Manga Monthly: One Piece

It is the middle of summer, and for most of you, school has finished recently. Now everyone with excitement is speeding off on holidays and relaxing in the summer vibes of hot weather. With many plans for the summer, you may be trying to find some manga to read during the holidays, something that you can really invest in. Well, I would love to introduce a manga classic and loved by lots – One Piece.

With its initial introduction in 1997 on Weekly Shonen Jump, Eiichiro Oda created one of Japan’s most beloved manga publishers in the last century. Recently hitting the 1050 - chapter mark, it consists of 102 volumes, which makes it the 22nd longest manga series!

One Piece was first adapted into an anime in October 1999, and is considered one of the Big 3 of Japan’s biggest anime’s – standing on par with Naruto and Bleach. For over 2 decades, fans have followed the protagonist Monkey D Luffy on his pirate adventures.

In the first volume, you unveil Luffy’s influence to become a pirate, as Oda begins with the interaction between his protagonist, and of his beloved role models – Red Hair Shanks. Luffy officially begins his first adventure into sea at the age of 17, where he meets many friends and foes to try and find the most precious treasure in his world. “One Piece”. This treasure was left by the famous Gold D Roger, who was considered the King of Pirates, which is one of Luffy’s deep sought out ambition in the series. It is this title that many other pirates want for themselves too, which has led to some of the biggest conflicts within the manga series.

Luffy begins building his crew in Volume 1, starting with one of many peoples beloved 3 sword wielding swordsman, Zolo (or Zoro). You also meet an interesting character called Koby, who unlike Luffy, wants to become a marine soldier. It is suggested by this initial relationship that these two will have a greater conflict in the future, perhaps when they have both grown in power to try and defeat one another. By near the end of Volume 1, after Luffy and Zolo travel together, we are also introduced to a character called Nami, who targets pirates for their treasure. One thing that Oda makes clear to the reader is the characters ambitions, although you may not know now why they want their dream to come true, you understand their dreams and desires are very important to them. They are inseparable from it and will do anything to achieve it.

The mass number of volumes of the series definitely seems daunting. It also can quickly become very pricey so I actually buy the 3-in-1 manga volumes of One Piece, which costs me just under £10 and gives me lots to read.

There is also an alternative to watch the anime, but for some people, the original material may be a more enjoyable than the anime, as there has been some criticism towards the anime production for the length in the episodes and time frames. Oda is effective in using his art style to create a comedic tone of the story, with hyperbolic expressions and interesting varied character designs, which exaggerates their personalities more. I was also invested in the characters of the story and the plot can swing from funny comedy to the most gut-wrenching tear-jerking material. Also, the process to complete the manga may be one of the most enjoyable experiences to achieve!