One Piece is a manga many recieve as either very good, or very bad. HOWEVER, in Japan, EVERYONE loves it. Eiichiro Oda, the creator and mangaka of one piece, is respected so highly, that Akira Toriyama himself (creator of Dr. Slump, Dragonball, and Dragonball Z) decided to make a crossover with one piece titled “Cross Epoch”, featuring characters such as Demon Sky Pirate Vegeta.
One Piece is the third best selling Manga ever, behind only dragonball and kuchikoke ( not sure about spelling) which was made in 1973 more or less. A volume of one piece is the GREATEST SELLING MANGA OF ALL TIME. Is One Piece that good? Well my review will tell you what I think.
Story: An AMAZING story. Its set, and each character has a dream. This is very unlike Naruto, where it goes from becoming hokage to saving sasuke to fighting Pein. The goals are set, and the story is extremely interesting. Luffy wants to become Pirate King, a position he believes will enable him to have the most freedom in all the sea. In this are the World Government, which divides itself into smaller sects, The Marine HQ and Shickibukai ( seven warlords, people of great individual power), as well as teh Yonkou (four emperors, Pirates who control enormous parts of the grandline). I wish not to spoil much, but it even goes as far as the strawhat pirates going into the sky and beating up “God”.
Art: It looks kiddy first couple of chapters. But Eiichiro Oda’s art progresses as One Piece goes on. Oda has some of the best art I have EVER seen, msot notable on his landscapes. I dare say his art is on the level of Berserk ( seinin manga), which has AMAZING art. The art eventually grows on you, and you wonder how a man could do such amazing art in only a single week.
Overall enjoyment: I enjoy every chapter of One Piece. Every Arc is extremely epic, and plot holes are virtually non existant. Almost nothing is retconned ( retcon means for example, a character is weak against water, but lets say 2 arcs later, he is not weak against water YET this is never explained, so a contradiction which is never explained), and I LOVE readding it. The anime adaptation has INCREDIBLE voices, and I don’t think I have ever cried as much ( ever cried at all to this actually) as I have watching One Piece, including chopper’s past, Robin’s past, and the funeral for the going merry.
Final Verdict: 10/10. Even if you do not like most shonen, this is the manga for you. A unique art style, ORIGINAL story, original concepts ( devil fruits), and just so much originality, Eiichiro Oda re-invents the shonen genre through One Piece, and succeds tremendously. I recommend reading up to at LEAST the end of Enies Lobby/Beginning of Thriller Bark. If you need further proof, you can find me
at the narutofanforums (look for it on google) in the One Piece section by the Alias of Shoddragon.
