ART: 7 ANIMATION: 6
SOUND: 6
CHARACTERS: 10
ENJOYMENT: 9
OVERALL:9 or 10
(Currently during Post time skip: 7.5)
INTRO:
I started One Piece because I noticed it was placed pretty high on the TOP anime list here (#38 at the time). And I was just thinking "WHY? Looks shitty". Anyway I felt like trying out another long running series at the time cause I was starting to get real bored with the other big shounens, and perhaps the genre itself. "WTH I'll give it a go".
6 years later. I don't regret. ONE PIECE IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THAT'S EVER HAPPENED IN MY LIFE!!!
It does not fall short compared to other battle shounens. I guarantee you. Looks kiddy in regards to the art, and the silliness it dishes out often, but it's no way a show just for kids like pokemon or Yu-gi-oh. Aight?
STORY:
Our main cast are pirates! They're actually the supposed bad guys here. They are not do-gooders. They just do whatever the hell they want, and sometimes that includes helping people, and kicking the other evil guys' butt. Their enemies and conflicts will arise from other pirates, the marines, and the world Government.
The core element is adventure. It's adventure-plot driven. It's starts off with them island hopping, getting entangled in new stories, cultures, kicking the bad guy's ass, but the island hopping isn't all that random. They pertain to the main overarching plot, and to get to the final destination, well they gotta go to some places. In each arc, you'll obtain some piece of information that is relevant to the main story. The further you go in, you'll notice it becomes more and more connected to the overall arching plot.
I wanna talk a little bit about the world of One Piece. In terms of world building, OP does more of it and better than most. ODA gave himself lots of leg room to work with yo. OP has this 'don't take me too seriously vibe' which helps us not to criticize it too much for some of the weirder things, yet it still manages to make it quite believable. A few minor things might not make sense, but overall it works.
The plot is more complex than what it appears. The plot will grow, conflicts will arise, so many many awesome people you will meet, and even see again. Oda does a great job at seeding things in early on and tying them together later. And there are still many intriguing mysteries that are still yet to be solved even after 700 episodes. The world of One Piece is big, but the best thing is that it all feels connected.
ART:
Old, weird, fugly art at the beginning. Overtime style evolves a bit, and looks a lot better. I've come to personally love the style, especially the manga art. Gotta let it grow on you. Animation is acceptable-ish overall, later on before time skip it seems to get pretty good! Then after time skip it kinda goes to shit again.
CHARACTER:
This is the place where OP shines.
THE CHARACTERS MAN. MANY ARE UNIQUE (some more than others), WEIRD, QUIRKY, BADASS, AND JUST PLAIN AWESOME. The characters are really something. I end up liking a lot of them, even ones where I initially thought wouldn't amount to anything worthy of attention. Oda gives his little imaginary people, character that you just can't help but end up liking despite how utterly bizarre they look sometimes. And in this grand OP world, you are going to be running into many different people. The OP cast is huge, some are one-dimensional, but many leave an impression on you.
ENJOYMENT:
PROS: Before I knew it, I end up loving the characters and their interactions with one another. Strong feels. I laugh, shed some manly tears, can really feel the anger of the characters. This show makes me feel lots during their adventures, but mostly this show puts a smile on my face. Good mix of comedy and serious business. Some of my favorite moments are just when the crew's hanging out on their ship, relaxing. Not a lot of fillers compared to other shounens either, and even when there are fillers, it's short, there for comedy sake, and fun to watch. I think the story & writing is really good, not cliche, and keeps me hooked. Unpredictable often, and I'm just sitting back and enjoying the ride.
CONS: Might be a rough start for some, slow-paced as fuck at times/drawn out scenes in order to not catch up to the manga, seldom boring ass fodder villains (mostly during the start), excessive booby fan-service recently, can get repetitive, post time skip is starting to feel like your typical boring shounen. There are so many episodes, so of course there will be some boring ones.
OVERALL:
After all that praising, there will still be people who won't like it at all. It's because we're all fucking different and value different things.
There are those who ONLY like watching mature, seinen, deep, intellectual, realistic animes who will find One Piece childish, and just not their thing.
Then there are those who are more flexible and can enjoy the above listed and all kinds of other animes, and can appreciate humor, etc etc, AND WOULD STILL assume One Piece to be a trashy children's show just based on first impressions.
I'm here to help the latter group of people, (who are able to enjoy a wide variety of anime like cowboy bebop, FMA, DBZ, Naruto, etc all at the same time) to understand that One Piece isn't as childish/retarded as they might initially think, and that they might enjoy it.
It's not a kiddy or lame as Pokemon, Yugioh (no hate for these guys btw). One piece has comedy, but also has a serious story, and based on the numbers/facts, many do indeed, find it interesting. So give it a chance if you are on the fence about it. DROP IT if you absolutely HATE the first 150 episodes, BUT STILL BE AWARE that the story does get better and deeper the further you go in. (Isn't it like that for all big shounens?)
It's not perfect. Why is it so popular then? Because it's just so damn enjoyable to watch despite some of its' flaws. For whatever reason, it clicked in the right way for a lot of us, and we just can't get enough of it. To be able to enjoy and be entertained. Isn't that all we want from a show?
Another thing. I don't know about you guys, but OP feels more badass and less corny(?) to me than most of the other battle shounens. Can't explain it too well.
TL;DR // RECOMMENDED FOR:
So finally, if you love shounen such as DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, Fairy Tail, bleach, Gintama, HxH, and/or Hitman Reborn, and haven't tried One Piece, please do come see what the fuss is about. There's a good chance you might enjoy One Piece too. OP is sometimes sillier than some of these other titles and some people really don't have tolerance for that, and would prefer darker vibes like HxH, BUT if you're FLEXIBLE (you like all kinds of anime), give it a chance. TRUST ME, OP DOES NOT FALL SHORT IN TERMS OF STORY & SERIOUSNESS. Please, don't judge a book by its' cover. It is my favorite of the long battle shounens, and the only one of its' kind to have kept me interested this long. This is coming from someone who isn't a big fan of long battle shounens in the first place.
If I were to grade the anime a little more fairly, I would give it a 7 or 8 because sometimes the animation quality drops, and also sometimes Toei adds useless scenes, or drags out certain boring scenes, and there are those boring episodes with boring badguys once in awhile. And also some little plot flaws like how a character never dies, etc. But if I were to grade it based on how much I fucking enjoy One Piece, it's story and characters overall, I give it a 10.
So overall, anime One Piece gets 9/10 from me.
Advice:
For the love of God, don't go skipping around arcs. You're not gonna get that build up feel, and connection to the characters, which is important here. If you're gonna dedicate yourself to understanding OP, if you wanna understand why the fans love OP, it's best to watch all the arcs, (minus foxy arc unless you don't mind more comedy). Or better yet, just read the damn manga instead. The manga is perfect, the anime can sometimes be a little horrendous with the dragging and the unnecessary scenes. And again, if you find the first 100 or so episodes TERRIBLY unbearable, it probably isn't your thing.
