Top 5 Reasons Why I Love One Piece

Originally, I really didn't care for One Piece. After seeing the 4kids (cough vomit piece of crap) version a few years ago, I didn't have any interest in seeing anything further as it didn't occur to me at the time what kind of butchering 4kids does to anime. Nonetheless, a few years later a friend of mine gave me a site where I could get fansubs of the original anime as it had been either dropped from licensing or suspended for an indeterminate amount of time. I. was. hooked. One Piece was my drug. To this day I wait each week for the new fansub and the new fan-translated mangas, twitching and rocking back and forth. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration..

Now you know that I love One Piece, now let me tell you why.

Reason 5: One Piece Hasn't Ended

The number 5 reason why I love One Piece is that it is STILL GOING. Eiichiro Oda created One Piece in August of 1997, and it was picked up by Shounen Jump who still runs it to this day. Originally Oda planned the series to run for five years, with the manga ending in 2002. As the fandom increased, that year soon passed and flew into the distance. It's now May of 2009 and One Piece has 565 chapters of manga, 426 episodes of anime, 9 movies, 46 music singles, and 29 video games. This doesn't include the mini series and specials that were also released within the anime, the toys, figurines, trading cards, and clothing lines. THAT'S A LOTTA FANDOM.

Reason 4: It Has Something For Everyone

The number 4 reason why I love One Piece is that is seems to have EVERYTHING. No matter who you are, there is at least one thing that appeals to you. The main crew consists of: A man who can stretch and who eats like a freaking hippopotamus; a green haired swordsman who sleeps a lot and has no sense of direction; a female thief who loves money so much she puts her crewmates in danger just to find treasure; a sniper who uses a slingshot and spins tall tales; a perverted cook who can kick your ass and then make you a souffle; a gullible reindeer who can change into the freaking Hulk, oh yeah he's a doctor too; A bookworm archaeologist who can spawn parts of her body onto anything she can see (I know what you're thinking, it's already been done.); A cola-fueld cyborg who runs around in a speedo and can shoot bullets from his wrists; and last but not least, a top hat wearing afro weilding skeleton musician. The Mugiwara crew has been just about everywhere, the sea, tropical islands, deserts, the snow, a city above the water, and they've even explored the VERY SKY. If you haven't seen or read One Piece yet, I can almost guarantee there is something you will like.

Reason 3: Unique Character Development

The number 3 reason why I love One Piece is that it has awesome character development. Each of the main characters have very unique and developed back stories and throughout the series you can see how far the characters have come both visually and emotionally. This kind of development is what gets you attached to the characters. You WANT Luffy to become the Pirate King, you WANT Zoro to achieve his dream of becoming the World's Greatest Swordsman. You WANT Brook to be reunited with the whale he made a promise to over fifty years ago. The development of the characters is really what makes the story so great. They can put characters in the greatest situation ever, but if you don't care about them or if they're not developed well, the story just falls flat on its face. I have yet to find a character that I legitimately hate.

Reason 2: Originality

The number 2 reason why I love One Piece is that it is one of, if not THE most original concept I've seen so far in my experience with anime. Originality is VERY hard to find in anything nowadays, everything is a knock off of something, right? (And it might be the case here too, but I haven't found it yet.) Pirates sailing around the world to fulfill their life goals while encountering people that have all different kinds of powers and ambitions, awesome.

Reason 1: It Blows My Mind at Every Turn

And the number 1 reason I love One Piece is that it NEVER CEASES TO BLOW MY FREAKING MIND. There are so many twists in the plot, so many connections that you'd never think possible, every new chapter makes me go HOLY WOW, NO WAY! One Piece is full of 'How are they gonna get out of this?!' situations and every single one completely blows my mind. Just when you think a character has been put away and forgotten, they show up with a whole new twist and a whole new role in the story. When I think One Piece couldn't get any better, Oda surprises me with every new chapter.

And This Is Why I Love One Piece.