Random Blabbings

the curious case of one piece

Trigger warning:
This blab contains themes and feels which may not be suitable to those who haven't watched One Piece until the epic Marineford. There may or may not be spoilers. No further reading is advised.

| you have been warned |

so, one piece, huh.

i started watching one piece months ago, simply because i thought, "hey, why don't i?"

actually, it's there's a whole backstory more than that which i would blab in tumblr for a more cohesive take on one piece as a whole because goddamn did Oda served.

however, before i get astray from the topic, you might wonder if there's more stuff in tumblr, why publish this one here? and why blab now after i've already reached Marineford?

this blab will actually revolve around two things: 1. one piece is as good as its first step; and, 2. one piece range case study.

i'm so proud of myself for actually getting into the core of what i want to say because there's a ton of thoughts and feels from this journey that i know i am all over the place.

but we'll focus on those two because they presented one piece as a curious case to me.

first, this has been quite weeks from now, but a tweet actually triggered this immense will to blab. haha. you read that right, a tweet.

a tweet forced me to sit down, stop blazing through the series and gather my chaotic thoughts about this adventure.

so, one of the youtube creators that made a one piece video, aka totallynotmark, quote retweeted this question: "when does one piece get good?"

the quote retweet aka his answer is:
"It sounds obnoxious to say this but... it gets good at chapter 1. It establishes the foundation of Luffy and the world perfectly. And builds from those strong foundations. A better question is: "When does One Piece become amazing."

I'd personally say Arlong Park."

from there, i inferred there's a talk about one piece "getting good along the way."

this isn't the first time i heard something like this bcs Hunter x Hunter (i think i did not blab about this brilliant of a story here but i'm pretty sure i blabbed about it somewhere) has the same reputation. and while i have no qualms with that reputation of hunter x hunter bcs i believe it was set up that way, i couldn't accept it for one piece.

i agree with totallynotmark. and he is a manga reader. i'm a pure anime watcher.

that alone says a lot.

it says a lot because the manga and the anime started differently and there's filler episodes in the anime.

(which i don't know existed until much later)

so, the manga started with kid Luffy and shanks in luffy's village. he's trying to join Shank's pirate crew because he wanted to be a pirate. i did not read the manga, i only know this piece of information due to the arc reviews i've watched, but Luffy stabbed his left eye to prove himself to these pirates. that he's ready and is already a grown-up.

(side note: he's not. he's five at that time. and what a five-year-old huh)

as what the youtube creator tweeted, that basically establishes Luffy solidly and then the story branched out from there. so, yes, that was right. one piece manga is good at chapter 1.

now, for me as an anime watcher, and this might tick some people, but one piece anime is just as good in episode 1.

episode 1 started with a barrel floating in the sea. cruise ship crews thought it was booze so they hauled the thing into their ship. and then, a pirate ship came to raid the cruise ship. in this pirate ship, koby is an errand boy and he dislikes it but too afraid to fight back or flee.