Hello, Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind where today we’re celebrating the anniversary of One Piece. It was 19 years ago from today that One Piece officially got started and it has been going strong ever since that day becoming the most popular manga in the world as well as having the most manga sells for years. Seriously, nobody comes close to reaching the numbers of One Piece sells. But you have to wonder with all the mangas out there and over all the years why is One Piece still the most popular manga out there. Naruto and Bleach were popular but as time went on their popularity diminished but One Piece continued to stay popular if anything it got more popular. Why is that? What does One Piece do better than all the other mangas out there? Well, join me today as we dive into the issue of why we love One Piece so much.
Pacing
Now this is all going to be from my perspective so feel free to agree or disagree with me throughout the blog. Out of the Big 3 (One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach) One Piece was the one that had the slowest pace. Naruto and Bleach got right into their stories after the first chapter and caught on with people but One Piece on the other hand didn’t really catch the attention of a lot of people after its first chapters. In fact, it took a while for people to catch on to One Piece. For me it wasn’t until the Alabasta Arc when I realized that, I’m reading something amazing here. Now all three of these mangas suffer slow pacing but with Naruto and Bleach they quickly established the setting of their world and their main character within the first chapter and then from there started to develop its world and the characters as the series went on. One Piece did the opposite of this. Rather than quickly get into its story, the first arcs of One Piece are all used to establish the world and its main cast of characters. Oda set aside the first few arcs to establish the characters and the world they’re in and it worked out well. We were all able to connect with these characters. We got to see why Luffy wants to be King of the Pirates, why Zoro wants to be the best swordsman in the world, why Nami loves money so much, why Usopp lies all the time and wants to be a pirate despite being way in over his head, why Sanji values food so much, and so on and so forth with all the other members of the Strawhat Crew. We were essentially getting an idea of who we were traveling with and why we should care about them. Each arc served as a backstory into that character as well as established their contribution to the crew so that when the series finally got to its first real major arc it feels like an epic finale because you got to know all these characters when really this is just the beginning of something even bigger about to happen. On top of establishing its characters the first few arcs were establishing the world and how it runs. We learn that there’s a government in place that has their own Navy force which maintain order in the world, we have the 4 Yonko pirates who pretty much control the New World, warlords who are pirates that serve as the lapdogs of the Navy in exchange for immunity and who’s powers rival that of the Yonko. We also got to learn about devil fruits such as the different types of devil fruits and how eating them comes with the price of losing the ability to swim. Now, I really don’t mind mangas going at a slow pace as long as you use that slow pace effectively and that’s what One Piece did. They used their slow pace effectively. We got an idea of what this world was like, how it works, what our characters are like as well as where they come from, and we see where they fit on the totem pole that is the world.
Interesting Characters
One of the big things that everyone compliments One Piece on is its amazing cast of characters. There’s no wasted character in this series. Every character whether it be a main or a side character serves a purpose. For example, Vivi. Rather than her just being this one-time side character trying to save her country we get a bit of backstory into her such as how she’s a tomboy and how she tries to bare the burdens of her country by herself. Even though she was only around for one arc this was a character that many people came to like and connect with and she gets a call back in the later chapters as we see what she’s doing and how she’s been. The main characters are no different. You instantly connect with the Strawhat crew and at times even see yourself in them. The dynamic and chemistry they have with each other is great. Every time you see them interact with each other you wish you could sit down and have a drink with them. None of the main characters are useless either, each one contributes something to the crew and gets their chance to shine in each arc. When people first saw Nami they thought she was going to be a useless female who was there for fanservice but in truth she’s one of the smartest members of the crew, the voice of reason, the navigator who keeps them safe, and when push comes to shove she’s not afraid to fight and actually does have fighting skills. Yes, I admit overtime she started to become a fanservice character but she’s still useful to the crew and isn’t a useless character. Everybody thought Usopp was going to be a useless character because he’s just a liar with a slingshot but over the years he’s become one of the most popular characters in the series. He’s the guy who’s in way over his head. He’s surrounded by some very strong and dangerous crew members but he has a dream of becoming a great pirate like his dad and make his lies become true tales. Despite being physically weak he’s quite smart and resourceful. He makes inventions, he’s cunning, and he’s an excellent sniper for the crew as his sniping skills have helped the crew out a number of times and have even saved the life of two of his crewmates.
