Everyone who is not watching One Piece should be watching One Piece. It is nothing short of a work of genius and while it starts slow, it gets progressively better. I was depressed for a while and it's certainly helped me in those hard times like a crutch.
All the characters are interesting, diverse, and have their own development arcs. It's not just the Luffy Show Staring Luffy, every single member of the crew gets time in the spot light and chances to grow as their own character while also developing unique relationships with one another. And that's not even to mention the wealth of side characters not part of the Straw Hat crew, who ALSO get time to steal the stage in their own right, making it a joy whenever they show up again in later storylines.
This extends to every fight the crew gets in being wonderfully creative and unique. Every single member gets to take a part in the fight, none of that DBZ "Goku and Goku's family is the only one who matters", even fucking Usopp gets really awesome battles. And for the most part, the storyline isn't just fights all the time that usually shonen mangas delve into but actually has a great story.
The world and setting is also pretty awesome, with some diversity and complexity to the internal politics and cultural lay out, but the best part is there's not really any part of the series where things just stop dead so someone can have a long exposition scene that's boring and trite. Everything plays out very naturally and the audience is able to pick up on how everything works just by watching it occur in front of them. Also Snail Phones. Cuz Snail Phones.
The series is also incredibly funny, but not to the point of losing credibility. Like, there's some cultural differences, but the manga is genuinely funny and WILL make you laugh. It rival MGS in ability to balance goofy comedy that refuses to take ANYTHING seriously, with legit dramatic moments that will make you choke up.
It has been going on for fifteen or so years, and still has about 7 years to finish, but is still a joy to watching and go along with, and even REWATCHING since it has a habit of bringing back up old characters and plotlines that any other show would have long since forgotten and make them suddenly pivotal and important. It rivals Babylon 5 in apparently having all been planned out from the beginning, or at the very least Breaking Bad in winging it to appear as such.
It is honestly a wonderful incredible show, that unfortunately many people will pass over because of the "anime = genre" prejudice, but I feel that those who give it a chance will not regret their choice. Dealing with a variety of times from dealing with lost, happiness, while being the One Piece, I know and love, it's been one of the most influential things I've read.
