One Piece (stretchy pirate manga by Eiichiro Oda)

[robotam]

One Piece is celebrating its 25 anniversary this week, and coming back after a month break for chapter 1054. Its clear that the story entering the final stretch (which might last 5ish years) and I'm excited.

Its set in a world mostly made up of loads of small islands (and bigger island nations) that, due to some bonkers world geography, are all pretty isolated. The only people that move between them are the navy, acting on behalf of the oppressive world government, and hundreds of pirate crews who have set sail to get the legendary treasure the "one piece". The manga follows the straw hat pirates lead by Luffy, a guy who ate a magic devil fruit and became a rubber man.

It's got lots of really fun islands and it manages to do a good job of sticking them all in a pretty consistent world. I had assumed that they would just be aimlessly going from island to island looking for the treasure but for some plot reason, they basically just have to circumnavigate the globe. Once it gets going there's a real sense of progress after each story arc and lots of little bits of lore are often tied together in really interesting and surprising ways.

Also this panel often pops in my head and it makes me laugh:


Anyone else reading it?

[letsgobrian]

One Piece is celebrating its 25 anniversary this week, and coming back after a month break for chapter 1054. Its clear that the story entering the final stretch (which might last 5ish years) and I'm excited.

Its set in a world mostly made up of loads of small islands (and bigger island nations) that, due to some bonkers world geography, are all pretty isolated. The only people that move between them are the navy, acting on behalf of the oppressive world government, and hundreds of pirate crews who have set sail to get the legendary treasure the "one piece". The manga follows the straw hat pirates lead by Luffy, a guy who ate a magic devil fruit and became a rubber man.

It's got lots of really fun islands and it manages to do a good job of sticking them all in a pretty consistent world. I had assumed that they would just be aimlessly going from island to island looking for the treasure but for some plot reason, they basically just have to circumnavigate the globe. Once it gets going there's a real sense of progress after each story arc and lots of little bits of lore are often tied together in really interesting and surprising ways.

Also this panel often pops in my head and it makes me laugh:


Anyone else reading it?

Yup. Started reading it through less than legal means back in 2002 and now all my shelves have on them are volumes of One Piece.

Love that panel too. Though I prefer the succinct official translation rather than what looks like a dodgy speed scanlation that's gone through multiple languages to get to English.



It's the entire series in one speech bubble.

[robotam]

Aye, that's the proper version of the panel. Whoops.

[Mister Six]

Mrs Six loves this, to the point that I got her every single volume of the manga for Christmas last year - although it was all in Chinese, so I won't be reading them myself. We also have little trinket toys of Chopper and Luffy and the skeleton bloke dotted around the place.

It looks great, but also utterly overwhelming in sheer bloody scale, and there's so much else out there I haven't read or seen. Still haven't watched all of The Sopranos, FFS.

[madhair60]

I've read about 100 chapters. I liked it. But then I saw how many more chapters there are, so I stopped.

[Thursday]

I'd just started watching the anime out of interest and watched 7 episodes, and it made me want to read the manga, because at least I can get through it at a much faster pace.  So  where's the place to read this? Not going to buy it, but I assume it's all uploaded somewhere.

[robotam]

The easiest places to read it digitally are https://www.viz.com/shonenjump or https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp
Both of which are official. Until January 2023 mangaplus will let you read every chapter once for free if you do it on their app.

I read it on the Shonen Jump app. 2 quid a month gets you access to the back catalogue of One Piece and a bunch more series.

[touchingcloth]

What less than legal sources of mangas exist, and what is a good entry manga? A girlfriend made me read a web comic in the early 00s, is that a manga? Where do mangos fit into the picture? Or wonga?

[dontpaintyourteeth]

The one reservation I always have about getting into anything like this is that I know I'll end up getting obsessed with it and spending loads of money on books and whatnot

[Mister Six]

What less than legal sources of mangas exist, and what is a good entry manga? A girlfriend made me read a web comic in the early 00s, is that a manga? Where do mangos fit into the picture? Or wonga?

What sort of thing do you like to read generally? Comedy? Horror? Sci-fi? I had a decent dodgy manga site before. If I can dig it up I'll PM you.

(Although this should probably be its own thread.)

[touchingcloth]

What sort of thing do you like to read generally? Comedy? Horror? Sci-fi? I had a decent dodgy manga site before. If I can dig it up I'll PM you.

(Although this should probably be its own thread.)

Scifi, historical, period. The best things I've read recently are the Three Body Problem, Wolf Hall, most of Margaret Atwood's stuff, Remains of the Day.

[Mister Six]

Scifi, historical, period. The best things I've read recently are the Three Body Problem, Wolf Hall, most of Margaret Atwood's stuff, Remains of the Day.

I haven't read tons of stuff, but if you like sci-fi, Akira is absolutely worth checking out. Get the nice big volumes from your local library, because the art is detailed and beautiful, and worth seeing at scale, in full.

I enjoyed Parasyte, about a lad who discovers that human beings have been replaced by man-eating creatures, one of which has infected and replaced his own right arm. It's not too long, as these things go, and although the ending doesn't quite follow through on some of the bigger ideas, it finishes up well enough.

