One piece is another well respected and ambitious shonen series especially in Japan. It is currently the leading crown jewel of shonen in its home country and the most popular manga in the world. Believe me if there is any shonen series out there that deserves this recognition, it is one piece. Helmed by Eiichiro Oda himself, the author of one piece has a level of commitment and confidence to his manga that you don’t often see in many mangaka’s careers. One by one Naruto, bleach, fairy tail, hitman reborn, magi. They all fell apart at some point, usually towards the often unplanned or convoluted climax of a story. Or some shonen adapted works become too reliant on typical standardized tropes that often are unexecuted and not consistently planned leading to plot holes. One thing all large ongoing shonen have in common is they are plagued by inconsistency both in the writing and themes and elements presented. This is a growing trend that is predominant in this genre. This is where one piece greatly improves the formula on a level I have honestly never seen before within Shonen. This series really opened my eyes on the same level as like Hunter X hunter did.
The plot is about adventures and pirates sailing the seas’, meeting new exotic locations with new belief systems, ideologies, races of different cultures and exploring deeper stories behind each of these locales all with different solutions and consequential problems to solve for our protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw hat crew.
It’s a world filled to the brim with uniqueness, diversity, colorful abstract themes at every corner and even philosophical notions with a touch of heroism in poetic motion which is so unique to oda’s style of immersing you into the experience and helps to establish your connection to these characters and the story presented. The series has some of the most inventive and well-developed cast of characters with tragic but also drama fueled dramatic backstories along with a very deeply crafted and Imaginative expansive world just full of beauty.
One piece never feels like its derailing off track or contradicting its written code that is the mechanics and rules written that dictate the structure of the series and its universal principles outlined by the author. This sets the foundation of the many hundreds of episodes and continues along consistently with those established elements.
(An example would be something like how Dragon ball and Dragon ball Z differ greatly from being a series about classic adventures and down to earth conflict with a focus more on comedy and slapstick to galaxy type cosmic battles of destruction and a clash of superpowers. Now granted I love Dragon Ball Z for a lot of reasons but one can argue that it some times truggles with trying to find its middle ground in terms of the audience and its source material.)
This is something that does not happen with one piece. Characters do grow more powerful as the series progresses, but it’s confined with-in the rules established and never breaks that barrier feeling like a deconstruction towards a different series. Each individual character be it main, secondary or even villains will go through lots of emotional and physical development and the scaling is maintained and well balanced, never giving you the insinuation that there is any sort of absurd power curves or as most fans put it “ass pulls” come with out warning.
One of the largest reasons why I have such hope that the ending of one piece will be great, because this man has mapped out and has drawn the final arc of the story from literally two decades ago and has since dropped the breadcrumbs often hinting or leaving subtle clues that tie and connect seamlessly to some of the deepest mysteries of the plot. In short you can feel that the show is building towards something with many lingering questions and answers that will eventually come to the forefront of this epic saga. I swear I have seen this show a lot and I am still picking up on certain foreshadowing that was conveyed literally hundreds of episodes ago which later became a huge plot point. This man plans so meticulously, that it literally boggles your mind and to be able to achieve that for a serialization as long as one piece is just... Unbeliable!
Oda enjoys exploring things with such subtly, it feels like this man knows exactly what is on the horizon and loves to throw in such amazing Easter eggs to see if viewers are really paying attention. This is also another reason why this series has a huge following of theorists and analytical reviewers.
In terms of the art and style. The diverse and rich universe that oda creates with some of the most impressive world building and the ability to establish each new locale with different laws, cultures, morals, rules, etc. The often-exaggerated display of facial expressions and abnormal designs can turn some people off but if you look above that exterior you will notice a unique style that is not used in any other anime with such a wide range of variety that is often hard to interpret just from mere words. Objects and characters represented in the one piece world are often large in scale and tower over the main protagonist in a way that makes you feel their dominance and control that the one piece world is full of such monsters and incredibly powerful adversaries. The significance to this design choice by oda is amazing and really exemplifies the massive threat level conveyed in this world. The anime actually makes this element of the series more prevalent. Also, the type of scale the one-piece world has is unprecedented. You will never see a world with such rich lore and world building and oda gets a lot of his ideas from so many other novels, movies, real world and fictional historical references, etc. So, there is bound to be something that you will recognize from other iconic anime or films. Things like Alice in wonderland, the god father, Dragonball, Moby dick, to name a few.
Don't be put off by the often-classic style of animation if you’re watching the anime, because it will evolve over time. Obviously with a show that has started in the early 1990's and is continuing into 2022 will have some changes in terms of art quality and animation. Seeing the transition to 16:9 is where you can really see the massive difference.
The Music deserves a mention in this series. Without it, it would not be the same. The music suits the scenes of battle marvelously, it gives the people who's watching seeking for more and more action. The orchestrated trumpets and trombones, mixed with the drums fit the action scenes very nicely and the piano themes that you hear during some of the drama, really creates a powerful scene that is trying to bring out your emotion and just tingles your heart and soul. You really do feel for these characters as almost living in their world. Believe me, you will cry, you will laugh, and you will even get angry during some of the more intense dramatic moments in this show. The background music is also very capable of strengthening suspenseful or triumphant moments. There is just something about it that fits the story of pirates sailing to sea so well. Additionally, you may become so attached to the main cast, that even considering the prospect of our heroes dying at some point, would absolutly devestate you. I have never in my entire anime career been more attached to a cast of characters like the Straw hat Pirates.
With that all being said, I just want to say that one piece is not an episodic type of series, it is a massive serialization with an overarching narrative, but the core of the series is structured differently than Naruto for example. The series is a more of a character driven narrative and the mystery and lore take kind of a back seat for a while. There is a common misconception where people perceive this series as being very slow paced for that reason and the story does not move to the end goal any time soon but as i said, the driving force of the story is the characters them self's well the mystery and lore are conveyed throughout the journey. Eventually It will come full circle and you will just be in awe at how carefully planned out the plot really was by the ending. You can witness the many clues and hints outlined throughout the plot and details early on that have a groundbreaking significance later in the story.
In closing to say I know most people are turned off by it because of how intimidating it can be with its nearly 1000 episodes and nearly 1100 chapters of content and still on going. But rest assured this is not pokemon, it is a deeply well developed and expansive story with rich lore and world building and it’s about journeys, adventure and mystery that will captivate the audience and become a spell binding experience that will sure to intrigue you to no end. Check this one out if you’re a fan of anything shonen and as Rayleigh says:
"Nothing in this World happens by Mere coincidence. It's Possible that everything happens for a reason and together our lives and adventures on the sea's help shape our destiny." - Dark King ~Silvers Rayleigh~
