One Piece - Review
Link to the author's (E. Oda) personal website
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Type: Illustrated
Tags:
- Average Age of Main Characters (18)
- Length (10 / 10)
Link to Goodreads
Blurb: An alternate version of Earth, and one that is currently in the midst of the 'Golden Age of Pirates'. Ruthless cut-throat pirates rule the seas, and only the strongest have the chance to lay claim to the mythical treasure known as 'One Piece' that was left behind by the greatest pirate of them all Gold Roger. Years after the death of Gold Roger, a young boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy has dreams of raising his own crew, finding One Piece, and declaring himself as Pirate King. After eating a devil fruit that grants Luffy the power to make his body like rubber, it gives him enormous strength and agility. When Luffy finally comes of age, he sets sail from Foosha Village in East Blue and sets upon his grand adventure to become the next Pirate King.
Review: This is currently, and is likely to be for the rest of my life, the piece of literature that I have read over the longest period of time. I have read this since I was a kid, and it continues to deliver a weekly dose of happiness to me.
The one piece world is so rich in story telling, with the setting of a pirate crew jumping from island to island enabling the author to get as creative as they want with each new location. The author does a beautiful job of stringing along plot points over the course of decades. This is achieved by tying the general mysteries of the world government and the one piece to the progress of the personal journeys of the straw hats. The story for me at least has never felt stale, although fishman island did come close.
One piece is also a spectacular example of how to portray happiness and wonder. I think the setting lends itself well to that, with so many near unimaginable things being discovered. Such wonder is only possible via the almost relentless positivity of some from the main cast. This is often stupid, but it still cheers me up. That is not to say that there aren't bits and pieces of intense sadness and terrible moments wrapped up in the story.
A big factor in what sets one piece apart from some of its contemporaries is how the plot did not need to be artificially extended or an extra story added on. Some portions of the story were clearly not completely fleshed out when beginning, e.g., haki, but that does not actually affect the direction of the story. This is a large scale story that always had the capacity to be ridiculously long. It will be a terrible shame when it ends. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in manga, or for someone looking for a very large adventure story.