate is waiting just ahead of Luffy waiting for him to catch up. Even with a 2 year gap, pirates haven't progressed at all down the grand line while it only took Luffy 1 year to travel the first half.

The story just starts to break with time and characters are becoming progressively less interesting... However, it could be improve a lot if I didn't feel like I was wasting my time watching each episode because nothing fucking happens. (and yes, I'm including even episode 677. Doesn't justify the previous 20 being about a bunch of nothing).

One Piece starts great. It has original setting for its time, it introduces the best hook in all shounen anime, important characters are nicely fleshed out, the main character cannot one punch every enemy, and the story doesn’t feel like the original creator has run out of ideas. But this was many years ago. It doesn't look like an anime worth watching in 2017.

Since One Piece was first published in 1997 as a manga, and was animated in 1999, it took decades to tell the story. Its creator Eiichiro Oda had just graduated from high school back in the 1990s. He kept writing the same ... story well into his middle ages. I grew old watching and reading One Piece. I sometimes wonder how many fans have died waiting for the story to end. Please, if you ever create a story do end it before your youngest readers get their menopause or other age-related changes. Fans aren’t immortals to indulge storytellers. Even Eiichiro Oda is taking more and more breaks to take care of his health. Otherwise he cannot continue the work.

One Piece has one unique element that is hard to find in other long-airing anime. Its story is solid. It has actually two different storylines which Oda skillfully combines into a single plot. The first is the story of Straw Hat Pirates led by Luffy. The second is the history of the world of One Piece. As Straw Hat pirates continue their adventures they also discover the truth about their world. The pirate king who died decades ago left a great treasure called One Piece which somehow can change the fate of the world. The world government fights against pirates who want to become the next pirate king by finding that incredible treasure. As you can see, the lives of individual characters are more or less related to the world’s history. It makes the story more realistic. More, these two parallel storylines in a single plot make the anime even more interesting when they meet. This double-storyline method makes it possible for the lives of different characters to be intertwined naturally.

In One Piece supporting characters have lives of their own. Every character is also part of the world depicted. They don’t feel like talking heads in the void. Their lives are not isolated from each other.

Because the history of the world is so vast, there’s always something going on behind the stage. Actions of important people belonging to the world of One Piece have crucial importance. They can change the fate of the world. Furthermore, the aftermath of crucial battles does have repercussions for others as well. By careful storytelling Eiichiro Oda succeeds in preventing the main character from becoming an undisputed god in power. Another feature of this method is that there is actually more organic tragedy in One Piece.
Overall, One Piece stands out for its original storytelling for shounen, but sadly, like all long-lasting stories, it got old. Its creator got old. Its fans got old. The world got old.

Well where do i start ... there is so much to say.. for the super fans of One Piece, i'm going to punish this anime so this review may piss you off.


This anime, like any other big shonen, made a crucial mistake that i'm going to explore, besides that, the rest is fine.

Story: 7/10. Well.. it is hard to explain this rate. Is the plot original and creative? Yes it is, but it does not sound nice ! It seems like they started with a decent plot, and then they just keep adding things to make it bigger. I mean, the plot doesn´t ... need to be 'stupid'. I don´t mind if there is unicorns or mermaids or even islands in the sky but keep adding things will not make the plot better. But this is not the main reason for this rate ..

The story takes to much time to be developed.. I mean we have arcs with 60 eps or even more.. i've seen animes with 24 with more content than these arcs with 60 or more eps .. the pace is just to damn slow which makes the anime boring at some point.

Plus, we can have one hundred different islands, each one with something different, if the story is always the same, it won´t make us hooked. Because yes it's always the same, we have a bad powerfull guy that took control of the island, and the weak good guys asked for Luffy's help and that's basically the entire anime is all about ... and ofc Luffy will always win. If the plot is always the same thing throughout 700 eps, there is no way for it to be good !

Besides all of those bad points, there is a good point.. the "Akuma no mi", those fruits that grants them powers are really nice. We have so many different powers and we always want to know which power the bad guy has. Because we never know, there are so many..

Art: 7/10. The anime starts with a crappy art, but then gets better with the time but never reached great levels ... the action sometimes has no detail. Some special movements or attacks we can´t even see them (especially when is about swordsman .. i mean they use their special movement, but we don´t see him actually using it, we just see the enemy being hit.. and that just sucks). The background is reasonable at least so as the character design.

Sound: 8/10. Nice openings .. all of them portray the happy theme that One Piece talks about (friendship). The OSTs are reasonable enough to make the action and the drama good.

Character: 8/10. For me, the best point here. We have nice characters with a nice development and a nice past (actually when they were telling the past of some character, i nearly cried at some, because they were dramatic enough to make me care a lot.) BUT .. it's like watching the same character every single time. All of them can be resumed to this sentence: "I care about my friends so i'm going to protect them at any cost" .. basically they look like this..

About the villians .. we have some nice villians actually .. they make us hate them, so when they get defeated we feel relieved xD but they are also the same shit. The motivations are always the SAME (take control of something, usually the island). So .. we don´t have that variety of characters that we see in other animes .. It's basically the good guys vs the bad guys ..

