One Piece

I love One Piece with a passion. It was the first manga I began to read and I am very satisfied with Oda's writing ability. The personality of the protagonist of the series may be a bit cliche; however I am willing to overlook that as I read through the arcs. The characters develop at believable speeds and each of the reader gets a chance to develop a relationship with Luffy and his crew.

This is my first and only comment for a manga. This is simply the most enjoyable and interesting manga I've ever read and I've read many. The art, the story, the characters, everything is simply incredible. So if you're a manga fan, JUST READ IT, even if you don't like shounen manga. I've read Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, Inuyasha and many others. I enjoyed reading them and liked them, but they don't even come close to One Piece. One Piece is far better than all the rest.

..But recently it's been starting to become repetitive and somewhat uninteresting. The art has changed considerably, but for the worse

The Skypeia arc was the EPITOME OF ALL SHOUNEN MANGA. No arc ever written in the history of Japanese cartoons will ever come close to exceeding it in pure excitement and thrill. However, the quality of the series has been on the decline since then. It looks as if Oda has focused on elongating the series and switching it into a yet another fan-coddling-battle manga, instead of sticking with the original adventurish feel he started with.

In short..
Up until Skypeia arc = MANGASM
After Skypeia arc = just another typical Shounen manga
After timeskip = bleh

I think I'm trolling all of my favorite manga's. o__o saying there way too unique and stuff. haha but atleast I'm not negative about it -laughs-
Ok, I was sooo late in this anime. It took me a year to catch up to the lastest chapter. But atleast it's worth it!! The Male lead has a strong role. And each straw hat crew member has a teary arc. (meaning it's really sad. Espically Luffy's.) but that doesn't do with anything, I just wanted to say YOU. YA YOU. IF YA HAVE NOT READ THIS MANGA YET.... GO READ IT NOW!!! YOU WON'T REGRET READING THIS!!

characters, writing (dialogues), the weird artstyle that makes it unique (E_E come on is masterpiece the way he draws the characters), the scenes, the whole story.
it has a lot of everything, a little piece of everything.

At first you'll be like: meh so dumb, boriiiing, but after you read more than 300+´ch. you'll want more, and you'll feel like what you've read is NOTHING, because they've been growin up. ;; into such beautiful characters ;; and you'll love them, and care for them, and you'll like the first page that shows some funny or strange scene. ;_____;

@kiron216, E_E (meehhh read your whole spoiler thing-don't know why-), but let me tell you something you know it all type of girl or guy: so what if Luffy is gay? would you marry some girl just because? ô.o this is NOT a ROMANCE manga, want romance? GO READ SHOUJO/JOSEI/WHATEVER, the bad artwork? ...it's not that has a BAD ARTWORK, it's more like the ART is not the same as the humans, this story has a LOT OF FANTASY, if everyone were like humans they'll be BORING, of if they were beasts/humans...it'll be boring, he brings up some crazy ideas in the characters, ô.o,
Also it might be that Luffy is always saying something funny, but he just goes with the flow, stands up when he needs to and fight when he wants.
He cares for his friends, he relies on them. and goes for teamwork. ô.o

THE STORY IS AWESOME/GREAT it has no demon, hanyou, exorcist or whatever (i like other stories but one piece...has...like the MAGIC,

Funny. Epic. Brutal. Dramatic. Full of pure, elementary joy and happiness.
One Piece has got it all. Usually, I rate by enjoyment, but my rating of 10 for this manga includes quality as well. Oda has created shounen perfection in this manga, creating a world where all the seas are free to sail upon, to discover new worlds and places, where his/your/whoever's imagination is the limit.
The cast that form the crew are a diverse bunch; a swordsman, a martial artist chef, a sharpshooter-come-inventor, a cyborg handyman, a navigator-thief, an archeologist, a shape-shifting medic, a skeleton musician, and their captain, who's a rubber human. I know.
I know some people have been put off by the fact this is a 'pirate' manga, and that that's lame or cliched or something. It's barely a 'pirate' manga. It's a high-energy, high-fun shounen manga that uses the pirate imagery as a long-running metaphor for freedom and discovery. The world is out there, go and find out what lies for you. One Piece has very few flaws (perhaps a slightly slow beginning) but is one of the most dramatic, funny, exciting shounen battle mangas in recent times, heck scratch that, one of the best mangas ever. Give it a proper go. You won't regret it.

