One Piece

I've followed this series for going on 15 years and it never fails to amaze me. From the characters to the world building, the details are everything here. Until almost 500 episodes in, I honestly forgot about the One Piece, because there is so much more going on. The emotional impact of each saga, and the naturally feel good vibe of this series can probably cure depression (I know it cured mine).

At first glance, I like many others, skipped over this series because of the animation and overall goofiness that seemed to engulf it. I couldn't have made a bigger mistake. Don't be fooled, just like the real world, this world shows a coloful fun facade, but there is a much darker reality that lies underneath. The world is a very cruel and unfair place, but that can't deter you from achieving your dream and exploring all it has to offer.

The main protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, embodies the human spirit as much as any character in fiction, and just like his rubber ability, he always bends but never breaks. His fiery passion and indomitable spirit to become "King of the Pirates" inspires those around him, and his fun loving, free spirited personality and compassion for his crew make him an excellent leader.

The crew itself are full of different personalities and I almost guarantee that you'll relate to at least one of them. Each bringing their own strengths to the crew. As a fan of the original Dragon Ball, I loved the teamwork aspect and sadly, it's something that didn't carry over as well to DBZ, but was somewhat redeemed in Super. By which I mean, there was a point where Goku and Vegeta vastly surpassed everyone else. Whereas in One Piece, Luffy is the Goku of this series, but no one survives in this world alone and strength comes in all different forms, not just raw power. The strongest crew will find the One Piece, not the strongest person.

Eiichiro Oda and his team have been producing chapter after chapter almost every week for over 22 years. The love and detail he puts into everything is noteworthy, and the anime should receive recognition for the voice acting and excellent score, despite how some people feel about the animation and pacing. It's still better than most.

Whether you decide to read the manga, watch the anime or both, take your time and enjoy one of the greatest adventure series ever made.

One Piece takes place in an alternate world where pirates rule the seas and anything can happen. Gold Roger was the Pirate King who had fame, fortune, and power. But when he was captured he was sentenced to be executed. On the day he was executed he revealed his One Piece treasure is hidden somewhere at The Grand Line.

This made people set sail and try to hunt down the One Piece treasure. Many have failed and never found the location of it. But over the years it's drawn attention and formations on hundreds of Pirate groups who seek the title of Pirate King. The whole world has entered the Golden Era of Pirates.

On one island lived a boy named Luffy, who is friends with a pirate named Captain Shanks. He looks up to Shanks as a hero. And would do anything to be part of his crew. But he was too young to become a pirate or part of any crew. One day Luffy encountered the Devil Fruit. He ate it and obtain the power the fruit hold. It gave him the ability to stretch with a body made of rubber. But once you eat the Devil's Fruit, you're cursed with the powers forever. And can never be able to swim again. After almost drowning in the water, his friend Shanks saved his life. As Shanks departs with his crew, he gave Luffy his prized straw hat. He told him to keep it with him, until they meet again. While Luffy was left feeling sad but honored at the same time. And his new destiny in life, will be to start up his own pirate crew, go to the Grand Line, find the One Piece treasure, to become the new Pirate King.

A few years later, Luffy starts his quest to find him some friends for his pirate crew. Throughout the series, he'll find new lands, new allies, treasure, danger, and plenty of villains to face off. But with some faith and the powers of the Devil's Fruit. Luffy will sure to succeed his goal in becoming the Greatest Pirate that ever lived.

Comic made back in the late 90s, and the anime series has been around since the earlier days of SpongeBob. I first heard of it when it came on the FoxBox back in late 2004. I wasn't entirely into many anime back then. And I never saw the English Dub of the series, as I found it to be an OK series. After reading on the internet that the dub is heavily edited and nothing like the original. I grew interest on how good it is. I read the first volume of the Manga series. And liked how the story was going.