Enjoyment: 7/10. This anime starts being good as hell, with nice fights and nice development but .. it was good because it was new for me. When i was in the 500th ep or so i was like "yh yh let's move on to the fights instead i don´t care about your story !!!" .. and there is even some arcs that were painfull to watch ..

Overall : 6/10.. this anime is just too big .. it has nice characters, nice development and even a interesting plot .. but not for 700 eps .. if you are looking for some nice action anime, or even some nice shonen .. well you can watch this one, at least the first few arcs because those are good but i think it doesn´t worth, if you are like me, when you start something and then you have to end it, well don´t touch in this anime. Because you will get bored.. it's just to damn long. Furthermore, it gets repetitive so i don´t see the point in watching this.

Instead of giving the anime a ten simply because it's One Piece, let's take a step back and look at this anime from an objective stand point.

The characters and the story is amazing and the manga is probably one of my favorites, but wow. Those are the only redeeming qualities about it and all of it comes from the mangaka.

Let's start with the things that make this adaption garbage compared to the manga that cannot be argued.

The pacing. I have no idea when it was, but at about the middle of the pre-timeskip, Toei decided it was a good idea to adapt a chapter ... an episode leaving some arcs almost completely unwatchable - full of scenes that drag on continuously and fillers that weren't originally in the manga. This is most apparent during the dressrosa arc, which has been a little slow in the manga, but is still pretty good, but is nearly unwatchable because of the pacing issues.

The animation and the art. Do I really have to say anything about this? Anyone who's watched One Piece extensively knows just how garbage it is, but will continue to watch it anyway because it's One Piece (me being one of those people) and that is why Toei will keep doing what they're doing with the anime. http://oen-peice.tumblr.com/ Go through there and tell me that I'm wrong about this.


This anime is not a proper adaptation for the manga and the only proper way to experience it is through the manga. It was somewhat good in the beginning, but become nearly unwatchable as you get to the later arcs.


There is nothing I can really subjectively complain about except for maybe the lack of death and how subpar the timeskip has been compared to pre-timeskip.

As Hayao Miyazaki said, "characters who never change are not interesting."

One Piece since the beginning of the timeskip has been a good example of that.

For a while it was a flawed but phenomenal adventure that delighted partially by being unpredictable, while building dramatic momentum, the bonds of friendship, crafting a beautiful paradox of dark and goofy in its universe and making it credible enough that a five -year old minded spoiled brat would be capable of becoming the king of the high seas.

Luffy is kind of the Tom Cruise of anime characters. He is small but he seems bigger because he is capable of ... specatular stunts, he has a trememnous s**t eating grin which was cute (for a while) and he is a little naive. And he has a great crew. They are the kind of characters you fall in love with, but falling in love is always a superficial experience. When you stand back you realize that they are all stereotypes; the coward, the alcoholic, the womanizer, the hunk, the perverted grandpa. The only character that resembles a real human being is Robin, who is so silently compelling that she should have been the start of the series.

The crew go their separate ways for two years after about 500 episodes. Luffy hides away on an Island to train with a sensei in the art of Haki, much like Luke learns the force from yoda. Unfortunately he gains all of the action figure benefits of the training but none of the wisdom.

Right from the moment Luffy reunites with his crew, not as a commanding captain, but like a little brother who is seeing his older brothers and sisters, the ship called ONE PIECE was sinking.

The universe has gotten too big for Luffy to NOT grow up. His immature tendencies are no longer entertaining. Rather than make him a character, Oda is content to leave him as a formula: he is tacky during funny scenes and aggressive and supposedly sincere during action scenes. That sincerity feels phoney now, simply because it is not in the nature of the person that Luffy is. It is as phoney as Donald Trump's ridiculous promises to America, painting an illusion of a utopia.

A show about a candidate for a pirate king needs a strong character for a protagonist, not a sketch of a kid. Now this wouldn't be a problem if the show were purely comedy, but no it also want to be a heavy drama at times too, and Oda's ambitions have gone beyond his ability to write them well. As a drama, The tonal shifts are so inconsistent. Sometimes it is played as farce, and sometimes it is played more sincerely. More often than not though, the darker subplots involving themes like genocide are done very two dimensionally, and they tend to serve messages that are very glib and lead to backwards minded sequences. Robin (for example) is an adult from a dramatic world who becomes a disney-derivative damsel in distress at one point, and her prince charming are kids from a comedic one.

This is just one of many examples of Oda destroying the integrity of his characters by being too condescending of them. He makes the mistake of thinking that in order to make a character sympathetic he has to make them seem childlike in innocence. such is the case with characters like Luffy's brother Ace, who goes from a bad ass to a crybaby. Indeed some of Oda's philosophy is a complete insult to our intelligence, No subtly at all, and the emotional scenes are always breastfed to us.

The Devil fruit concept was cute at first, but now it's just silly, like an idea stolen from a video game. There are too many fruits, yielding too many powers and likewise, there are too many characters in the universe. Some of them, in fact most of them have become far more interesting than Luffy, and his pals at this point. Since the timeskip, the Strawhat pirates have become increasingly less compelling and intimidating, and are now a bunch of pansies in silly costumes. We don't really see an increase in their straight because the antagonists are always two steps ahead of them in strength, when they should be more like 1 step ahead. As a result the fights all feel like recycled sequences.

