While we all were addicted to DBZ, One Piece was airing before it everyday.
It was still a small show about pirates. It was light hearted and adventurous.
We watched it because there was literally nothing better on TV and to be honest we quite enjoyed it. It was funnier than DBZ and Naruto. Its fights were down to ground back then and quite simple.
While we were tired of Naruto fillers and awaiting more combat and DBZ was slowing down despite being so slow already, One Piece was taking off.
The fights became more fierce, the arcs were diverse and interesting.
The emotional stuff was destroying our hearts much more than Naruto's did.
It was a great story and we were hooked.
Every episode was fun, even if it was a filler it was integrated in the arc and we truly could not distinguish a filler episode from an actual manga original one.
They had humor and sadness equaling real episodes!
Not just throw away fillers to fill some time like Naruto or DBZ.
The East Blue introduction arc was slow but steady, it knew where it was going and took the distractions on the journey. Using them to flesh out the characters. Ging Freecss from HunterXHunter said something like that it is better to enjoy the little distractions on the adventure.
The Arabasta and Sky Island arcs took it up a notch and were amazing stories with great battles. Dvorak's New World symphony playing during the final battle blew my mind. They truly made it epic!
And then it happened, the battles evolved. Gear Second, Gear Third.
Water Seven and Enies Lobby arc changed the whole game.
The protagonists got upgrades and the battles evolved to rival if not even succeed those of Naruto and DBZ!
While Naruto Shippuuden was slowly abandoning the superb tactical shinobi combat for more DBZ "ima throwing my laser" type of combat.
One Piece was not falling in that pitfall.
Every episode, every arc is just such a blast!
Watching on TV was not enough, I rewatched the entirety on the internet in Eng sub. Got further in the story because TV dub is just too slow.
Manga was even more amazing!
Eiichiro Oda is an amazing artist! In fact there are only 2 manga artists I truly revere and that is Oda and Kentaro Miura (Berserk).
The time of DBZ was over, the new generation needed a new king.
The successors were the Jump's big 3: One Piece, Naruto and Bleach.
Bleach fell of quickly and Naruto stumbled but ended.
One Piece is the true king of Shounen and successor of DBZ.
A couple more years and One Piece (1997) will outsell even Superman (1938), Batman (1939) and Spiderman (1962) in comic sales!
Truly a king of kings.
The show has shaped my life greatly and I still carry many of its lessons.
Don't get me wrong, the show is not perfect, but what is?
I had a new standard now, if shows were even a quarter as good as One Piece, I would recognize and give them a chance.
A chance I gave to the highly promising Bleach, a choice I would regret further down the line..