AH ! sdkf asdfadf KASDJH kjdhs
i freaking love one piece. nothing can beat my obsession towards it. i've become psycho. every week, i get all hyped up and excited for what's gonna happen next. i start running around, jumping and screaming, calling for my older brother to come and watch with me when a new episode's on (he's also addicted). this was the first ever anime/manga i've ever watched. after that, i started watching more anime. though, nothing compared to one piece. not even bleach or naruto. ever since one piece, i get all smiley excited every time a pirate's in topic. i'd even try to search about pirates in my history textbook, especially after i found out some of the pirates were real, like black beard (edward teach).

i LOVE all of the characters, especially LUFFY, the comedy, the emotions, the weird art, the creativity, the randomness, the powers, the coolness, the-- every single thing in it.
i love shoujo and all (im also addicted to it, not as much as one piece, though), but one piece is just too cool to have romance in it.
i love anime art, like those beautiful art in deviantart, but one piece is soo cool, that even when the art isn't all that good, i still respect the art and wish to learn it.
the comedy/emotions: i cant describe it! its so randomly funny. i dont really laugh at a lot of things and honestly, i barely laugh in one piece. but the gags, puns, jokes, whatever, make me WANT to laugh.

one piece takes me to ecstasy~

I think many people started with One Piece last amongst the big 3 shounen and come to realize that there is SO much content and development in it! Yes, the beginning is hard to bypass (took me 2 years before I forced myself to read past 4 chapters) because of the "weird" style and goal but you'll come to appreciate it. Yes, it takes an incredibly long time to digest it all but the 600+ chapters are for a reason; good transition in both characters and plot. For those asking the rating? PSH! 10 out of 10! There is no hesitance in giving out this. It gets what it deserves! Now that it's summer, take the time to sit down and appreciate Oda's work. Its steady popularity is for a reason. You might not see it in the beginning but guaranteed will later on.

my all time favourite, has all sorts of elements - it made me laugh, cry, got tense, nervous, etc - and always, crave for more.

it's hard to summarize the whole thing, but i think that i loved about it is Oda's amazing way to tell stories, how he can split up the crew and talk about them seperately and gradually reuniting them together, in arcs where they do split up. also, it has a strong element of surprise as the plot always unfolds in an unpredictable way.

love it!

PS - I once came across 'One Piece' in a local hardware store. Apparently, it is a brand of a toilet bowl + water tank... i hope that's not what Luffy's crew is venturing for xD

The most intimidating part about One Piece is its length. Over 600 chapters and yet only halfway there. It also seems repetitive in a sense that it repeats the same formula over and over again.

I say it isn't. The overall plot may be slow, but it's story arcs are the series's greatest strength. It's about Luffy's adventure. I'm not reading this to see Luffy go straight to the last island and get One Piece. That's boring. I want to see what his adventure is like.

The length is actually one of the series's greatest strengths. It's realistic. How? You might ask. One of One Piece's strong points is how large of a world it is. Luffy is just a rookie pirate, competing to get One Piece against thousands of other pirates. He needs to travel, island to island in order to achieve his goal. It's unrealistic to find a single character who is able gather a whole crew, and defeat their competition, and just find One Piece without progress. That's where the arcs come in. The characters, the plot, and the world develops in sync with Luffy's adventure. You can slowly, but surely believe that Luffy has what it takes to become King, instead of having his goal achieved by plot alone. That is what One Piece is really about. The journey, not the destination.

The only thing repetitive about One Piece is that they got to a new island, and they see a villain. is there a problem with that? No. How else are you going to do it? Go to an island, explore, then leave? That's BORING. In any series, especially adventure series, the worst thing you can ever do is bore your readers. What One Piece does to entertain its readers is utilizing story arcs in order to illustrate how characters are developing in order to compete in the overall plot.

Characters getting stronger from short-termed training arcs, sudden power ups, and anything similar to that are all cop-outs in order to get a character to be able to close the gaps with their opponents. One Piece doesn't do that. It illustrates how large the world and his competition, and how small Luffy really is.

While Luffy and co do get a training arc, it was due to the fact that it was clear that they were not ready for the big leagues. The gap between the crew and the strong were huge, so the only way to get stronger realistically was not to progress through experience and effort like it did before, in order to avoid an unreasonable development. BUT. It isn't short. Because this training arc lasts for a long time, the world starts to get effected by the roles of other characters, which will obviously create major plot points in the future.

In short, overall, the series is excellent. The benefits towards reading this far outweighs any of its weak points. If you find it's length still intimidating, you can always read it in short bursts. I did, and I love it like almost any other fan. It is definitely worth trying, and it isn't going to disappear anytime soon.

don't get me wrong, one piece is a good manga, but isn't nearly as good as some people make it out to be. for me, the biggest flaw is the painfully slow and bad pacing of the story. it is 20 - 30 volumes longer then needed at this point, and whole volumes that serve no purpose, and can be skipped without missing anything important.

but all said and done, it has great characters, great concept, and (besides the bad art) it is a well deserved 7 from me.