One Piece is a show that has gone on too long and yet disputed the distance we have travelled, it feels like we have gone nowhere.

I started watching this in 2008 and I was immediately hooked on it. I loved every bit of it - the pirate theme, the art style, the characters, the story.

It has been pretty much amazing until episode 381, or in other words - the end of the Thriller Bark Arc. Up to this point, the plot lines of the arcs were really fantastic, the art style was good, the fights were engaging, I just couldn't wait to see the next episode.

But after that point, where they were entering Shabaody Archipelago, the show somehow lost its "magic" for me. I suddenly didn't care as much about ... what happens next and the excitement was diminishing. At the time I didn't take notice of that, but around the time of writing this in 2019, I finally realized that I no longer care about One Piece anymore - I did not care about the characters, about the fights, about how the story goes on, I just kept tuning in every Sunday morning to watch the new episode, because it had become a part of my routine for over 7-8 years.

Now the art style has changed and at first I was on board with with, but later on I started noticing that the unique character of One Piece is gone with this new style. The colors of everything look somehow really bright and vibrant, and yet, at the same time - really washed out and dull, especially now in Whole Cake Island Arc. Where everything is so colorful and yet it looks dull and boring.

The cannon fodder enemies that get knocked out by the dozens and once and don't even have names used to look somehow more unique and quirky, now they look really generic and similar. The same observation can be made about the main characters and even the supporting characters, main villains and supporting villains. Enemies like Captain Kuro, Don Krieg, Enel, Crocodile, etc. looked unique and interesting, but now enemies like Charlotte Family who never made an appearance before look very uninspired, it's like the author wanted to make some random, generic weird characters for the sake of making weird and quirky characters, but he failed at making them unique. Even the art style of the Straw Hats changed from being quirky and likable to overly-perfect, refined and with that - somehow boring and unlikable.

The story arcs in the first part of the series (up to and including Thriller Bark) were interesting and unique, but now they feel boring, prolonged and utterly uninspired. Even Dressrosa, which people praise as a good arc, I found it to be very boring and a drag. Arcs like from when Luffy fought Alvida up to Loguetown have been a precious experience for me that I will never forget. When they crossed Reverse Mountain and entered the quirky otherworldly Grand Line, everything on the excitement scale got turned to 893593548935843. It has been the most epic part of the series (all the way up to episode 381).

Character development has been insignificant and at first that was okay, because the show remained happy-go-lucky without being boring, but by episode 870, the character development hasn't been very significant and coupled with the other (and growing) negative aspects of the series, it is becoming very hard to watch.

Overall, I think that the author Eiichiro Oda's inspiration for One Piece has diminished or has completely disappeared. He probably only draws the manga with the only goal to finish it and retire. His passion seems completely gone and what made the anime/manga/series interesting and exciting doesn't exist anymore. At this point I've lost all interest to continue watch the series and will be dropping them, I'm considering moving to the manga at this point only to see how it ends.

In my opinion the show stops being good after episode 381 and my personal advise would be to stop watching there and move to the manga. If you don't believe me, you can go ahead and continue to watch, but you will probably feel the same way like me after you catch up.

EDIT: I tried reading the manga into Wano Arc and even that's boring and horrible. At this point I've completely dropped One Piece. I tried to rewatch it again from episode 1 to episode 381 with the original animation, but around episode 125 in Alabasta, I lost interest, not that it's bad, it's just not the same after seeing it.

Episode 898 proved it again, this Anime is not worth the time. What happened? It began so strongly, with an anmiation and art-style which needed some time to get used to it but once you did, it suddenly fit. Moreso the story was so rich after a while, you didn't even think about it.

But let us get to the present time.

The most recent Episode showed perfectly what is wrong with One Piece. It drags too much. It takes up to 5 minutes and sometimes longer with one character building up his technique. To fill more time, the main characters fight side characters who have ... no purpose in the story than just to get beaten up. But it takes up so much time as if something interesting is happening. You learn nothing new, there is no story progress, but those battles takes 10 minutes and more of the airtime. It is always used for comedic purposes and to show how strong the mc is. We know. We saw it 6000 times already. It doesn't matter if you put cool music under it, even the music starts to become unbearable. The mangaka Oda knows, he draws one or two panels with those and moves on.

The worst part are the One Piece apologists. And i don't mean those who truly enjoy the show and defend it, bless them. I mean those who see the problems, are aware of it, they don't like it either but since they protected and defended this show since the beginning against Naruto and Bleach, yes that far back the Big 3 times, it became their second nature.

If i didn't invest so much time in this show i would've dropped it. The characters are likeable though some characters now became so one-dimensional, they became boring. I don't see this as much of a problem because i trust Oda to create an arc where they will get a progress.

As already stated, the characters, even side characters are the strong point of this show. The story is interesting and is building up since years, though you still can't see where it is going. Enel going to the moon, when everybody thought he is just mad, seems to have a bigger plot role than thought. This is how One Piece catches you. You can engage in many theories and conspiracies. Who doesn't love to do that?

