One Piece is a monument in the manga/anime world. There is not another work that can be named that is so loved, so large, and so acclaimed.

For all that, though, the sensation lingers that maybe its faults have been washed from view by the massive wave of hype and adoration surrounding it.

I have read One Piece, to the at-the-time current chapter, at least three times. It was always a struggle to maintain focus and interest. Several flaws continuously added upon themselves, until they drowned out my view.

This review attempts to address the many faults of the manga, from the most objective point of view--that of a reader who neither hates nor loves the series, who holds no real emotions towards it.

STORY

The story reads like the ecstacy-driven doodle-comics of a child. The various arcs are surreal in basis, and character designs are fantastical. This is not in and of itself a bad thing--sometimes it is amusing to see what the mangaka comes up with next--but after hundreds upon hundreds of chapters of zany crazy hijinks, it all blurs together. There is a constant high output of crazy; however, after so many readings, a tolerance is reached, and it is no longer remarkable or engaging.

There is a well-developed fan theory that makes what I feel is a conclusive case for the end of the manga. It points to many hints and threads carried throughout the arcs, and weaves a pattern for the rest of the show, based off of real historical accounts. Many point to this theory as a sign of Oda-sensei's ability to create great plots. This is very, very wrong. This fan theory, while solid in nature, was only noticed by one reader, who had an extraneous amount of knowledge on key parts of the subject. Foreshadowing serves a purpose in literature--its primary purpose is to hint at what is to come, but more importantly, it builds excitement in the readers, and by fueling fan conspiracy, allows fans to become engaged in the work. This fan theory, while solid, is based off of hints so subtle that the audience at large passed by them, unnoticed, and if not that, misinterpreted them entirely. The foreshadowing failed in this regard.

ART

Like the story, the art is completely surreal. This is not to the benefit of the manga. Many will point to the elaborate backgrounds and surrounding action in large panels as signs of devotion and talent. I will not dispute the former, but the latter is definitely not the case. Artists need to be able to draw the reader's attention to important pieces of action. This is accomplished in many ways--through line thickness, framing, and level of detail. Oda-sensei fundamentally lacks the ability to focus layers of the background in meaningful ways. Some panels have so many details that just looking at them hurts. There is simply too much unsorted information to process, and it meshes together into a meaningless blur. In short, complexity and details do NOT automatically make a manga superior to any one or another. It requires balance, which One Piece lacks.

CHARACTERS

Here I will address both the general character design and the artistic design. The characters are, for the most part, loud, excitable, hooplah-generating machines. While there are characters who are "quieter", like Chopper or Nico, their characters often seem to get caught up in the overwhelming wave of energy that is mass-produced from other characters. I am certain that in any other manga these characters would be excessively loud in their own regard.

By loud, I mean that the characters lack much subtlety. They all have their reasons for sailing with Luffy, and they all have goals and dreams and backstory. However, their baseline personalities are caricatured versions of the person that these histories would've otherwise produced. Sanji is OBSESSED WITH WOMEN, Zoro is OBSESSED WITH SWORDS AND STRENGTH, Usopp IS A COWARD EXCEPT HE PULLS HIMSELF TOGETHER FOR HIS NAKAMA, Franky ALWAYS NEEDS MORE MODIFICATINS, Brooks IS LITERALLY BONES AND MUSIC AND PUNS, Nami IS A STRONG INDEPENDENT WOMAN. It's all so superficial; they all lack nuance. It's boring and annoying and grating after 700+ chapters of the same shallow characterizations.

One of my largest issues with One Piece is the simple visual character designs. I understand that the manga is surrealistic; however, there is a limit to how noodly people can get (and I'm not just talking about Luffy!) If people are thin or normal, then they are streched out, strange thin bendable shades of people. The opposite does not improve the situation; when they are large, they are just a mountain with eyes and appendages. One can capture the essential form of a person and transform it into a surreal caricature which still manages to express the essential qualities of a person; this mangaka cannot do that. People become monstrous, and it eventually feels like I'm reading a webcomic about an entirely different species.

OVERALL

The manga is popular. The manga is huge. The manga grosses more money than any other.

The manga's story has been the same theme for so long that it has lost its flavor. The manga's art shows severe deficiencies in simple framing abilities. The manga's characters are as shallow as the plot.

It's not terrible, being as large as it is. However, its size has blinded people to its very real faults. It's a good manga to read if you want to understand what your manga-loving friends are talking about; it's not the manga you want to read if you want a manga to digest, thoughtfully and slowly. The appeal of this manga comes from the community, not from the manga itself.