One Piece

Barely surviving in a barrel after passing through a terrible whirlpool at sea, carefree Monkey D. Luffy ends up aboard a ship under attack by fearsome pirates. Despite being a naive-looking teenager, he is not to be underestimated. Unmatched in battle, Luffy is a pirate himself who resolutely pursues the coveted One Piece treasure and the King of the Pirates title that comes with it.

The late King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, stirred up the world before his death by disclosing the whereabouts of his hoard of riches and daring everyone to obtain it. Ever since then, countless powerful pirates have sailed dangerous seas for the prized One Piece only to never return. Although Luffy lacks a crew and a proper ship, he is endowed with a superhuman ability and an unbreakable spirit that make him not only a formidable adversary but also an inspiration to many.

As he faces numerous challenges with a big smile on his face, Luffy gathers one-of-a-kind companions to join him in his ambitious endeavor, together embracing perils and wonders on their once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Monkey D., Luffy Main

Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese

Roronoa, Zoro Main

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Sanji Main

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Nico, Robin Main

Yamaguchi, Yuriko Japanese

Tony Tony, Chopper Main

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Nami Main

Okamura, Akemi Japanese

Usopp Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Brook Main

Cho Japanese

Franky Main

Yao, Kazuki Japanese

Jinbe Main

Gouri, Daisuke Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Hashimoto, Shintarou Assistant Producer

Koyama, Hiroki Assistant Producer, Planning

Reviews

Feb 28, 2008

Maxine

Recommended

Preliminary (344/? eps)

There are two responses I get, without fail, every time I try to get someone new to watch this show. "I don't like the art style" or "I've seen the dub - NO THANKS." I'm guilty of both of these myself. But if there's one thing I need to stress before even getting started on this review, it's that the 4Kids dub is NOT One Piece. For the love of god, PLEASE do not think it is. If you've suffered the misfortune of seeing some of the 4Kids episodes, just erase them from your mind and start fresh. They ... butchered it, there's really no other way to put it. They cut episodes, changed the dialogue to fit a MUCH younger and apparently far less intelligent audience (almost insultingly so), gave the characters RIDICULOUS voices, and pretty much watered down the entire series. FUNimation has done a much better job so far from what I've seen, but regardless, watching it in its original Japanese form with subtitles is really the way to go.

As for the art style, it's true, it's completely different from almost anything else I've seen. Much more "cartoonish" and maybe not what you'd expect from an anime. Despite that, you end up loving it. I wouldn't even say that you have to "get used to it" because it's not something that detracts from the rest of the series in any way. It didn't even take me two episodes before I was thoroughly enjoying it and seeing it as a fresh, new style, exciting almost and unlike anything I'd experienced before. Now, some 300+ episodes later, I can't remember ever NOT liking it, or even why I would have. Especially now with One Piece being aired in high definition, the art is crisp, clean, colorful - VERY sharp and wonderful to look at.

Now that we've got those two points out of the way...

One Piece is actually one of the best shows I've ever seen, anime or otherwise. The plot is pretty basic at first. Monkey D. Luffy has just set out on his own to find the legendary treasure 'one piece' and become Pirate King, and he's looking for a crew to sail with him. You'll find yourself falling in love with each and every new member as Luffy finds them. They're all extremely well developed, with interesting backgrounds and unique, fun personalities. They form one very quirky crew that's always discovering new adventures and somehow getting themselves into trouble as they strive to achieve their dreams. Each main story arc introduces new minor characters as well, and they're just as much fun and easy to fall in love with as the Straw Hat crew. Not one character is left out or feels like they're there for no reason. Everyone has a purpose and adds to the storyline, and one of the really cool things about One Piece is that these 'purposes' often resurface at later points in the series. No detail is left untouched, and you'll seriously be amazed by the way Oda threads together plots and characters and blends all their stories perfectly the more the series progresses.

The plot itself, though fairly straightforward at first like I said, quickly evolves into something HUGE. Much of the beginning of the series is dedicated to forming the crew and letting you get to know the characters, though it's definitely never lacking in action, but once they reach the Grand Line, you're swept up in adventure after adventure and following some of the most fantastic story arcs you'll ever watch. The battles and fights are well-paced, with the final boss fight almost always being completely EPIC. But even through the action, One Piece never quite loses it's lighthearted, humorous edge. The episodes are sprinkled with PLENTY of funny moments, never too many and never too few. There's always a wonderful balance of action and humor.