I've long decided to read the manga and the only reason i watch the show is because of my little cousin who likes to come over and watch it with me, since i pamper him. He still enjoys it, but he is 8.

eh, kinda mid, could be a lot better
Is the story unique? If it was predictable, did you enjoy it anyway because you like this genre/set-up? no
Do you think the art style is fitting for the story? no
Were the characters well-rounded? Did they have flaws and strengths, or were they unusually strong/smart/stupid? no
Did the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way? no
Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series, even if you didn't? Why? noIs the story unique? If it was predictable, did you enjoy it anyway because you like this genre/set-up? no
Do you think the art style is fitting for ... the story? no
Were the characters well-rounded? Did they have flaws and strengths, or were they unusually strong/smart/stupid? no
Did the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way? no
Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series, even if you didn't? Why? no

One Piece is a great example of that saying "Too much of everything is bad".

Story: 6/10
Had I only watched half of the series, then I would've given it a 10/10 score. Because One Piece is actually good, really good! - at least up until Marineford Arc - after that, the story became overly dramatic. It's as if the author himself wasn't able to move on from the reactions that Marineford arc has received - thus he started using it a lot of times to give Luffy and Ace' fans some emotional scenes - it was effective at first, but he did it too much ... to the point that it has lost it's effect.

Overly huge size boobs - Most female characters suddenly have those overly huge boobs (especially Nami and Robin) it was used too much for fan service so the attention for the characters were often divided between their bouncing boobs and what they were doing.

Another thing that I didn't like is the way that SH crew members were separated. What I really love in One Piece, is the relationship between SH crew members - that strong friendship that they built during their journey - that family like bond that they have. They cry and laugh together, face different problems together and solve them all together - I really miss that part of this series.


Art: 6/10
One Piece had that unique animation and art style but after that time skip, it changed drastically. The characters are no longer as good looking as before.

Sound: 5/10
The opening and ending songs weren't really my type so I often skipped them after listening to it once. Although the sound effects and musical scores that they use during emotional and intense fights scenes are really good.

Character: 9/10
The main characters are still the same. They grew up and changed a lot, compared to how they were when they were introduced the first time - although they are still as hilarious as ever.
There are some new characters that were introduced...they were interesting at first but they didn't left a strong impression on me...they are not the type that I will miss once they are gone.

Overall: 6/10

Overall rating: 6/10
Oh my goodness gracious please read the manga. I love One Piece so much, I believe it has some of the best storytelling ever. But the anime has just so many drawbacks for me. It's not like I hate the anime, there are some things that are great about it, like the voice actors and the suspenseful music. But the pacing. I seriously cannot gripe about anything else but the pacing. It is truly atrocious. It took me a good 2-3 months after watching the first 150 episodes to try and watch anime again. But when I finally did, I was in utter ... shock at how entertaining a show can be when it has even semi-decent pacing. After finishing the manga, I went back and tried to watch the Dressrosa arc in the anime, since I had been told by a few people, that it has some of, if not, the best pacing in the series, and it was still terrible. I do understand that building suspense can impact certain scenes a lot, and I also think that it can be amazing in the right moment, but it reached a point for me where I was wasn't sitting there in suspense, just itching to see what happens, I was bored, because it was taking so dang long for something to happen.
To anyone who is considering getting into One Piece, I personally, would strongly urge you to read the manga instead. If you've never read manga before, I think this could be a decent choice to make your first too. I would also like to note, that reading the manga is way more time efficient. I am a college student and I can definitely take a 10-15 minute break and read a couple chapters, but a single episode will take 20 minutes and most of the time that episode only covered half of a single chapter.
Once again, this is my opinion, maybe you would enjoy One Piece's pacing, but I sure as hell didn't.

I have strong and weak feelings about One Piece, the beloved anime that has won the hearts of millions. It's a cherished classic that has given people endless hours of entertainment, but it also has certain drawbacks. Let's evaluate this based on the following:

Pacing - 5/10
Pacing in One Piece is a hotly debated subject. While some storylines have a perfect combination of action, character growth, and plot development, others can seem excruciatingly slow. Particularly in anime, there is a notable quantity of filler material and protracted combat, which can be annoying for viewers who want to see the plot advance.

Animation - 7.5/10
Over the years, ... One Piece's animation has experienced both highs and lows. The animation quality is obviously inconsistent, despite the fact that the visual style is distinctive and has a certain appeal. While certain episodes and storylines stand out for their amazing action sequences and exquisitely detailed locations, others suffer from glaring animation flaws. Given the epic scope of the plot, the usage of still frames during pivotal times can be frustrating (the animation improves after a few episodes, and the current arc is at its best at this point).

Story-telling - 9/10
Unquestionably, the strength of Eiichiro Oda's storytelling is One Piece's crowning achievement. His world-building, deft plotting, and feeling of adventure that he infuses into each episode are simply amazing. The main plot of the story, the hunt for the One Piece treasure, keeps you interested and anxious to explore the next island. A tribute to Oda's brilliance is the richness of the world's lore and the ties between characters.

