For years, I refused to watch One Piece because of how long it is. It doesn’t matter how good the show is, I thought. I am not sitting through a thousand episodes.
Well, guess what? I’m 800 episodes in, and I have no regrets — other than maybe not starting it sooner.
Written by mangaka Eiichiro Oda, One Piece is a manga and anime series about a group of pirates, captained by protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, in search of the One Piece: a legendary treasure left behind by the former King of the Pirates.
The first chapter of the manga was released in 1997, and the first episode of the anime aired two years later. It’s been almost 30 years, and the story is still being written. 30 years. And with over 1,000 episodes, we’re still not done.
I was scandalized that a series could drag on so long. What could possibly fill up a thousand episodes of content? Must be 90% fluff, I thought, and 10% actual plot.
I thought wrong. One Piece is the greatest piece of media ever created, and it’s because of the hard-hitting, applicable-to-real-life lessons it teaches its viewers.
Warning: spoilers ahead.
Likable Characters
The show’s characters are extremely likable (except, of course, for the ones we’re not supposed to like), largely because all of them are well-written, with backstories that explain why they are the way they are. These backstories also raise the stakes of their individual missions.
Every character’s past struggles make viewers want to see them overcome the odds and achieve their dreams. Even if someone starts out antagonistic and cruel, everyone is redeemable in One Piece. Well, almost everyone.
The Friends We Make Along the Way
But it’s not just about the individuals, it’s about the collective as well. Friendship is a central theme in the show, with a large emphasis placed on found family, sometimes being more prominent than blood family. The connections between characters dictate the storylines. No pirate is left behind; Luffy goes to bat for every one of his crew members, and vice versa.
Even the relationships between side characters are given their moments to shine. My favorite arc is Dressrosa, where Luffy and his crew fight to free a seemingly utopian country from its manipulative and scheming king. Along the way, Luffy makes friends with literally every person he meets, inadvertently recruiting them to join his cause.
By the end of the arc, everyone is friends and have pledged their loyalty to Luffy and to each other. We don’t see any of those characters again for a long, long time, but we remember how sweet it was that one person came along and ignited the flame of friendship between all of them.
The Political and Economic State of the World
When a show has characters as goofy and unserious as One Piece does, you hardly expect them to get into themes of genocide, discrimination, and slavery. Spoiler alert: all those themes are present.
One Piece is, yes, about a group of kids (and their stand-in parents) on a pirate ship. But below the surface (get it?), it’s actually a struggle against an omnipotent government with a history of subjugation and corruption.
Non-human races like the Fishmen wrestle with opposing ideologies in their fight for equality: vengeance or compassion. And One Piece treats this struggle with nuance, stressing to viewers that if the Fishmen want to exact revenge on their oppressors, that’s completely understandable. But the Fishmen are never the bad guys as a race.
Another example might be the internal conflict that some members of the government’s marine soldiers face. They believe that they are fighting for justice, but when they’re confronted with the possibility that their government isn’t nearly as just as they think it is, they grapple with the differences between their assigned duties and their personal morals. Is something bad, they ask, just because it’s illegal?
And finally, the most profound notion One Piece offers: history is written by the winners. What’s good? What’s just? And who decides? An almighty government that projects peace and righteousness might have some dark secrets surrounding how far they’ll go to maintain that façade.
355 Episodes to Go
I’ll admit, One Piece does have some shortfalls — pacing being its biggest one. Some episodes are 20 straight minutes of a character running up a tower. The show was created when anime viewers had longer attention spans, so the pacing isn’t as attractive or tolerable to newer generations.
Luckily, a re-paced version of One Piece is in the works, retaining all original storylines with modern animation and tighter pacing. It’s produced by WIT Studio and directed by Masashi Koizuka, who gave us the masterpiece that is Attack on Titan.
So if you’re still refusing to watch One Piece because of its length, you’ll get to experience all its glory in a condensed, manageable format.
Trust me, though, you won’t feel like it’s a 1000-episode timesink once you get into it. I’ve been there.
At 800 episodes in, I’m planning on naming my future child after Luffy.
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