One Piece – Anime Review
Do you like pirates, boobies, and lots of bright, pretty colors? If so, One Piece might be the anime for you.
Plot
With a whopping 1101 episodes and counting, One Piece is a MASSIVE anime. As the series has grown, there has been a steady evolution of characters, story, and even animation styles, but throughout the story the main message has remained the same. Government is asshole.
One Piece begins with the public execution of the pirate king, Gol D. Roger. The World Government thinks that making an example of Gol D. Roger will stifle the growing pirate movement, but they unwittingly added fuel to the flame, ushering in the Great Pirate Era. With his last words, Gol D. Roger makes an announcement that changes the world.
“You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it!” – Gol. D Roger
After this announcement, thousands of seasoned and brand new pirates alike hit the seas, eager to be the first to find Gol D. Roger’s precious treasure, the One Piece.
Our story revolves around Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate captain who is determined to become the King of the Pirates!
The Straw Hat Crew
The Straw Hats are Luffy’s rag-tag crew. Gaining their name from Luffy’s beloved hat, the Straw Hat crew have become a big family after their many adventures at sea.
Monkey D. Luffy
Captain Luffy has an unyielding determination to become King of the Pirates. After eating a Devil Fruit as a child, he gained the power of essentially being made out of rubber. Luffy can inflate like a balloon. He can stretch any part of his body to incredible lengths. He can unleash a barrage of “gum gum” attacks ranging from punches to kicks and pretty much anything imaginable. Of course, as the anime goes on Luffy continues unlocking new abilities, but the essence of his powers is that he’s made of rubber.
Luffy is childish in many ways, but he is an extremely loyal friend. He will do anything for the people he cares about, even laying his own life on the line.
Roronoa Zoro
Zoro is Luffy’s first mate and an extremely talented swordsman. Once known as “Pirate Hunter” Zoro, he was the first to join Luffy’s crew. Zoro is strongly motivated to become the greatest swordsman in the whole world, even going so far as to challenge swordsmen significantly stronger than himself.
Zoro is close with his crewmates but shares a rivalry with fellow Straw Hat Crewmate, Sanji.
Nami
“Cat Burglar” Nami was the third member to join the Straw Hat Crew and is the crew’s navigator. She originally only joined Luffy and Zoro to rob them blind, but now she’s an integral part of the family.
When Luffy and Zoro first met Nami, she was working for the Arlong Pirates. You see, the Arlong Pirates would make the residents of Nami’s home island pay monthly tributes. Any individual who couldn’t afford to pay was executed in front of the other residents. This was the fate of Nami’s adopted mother when she could not afford to pay for herself, Nami, and her other adopted daughter. After witnessing her mother’s execution, Nami herself was kidnapped by Arlong and branded with the tattoo of the Arlong Pirates. After becoming a valuable cartographer, Nami strikes a deal with Arlong to buy the freedom of her village for a small fortune. That is what led Nami to initially join the Straw Hats. After Arlong inevitably betrays her, Luffy steps in and defeats Arlong. Afterwards, Luffy convinces Nami to join the Straw Hat Crew now that her village is finally safe.
Usopp
Usopp is the Straw Hat’s sniper. Native to Syrup Island, Usopp was the “captain” of a small group of children that would play around the island. He was good friends with Kaya, a young, orphaned heiress, and with the help of Luffy and the other Straw Hats, saved her from her EEEEEEVILLLLL butler.
Usopp is a harmless dude but pre time skip he has a seriously annoying lying problem. This guy will tell any ridiculous lie to sound more impressive than he is regardless of consequences. After spending some time growing up over the time skip, Usopp came back as a much more lovable character.
Sanji
“Black Leg” Sanji is a chef with dreams of finding the All Blue, a chef’s paradise where the 4 oceans meet, combining their exotic flora and fauna.
Sanji was born Vinsmoke Sanji, a prince of the Germa Kingdom. Sanji’s father, Vinsmoke Judge, was obsessed with producing children who were immensely physically strong with no emotions. Sanji’s mother disagreed with her husband’s ideals of making perfect soldiers, and while pregnant with Sanji, she took a drug that made her very sick but spared Sanji. Being weaker physically, Sanji was bullied relentlessly by his unfeeling brothers and despised by his father. After realizing Sanji would never develop the superhuman abilities of his brothers, Vinsmoke Judge locked Sanji in a dungeon and staged a funeral for him.
With the help of his sister, Sanji was able to escape the dungeon, but on his way to freedom he ran into his father. Vinsmoke Judge agreed allow Sanji to leave on the condition that he never reveal his parentage. After escaping, Sanji renounced the title of prince and began to pursue his dream of becoming a cook.
2 years later, Sanji was a cook on a ship called the Orbit. After the ship was attacked by a pirate crew, he was saved by the pirate “Red Leg” Zeff. Zeff sacrificed his own leg to ensure the survival of both himself and Sanji when they were washed up onto a giant rock. Eventually they were saved, and Sanji began working as Zeff’s sous-chef on the Baratie, a floating restaurant Zeff built after they nearly starved on the rock.
After deciding to join Luffy’s crew, Sanji quickly impressed them by preparing amazing meals daily.