Character Development - 8/10
One Piece features a sizable and varied ensemble of characters, each with their own distinctive traits and goals. Character development is effectively done, especially for the key crew members. It's satisfying to see them change and advance throughout the series. The lack of development for some characters who are not part of the main cast can be felt.

Undoubtedly, the anime and manga industries have been forever changed by the success of the series. Its strong points include grandiose world-building, engrossing storytelling, and memorable characters. Fans may find the variable animation quality and occasionally slow pacing annoying. One Piece is still a cherished and renowned series that is still praised for its enduring spirit of adventure in spite of its imperfections.

Ultimately, my conflicted sentiments towards this are a result of my passion for the show and want to see it continuously achieve its potential. Although the voyage is worthwhile, there may be a few hiccups along the road.

My personal opinion is simple: I really like it, but the pacing is a hurdle. What fueled me to start the series is that I didn't want to get spoiled.

It has its moments, but you have to GRIND through HOURS of flashbacks. There aren't even that many filler episodes, so you just have to sit through and endure, picking pieces of information, plot and character development throughout the whole series until you arrive at the key moments of each arc, the payout after all the buildup.

This series is only recommended for anyone who feels like enduring the challenge of sitting through it. If you're into ... reading manga, I highly recommend reading it. The story, characters and the world are well written and the pacing is good, I'd say it only depends on your reading speed.

I'm editing this review in the future once I'm caught up with the damned thing and give it a proper rating score, because it's a piece of art in development so it's not fair to give it a rating this early into the show (800 eps in lol).

One of the reasons why I'm not making a full review now is its animation. It displays the history of the evolution of analogue TV and hand-drawn animation, to the current digital broadcasting and computer-generated animation. And I know that it's evolving even further, with the latest arcs showing off some gorgeous scenes that showcase masterful animation techniques. These are details that I want to put into consideration for my full review.

That being said, I'm never changing my "Mixed feelings" recommendation because; I'll say it again: the pacing is AWFUL. This series isn't something that can simply be recommended to anyone. If you're debating whether picking it up: you've been warned.

[Spoilers Warning]
[One Piece Fanboys Warning, Feelings May Be Hurt]


This is likely to be my longest review, which makes sense because this is the longest anime I'll ever watch. I'm currently 1000 episodes in, watching the Wano arc. So I can for sure say I'm allowed my opinion, and I realise many people won't like it, because this is one of the most beloved animes ever made. I will say, though, this COULD have been one of my all time favourite animes, and I'm going to tell you why it isn't.

Firstly I want to talk about the positives. Absolutely awesome world building, my favourite parts ... of One Piece are usually when they're about to go to a new island, and we're going to discover a new culture, and have some sort of adventure with some new people, in which one of them may join the crew. Two, I love some of the characters they've given us, there are some brilliant characters who I really enjoy watching, and I'll give a rundown of my thoughts on characters after my third point. My third point is that they have some great comedy between the characters, and this especially stands out when they're travelling around before they reach their destination. The sound is generally also good in One Piece, and I'll give a little shout out to the animation. The animation is actually good in my eyes, that goes hand in hand with some good fight scenes, and I mean early One Piece I still liked the animation. It has a really friendly feeling to it, and in more recent episodes it has become super smooth at points. When I seen the arrival of Kaido as a dragon, the animation of his body moving, slinking, and coiling towards them, was well done.

So for this part, I'm going to do the main cast, and put them into a tier list, with a little explanation of why they're there. Then after I'll talk broadly about the entire cast.

(Once again, this is just my opinion, I know people will disagree)

Main Cast;
A Tier - Robin, Nami, Chopper
B Tier - Zoro, Usopp
C Tier - Jimbei, Sanji
D Tier - Luffy, Franky, Brook

So, Nico Robin for me works well because she's nothing like the rest of the crew, there was a running gag for a long time that she was the only one on the crew who didn't partake in their, well, gags. So her joke is that she doesn't do jokes. I also love her humour around just saying really terrifying, or messed up things so nonchalantly. Her mature demeaner is also a nice break from having the others constantly acting like they're 10 years old, only acting with their first instincts without any thought.

Nami for me is just an all around cool character, and I'm gonna shock you here, but I've enjoyed her fights, because she actually has to use her brain instead of just "I'm gonna endure all your punishment and outpunishment you!".

Chopper grew on me, and he's the perfect mascot for the crew, I enjoy his humour and general being. One thing that ties all these three up for me, though, is that they all have great character building, interesting backstories, and I got emotionally attached to all 3 of them because of it.

Now, Zoro was A tier for me, for most of the show. I mean, he's a badass with 3 swords, in my opinion he has some of the very best fights in the whole of the show. He went down, because he doesn't really do anything? Like, he never has an input on what they're planning to do, I don't think we have even seen much of his backstory, and we don't really know too much about him as a person at this point. He had an awesome moment at the end of Thriller Bark, but honestly, what does he even add to the crew in the last 500 episodes? I know people will say "he's their best fighter", well, that's not true, Luffy is, Luffy defeats every bad guy, so he's clearly stronger than him.