Don't know much about historical/period pieces, but Barefoot Gen is a pretty harrowing (even more so because of the cartoonish simplicity of the illustrations) account of the bombing of Hiroshima (and its lead-up and fallout, pun not intended), told from the perspective of a young boy.

[Kankurette]

I tried reading it for a bit but got bored during the interminable arc about Sanji's shitty family and ultimately gave up. Doesn't help that my favourite characters are Usopp and Robin. I know this is blasphemy and that OP is supposed to be the best of the '00s Shounen Jump Big 3, but I actually preferred Naruto.

[touchingcloth]

I haven't read tons of stuff, but if you like sci-fi, Akira is absolutely worth checking out. Get the nice big volumes from your local library, because the art is detailed and beautiful, and worth seeing at scale, in full.

I enjoyed Parasyte, about a lad who discovers that human beings have been replaced by man-eating creatures, one of which has infected and replaced his own right arm. It's not too long, as these things go, and although the ending doesn't quite follow through on some of the bigger ideas, it finishes up well enough.

Don't know much about historical/period pieces, but Barefoot Gen is a pretty harrowing (even more so because of the cartoonish simplicity of the illustrations) account of the bombing of Hiroshima (and its lead-up and fallout, pun not intended), told from the perspective of a young boy.

Ta!

Which of those are black and white and which are colour? A quick search looks like Akira is colour while Barefoot is monochrome? I'll probably stick that on my e-reader if so, and leave Akira for when my other half picks up an iPad.

[Mister Six]

Ta!

Which of those are black and white and which are colour? A quick search looks like Akira is colour while Barefoot is monochrome? I'll probably stick that on my e-reader if so, and leave Akira for when my other half picks up an iPad.

Most of Akira is B&W, but some of the volumes have brief colour, painted (IIRC) intro pages.

Dunno what your e-reader or iPad are like, but Akira is best read in the largest format possible. Barefoot Gen would be all right on a smaller screen/page though.

[Dickie_Anders]

The arc where they go to Sky Island is really a wonderful self-contained children's fantasy story, imo. The writing is really imaginative and smart, the art is beautiful. It has whimsy and darkness in equal measure, like all great children's stories. I think in and of itself it's brilliant

I also really like the early story where they go to Nami's island and it's ruled by the Fish Men. But I'm not that keen on the rest of One Piece if I'm honest. I got to the time skip and felt like each arc kept falling into the same kind of formula, so stopped reading

[Kankurette]

I got into it during the Impel Down arc, which might explain my lack of enthusiasm for it. It sounds like the earlier arcs, Enies Lobby and whatnot, were much better.

Also, I could do without Sanji being Flanderised into the funny pervert character. I mean, nearly dying from a nosebleed after looking at a hot woman? 'Sake.

[robotam]

Yeah Sanji is genuinely hateful at times.

I think after the time-skip a lot of the interesting stuff is the overarching story of the mysteries of the world, and it's easy to get fatigued with the shorter term "stepping-stone" stuff. Especially when an arc gets to a point and becomes a series of one-on-one fights ending with Luffy vs the head villain. This happens too much.
But on the other hand, Luffy is funny.

[buzby]

What sort of thing do you like to read generally? Comedy? Horror? Sci-fi? I had a decent dodgy manga site before. If I can dig it up I'll PM you.

(Although this should probably be its own thread.)

I've ummed and aahed about starting a manga thread - I did used to post a bit about manga in the anime thread, but that died a death, and the SoL/RomCom-type stuff I like seems a bit out-of-place in the catch-all comics thread (tbh my vanilla taste in manga and anime is probably why the anime thread died a death).

[Mister Six]

Inspired by this thread - and by the Manga+ app having all of One-Piece (as well as some of Mrs Six's other faves, like Spy Family and Jujitsu Kaisen) up for free until next January - I've given it a crack, and I have to say I really like it. I'm only on chapter five, but Luffy is a really charming protagonist, and while "pompous bad guy undercut by carefree good guy who doesn't give a shit" is an old gag, it's still funny every time.

The Manga+ app is horrible on so many levels, though. Genuinely the worst interface I've seen in an ostensibly professional app for years. And I've used HBO Max and Masterclass.

[willbo]

Scifi, historical, period. The best things I've read recently are the Three Body Problem, Wolf Hall, most of Margaret Atwood's stuff, Remains of the Day.

if you like Historical and period you could join me in reading Tezuka's Buddha. It's known as a masterpiece of the genre and I'm gonna try and read it for the first time this year hopefully.

[samadriel]

if you like Historical and period you could join me in reading Tezuka's Buddha. It's known as a masterpiece of the genre and I'm gonna try and read it for the first time this year hopefully.

I'd be interested in reading that,  I find Buddha and Buddhism most interesting.  Is this an effective place to read the manga? : https://m.manganelo.com/manga-jp97283

Edit:  it seems pretty good,  just a few ads every few pages.

[letsgobrian]

Yeah Sanji is genuinely hateful at times.

I think after the time-skip a lot of the interesting stuff is the overarching story of the mysteries of the world, and it's easy to get fatigued with the shorter term "stepping-stone" stuff. