One Piece’s manga is the best way to experience the story

When I was done reading One Piece, I felt a 1,000-chapter hole in my heart. Hungering for more, I decided that anime would be a good way to watch some of my favourite moments. The Straw Hat crew was bursting through open waters fully animated. I wanted to find out what they looked like. The manga was a wonderful way to explore the same world I have come to know and love.

However, when I looked at the animation I was disappointed.

It was hard to watch the Straw Hat crew celebrate victories with buckets and colorful characters in joyous scenes. The perfectly paced, frame-by-frame battles became long scenes that stretched across whole episodes. The series’ pirate hero, Luffy (whose superpower it is to stretch like rubber), was surprising stiff in earlier episodes.

That’s not to say I’m here to absolutely roast the One Piece anime. It’s over 1,000 episodes long, and for any show to make it that far is a feat. Like any anime of that size, it has its high and low points — I won’t hold its early-2000s animation against it. It’s still a great story and I still got giddy during the big reveals. Even rewatching an arc helped me to see details I didn’t notice while I was reading.

But here’s what I told my little brother while watching: “This is fun. But you should just go read the manga.”

A black and white manga panel from One Piece. The image shows a detailed drawing of seven characters staring out at a stormy ocean. Their are backs turned towards the reader and each has this own outfit on. The line work layers lots of details on top of each other shows giant waves crashing, wind howling, and rain. There’s bold text in Japanese font that says the sound effect: Beb-beng!! to indicate the roaring sea. In the distance we can make out an island shaped like a skull with horns.

This year’s update One PieceThe 25-year-old epic follows Luffy, who is a pirate with the ability to stretch like rubber and the Straw Hats that are his pirate crew. Like many shonen protagonists, Luffy’s goal is very simple: He wants to become the Pirate King, and thus the most infamous pirate in the world. In 1997, creator Eiichiro Oda published the first chapter. Since then it is one of most loved manga series. It’s also the best selling manga of all time, with several related spinoffs and adaptations — from the anime series to video games to movies. This series is an adventure of epic proportions that weaves themes like friendship, personal loss and societal injustice.

The manga is also very accessible. For $1.99 per month, you can access the entire epic of Shonen Jump with over 1,000 chapters. Add a tablet and you’ve got the ultimate way to live. One Piece. For me personally, it was way easier to read downloaded chapters on the go — traveling, while waiting for appointments, and so on, than it would be to whip out a set of headphones and load up an episode. It is possible to download as many chapters as you like at once. I wouldn’t exceed that limit unless it was really necessary.

Oda also brings the whole world to your doorstep. One Piece to life in a way that I don’t think is fully communicated in sections of the anime.

A long rectangular black and white manga panel that shows members of the Straw Hat crew reacting to shocking news. They all look with their eyes widened, and mouths agap. You can see sweat and and tears streaming from some of them. A few characters, like Tony Tony Chopper and Ussopp have their eyes bugging out.

One Piece deals in excess. A surplus of characters. A lot of action. Excessive amounts of everything happening at once. Oda has a knack for managing his pages. He never gives the impression that he is a fool. You can also much or confusing the reader’s eye. The world feels fuller because there’s no space between the panels. As the characters carry the burden of their battles, you can clearly see every scratch and every sweat drop. Even though the cast of colorful characters is in black and white on the pages, you feel the characters come alive when you look closely at their details, taking in their character designs.

Oda’s depiction of movement in the manga doesn’t just push the story forward, it teaches the reader about the world and the characters there. We love Luffy not just because he’s dedicated to his crew and inspires those around him to question the status quo; we also love him because it’s funny to watch a rubber pirate fight off the government forces of the world. Luffy is a strewn, steamy, and sputtering character. The manga steeps are always in action.

Luffy from One Piece looks ambitiously at his opponent. He says “My ability is working just fine,” as he smiles. You can see a scar under his right eye and his skin scuffed up from the fight. He’s barely broken a sweat at this point and only has a few drops of sweat on his face. He exhales out and we see clouds on the panel to represent that. Bold large text at the bottom says, “Doom!”

Perhaps the biggest reason I’d tell folks to read One PieceIt’s not that I prefer to watch it, but rather than reading about it. While I picked my favorite arcs while reading, there wasn’t anything that I felt I wanted to skip. When I watched anime, I was compelled to skim certain episodes and skip whole arcs in order to get straight to the action. With a manga you don’t need to go through the recap or intro.

One PieceIt’s a hilarious story about a rubber-pirate. It’s also a story about found family. About misfits and people who don’t fit in. It follows a group who defies the global powers that be, and will stop at nothing to pursue a world that doesn’t overlook injustice. The story provided a real lighthouse for me during the darkest and most difficult times of the COVID-19 epidemic. Not just because it’s fun, but because it felt meaningful. Even if you only know a handful of episodes, this series might offer a new way to see the fun and zany adventures.

#Pieces #manga #experience #story