one piece is a series that's been around for nearly three decades
its themes of adventure and dreams have driven it to the top of manga and anime
charts across the board but what makes it so special why is one piece so different
from any other series out there and why do so many people consider it a masterpiece
the story of one piece starts out as a simple one a young boy monkey d luffy sets out on his
journey to become the king of the pirates and find the hidden treasure the one piece however
the good natured classic adventure shonen slowly begins to shed its skin the more you read or watch
it revealing a much more twisted and dark world full of prejudice slavery oppression and secrecy
a world with a deeply corrupted global government that stands as the root cause for all of the evil
our main characters face throughout their journey the warlord system in which strong recognized
pirates have the right to piracy so long as a portion of their obtained wealth is shared with
the government the celestial dragons so corrupted by intangible power feel disgusted by breathing
the same air as the people who live below them their families brand and enslave men women and
children of all races they sit on their backs as if they were horses and poke them with blades to
see how much they can bleed they have thousands upon thousands of slaves underground their home
simply moving the ground above until they die from exhaustion the navy a force of power with the
epithet of good is routinely used for destruction a defense force against piracy conditioned to
protect the secrets of the world government while maintaining their supremacy whether
it's slaughtering an entire island of scholars putting bounties on young children based on their
knowledge or making deals with pirates for the sake of generating a profit they still do anything
and everything all in the name of absolute justice the person directly opposed to this establishment
is the main character luffy luffy's character is another huge reason why fans love the story of one
piece people love luffy as soon as luffy begins his journey he meets a young boy whose dream it is
to become one of these naval marines the young boy kobe soon learns about its corruption and makes
it his personal mission to fix it from the inside because that's what luffy does to people he meets
and people he becomes friends with he motivates them to chase their dreams to not let anything
or anyone stand in their way that characteristic along with his undying loyalty to those who he
considers his friends is why luffy is able to gather so many people around him who want to
help him achieve his dream but little does he know that what comes after his dream is realized could
be the culmination of all the evil secrets in the world and the abolishment of the world government
but somehow for some reason luffy finding the one piece is gonna be funny see that's the thing about
one piece no matter how dark it gets no matter how evil or how sad a character's backstory is
at the end of the day oda will still make you laugh and feel joy oda will take an extremely
dark subject matter that will twist the way you think about something he will then flush it out
with an incredible amount of nuance and then luffy will come back to brighten up the day
it's one of those reasons why one piece is so endearing to so many people it really makes you
think it makes you laugh and even makes you cry and when someone finally catches up to the series
it really brings this sense of investment that most don't really expect when they start the story
the vast and incredible world of one piece is not large by scale but large by a sense of
realism the different islands of one piece are written in a way that makes them feel real oda
gives each place its own unique culture languages mantras architecture and more the characters are
unique the species are vast even the material goods like clothes weapons tools can differ from
island to island there's even these little mini stories that he gives us on the cover of chapters
every once in a while that tell us of a different story of characters we've already come to know and
what developments are happening in their life at a different part of the world which usually will
eventually lead to an event in the main story we are given our first lesson about the one piece
world before entering the grand line the world is divided into four parts the east blue west blue
north blue and south blue these seas are separated by the great continent known as the red line as
well as the most dangerous sea in the world also known as the pirates graveyard the grand line
the grand line is the place where the one-piece treasure is hidden and only by following it around
the world can you find the necessary pieces to reach the final island laugh tale the grand line
is surrounded by the comm belt a part of the sea where sea kings live and water doesn't move making
the only point of entry and exit a single place on the red line reverse mountain the only way to get
in and out of the comm belt is by being in a naval battleship or being as strong as this old guy with
no devil fruit each island on the grand line has its own magnetic pole which is why you need
what's known as a log post to travel it once you reach the halfway point of the grand line you run
into the other half of the red line the only way for pirates to get past it is by going under
through fishman island or going over the thing is the celestial dragons live on top of the red line
and we already went through how bad those people are the island sovereignty a stop for most pirates
on their way to the other side of the red line is a common place for the celestial dragons to visit
to pick up slaves and kill civilians mercilessly for fun but also is the only place to get coding
for your ship to travel under the red line the marines bases and prison compounds are
also in close proximity to this point so most weaker pirates are either killed imprisoned or
enslaved by the time they reach this island those who are lucky or strong enough will coat their
ship at sauberi travel underneath the red line and enter the other half of the grand line known
as the new world a place both described as hell and paradise all of that is a very brief look at
the vast world of one piece i didn't even touch on sky islands the ancient kingdom whole cake island
wano the moon space pirates yes space pirates actually exist in one piece there's also history
that spans back thousands of years with secrets yet to be revealed monarchies royal lineage
ancient civilizations mythology and more these are all layers that give the viewers this feeling
that everything in the series is always moving and that we are witnessing the most important
moment in this world's history straight off the page just like how you are currently witnessing
the most important part of the video which is to smash that subscribe button and leave a comment
down below letting me know you're subscribed so i can personally welcome you to the alliance
there are so many different themes explored in this amazing series oda explores many long
debated philosophical concepts such as destiny and free will he explores the impact poor material
conditions can have on the minds and lives of ordinary citizens and how corruption can manifest
in different political structures he explores the failures of government the balance of law
social conditioning and how it's usually the ones at the top who determine what justice really means
he tackles the huge issue of racism and its root causes he poses many real life questions in this
fictional world that intentionally or not make the readers reconsider many preconceived
notions and beliefs however at least in my opinion the main themes of one piece have
always been freedom and dreams each character in the series has their own dreams or ambitions
some characters in the series even doubt the legitimacy of dreams only to become dreamers
themselves each of the straw hats joined luffy because of a dream luffy is going to help them
