Anyone seen the anime One Piece?

[abcqwerty123]

So, I am not sure if anyone watches anime but I was wondering if anyone watches One Piece. This may sound silly but I have been watching the anime One Piece and reading the manga One Piece for over half of my life now and I think it really helped me keep from being completely brainwashed by society.

 

One Piece is a story about the great age of pirates. A man named Gol D. Roger was considered the wealthiest pirate in the world and was given the title of Pirate King. He eventually was caught and as he was about to be executed, he gave a speech about how he left everything in one piece. This began the age of pirates. People from all around the world set out in search for one piece in order to become the new pirate king. The story mainly takes place around a pirate name Luffy and his crew. Luffy wants to become the pirate king and each of his crew mates has a goal of their own.

 

Growing up, I was what I would consider a typical kid at that time. I played a bunch of different sports, was always outside running around town with friends, school was lame but I still did good in it so I wouldn't get in trouble for ditching, and so forth. Then when I was maybe 12 years old, about 2 years into having my first computer, I started getting into reading unique stories. I never really cared for most things I found on American tv because I felt everything was so simple and below childish. But the internet gave me access to websites where I could download manga (Japanese comics) and one of the first ones I got into was One Piece. At first, it started off a little slow, but I couldn't stop. Eventually, I caught up to the weekly releases and back then, I believe it was many weeks behind the actually Japanese release dates. I knew exactly when each chapter would be released online and I would come home from school and begin downloading it. As I got older, I started seeing One Piece in the real world.

 

"OMG! You are crazy! How can you compare a unrealistic fake goofy story like that to the real world!?" Well, One Piece has many things in it that are completely fake. For instance, they have fruits called devil fruits and when you eat one, you gain a power in return for basically being a weight in the water with no power, aka you can't swim. The normal human capabilities in the story are out of this world too. People can kid the air so hard that they can run on it, or created a slash that cuts buildings in half, and much more. The story is also extremely goofy. So much of the story doesn't take itself serious and can seem extremely ridiculous. However, even with all that, I learned and realized more about the real world from this story then I ever did in school, from my family and friends, and pretty much anything else. The main character, Luffy, wants to become the Pirate King because he believes that the free-est person in the world is the Pirate King. Him and his crew are hunted down by the world government because they don't abide by the ridiculous laws the the world government sets for them. The world government is considered moral and righteous but they continue to commit evil acts world wide. I can go on and on about this kind of stuff, but my point is that growing up watching One Piece helped me to see all the problems in the real world. In One Piece, in the first few episodes, one of the main characters is arrested and tied up to be executed because he didn't bow or something to the head of the marines on the island (been awhile so the reason may be something else). Then in the real world, I see my dad get pulled over by a cop and when my dad rolls his eyes because he was going 2 mph over the speed limit, the cop gets extremely angry, asks if he just rolled his eyes at the law, and then writes him a fat ticket when the cop was going way faster to just catch up to my dad on the freeway from a dead stop. This kind of stuff made me question things and even though I was always confused and didn't really understand what I understand now until I saw Stefan Molyneux and Penn Jillette a couple years ago, it still helped me keep a somewhat open mind to reality and things that went on.

 

Annywaayyyssss! Maybe I am nuts. This is just what I think One Piece did for me growing up, aside from just being a peaceful escape from a terrible childhood.

 

As for what I actually rate One Piece... One Piece is a drawn comic/animation and yet it will make you laugh uncontrollably, cry, pump you up, and basically feel every emotion you can possible feel in every single episode. There is so much goofiness followed by extremely serious moments and events that you will never expect. We currently have 647 episodes of anime and 749 chapters of manga that have been going for about 18-ish years I believe. After all of that, it stays as the number 1 manga in sales and top watched anime, and there is a very good reason. The story has no holes. The One Piece world is HUGE and you cannot predict what will happen next yet everything that happens makes sense. Every character, even side characters you don't expect to be seen more then once or twice, will reappear multiple times throughout the entire series. Time actually passes in the story, the characters, and everything else. You can truly see how each event affects every character that it should affect. I mean, there isn't a shortage of great things I can say about this story, and only a few things I can say bad about it. For example... If you are so serious that you look at anything fun or goofy as childish and beneath you, then you cannot accept this story. The manga art has been fantastic since day one considering that Oda (The creator) has been writing/drawing each chapter for a weekly release for about 18-ish years. However, the anime is very poorly animated at the start and slowly progresses as it goes. Aside from that, I can't think of anything else that is bad about it. Overall though, if you are looking for a great story that truly is pushing for a world of moral freedom and have a little extra time on your hands, I highly suggest reading the manga or watching the anime. Just a couple chapters or episodes a week, or even a month. One Piece is in my opinion, the most creative/well written story I have ever experienced.

 

Anndddd, back to my original question... Has anyone read/seen One Piece and if so, what do you think about it? 

[Culain]

I saw a few episodes of it when they aired the dub almost a decade ago, couldn't really get into it. But there was definite influence in my upbringing from Japanese media. In almost every video game or anime, there is some form of organized religion or corrupt government that is used to control a culture and have them wage in-discriminate wars of racism against each other, and it is always message in all these games to look past the hatred to the real threats that are propagating these disasters.

