When a work endures so long on the crest of the wave it means that things are going well. Knowing how to maintain a story in an incredibly good way for almost 25 years can only be done by very few people and Eiichiro Oda is one of them, being one piece one of the few titles that has managed to completely cleanly pass a meaningful narrative thread that continues to surprise.
But it is true that many of those who have not entered the journey of Luffy and his Nakamas be afraid to start it from the beginning, since there are more than a thousand chapters that a person should see to be up to date. It is normal that they feel gigantic laziness in starting, but in this article we want to explain why we think it’s worth starting a journey that will mark you for life.
A stable and fresh rhythm from the first chapter
From the first chapter One Piece has been able to maintain a pace that has continued just as frenetic to this day. In the most tense moments, Oda knows how to keep us in suspense without a problem and wanting to wait every week for how a fight that seems lost will end. But not only in battles, when calm is needed in moments of explanation, the author continues to maintain that touch that leaves no one indifferent.
It is true that at certain moments it can become tedious, but they are very occasional and are overshadowed by a play by Oda a few pages later. Each and every one of the pages is necessary and with hardly any “padding” as such. While it doesn’t work the same way in the anime, some great arcs have been redone over the past few years. with the aim of removing boring moments or those that may be heavy for the viewer.
The mystery within a lofty story
Many outsiders think that One Piece is simply about the journey of several pirates through the sea with a clear objective. But in reality, what many do not know is the immense amount of hidden history and dark subplots that can be found as we progress through the series. Because yes, at the beginning of the story everything is very basic and you don’t have much more than recruit more nakamas to be able to conquer the seas and find Gold Roger’s treasure.
But once we got to the first big arch, everything begins to divide into small branches that Oda will inform us with dropper for the rest of the work. The “poneglyphs” are a series of gigantic stones with messages that spoke of an empty century that the Navy has tried to avoid remembering everything and that has erased everything possible so that the inhabitants of the current world cannot know what happened. This is when the mystery looms in the work, to which other very important ones in history have been added, such as if One Piece really exists, what is the true origin of the devil fruits.
Characters that will go down in history
There is something inevitable in the long shonen is the love that the public will have in the different characters that will appear throughout the entire series. One Piece couldn’t help but go through this, but it’s true that hehe way of delving into each one of them and their respective developments is unique and incomparable. Unlike the previous section, Oda speaks in a very personal way with all the characters that appear, with a past that makes clear the intentions and principles of each one.
But this does not remain in a past that makes us cry; the development of all of them is exciting and many of the intentions that some of them initially had change as different events occur within the story. Many of the arcs do not include the entire crew, but on some occasions all the narrative weight revolves around one of them because they have very close relationships with him or because they have done something that has conditioned the entire story. None is less important than another.
prepare to cry
Throughout One Piece, humor has always reigned with Jokes related to Luffy’s elasticity and the innocence of the character when facing many difficult problems in the world such as mental health or death. But there are also times when the attitude of our protagonist changes drastically to defend ideals which are to get up and applaud. The search for freedom, the desire to live and the feeling of adventure shines in Luffy’s eyes always and no matter who is in front of him.
But if there are moments when you are going to shed several tears, it will be, as we have mentioned before, in the memories of each of the companions that Luffy will find throughout the entire adventure. For one thing or another, the past of all of them is quite unhappy and Oda will stick his finger in the sore as many times as necessary as long as we emphasize a charactercoming to show us extremely cruel moments to let us know how badly that person has had it throughout his life.
An acceptable anime, an unrepeatable manga
Finally I want to mention something that maybe I can choose to follow the One Piece anime or manga, because when I set out to see Oda’s work I opted for the manga before the anime because of the ease of reading due to the little time I had. at the time four years ago. And if I’m honest, I highly recommend you read the manga than watch the series because it goes directly to the point and the drawing evolves along with the plot.
But with this I do not mean that the anime is bad, not at all; it is true that the animation of the first arcs has not aged well at all. Nevertheless, Toei has known how to evolve perfectly with its anime, giving more technical power to the work and culminating in a spectacular drawing in the current arc thanks above all to the current director of the series. In addition, the padding is not so brazen compared to the other works of the same level and the community has taken care of grouping all the chapters without padding so that those who are going to start can go straight to the chicha through the web “One Pace“.
In short, starting One Piece can always seem like an odyssey and can be a little lazy. But if there is something that Oda has taught us over the years, it is that patience is the most important thing; no need to eat 15 chapters a day if every week one comes out. With us seeing two episodes a week, we’re on our way, we know we’ll be there in time for the finale in the long run, so go at your own pace and enjoy the biggest ride of your lives.