One Piece also has its fair share of heart-wrenching moments, which may take you by surprise! There are some EXTREMELY powerful scenes and episodes that kind of blindside you and leave you wondering when you became quite so emotionally attached to certain characters or other things. I've definitely found myself near tears or actually crying at more than one point. One Piece has it all - amazing characters, the never-ending yet never TOO over-the-top humor, exciting battles, fun adventures, heartbreaking moments with quick to follow touching moments. And underneath everything, there's always the theme of friendship and teamwork, of working to reach your dreams and helping those closest to you achieve theirs, of growing and maturing as a person and discovering the power within yourself to overcome obstacles of any sort, of just BEING THERE for the rest of your crew when they need you - of being NAKAMA.

In a word, One Piece is perfect. And perhaps I'm just biased, being an obviously OBSESSED fan at this point, haha, but what can I say? It's been running for 344 episodes so far and not ONCE have I wondered or hoped that it would start to reach an end. It is, simply put, amazing.

So why should you watch One Piece?

Because you're missing out on one hell of a fantastic show if you don't at least give it a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Dec 4, 2014

literaturenerd

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (50/? eps)

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!

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 3, 2015

mkzxwing

Not Recommended

Preliminary (625/? eps)

Warning: Minor Spoilers

If I were to say anything bad (and I will have to do that as this review is not a positive one) about this anime that would not offend the hardcore fans (and I know there are a lot) is that it's PAINFULLY slow.

Even if you leave the fillers aside, still- the plot itself progresses in such a slow pace that it's rather hard to watch. Now for a younger audience it may not matter that much, but to me as a higher age audience, it matters greatly, after all, out of the 23~ minutes of each episode 3 are spent ... on opening and ending (which is usual I guess), but in most episodes, roughly 5 (!) or more minutes are spent on a recap of the current story arc, as if the creators of the show forgot it's a shounen anime and instead got the idea that the audience are elderly people with Alzheimer.

But ok, this means there is still 15 minutes left per episode right? Well, not really. In most episodes, the heroes get separated. When they do, the anime tries to keep track of ALL of them simultaneously, cutting every few minutes. This wouldn't be so bad IF after the cut, the same exact scene did not repeat itself (example - a few seconds that show one of the main heroes standing and looking at a place/ villain that is shown from a few angles. Then the anime continues elsewhere, and when it comes back to the same place, the same exact scene is shown). That may not sound as much, but in drastic cases that can sum up to a few minutes (the worst case I bothered to count was almost 4 minutes of time wasted on watching the same scene). Combined with a lot of other tricks, I'd say that a lot of episodes are left with about 11 minutes of actual content on average. That is simply dreadful.

Now to say some positive things for contrast- the story is actually very interesting and the characters are well done... BUT, no matter how good something is, if you drag it out too much (and this is indeed the case with One Piece), even the best story in the world and the best characters possible (not to say one piece has neither of those.. The story is great, and the characters are good, but not more) will not keep you entertained, and turn even the best story possible into a boring experience.

Now back to the negatives. NO ONE DIES IN THIS ANIME. This is of course an exaggeration, as some people actually do die in this anime BUT only when it's critical to the plot. At all the other times, the characters "die" just to add drama and to come back a few scenes later.. Sometimes to "die" again and add even more "drama" (added "" because at this point its more awkward/silly after one time rather than dramatic). The worst case of this I saw was with Brownbeard who "died" something like 5 times over 2-3 episodes (if I remember right), and still stayed alive in the end while the show tried to suck as much drama out of this as possible. And this brings me to the next point- fake drama. They seem to try and squeeze out as much of it as possible, at every opportunity they get. From crying children (and adults) to characters repeatedly "dying" and to the most cliche tearjerkers possible at every turn of the story. They even go as far as to try and make the villain's henchmen AND EVEN THE VILLAIN himself have a tragic past that you are supposed to relate to and feel sorry for (because seems a villain can't just be evil because that is just the way he is, he had to become evil because something bad happened (lol, how about sheer ignorance or plain greed for wealth or power?)... and we apparently MUST know. for both villains and side characters that we'll never even see again). Also I mentioned crying.. There is an unbelievable amount of it in this anime. And that would be ok (I guess) if
A- they did not try to milk it for drama (yep, that's a word that sure gets a lot of use when discussing this anime huh?) every single time
B- they didn't think that when someone cries, he instantly turns ugly, with snot running down his nose and with the worst face expression possible, regardless of gender, age or how emotional he is.

I'd say a lot more, but there is already a lot of text, and it's enough to sum it up - this anime is not one I would recommend someone to watch under any normal circumstances (maybe only if someone made a shortened version with all the repeats, openings, endings and cuts removed thus making the whole anime be at around 300 episodes max), I watched over 600 episodes myself, and I can safely say that although some parts were enjoyable, it was mostly rather boring when looked as a whole, and especially the later episodes, and I am regretting the time I spent watching it (as to why i watched it so far- my friend recommended it to me and I did not expect it to last this long. I usually finish what I start, but this is ridiculous, bad, and really beyond me at this point.)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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