 

For example the Gundam franchise of anime series has portrayed the same story for decades. A group of youth who get caught up in a war, they fight and fight to kill and survive only to discover that their actions have led to the loss of more and more life which repeats the cycle of hatred. In some more recent series such as Gundam 00, it starts with the main crew having access to highly advanced advanced weaponry, they belong to a neutral faction in which they try to forcefully intervene and prevent all wars globally by destroying entire armies of any government that tries to start a conflict, this however just leads to the formation of a giant one world government that pools it's army together.

[abcqwerty123]

I saw a few episodes of it when they aired the dub almost a decade ago, couldn't really get into it. But there was definite influence in my upbringing from Japanese media. In almost every video game or anime, there is some form of organized religion or corrupt government that is used to control a culture and have them wage in-discriminate wars of racism against each other, and it is always message in all these games to look past the hatred to the real threats that are propagating these disasters.

 

For example the Gundam franchise of anime series has portrayed the same story for decades. A group of youth who get caught up in a war, they fight and fight to kill and survive only to discover that their actions have led to the loss of more and more life which repeats the cycle of hatred. In some more recent series such as Gundam 00, it starts with the main crew having access to highly advanced advanced weaponry, they belong to a neutral faction in which they try to forcefully intervene and prevent all wars globally by destroying entire armies of any government that tries to start a conflict, this however just leads to the formation of a giant one world government that pools it's army together.

 

Aww man. You most likely saw the 4kids dub which they messed up a lot on, but you should really give it another shot if you are still into anime. Like I said, it is the most well written story I have ever experienced and there is a lot of silliness and fantasy, but there is a lot of things in it that show how the real world truly is as well.

 

That is awesome though. It is hard for me to find people who are into moral freedom as well as anime/manga. Or at least it is hard for me to find people who will admit they are into both haha.

 

I have only personally watched Gundam 00 and I enjoyed it. I agree though with you that anime does seem to encompass a lot of the real world problems and to me, many times, it is more logically handled. Like, the main characters by the end will usually be on the more moral/logical end, pointing out what is wrong with what everyone thinks is right, and I guess that is why I kind of love anime/manga more then any other cultured entertainment that I have seen.

[labmath2]

I have seen a lot of anime, personally i like ones that posit less of a good and bad character as i feel the world is not so simple. One of my all time best is death note because it features the complexity (with psychological focus) of most struggles. A lot of thing have to go wrong for evil to persist and a lot of things have to go right for good to persist. The murderer Light Yagami who believes he is doing good in the world by killing off a few bad people, although occasional collateral is permissible for the good work to continue. The detective L who could care less why someone is murdering others, he simply wants to solve the case and would himself go to great lengths, including putting others in danger, to solve the mystery.

[abcqwerty123]

I have seen a lot of anime, personally i like ones that posit less of a good and bad character as i feel the world is not so simple. One of my all time best is death note because it features the complexity (with psychological focus) of most struggles. A lot of thing have to go wrong for evil to persist and a lot of things have to go right for good to persist. The murderer Light Yagami who believes he is doing good in the world by killing off a few bad people, although occasional collateral is permissible for the good work to continue. The detective L who could care less why someone is murdering others, he simply wants to solve the case and would himself go to great lengths, including putting others in danger, to solve the mystery.

I agree, Deathnote is a great anime. Very well written and a true psychological thriller. If you like Deathnote, you should have a looksie at Code Geass. In my opinion, it is even better then Deathnote and by the time you reach the end of the series, the last couple episodes are just like, WOWWWWWWW!!! Haha very very good series.

 

You said you like ones that posit less of a good and bad character, but I am not sure what you mean. I am going to take a guess and say you mean you don't like the black and whites but more of the gray. Well, in One Piece, the world government is looked at like the morally righteous, like how government is looked out nowadays. Pirates are looked at like completely evil criminals who all need to be executed, like how anyone who breaks a law in the world is looked at today. Just like the real world, there are bad/evil pirates who steal, kill and more, but then there are ones like the main characters who just don't want to be enslaved by the world government but don't cause harm accept when defending themselves. As for how you see the world, I am not sure, but I wouldn't say that there is black and white in One Piece or any anime/manga that I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot.

[MaxM]

I have seen all of one piece I saw it all in a month around 2 years ago and have been keeping up to date with it (anime not manga) and I love the show.It's is a very unique show especially for kids as the main baddies are the world government. Very few if any media shows any government as evil. They're are portrayed as normal gov to the public but very bad to the viewer and protagonists and the world gov also has some good people within trying and failing to do whats right. Much like what many people who can see gov for what it really is in real life can see. Being anti-gov/anarchist myself I love this aspect of the show.However, like all kids/teen shows it relies heavily on violence to solve its problems and fantasy (magically powering up/ training/ gaining magic powers) to become strong enough to take on and defeat the baddies with all the power this is the fantasy part of the show which kids and teen and adults even like myself enjoy. That being said its one of the few shows of its genre to solve problems without using violence and instead just being nice not much negotiation however.Violence is how 99 percent of all fiction media solves its problems, through violence and thats because most people don't know solve big problems in any other way or negotiation. That being said negotiation isn't very entertaining. Or is it! I would like any show to pull it off.Not sure how many others fell about the government portrayed as villainous as this show and relate it to reality but I wonder I really do.The entire show about the main protagonist is trying to be free so he has to be strong enough to be the boss which naturally he ends up pitted against the world gov eventually. It's completely opposite to Japanese culture so it is very strange to be so popular. I think its the most popular/ monotized anime. Perhaps the jap instinctively know they aren't very free and subconsciously live the idea of being free from oppression.thats my 2cents worth. Didn't expect to talk about one piece on here but why not.