I'd like to preface this by saying, its kind of surprising that a series as bizarre and outlandish as this has become the biggest of the big shounen series, let alone the best selling comic book series of all time. Its a series where the wacky art style and sheer length of it can push a lot of people away, and it seems like its a lot more uninviting compared to Naruto or Bleach. But I can confidently say that among all of those, One Piece is the most high quality work and its definitely worth getting into. Trust me, at first you will think that the length is insurmountable but once you get hooked, you will be grateful that it's so long and want even more of it.
So why is it so good? My main reason is, I believe, that One Piece is a masterclass in worldbuilding. Its universe is so varied, diverse and deep. Every island the crew visit has its own people, culture, architecture, cuisine, social structure, local problems and more. On a large scale, all the characters interact with each other in a large web of complex and dynamic relationships, there's the unique political structure of the world government, the unique geography and so on. All of this helps the world feel truly lived in and real in a way that very few works of fiction can. The world itself starts to feel like a main character at times.
Not only that, but One Piece is probably the strongest example of long-term storytelling ever made. Characters and stories are woven into each other seamlessly, where even the tiniest local events end up having ramifications for the bigger picture. Few works of fiction dare to be this ambitious and go on for so long and of the ones that do, very very few of them actually manage to maintain a high standard of quality all throughout. Most of them just keep going to milk the franchise for profit, but not here! Oda well and truly has more stories to tell and more to say, he is still going because he wants to, not because he has to. I couldn't think of a more consistent and committed author.
And beyond all that, One Piece is at its core a fun action adventure tale about pirates, about Luffy and his crew. This focus is never lost and that campy and charming aspect is retained to this day. As an action series, the fights are important - they are quite frequent and Oda really knows how to draw a good fight! There is a good mix of drama, humour, politics, relationships and more, Oda also really knows how to tug on your heart strings and will do so a lot! In terms of visuals, while the artstyle is an acquired taste, some character designs and abilties are so outlandishly bizarre, they make JoJo look normal. Despite this, its still very well made and very fun to read. Fights, characters, locations and setpieces are all oozing with personality. The way Oda structures his pages keeps the flow of both dialogue and action flowing and makes the act of just reading a page thoroughly enjoyable. I think the stigma about the artstyle stems mainly from the anime and its exceptionally cheap and poor quality animation. In my opinion, the anime just doesn't do the manga justice with its crappy visuals and poor pacing. The manga is just leaps and bounds ahead of it.
So to summarize, do you like pirates? Do you like action? Do you like adventure? Do you like exploring a deep and fascinating fantasy world? If you answered yes to any of these, then you will not regret delving into One Piece. Even if you didn't say yes to any of those, I still think you should give it a try. It's one of the most fascinating works of fiction to ever exist and deservers to be experienced.