There are many reasons to dislike One Piece and before the Oda fanboys get their panties in a bunch I'll explain why. I used to like One Piece for one reason only. There are many reasons to dislike it including mediocre artwork and lack of depth in the characters, as well as the fact that the main character has almost no admirable qualities that translate well into reality. He's incredibly stupid which automatically mitigates his value as a human and only survives mainly because of the authors grace (Plot protection). His function is mainly as a gag character and his story lacks all emotional depth. He has no character or motivation beyond saying the wrong thing at the wrong time in a comedic sense. This was appropriate in the early chapters of the manga when the story wasn't serious but it stands in stark contrast with the later chapters. As the author tries to introduce mature 3 dimensional concepts into the story Luffy stays as a one dimensional gag character. Throughout the story the work is second rate either because it isn't a serious work or because Luffy's nature contradicts the serious nature of the later works.

There is one reason that I would have rated this above a 7 and that is because of Luffy's best quality, the reason that I rate him above Naruto and Ichigo in terms of manliness and worth and that is the fact that Luffy perserveres no matter what. This is shown in several instances, first when Luffy is rescuing Nico Robin from Enies Lobby and they show Nico Robins backstory. Then they say that her enemy is the world and that if they want to save her they will make an enemy of 170 nations and an overwhelming military force. The scenario is set up so that the reader knows the magnitude of the obstacle and one would expect Luffy at least pause before he decides to make an enemy of them but he doesn't hesitate in declaring war on the world government.

This also happens when he is trying to rescue ace. They reach level 6 ace is gone and is already on his way to the gallows protected by the largest military force ever assembled. Luffy kills himself just getting to level 6 and his companions tell him to give up and leave the rescue up to whitebeard. Again Luffy does not hesitate and says that if ace is going to marine headquarters that that is where he will go.

Perserverance is the one reason that Luffy was above Naruto and Ichigo in terms of character worth. The fact that he always moves forward in spite of the obstacles is his greatest attribute and I consider his determination in the face of overwhelming obstacles to be the high point in the story. This is ruined however when he gives up after his brother dies. He goes on a rampage destroying rocks which is understandable but the way the author executes it, Luffy seems to be throwing a childish temper tantrum. Successful people don't wallow in their own filth, they pick themselves up and clean themselves off and persevere no matter what the obstacle is. Instead Luffy encounters this obstacle as a teenager, calling himself weak and giving up on his dream, only picking himself up when he realizes that he still has his crew.

Also Luffy like I said before is a gag character. He says things that are funny and nothing more and beyond that he has no value. My ex girlfriend was from an Eastern European country and experienced true oppression as a child. Overcoming these traumatic experiences as a child gave her a strength that I could never hope to match. In comparison Luffy is a child who according to the author has strong willpower and yet interacts with his world in a childish manner.

Also the authors attempts to introduce adult issues into the One Piece universe such as racism are monumentally stupid. I don't want to offer another lengthy explanation as to why they are but even though nobles are corrupt they don't show the real reason for why the nobles traditionally oppress the weak which is to monopolize and consolidate wealth and power.

Also One Piece continues to get worse and the author continues to contradict himself. One blunder occurred when the author tried to keep romance out of his story by having Luffy reject Hancock. However this scenario is something like a mathematical proof in the sense that Luffy encounters the most beautiful woman on earth, Luffy rejects her. Luffy must be either gay or oblivious to reject the most beautiful woman on the planet and by making Luffy say "I won't marry you" the author establishes the fact that Luffy understands the significance of a relationship and still is not attracted to her. RESULT: Luffy is gay. I'm stunned that the author didn't understand the significance of what he was doing.

The author tries to move from two dimensions into 3 while withholding specific elements of a realistic story and the result is blunders like the one mentioned above. For example the author espouses the concept of fate as a benevolent force that will move Luffy from an ant thrown into a storm to a force that will shake the heavens themselves. However if fate is all powerful and benevolent then what higher force is responsible for the corruption that is present in the one piece world. It doesn't make any sense.

Also the author continues to take breaks and produce mediocre work. It goes from being a one dimensional storyline to the war between whitebeard and the world government (the high point) to being one dimensional again afterwards. The story is inconsistent in its quality and has recently gotten worse as the author continues to take breaks and set up generic plot structures i.e. having one antagonist for each character, having the characters overcome the antagonist, end of saga.

There are some things to be said for one piece. To retain the audience for so long he needs to know how to squeeze as much content as possible into a chapter and Oda does this very well but the quality of his work is inconstant. Hajime no Ippo and Berserk get consistently better but One Piece oscillates between not very good and somewhat decent too often to be considered anything but mediocre. Its saving grace is the fact that its competition also is not very good.