#they might know i watch some ‘pirate show’ but idk if they’ll make the connection

[rumiraclemi]

wonder if i can get away with making a chip cosplay and just telling my family it’s so i can be a pirate for halloween

[viperbranium]

HIIII I am currently following my hero academia but I like pain so was considering starting one piece. Is it good? I'm scared that it's already so long and not sure if the ani is as good as manga or vice versa, although I won't be able to follow manga. Should I? XDDD

Hey nonnie! Sorry for the wait, I couldn’t catch a damn break til now. Okay, so, for the record, I haven’t watched/read my hero academia, so I can’t really draw any comparisons between One Piece and that, and if by “I like pain” you meant you want all the angst, then OP might not really be the greatest option (like, there’s some VERY angsty moments, but overall the show is pretty fun?). If, on the other hand, you meant that as in I KNOW THIS SHOW IS SUPER FUCKING LONG BUT I DON’T CARE BRING IT ON, then, yes, perfect choice! :D

Now, buckle up, cause your questions don’t have an easy answer (except the “is it good?” one, because yes. YES. Yes, it is PRETTY FUCKING GOOD. It is everything), and this is my favorite thing to talk about, so this is going to be rambly and long but also hopefully useful for anyone wondering whether to watch this show or not.

WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH/READ ONE PIECE:

I know, I know. A rubber pirate. A talking reindeer. Merpeople. Ridiculousness. Overall, it wouldn’t seem like this show is really anything but funny and silly, but oH BOY IS IT.

Look, yes. It’s fun. It’s LOTS OF FUN. The show never quite stops having a certain lightheartedness to it, but don’t let that fool you. There’s angst. There’s drama. There’s adventure. There’s friendship.

And there’s also a pretty important message of inclusivity and tolerance throughout the show.

This, initially, seems like just a running theme, but as it turned out, it’s actually the main fucking plot point of the entire show. One Piece is an ode to friendship and freedom and adventure, but it’s also a huge critique against racism and bigotry.

It starts, seemingly, as a kids’ show, and then suddenly it’s all about the one-percenters abusing those beneath them, about a corrupt World Government, about segregation and colonialism and slavery, about blatant erasure of actual history by those in power.

And every single episode it takes to get you there is worth it.

The issue with its length:

First of all, yes. Yes, it’s LONG. It’s pretty fucking long. No two ways about it. But it is absolutely worth it, and I don’t mean this as in “by episode 700 they’ll be tugging at your heartstrings and you’ll be thankful you stuck with it for this long” (although that’s also true), but more like: once you get past the introduction, you’ll be HOOKED, and then you’ll pretty much not give a single fuck that you barely just started it and have fucktons of episodes left to watch.

Getting past the intro is the key thing. It’s not that you have to “get past it” because it’s bad or anything, more like, just like with any other show, you have to give them a chance to set the basis for the plot and introduce you to the cast and all. If you started watching and decided to give it, idk, 5 episodes, you’d probably just quit it thinking it’s too childish and “funny” and not very interesting.

And it is, at first, but it’s like when you go back and read Harry Potter. Compared to the rest of the books, book 1, and possibly book 2 as well, have a much lighter tone and simpler plot. This is partially because those books are working on the foundations for what will later on be the actual PLOT, and after those are over, the rest of the books are less auto-conclusive and a lot more intricate and with more plotlines connecting all the books together and creating a bigger and richer whole story (the other part is the story growing a bit alongside its fanbase, which is honestly a wonderful thing).

So essentially, the beginning of One Piece is like books 1 and 2 in the Harry Potter saga. And because it’s such a long show (as I type this, we’re on episode 839), that means a few tenths of episodes. If you’ve watched some of those as a younger kid on TV, then chances are you’ll get past them a lot more easily, because they are fun and nostalgia plays an important part, but if you haven’t, I do get why it can be a bit discouraging (but again, IT’S SO WORTH IT. PINKY PROMISE).

A quick non-spoilery rundown of that first intro part would be:

Episodes 1 to 62: the first crew members meeting each other. These are a few short arcs, all following the same pattern: Captain Luffy gets to an island, finds someone he wants in his crew, they defeat some minor bad guy, person ends up joining Luffy, and they move onto the next island. Even then, they are quite funny, and you inadvertently start hearing stuff mentioned that’s actually SUPER RELEVANT in the context of the grand scheme of things. Also, a bunch of those are filler episodes that you can outright skip, so it’s not THAT MANY EPISODES, and I’d argue that around episode ~30 or so, the whole thing gets a bit more intense too. [MORE ON FILLER EPISODES IN A MINUTE]

On episode 62 they officially get started on their trip for good, and the whole show starts being a bit less childish (not to say the tone changes entirely, it pretty much remains a funny yet exciting story throughout the whole thing, mostly due to the main character’s personality, but still, you can SEE that there’s STUFF GOING ON IN THIS WORLD). From here to episode 92 we’re setting the basis for a pretty big arc:

—> Turning the intensity up a few notches!

Episode 92 to 130: The Alabasta Arc – politics! Intrigue! A big fucking and fascinating villain! This arc is AMAZING.(then we have a bunch of filler episodes, again, totally skippable, and then…)

Episode 144 to 195: The Skypiea Arc – another great one, even touching on some pretty fucking important themes like colonialism and land-theft.

—> Turning the intensity up some more notches!!!

And from post-Skypiea onwards, the show is pretty much AAAAAAAAAASLGHSFLKHHLFGKJLK! nonstop.

(btw, if you ARE interested in watching, just let me know and I’ll compile a quick list like this one for you, letting you know which episodes you can skip and what the best way to watch it would be ^^)

Reading the manga vs Watching the anime:

The One Piece anime pretty much 100% follows the manga, so you can go with whatever option works best for you.

Fights and all are generally a lot more fun to watch than to read, plus one episode covers more than one manga chapter, so my advice usually is: watch the anime til you’re all caught up, and then switch to the manga so you can read everything that hasn’t happened in the anime yet and you won’t get spoiled, and then you can read the manga weekly when it comes out (and continue watching the anime as well, or not).

Because the anime follows the manga to a T, there needs to be filler arcs, since there’s some weeks when the manga takes a break, and also like I said, one episode covers a bit more than one chapter. Without filler arcs, the anime would catch up to the manga pretty quick and then they’d have to start making up stuff, or dividing the show into seasons, and either of those options would be sucky.

So, while it’s a necessity, it’s NOWHERE near as bad as the amount of filler there was in shows like Bleach or Naruto, and some of those arcs are even quite good? (The post-Skypiea filler arc f.e., G-8, is hilarious and super entertaining!). Personally I’d watch everything at least once, for the jokes and the interactions between crew members if nothing else, but you won’t be missing a single thing if you outright skip all of those.

(there’s also an odd episode every now and then that’s not exactly part of any filler arc, but quite literally an AU where the characters all live in a village instead of being pirates. You get one episode like this every once in a while – I think there’s been like, 5 in total? Maybe? –, as well as a few other weird things like a crossover with Dragon Ball or idek. Those I’d just skip entirely – they’re not remotely as fun as “one piece au” makes it sound lmao –, but luckily they aren’t a lot. Just one here and there).

Sooooo I hope all this answers your questions, nonnie, and that it helps you decide whether to give the show a shot or not. 

TL;DR: yes, it’s long, but it’s fucking worth it, and you can either read it or watch it because the anime follows the manga 100% accurately.