ONE PIECE
Arrrrr, mateys!
Review by: Henry "The Pirate King" Qian (contact e-mail Sesshoumaru134@aol.com)
Length: 186 episodes (at time of review) and counting
Genre: Action-adventure, fighting
Watched: 40 episodes, subbed, all the way up to the beginning of the Arlong saga and filler episodes of the Arabasta saga
The writing quality overall is fantastic. Seeing as how it was all drawn and written by Echiiro Oda with lots of research on pirates, One Piece basically delivers the most action packed, never-a-dull-moment and most breathtaking writing ever. Plus the writing links the events in One Piece together very nicely which I think is a definite turn-on to this anime series.
Plot synopsis: Gold Roger the "Pirate King" had achieved it all. Wealth, fame, and power had all been his. Not surprisingly, the final words he spoke before they lopped off his head inspired adventurers throughout the world to sail the seas. "My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Look for it, I left it all at that place." Thus a great age of pirates emerged. Now enter Monkey D. Luffy a 17 year-old pirate who's sailing the seas in pursuit of "One Piece," Gold Roger's treasure, to become the pirate king, with only a small boat in the beginning, but a crew of 8 in the end with the brand new Going Merry ship.
Artwork: The artwork for One Piece is grade A for a 1999 anime, which was the year it was released by Toei Animation who made the artwork and animation for the series. I do see some slip-ups by them though during the later filler (91-101) episodes, though; must have been because Toei replaced some animators and artists. But the artwork still retains its beautiful form on the characters and backgrounds despite all that.
Music: A mixed bag of genres for One Piece, Most of the songs are done by masterful artists such as Ruppina who did Violet Flow and Tomato Cube, and who did Watashi no ei nu yo, or something like that (I can't remember the song's full name). Overall the music can make you cry, laugh, sing along with it, etc., so the soundtracks are very colorful and never dull.
Characters: Now this is the part about the anime I like the most. First off we have Monkey D. Luffy, a not-so-bright pirate with the power of a rubberman he obtained from eating the Gomu Gomu Fruit, one of the many Devil's fruit of the sea. Basically what this does is give Luffy the power of a rubberman, but in return he'll never be able to swim for the rest of his life. Luffy is very lovable and funny with his antics and fighting skills (a.k.a. Gomu Gomu Style) and definitely not one of the brightest commanding captains of the Going Merry. Next we have Zoro, a swordsman who wants to become the greatest because of a promise he made with his childhood friend Kuina 8 years ago. Zoro 
practices Santoryuu (3 sword style), so of course he has 3 katanas with him. He puts two in his hands and one in his mouth to make his attacks seem faster and much more furious. Zoro is serious at times, and most of the other times he's relaxed and calm, and very understanding as well, qualities that make him adored by many. Thirdly we have Nami, the orange-haired, sly thief who steals from pirates and the navigator of the Going Merry. She's one who might steal your wallet when you're not looking or take off with your car, ship, etc. But underneath all that slyness and thievery she has a very sad past and that makes me feel sad for her. Kicking things off in fourth we have Ussop, the "Coward and Liar" of the Going Merry. This guy's father is a great shot on Shank's pirate crew and his name is Yassop. Of course Ussop tries to be like him by hitting random opponents with projectiles he made himself. He mostly runs away and lies most of the time as shown during the KuroNeko pirates arc when he first appears, but sometimes he'll stay and fight. However, his lying and cowardly actions sometimes get on my nerves. Heading in fifth is Sanji, "a love cook" some may call him because this blonde haired cook flirts with the beautiful ladies A LOT. Sanji also has the bad habit of smoking, but the cigarette sure does make him look more badass. He worked in the Floating Restaurant Baratie when Luffy first met him and preparing meals for the crew is what he mostly does after joining the Luffy Pirates; that is, if you don't count in flirting with Nami, and beating the crap out of Luffy sometimes for robbing them of their food supply overnight. Sanji fights, too. He has an all-feet kicking style he learned from the owner, Red Leg Zeff. Of course the cook doesn't really show the style until Episodes 25-27, when he used it against the Iron Wall Pearl and Gin of the Don Krieg Pirates. Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention: Sanji has a saying that no person should starve to death even when they don't have any money, and that's why he's willing to cook for anyone, even those who don't have any cash at all, for free. Now there's a very kind soul.
Luffy's relationship with his pirate crew starts out a little tight at first, but eventually they all get to know and trust him a little more each time. Luffy has this kind of "strange charm" that no one can resist, so he's pretty good when handling his crew. The villains in One Piece are very well developed, too, and the creator, Echiiro Oda, made them very badass as well, but I'm not going to list all of them, cause it just takes up too much time. In a nutshell the characters are very easy to understand and easy to like, and there is also a lot of explaining of the characters' pasts as well.
Plot: Luffy and his crew set off to a new destination with the Going Merry, there's a problem in the place they're going, they find out who the bad guy is, and they eventually kick the crap out of him with a little bit of flashbacks in between. Sounds boring, right? Actually, it's not like that at all. The plots are always different and very exciting as well. Only problem I have with it is that it's like the basic shonen plot, but it's very easy to understand and fun to watch.
CHICKS!: One Piece doesn't have too many chicks, except Nami. This orange-haired beauty will steal your breath away and leave you begging for more. She's sly, crafty, and very flirty at times, plus she can kick ass, too. What's not to like about this girl? Next we have Kuina, Zoro's childhood friend. She's a very nice, black-haired, katana-wielding girl. It's too bad she died, though, before she got a chance to grow up. Then there's Tashigi, a chick believed to be the grown-up version of Kuina. This black-haired, black-eyed, drool-worthy, Asian-looking beauty is a Marine Sergeant in the Navy, with looks to kill under those glasses, and a katana as well. She doesn't appear till after episode 48, though. Finally we have Vivi, a gentle blue haired princess from Arabasta. This princess is generally very rich and wealthy, though she can still kick ass and take names, so if you like princesses that can fight this gal is just right for you.
Overall: The fights in the anime are very well coordinated and fast paced with only 10% talk and 90% ass-kicking; not like DBZ, where it's the other way around. Plus, the Luffy Pirates always pull off new attacks on their enemies. In case any of you are wondering, the length of the anime is almost 200 episodes and is still going strong with 5 movies, 3 movie shorts, 3 TV specials and one OAV, and lots of merchandising.
IN A NUTSHELL:
+ Good plot
+ Fantastic artwork that would blow you away
+ An explanation to the characters
+ Badass villains
+ Easy to love characters
+ Great action and fight sequences
+ High-quality chicks
+ Ass-kicking Luffy Pirate crew
+ Fine quality writing and research done on pirates
+ Soundtrack will blow you away
- Plot has been done before in various other shonen anime
- A little too long
Rating: 10/10
Return to Index