Wanted!

The Wanted! Tanpenshu is aptly named, being a collection of Eiichiro Oda's one-shots and short stories before One Piece. If you're not a fan of One Piece, this might not be worth your time. However, for fans, it offers an interesting glimpse into the mangaka's evolving art style and storytelling growth.

Here’s my personal take as I read through the tanpenshu:

Wanted!: The art here doesn't resemble Oda-sensei at all. It feels like it belongs to a previous era, with sharp, pointed features that remind me of Yu Yu Hakusho. The plotline is somewhat spirit-like, with poor logical flow and similar humor. The main characters have similar attitudes too. I'm not a big fan of the Wild West theme; I'm glad this didn't get serialized. The backgrounds were minimal but not as bad as Bleach.

God's Present for the Future: I enjoyed the twist at the end! It reminded me of Nami pickpocketing everyone in Orange Town at the end of the Arlong Arc. This story was quite interesting. The humor again felt like Yu Yu Hakusho, and the main character had a similar personality. The art became slightly rounder, with much more background detail in this piece.

Ikki Yako: I would've liked to see this serialized. The main character really looks like Zoro. It had a good outcome and potential for a longer story. The character art improved significantly from Wanted, with more detailed attire and facial structures closer to One Piece or at least Zoro. The storyline felt like something that could have come out of One Piece, capturing hearts with shocking coincidences and making the villain more villainous.

Monsters: All the main characters look like Zoro. The storyline reminds me of the Arlong Arc. One thing I love about One Piece is how tragic its stories are. Unlike other manga like Bleach (which I used to enjoy), where the goal is saving the world or Soul Society, One Piece focuses on helping people harmed by villains. The Strawhats stumble into town problems naturally, embodying the "I want to save these people" feeling. In Monsters, Ryuma helps despite being framed and hated, exemplifying this sentiment. His dragon-slaying scene looked so much like Zoro, even down to the blood splatters. Plus, it introduces Ryuma, owner of Wano country's legendary sword that Zoro now wields!

Romance Dawn: The art here screams One Piece. Oda makes Luffy look rubbery after eating the Gomu Gomu no Mi. The humor is classic Oda: "Your beak made a hole in my boat. Don’t move, I plugged up the hole with your butt." Garp retains his personality, but views on pirate life differ greatly. He was a pirate who wanted Luffy to become one too? And Luffy initially refused? Removing the "Morganeers" and "Peace Mates" concepts was a good call, making the world feel more realistic with good and bad pirates. In this story, Luffy got his straw hat from Garp, but I prefer he got it from Shanks.

Pretty cool seeing Oda’s evolution, I’ll just do individual reviews for the stories.

Wanted!: Liked how Oda approached Westerns, even though the main character was somewhat average. Adding Ghost was a neat touch. 6/10

God’s Gift for the Future: Definitely the most surprising one; I really enjoyed it a lot. The protagonist was solid, the twist ending was great, and the art style felt reminiscent of Dragon Ball in some ways. 8/10

Ikki Yakou: An intriguing concept from Oda, but it didn’t quite resonate with me. I couldn’t connect much with the story or its characters. 5/10

Monsters: This was what initially drew me to read this collection, and it’s practically canon if you want it to be. I thoroughly enjoyed it because Ryuma is such an amazing character, blending elements of both Zoro and Luffy while still feeling like an ordinary man (who happens to be a sword king or god). The story, involving the town, the twist villain, and the dragon, was fantastic. 9.2/10

Romance Dawn: Interestingly, the One Piece anime had already animated this story, and I wasn't a fan of that version. Unfortunately, my opinion hasn’t changed much. Luffy isn’t as compelling here, some pirate rules are nonsensical, and the characters feel weak. The real Romance Dawn is far superior, although Garp was amusing. 5/10

Oda's fan here saying this isn't his best work.

Story

As much as I can appreciate Oda, about 2.5 out of these 5 stories aren't the greatest. These were likely Oda's initial attempts at writing.

It's interesting to see Oda evolve his storytelling. However, he shouldn't do one-shots; sticking to long stories allows him to fully expand the world.

"Wanted" was definitely the weakest of the five. Either heavily inspired by Trigun or vice versa.

"Future Present from God" was the biggest surprise among the five. Didn't expect to like it. It felt like Death Note and Mirai Nikki before those series existed. I enjoyed the idea that God got "One Guyed" and damned him to hell.

"Ikki Yako." Eh. Similar to "Wanted," nothing special story-wise. Felt generic.

"Monsters." Personally, a disappointment. I had high hopes for it being my second favorite due to all the hype. Predictable story beats. Though, its connection to One Piece is pretty cool.

"Romance Dawn." Essentially, early One Piece. It paved the way for OP to run for over 25 years.

Art

Again, good stuff. Cool to see the art evolve throughout the last story.

"Wanted." Like with the story aspect, the weakest of them all. Instead of Zoro with swords, we got Zoro with guns.

"Future Present from God." A bit better than "Wanted." This is probably where Oda practiced his big set-piece battles that we love.

"Ikki Yako." Let him cook, chat. This is getting better. Here we see more fisticuffs action. The character designs are probably the best out of these five.

"Monsters" and "Romance Dawn." They feature the character designs and art style of One Piece with slight changes here and there.

Overall

7/10. This just proves that this is Oda's passion, and we're happy to have over 1131 chapters from him.

Weird and wacky with heaps of fun, Wanted features a delightful assortment of lovable characters. This collection of short stories showcases some of Oda's earlier creations before he embarked on the legendary journey that became One Piece. Serving as both a prequel and a companion piece to his magnum opus, at least one tale within is canon to the One Piece universe. Yet, it also shines brilliantly on its own merits.

It's a testament to Oda's storytelling prowess that each of these shorts feels vivid and full of life, potent enough to anchor their own series. And this, achieved early in his career, is nothing short of remarkable. The absence of a hard-copy English release to date is almost criminal. Dive into this manga; you won't be disappointed.

Okay, this is my first review, and I want to apologize for my poor English (hehe, I'm from Sweden).

I initially read Wanted on my mobile, and I thought it was a fantastic manga. It's a collection of Eiichiro Oda's early short manga that came before One Piece. Since I love One Piece, I had to check this out. If you've read One Piece before, you'll recognize the style. Oda's humor is always present, and it's hilarious!

The Stories.
All the stories are great. They are short, and I wish each one could be longer. In my opinion, I think they are good, not superb, but... yeah, good. I don't want to spoil the stories too much, so read it for yourself.

Art.
The art is definitely worse than One Piece. These are Oda's first manga works, so what can I say? But it's still interesting to see how much Oda has improved over the years.

Character.
Well, like all of Oda's characters, they are funny, weird, and dumb! I loved them!

Enjoyment.
Oda's humor is perfect! I laughed just as much as I did with One Piece.

Overall.
I gave this part an 8. I considered giving it a 9 or 10 at first, but the artwork isn't that good, and the stories will never be as good as One Piece. I still enjoyed it, and I hope others do too. ;)

That's all from me! // Tyusidwi