Usopp grew on me a LOT, I hated him for so long, but I did gradually come around. He would be A tier if he had some sort of character development besides changing his clothes? He's still the same cowardly type we met in episode 10, as he is now in episode 1000.

Jimbei I'm indifferent to, and Sanji I just purely dislike because his fighting is boring, the amount of screen time we get of it zoomed in on his cigarette as he either lights it up, or just stands there, could probably fill an arc of its own by this point. I also am not a fan of the fact it took them near 850 episodes to give us his backstory. I do like when he says Robin and Nami's names, but other than that he's just a more overbearing Brock from Pokemon.

Franky is just boring to me, and I'm not sure of the point in Brook? I liked him in Thriller Bark, but kinda wish they never added him to the crew. After the 5th time of him making the exact same "I can't believe my eyes, oh well, I don't have any yohoho" joke, it gets stale. And that's all he has to offer it seems?

Luffy. Many people absolutely love this guy, and honestly, I have no idea why. He as a main character is truly boring, and far too much of the show revolves around him. I don't like his fights, stretching is just a boring power, he does the same old "I like food" joke that we've seen a thousand times in other anime. He doesn't progress as a character, at all, he is still the exact same person as he was in episode 1. Before fire fist dying, he didn't even have an interesting backstory, all it was is "he met a pirate called Shanks, and promised to him that he'd become King of the Pirates". Luffy is one of my biggest problems with One Piece. To compare what I think is an actual truly good front character, with Luffy, let's talk about Naruto. Naruto had crazy amounts of development as a character in that show, and they did it in less episodes, too. He went from being a stroppy, dumb, antisocial, kind of an ass, to being a super outgoing, popular, thoughtful person, who even would think through his fights before just rushing in like he would at the beginning. Luffy doesn't showcase this at all, no matter how many times his crew have almost been killed, he doesn't think, ever, his head is empty, he see's an enemy, and he just rushes in not knowing what their power level is, or their devil fruit ability.

Moving onto my favourite characters across the whole anime.

Fire Fist Ace, Nico, Chopper, Nami, Aokiji, Fujitora, and Law.

This isn't to mention all the other awesome characters they have Doflamingo, Kuma, Crocodile, Eustass Kid, Caesar Clown, Akainu, Kizaru, and here's one from the memory banks, Kuro. I bet I have even missed out a bunch of other cool characters. My problem here is that, with the longest running anime of all time, 1000+ episodes, and some of these awesome characters have BARELY appeared. Are you kidding me? We've seen Shanks far far more in flashbacks than the actual anime, the guy who essentially started off One Piece by inspiring Luffy, and we NEVER see him. Aokiji, holy fuck has there been a better introduction to a character in an anime? Guy is just asleep, chilling. Fucks them up with ease, and then rides his bike across the ocean. But then guess what? We don't see him again for another 200 episodes, and even in that, it wasn't in any meaningful way. After Marineford, again, he's gone until a cameo appearing at the end of Punk Hazard, and we haven't seen him since. What in the fuck is with this writing, instead of using the already build world of great characters, they just throw them in the bin to carry on making newer, less interesting ones like Carrot???? How many characters do they introduce, and then focus on, just for that arc. During Arabasta, we met Vivi, which I thought was not a bad thing, because at this point we only have 5 Straw Hats, let alone a world filled with characters. After Marineford, we have so, many, characters, we do not need to move to new places, and spend 30+ episodes on backstory for some new characters that aren't fresh or interesting. Dressrosa brought in a bunch of them, the king, his daughter, her husband amongst others that I just didn't care about.

Overall, my problem with their use of characters is mostly just the lack of them being actually used, and constant focus on newer characters when we already have 50+ we can play around with. The lack of character development isn't huge, but I'd like to see at least one or two changes in some people that isn't just appearance. Why hasn't Luffy learnt to be smarter when wanting to fight someone after he watches his brother die, and he thought his crew all died to Kuma. Why hasn't Usopp gotten a backbone after going through so many wars and fights. Why do the animators think giving Nico and Nami bigger boobs, and more cleavage, is character development? Also, Fire Fist Ace should have been the main character of One Piece, he had far more charisma, seemed far more intelligent, and actually was interesting to watch in a fight.

Now, let's talk about the arcs (I told you this would be a long one).

I don't wanna write a novel, so I'll be as concise as possible here and straight up say, that they made, FAR too many episodes for some of these arcs. Arabasta is the first arc that made me wanna quit watching because of how long it was, little did I know, 38 episodes would be a short arc in One Piece by the end. Although I did enjoy Skypiea, I don't know that it could have been a lot better having less than 42 episodes. Enies Lobby the same with 46 episodes. 51 for Fishman Island, 46 for Punk Hazard, 45 for Thriller Bark. And now here comes the killer, 118 episodes for Dressrosa. This arc here is the one that absolutely burned me out watching this show. Really, 118 episodes? My god, I'm getting Vietnam flashbacks thinking about this arc right now. 95 for whole cake island. And now we're currently 114 episodes deep into Wano Country.

