There's two big things I avoid when checking out manga/anime: shonen series and long-running series. I avoid shonen series because honestly, most of them kinda suck. And I avoid long-running series because it takes forever to get caught up with it all, and it typically isn't worth it anyway because when a series runs for a long time, usually what happens is the author runs starts running out of good ideas and the series goes to shit. Funnily enough, both these things coincide with the three big shonen series: Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. Considering how ridiculously bad Bleach is right now, it seems my prejudice isn't really just a prejudice.
To my surprise however, I found that fellow Pseudoroid writer Taylor was a huge OPfag, and he heartily recommended the series to me. Since he (usually) doesn't steer me wrong, I decided to give it a try.
Most of you probably know what the gist of One Piece is: the quest of a young man, Monkey D. Luffy, to sail the seas and become "The Pirate King", the greatest pirate ever. Due to eating a "Devil Fruit", a mysterious fruit which bestows those who eat it with magical powers, he has become a "rubber man", able to stretch any of his limbs as if it were rubber.
While on his journey he builds himself a small but very memorable crew, including the former pirate bounty hunter swordsman Roronoa Zoro, the lithe and money-loving navigator Nami, the lying-prone big-nosed sharpshooter Usopp, the talking shape-shifting reindeer doctor Tony Tony Chopper, among various others. Throughout the various trials and tribulations he and his crew face, they all grow stronger as combatants and individuals and gain increasingly higher bounties from the World Government, who has since branded Luffy as an extremely powerful and dangerous individual.
After sitting through 594 chapters, I have to say I'm very impressed. I have never seen a shonen manga that has run for over a decade and yet has managed to keep itself together so well. Oda either has amazing foresight and planning (considering the fact that he wouldn't have a way of knowing that One Piece would be the massive succes it is, he wouldn't necessarily have to feel obligated to plan so far in advance), or he's ridiculously good at spotting opportunities to tie his story together.
Oda's art is very distinct, with highly caricatured and stylized designs that help make each character memorable and unique. Design aside, the characters themselves are also diverse and likable, from the simple-minded protagonist Luffy, to the comic relief villain Buggy the Clown, to the kickboxing womanizing chef Sanji, to the sinister and ruthless criminal boss Crocodile, every character is different and instantly recognizable.
It's not the best manga ever, but for a shonen manga, it's entertaining and surprisingly well-written. The series still has a ways to go, as Oda has gone on record to say that it is only about halfway done, which means there is still a lot in store left for the fans. I am definitely interested in seeing how it will all end up.
If you like shonen manga, you will definitely like One Piece.
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