You can laugh at me, you can throw drinks on me, you can even spit on me. I'll just laugh that stuff off. But good reason or not, no one hurts a friend mine.
One Piece, East Blue
by Eiichiro Oda
Genre: Fantasy
About: In the golden age of pirates, Luffy D. Monkey is just another dreamer wanting to conquer the seas and become Pirate King. With his devil fruit powers (he stretches like rubber) he seeks out a crew equally as foolhardy and daring. In these first 100 chapters, he gathers a three-sword-style bounty hunter, a thief navigator, a lying sharp shooter and a lovestruck chef. They fight clowns, shark-men and cat assassins, all in the quest to reach The Grand Line: the beginning of their pirate adventure.
The Good
This story is wild. The characters are goofy, the world is insane and the adventures are epic. I love that Oda doesn't take anything too seriously, yet at the same time makes you care about the characters and occasionally give a sense of high stakes. The world-building is a kid's fantasy with each arc taking us to a new, bizarre location that makes everything feel fresh and exciting. We're discovering the big world with these characters and their drive for adventure is infectious.
Favourite arc: Arlong Park, because Nami <3.
The Bad
It starts off slow or a little forced at the beginning. Luffy needs a crew and the story throws him into the arms of convenient people to help him on his way. But chalk it up as destiny or a necessary story format and breeze past those beginning chapters.
Worse arc: Syrup Village, but only because I wasn't a fan of the villain.
The Somewhat Iffy
Well obviously there's a lot of ridiculousness going on. Wounds that should kill, for example, can be healed in a power nap, and you can be broke with 100,000 berries still to your name. But none of that really matters. It's the spirit of the story that keeps you reading and that spirit is a silly one.
Most ridiculous character: Gaimon, no contest.
Overall
I read a chunk of this manga years ago and I don't know why I stopped. Re-reading the beginning this month has been so much fun. The characters are stupid and I love them, but the best part really is the world. You feel the sense of adventure with each new destination. This is a story for any age. Oda has a fierce and kind of crazy imagination.
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