I realise people will say, "but Seth, the more episodes, the more we can get backstory for characters, and build an emotional connection to them", but do we really need that many? I'm gonna list off a few anime here which absolutely had people invested in the characters and what happened to them, and they did it in less episodes that all those arcs I just mentioned in the last paragraph.

Steins:Gate - 24
Death Note - 37
Cowboy Bebop - 26
Neon Genesis Evangelion - 26

Heck, to make my point, just look at all the movies that build a world, build characters, give backstories and manage to have it all play out with people being emotionally invested in only 2 hours, which is let's say 4-5 episodes worth. Now, I'm not saying all animes should be shorter because of this, I'm merely pointing out One Piece has had far, far more than enough time to have every single character fleshed out by now, and we could have progressed the story a lot more than we currently have. Naruto is one of the greatest animes imo, although it went on a little longer than I thought it should, and I got a bit bored of it towards the end, at least in those 766 episodes we know so much about every character in that show. We know the entire history of the the world in Naruto, we seen every person have a fight with every other top character, we have seen some characters completely change through their development on the show, we seen all of it play out and finish in 766 episodes. By the 1000th episode on One Piece, we still don't know anything about the 100 year period in their history, we only JUST learnt about Gol D Roger, we still don't know too much about characters past like Zoro who have been in since the beginning of the show. We still don't know what the One Piece even is, we have 0 idea on how strong Shanks is, we have rarely seen all the top characters fight with one another, and I'm just not sure what we've been watching in replacement of all of that? New shittier characters than we already have? Focusing a tonne on characters that will be gone when the arc finishes and they leave the island? Spending half of the episodes doing flashbacks of previous episodes? (Naruto did this a lot as well). I will say, I enjoyed Thriller Bark even though that was 45 episodes long, but I felt that more of this was valuable, because the new character that we were introduced to, and had a bit of focus on for a few eps was Brook, who actually ended up joining the Straw Hats. It felt like this arc actually had a good focus on our already established crew, and we didn't get half of the arc showing us flashbacks of a character that we don't care about. Longer arcs can be good, but in One Piece they oftenly aren't imo, because they don't use the already built characters in the world that we care about, and they waste a tonne of time on pointless shit, stretching out the arcs needlessly.

So, lastly, I'll do a quick run of my favourite arcs from first to last.

Marineford - Most people's favourite, and it's obvious why. We had a bunch of big boys fighting it out, and I loved the dynamic of Garp being between his career/upholding what he thought was justice, and his family. Most importantly, this was only 33 episodes long. Only one downside was that only Luffy from the Straw Hats was in this arc, none of the others made it there, so we never got to see them in action versus the Navy's strongest. Still, overall a great arc though. Also, I wish they made Ace die on the podium, rather than make him look dumb as fuck by basically escaping, but then going back to be killed just because Akainu said "ur mom gay". Really did my boy dirty, and made Ace look stupid at the end there.

Sabaody Archipelago - Introduced so many good characters, an arc that turned out huge for the story of One Piece, introducing the worst generation, Kuma sending everyone away, leading to a two year time skip, and we seen a lot of moving pieces within' the story in only 21 episodes. Maybe the biggest shock was that we seen the Straw Hats get dismantled so easily by Kuma, after watching them win almost all of their fights up until this point. It was the first time we seen the usual happy-go-lucky Luffy in a state of despair.

Water 7 - One of the best countries they visit, unique, really cool theme, and nice bit of mystery with a fun twist in there. Really good setup for Enies Lobby, and most of the episodes were centred around Usopp, Nico, and Franky, three characters who are actually in the Straw Hats. Usopp vs Luffy was hard to watch, but a part of me wanted Usopp to get a reality check, and that he did. Him watching them sail away from him actually had me feeling for him, even despite Usopp's many flaws.

Arlong Park - The arc that changed the vibe of the show from 'tehehe', to 'oh fuck'. This was one of the first credible threats to the Straw Hats, and I felt Nami's story, as well as her character, were told really well here. I sympathised with her immediately, and it made you want to see Arlong get his ass kicked. 14 episodes and it's still pretty memorable even now, nearly 1000 episodes later.

Enies Lobby - Good arc, what might be the most heart wrenching moment of the show when Nico screams "I WANT TO LIVE!". Absolutely beautiful, and I loved that. I found most of the episodes that focused on the people moving through the city quite boring, but when they finally catch upto Nico and CP9, everything from there is great. People might ask me why it's not ranked higher, and that's because I felt Water 7 was enough build up, and then the train ride there. When we arrive, we still have to wait another 10 episodes for them to get through the city, at this point I'm blueballed. I realise people may say it's only 10 episodes! But that's over 3 hours of waiting for it. I'm being picky, I know, but that's just how I felt watching it, extremely bored until they stand on top of the courthouse, and what a moment that was.

Thriller Bark - I know a lot of people don't like this arc, but I enjoyed it quite a lot, and it ended with one of the most memorable moments in the entire show. (Zoro-Kuma) It stands out because of the slight gothic-horror theme it sets. Robin rejecting Franky's robot transformation was also hilarious. It was good to see them all fight together as a team here.

Little Garden - Very short and sweet, they only needed 8 episodes to tell us an interesting story of these two giants, that would be used further on in the One Piece timeline, and we got to see some fights involving Baroque Works.