reach those dreams and they will do the same for him it's that light-hearted main theme of the
series that makes it so easy to fall in love with early on then as you gain more interest and move
forward in the series you start to gain this sense of appreciation for all of these multi-faceted
layers as they continue to be fleshed out the other main theme freedom plays a crucial
role in every single arc all the way from luffy's first interaction with alvida and kobe to luffy's
current predicament in wano luffy is a character who embodies freedom he is like an unstoppable
force of nature that destroys everything standing in the way of what he considers true freedom he
is a warrior of liberation luffy grew up near a kingdom where the lower class citizens were
condemned to a place called the grey terminal all the while the aristocrats of hightown looked down
at them in disgust the higher-ups of the kingdom eventually plot to burn down grey terminal and
everybody in it because it looks unsavory next to their glorious kingdom this early exposure
to injustice is what would lead luffy to want to become the freest man on the seas the pirate king
one piece currently has nearly 1200 characters within its story and not just fodder characters
these are characters you get to know each of them having their own unique designs and personality
oda will take smaller characters that you might not think are that important and they give them an
entire backstory a reason to care for their character a great example is senior pink
at first glance you would think he's just a gag character for a quick fight and some laughs but
this guy has a pass that will make your stomach turn and your eyes water same with baby five who's
also fleshed out in the same arc these guys aren't even close to being the stars of the show in fact
they rarely appear in the grand scheme of things but oda still takes the time to invest and breathe
life into each character because he has a plan in the middle of the series there is a major event
this event brings together all of the characters you've come to know and condenses them into a
single arc they don't all participate but pretty much everybody is there hundreds of previously
introduced characters all in the same place at the same time this event has become one of the
most highly acclaimed arcs ever written in any manga ever and oda the author of one piece has
stated that the final war of the series will make marine forward look like child's play and that you
can expect those thousands of characters to all be back for the final arc of the series
what do star wars lord of the rings game of thrones marvel dc and one piece all
have in common a huge cult-like fan base the one-piece community is both famous and
infamous for its many many different factions we have theorists that post their ideas on twitter
reddit or youtube like myself we have power scalers reaction based creators artists news
reporters and a constantly growing presence on youtube founded by ogs like teching 101
rogers base bda law joy boy theories o'hara mr morge grand line review and more channels that
i believe are a huge part of the reason one piece is so popular in the west but more on that another
time the one piece community has cultivated a vast amount of memes sounds popularized on tick tock
as well as phrases or inside jokes only fans would recognize a popular one being gota which
is how the community refers to the author due to the godly way he constructs the series another
fun meme being to add the initial d to pretty much anything to make it seem more powerful or profound
than it actually is god d usa buggy d clown down d stairs it just it just gets weirder from there
as amazing as the community is it's definitely not without its flaws the biggest i think is the
pressure it puts on other people to watch the series i think everybody should try one piece
it really is a masterpiece and something that should be appreciated understandably those who
feel this way about the series really want to share that feeling with others because it feels
good to have someone you know who enjoys the same things you do it also feels good to spread
awareness about things you care about however some one-piece fans tend to take this to an extreme
level to the point where they'll berate someone to watch or read one piece until they are no
longer interested due to how much pressure was put on them to start a series that really does
take a certain amount of commitment to start for me rereading the manga can take months sometimes
even longer if i'm busy with things like school or work i can only imagine how long it would take to
catch up to the series starting from episode 1. i definitely think there are better ways than others
to get the best experience and most enjoyment out of one piece but just telling people over and
over again to watch this show it's the best thing ever is only going to eventually annoy the other
person and lead them to no longer be interested i think you either have to create intrigue subtly
or just let the series fall into their lap the one piece community personally for me has given
me the most fulfillment out of any other piece of media i've ever experienced and it's that shared
love for the series across the world that has led to so many monumental things to take place
i mean they turned the legendary tokyo tower a national monument in japan into a one-piece
theme park unfortunately it shut down during kovid but come on how crazy is that they literally have
statues of the straw hat pirates all over japan and the hundreds of thousands of one piece fans
in the youtube community were responsible for getting whoop slap an extremely minor character
to the top 100 character chart simply for the meme this community has power it has influence and it
has so many amazing people there to welcome anyone new to one piece in with open arms
one piece is a cultural phenomenon one that approaches the impact of other medias like star
wars or marvel it's a story that's been around for almost 30 years now and is still continuing
to grow even now in the current arc many people are considering it one of their favorites it's
an amazing story that will move you motivate you and make you laugh harder than you've ever laughed
before it's a story that'll make you think more a story that'll make you appreciate your friends
more and a story that will be passed down for generations long after you and i are gone we
are extremely fortunate to be able to live in a time to experience this cultural phenomenon
as it happens my favorite thing about one piece is the creativity oda puts into the many locations of
his world from their designs to their overall importance in the story from water seven poke
island wano heck even the red line itself and everything that it represents in the one piece
world the thing i love most about one piece is probably that we have oda for an author i mean
he's very imaginative and unpredictable but the most important thing is that he's consistent and
i think only with that level of writing do you get a community like the one we have now
so you know i'm very grateful for that one piece of me is discovering the mysteries around the
world but most importantly i love the lesson of gratitude as it brings even sanji and zoro
together the zoro was first introduced never wasting food and sanji's biggest pet peeve
is wasting food and this lesson has truly come full circle in the most recent arc of honor hey
all golden boy here my favorite thing about one piece is the straw hat crew and how each straw hat
crew member has so much fleshed out personality we know the goals of each one we can see ourselves in
all of the characters so that's what i like most about oneplus no show mixes the series and the
fun better than one piece what is required to achieve one's goal in life and one piece does
it in a way that is the most enjoyable experience for the viewer do you know how one piece was made
it's pretty crazy if you want to learn how i suggest you click this video right here