Another great thing about these characters is development. Development on the part of the main characters and the side characters. One of the major problems I see in manga is that authors tend to spend more time developing its main character and not developing anyone else. This was a big problem in Bleach. In Naruto it was a problem as well but not as bad as Bleach as they did develop some characters. In One Piece not only do they develop Luffy but they also develop the rest of the crew members. We get time to focus on the other members of the crew to show us that one they’re growing just like Luffy and two establishing their own presence in the series. Each crew member will usually have their own fight in the arc to show off their skills and to show us that they aren’t just useless baggage. They all serve a purpose on the ship. Some are fighters who are on the frontlines and the others are strategist who fight from a distance and come up with plans for the group. It’s a nice balance. Villains also get time to develop and serve a purpose in the series. Buggy one of the first baddies of the manga isn’t just some no name pirate with a bounty meant to oppose the crew, he’s actually a deep character with plenty of experience. As the series goes on we find out that not only did he serve on the same ship as Shanks but he was a member of Roger’s crew. This guy actually sailed with the pirate king and even though he’s not strong he has a knack for being at the right place at the right time, saying the right thing at the right time, and just being on terms with some pretty powerful influential people in the world. He went from being a low-level pirate to a warlord in the series in just one arc. While focusing on the main character is important it’s also important to focus on your side characters and develop them as well. Any author that can develop all its characters and keep them entertaining is a testament to how good the author is.
It brings out so many emotions in you
One Piece has a lot of funny and memorable moments that we all love and remember. Whether it be the characters interacting with each other, seeing a cool action scene, or just learning something interesting about a character or an event is memorable. But the series also has sad moments that tug at our heart strings. For me one of the saddest moments in the series was the death of the Merry-Go. One Piece is the only series to get me sad over the death of a ship. The Merry-Go wasn’t just some ship that got them from point A to point B it was an important part of their crew and everyone treated it as it was their home away from home. It was given to them by a friend and like I said before it was their home away from home. It was the place where they could all board, feel safe, and accepted by everyone so when you see them give the ship a Viking funeral it really does bring a tear to your eye because it’s like they’re burning down their own home. Another sad moment in the series is the death of Ace and Whitebeard. While he was only seen for a few moments early in the series Ace was becoming a fan favorite. He was strong, cool, badass, laidback, and he was Luffy’s older brother so of course we would like him. Whitebeard was the same way. He only had a few scenes in the series but they built him up so well. He was old but he was a giant who had the respect of all his men who went as far as calling him father. He went toe to toe with Roger multiple times in the past and even had a chance to know the location of One Piece but he choose not to know out of respect for his friend and rival Roger. During the Marine war arc we got to learn everything about these two and see why we liked them so much. We find out Ace is Roger’s son and see the lengths that Whitebeard will go to save him. Even though Whitebeard died he died protecting his crew and died standing on his feet with not a single scar, cut, or wound on his back showing us not once did he attempt to run away from his enemies. Ace also dies in a shocking way as well. After Luffy batter and bruise enters the war he manages to save Ace only to get saved by him at the end and watch Ace die right in front of him. The look of shock and sadness on Luffy’s face is amazing and for the second time Luffy is forced to face the reality that he failed to protect someone precious to him.
Another thing that brings out the emotions in you is the bond the characters share with each other. They care about each other so much and the way the friendship between the characters is shown throughout the series is so amazing and special to everyone who reads it. At the end of the day you can tell that everyone in the Strawhat crew cares about each other and their dreams. The selfless actions and sacrifices the crew makes for each other and allies is out of this world. It’s enough to make anyone cry now that I think about it. In one arc the crew declares war on the world government just to save one of their friends, Luffy punches out a world noble just because he hurt one of his friends, and in the current arc the crew is going up against one of the strongest and most dangerous pirates in the world just to rescue one of their friends. If that doesn’t show you how much their friendship means to each other than I don’t know what will.
