Being suffered those dilemmas myself, I can say I'm glad I started this epic journey and still going strong. Things were not so pleasant in life but I was saved, this show saved me from plunging to darkness and gave me hope. Maybe this is the reason why our Protagonist Luffy is so loved as he is too damn relatable. Even all other characters are just depictions of real life villains and friends we encounter in life which leave us with either scars or bliss, but nonetheless, we learn to live, like Luffy & the crew does.
The animation quality gets better with changing time & technology, as the show progresses with a very solid storyline and motivations of each character. Comedy is a cherry on top of the action packed sequences. The emotional scenes just make you brawl your eyes out, doesn't matter how grown up and uptight you may be.
The first 100-200 episodes are somewhat boring to watch for some viewers but don't drop it for the rest couple hundred epic ones. One thing that mesmerizes me about the series is that it just keeps getting better and better. The pacing is the only recurring issue with the show but there is a fix, watch it with 1.25x/1.5x speed or watch one pace but just watch it godammit.
To be honest, There's a lot more to this show than just the story and characters but to conclude here I just wanna say give it a shot and it will be the best decision you make as a weeb.