Wasn't until January 2007, when I finally start to check out the Anime. Only I viewed the episodes that are subtitled, uncut, and uncensored. And I grew to love it. The animation is very well done, it's funny, it's action packed, and it's dramatic sometimes. I don't even consider it a kid's cartoon, when it's more aimed to teenagers. But with an interesting cast of characters, and over a hundred secondary/miscellaneous characters. One Piece is indeed a great Anime next to Case Closed, Naurto, & other ongoing series.

The reason why it's very underrated was because of 4Kids being the first company to distribute the anime. Which they edited and censored a lot. And many flaws in the dubbing. Such as voices that don't suit the characters' personalities. Too many pirate accents and catch-phrases that get old instantly. All the violence, blood, alchol, drugs, and nudity were altered and removed. All the weapons were altered to look harmless. 4Kids spent more time edditting than spending time on the scripts. Plus a lot of filler and small episodes were removed. And most of them were too important to take out in the series.

The good thing is 4kids no longer owns rights to One Piece. I knew they would drop it, because they did a poor job in introducing the series to English speaking countries.

With over 300 episodes, I can tell that One Piece is really big in Japan. I've seen all the current episodes. And can't get enough of it.

So those who like their Anime uncut, should highly recommend seeing One Piece uncut by fan subs or Funimation's release on the series.

This anime is so cool. It's probably the best anime I've ever watched so far. The main character Luffy in this anime has taught me a meaningful lesson in life. He taught me that if you decide to accomplish something, you should put everything on it and fight for your goal till the last moment of your life. This anime is awesome, hilarious, and touching. It brings me a lot of laughing from the funny parts, and tears from the touching moments (yes, I really did shatter my tears). It's really an awesome anime, I've been watching from episode 1 - 144 so far, and I never found even a second of the anime boring. I highly recommend every one to watch this excellence anime.

On first glance, One Piece is not too different from other Anime series. It has hilarious, roll on the floor from laughing humor and so much action it makes you wonder if the crew ever gets tired.

But in its core, One Piece is about something else: it's about nakama. Nakama, a Japanese term generally referring to comrades, receives a completely new feeling in One Piece. Stand by your nakama, believe in them no matter what happens, no matter what anyone does or says about them. Help them in any situation, even if it means putting your own life on the line. With you nakama, you can do anything. And it is this extreme sense of comradry that makes you fall in love with the characters and wish you could be a part of the strange little group.

It also teaches how humans are allowed to have flaws; in fact, all people do: seemingly perfect Swordsman and first mate Roronoa Zoro has no sense of direction whatsoever and can easily get himself lost on any one way street, navigator Nami is absolutely crazy for money, cook Sanji loses his mind once he sees a lady.. and the list goes on and on. But despite these flaws, they continue fighting. For each other and with each other. If one crewmember can't do it, somebody else will be right there for support.

If you're looking for a funny, action-filled series whose main characters easily grow to your heart and feel like family: go for One Piece. You will not regret it!

I watch a lot of fan subbed anime and occasionally watch some dubbed anime if there is nothing else good on TV. Well one day while watching Toonami in the UK i stumbled across show called one piece. It wasn't amazingly good, there were obvious problems with the dub, but it was enjoyable none the less. After i'd watched few episodes i started to become curious about the characters and the origins of the story. I did a little bit of research on the web and found out that the version of One Piece i was watching had been butchered from its original format. There were A lot of sources that all said the same thing, that the original One Piece was brilliant and that the dub was nothing in comparison. I liked the show and wanted to see what Uncut One Piece was like. After a little more searching i found some fantastic fansubs and my real One Piece experience started. What can i say, Japanese One Piece is one of the best stories ever told and is by far my favourite show to watch. I look forward everyweek to watching the next episode when the fansub is released. 280 episodes into the series and its still as great as it was when it first started.

A poor dub led me to discover my favourite show, and so if nothing else, the dub will let new fans like me discover One Piece.

Lets all hope this adventure continues for a long time.