Brilliant fight scenes and storytelling
The fights scenes are great. Some of the best action scenes ever drawn and in such amazing detail. Sometimes we’ll have devil fruit vs devil fruit, normal vs devil fruit, or normal vs normal fights and they’re all entertaining to see. No matter what category they fit in the fights will always be interesting to see and it’s fun to see how the fighters match up to each other. There are times where you think one fighter has the advantage over the other fighter because that guy has a devil fruit power or because his devil fruit power can do this, this guy’s devil fruit power won’t help him in the fight. But once the fight comes we see that it doesn’t play out the way you think it will. There’s this one character who’s basically a poison man and anybody who touches him will be poisoned but guess what there’s a devil fruit user out there who’s a wax man and his powers completely nullify the poison. There’s another fight where Luffy faces this guy who has a slow-mo beam and you think Luffy is gonna dominate this guy but no the guy actually manages to catch Luffy off guard a couple of times and use his slow-mo beam to his advantage. One of my personal favorite fights is against Luffy and Usopp where even though Luffy outmatches him in everything Usopp almost manages to beat Luffy because he understands how Luffy fights and how he uses his power and turns that against him. Totally unexpected and cool at the same time which leads to an interesting fight where the characters have a chance to win and the battles are unpredictable which makes them all the more fun to see how they play out.
Finally, the storytelling. One of the best things about One Piece is that almost every event has a purpose in the story no matter how small or insignificant it may seem at the time it plays a part in the story to come. For example, there’s one chapter where Ace fights against Blackbeard a traitor to the Whitebeard pirates, loses and gets captured by Blackbeard. Blackbeard hands him over to the world government and many chapters later this leads to one of the biggest events in the manga where the Marines take on Whitebeard’s crew and wind up killing Whitebeard and Ace. At the time nobody really thought about this fight all that much and pushed it to the side only to find out that fight would be the trigger to one of the biggest events in the series. This makes each chapter you read important and makes you pay close attention to everything that happens in the series so you don’t miss anything important. Another great thing about the stories is that they teach you some interesting life lessons. The Mermaid island arc is good story about racism and how dangerous and terrible it can be on a society and what happens when you try to ignore it. You also learn life lessons from the characters such as Luffy teaching you how important his friends are to him and offering a new perspective on what leadership is about, Zoro teaches us not to give up no matter how painful something may be, Nami shows us that women can be strong, smart, and beautiful at the same time and that you should live your life the way you think is right, Usopp shows us it’s okay to be scared but don’t let that stop you from fighting for your ideals on life, Sanji shows us how to respect ladies as well as everyone around us, Chopper teaches us not to judge people by what they look like, Robin shows us that no one is truly alone in this world and if we keep searching we’ll find a place to call home, Franky teaches us about owning up to our mistakes in the past and that changing yourself is a part of life, and Brook teaches us the importance of keeping our promises no matter how foolish they may seem to others. But the two major lessons they teach us is to never give up and follow your dreams no matter what.
One Piece over the years has given me so many great memories and has taught me many life lessons that I have applied to my life today and will continue to teach me new things as long as I read it. If you’re not a fan of One Piece I understand, that’s fine. Some people like fast-paced stories while others like slow-paced stories but don’t ever say One Piece is a terrible manga because the lessons its taught me as well as the rest of the fanbase are lessons we’ll remember and apply for the rest of our lives. I’ll end by saying this. Oda has told the ending of One Piece to a child that passed away a few years ago from cancer and when asked what he thought about the ending he simply replied with tears and a smile on his face: “One Piece is beautiful”. A dying child called One Piece beautiful. Let that sink in. Happy birthday One Piece. Thanks for all the great memories, I look forward to sailing the seas with you more. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com