Sanji has a rivalry with Zoro and they both compete to be stronger than the other. He’s also a big time womanizer with a special soft spot for Nami and later Robin as well. Honestly, Sanji’s a huge perv and it gets super annoying, especially after the time skip. Even so, he is still a beloved member of the Straw Hat crew, and they accept him even with his not so occasional grossness.
Tony Tony Chopper
Oh, my heart. <3 Tony Tony Chopper, or “Choppie” as I personally like to call him, is the precious little angel who acts as the crew’s doctor. Chopper was originally just a normal reindeer, but he ate a devil fruit that gave him human intellect and characteristics. He was taught medicine on Drum Island and has dreams of traveling the world and curing all diseases.
Chopper is just freaking adorable. The Foxy Pirates even temporarily forced him to join their crew because of how cute he is, but Luffy was able to win him back. Chopper is constantly underestimated by outsiders and the World Government thinks he’s just the Straw Hat’s pet instead of a full-fledged member. He’s incredibly naive and at times shares one brain cell with Luffy, but he is a kind, compassionate little guy who will do anything to help his friends.
Apart from being just cute, Chopper’s devil fruit has given him the ability to change into several different forms that are incredibly helpful to the crew.
Nico Robin
Nico Robin is the Straw Hat Crew’s archaeologist, and her dream is to find the Rio Poneglyph that is rumored to tell the true history of the world.
When she was a child, Robin ate a devil fruit that gave her the powers to replicate her body parts and sprout them out of any surface. I know that ability sounds pretty confusing. Basically, what she does is make as many copies of her arms pop up as she wants. She can use these arms to snap her enemy’s necks, or make them form together to make a giant, creepy pair of wings. Really, she’s limited only by her imagination.
Robin has a very tragic backstory (like pretty much everyone else in the anime) and her entire home island of Ohara was destroyed by the World Government to hide the truth of the mysterious Poneglyphs. After her escape, The World Government put a bounty out on her.
When first introduced to the story, Robin was kind of a bad guy. She was partnered with the pirate Crocodile, who eventually betrayed her. Robin was committed to die, but Luffy stepped in and saved her. Afterwards Robin basically told him that since she has nowhere to go and Luffy forced her to live, she’s going to be a crew member now. To the surprise of his crew, Luffy accepted, and the Straw Hats grew by 1.
Franky
“Iron Man” Franky is the Straw Hat Crew’s very capable shipwright. Franky’s another character that was originally introduced as an antagonist. After the Water 7 arc though, Luffy convinced Franky to join the crew by… stealing his underwear, forcing Franky to chase after them butt naked to their new ship. Oh, what a scene.
When the World Government took Franky’s adopted father away to be executed, Franky tried to stop the train by standing in front of it. This last ditch attempt to save Tom was not successful and resulted in substantial damage to Franky’s body. After most of his body was destroyed, Franky rebuilt himself as cyborg.
Post time skip, after sustaining more damage to his body, Franky returns with a heavily rebuilt and customized body after stumbling into Dr. Vegapunk’s lab.
Brook
Brook was once a happy go lucky member of the Rumbar Pirates. After Brook and his crew were killed by enemy pirates, Brook was revived thanks to his Devil Fruit. Unfortunately, because of where he died at sea, Brook’s soul had a great deal of difficulty finding his body. Once Brook’s soul was finally able to reunite with his body, Brook’s body had decayed to where all that was left was his skeleton and characteristic black afro.
When the Straw Hats first came across Brook, he was floating out at sea on the remains of the Rumbar Pirate’s ship. Most of the crew were super creeped out by the appearance of this “ghost ship” and the ghostly skeleton aboard it. Luffy, however, was overjoyed to meet Brook and immediately asked him to join his crew. To the dismay of the other Straw Hats Brook accepted. Now, Brook is the crew’s musician, loved by his crewmates, and feared by panty wearers.
Like Sanji, Brook is a perv. Whenever he meets a new woman, he brazenly asks to “see her panties.” It kind of works for his post time skip Rock and Roll persona of “Soul King,” but it’s still overall a creep move.
Jinbe
Jinbe is the helmsman for the Straw Hat crew, and their only fish-man. He is one of the more mature members and a master of Fish-Man Karate. Jinbe is the last member of the Straw Hat crew to join up, and his dream is to fulfill his late captain’s dying wish of peaceful coexistence between humans and fish-men.
Jinbe and Luffy became friends during the Marineford arc. After the time skip Luffy asks Jimbe to become a crewmate, but Jimbe declines for the time being. He does eventually join the Straw Hat crew and adds his much needed wisdom and unique skillset to the crew.
My Thoughts
One Piece is an undoubtably beautiful anime, especially later on after the art style evolves. The base story is interesting, and the character’s backstories are tragic and deep. Where One Piece falls short is it’s pacing. It is a loooooong anime, and storylines that are a bit less interesting just seem to go on and on.
Another thing about One Piece is that early on in the series there isn’t that much fan service, but as it goes on fan service definitely starts popping up. Between that and Sanji going nuts whenever he sees an attractive woman, it can get pretty annoying.
That’s it! If you love anime and are intrigued by One Piece’s theme, definitely check it out! There are a number of different streaming services that carry it, so you have some options.
Don’t forget to pop that popcorn!