Skypiea - Best part about this arc was the journey to getting there, not knowing if the sky island even existed, and the mystery around all of it. It does get very slow when they arrive, and outside of Eneru, it was a bit too easy for the Straw Hats to beat everyone.

Impel Down - A great prelude to Marineford, and it was really helped with the tension built during this arc. We see some old faces, as well as new ones, overall decent arc for what it was. Buggy actually became a pretty funny character in these episodes.

Drum Island - Only 14 episodes long, but we get Chopper introduced, as well as a new snowy country, and Chopper's background is pretty good to watch. Wapol played a good villain, and we luckily didn't get 20 episodes showing us his backstory.

Punk Hazard - Again, I know many don't like it, but I actually enjoyed it for the most part, glad to see Law involved as he's one of my favourites, it serves as a decent build up to Dressrosa.

Syrup Village - This here is where I started to actually enjoy One Piece, the only thing I can say about it, is that I wish Kuro wasn't beaten so easily, I genuinely thought he was a pretty badass villain, but Luffy makes him look like a chump.

Wano Country - Currently slogging through it, again spending an absurd amount of time on the history of this country, and the Akazaya Samurai. The flashbacks of Gol D Roger were great, but not enough added to the main story, or the main characters for the amount of episodes it's gotten so far imo.

Zou Arc - Met some of the animes worst characters, the mink are really uninteresting, and annoying at times. The country itself initially was really cool to see, it was awesome to wonder about what happened to it, how it got there, and why it's on the back of an elephant, but that all went to shit through the reveals and characters who took up screen time.

Orange Town - Not much to say beyond Buggy can be funny at times

Baratie - Honestly can't remember much about this arc, I think I kept falling asleep during it until Zoro is defeated by Mihawk, that had my full attention, but by then the whole arc was almost done.

Arabasta - The first arc that made me consider dropping One Piece, just because of how long it was, and how little we were progressing in learning, well, anything. This entire arc was about the civil war in Arabasta, and that story alone wasn't interesting to me.

Fish-Man Island - I can barely remember anything about this arc, to be honest

Dressrosa - Started off really well, Punk Hazard sold us a picture of what it would be like, and how strong Doflamingo is. We met some interesting characters like Senor Pink. But overall it was far, far too long, and the emphasis was most of the time not on the Straw Hats, or the main story. Really enjoyed seeing Law's history with Doflamingo's brother, and it pisses me off that Luffy beat him, Law should 100% of been the person to defeat Doffy. Fujitora was a really cool addition to the arc, and the show as a whole. But yeah, 118 episodes was really hard to get through, when it could have all been said and done if you took out the pointless shit, in less than 50 episodes.

Whole Cake Island - Decent start with them travelling around the small islands and running into Pudding, but got boring very quickly with Germa who are lame as all hell, and then the proceeding hunger pangs rubbish where we had to listen to Big Mom saying "cake" about 100 times. Absolutely nothing added to the main story through these 95 episodes. We learned about Sanji's upbringing, and that's all.

To try and sum it all up as concisely as I can. The biggest problems for me is firstly Luffy as the main character, he never changes, he always has to be the one to beat the bad guy, so I have to watch his overrated boring fights, and he never really seems to think. Secondly, that they overemphasise on side characters or mini-stories that won't effect the main story, or main characters in any meaningful way. Later on in the anime they need to stop introducing more and more new characters, we have tonnes already that are cool and interesting, use them more. No arcs in my opinion should ever go over 100 episodes long. Naruto managed to wrap up the entire Shinobi Fourth War arc in 53 episodes, which is their longest. One Piece needs to stop taking the piss by having multiple arcs run over 50 episodes. For anyone who's read this entire thing, I hope you enjoyed it, and if you didn't and think most of this was a bunch of shit with a few nuggets of truth, then you truly know my feeling towards One Piece!

Story: 7

Art: 8

Sound: 5

One piece gets so much praise, I wanted to know why so I decided to watch the anime, 90 episodes in, and I'm so disappointed. Music has little to no impact on the show.

Art is pretty good from a show that started 16 years ago.

When Luffy beats the main baddies, it just doesn't feel satisfying, his finishers and knockouts are so underwhelming. Luffy doesn't go through any real struggle or hardships to win, he just "simply" had the power all along to beat anyone. He's the most OP anime main character starting from episode 1 that I've ever seen. He'll take a ... few punches, but he'll save the day regardless and his crew members rely on him to do so.

It's the same drill over and over, Luffy comes up with new moves with no backstory as to how he does so, he simply comes up with them on the fly like gomu gomu gatling, he's on par with a world class fighter.

If I had to choose what show to recommend to other people, I'd choose Naruto instead. I'm listening to Man of the World from Naruto right now, and the journey, pain and sadness all the characters went through, makes me so appreciative of effective music..

I started with the anime of One Piece, so that I could remember Luffy's journey with it's music and get the full experience with VA's, sound effects, and OPs/EDs but it's been a unmemorable disaster. Naruto is simply better and more memorable in all aspects besides Art.

One piece anime just doesn't compare.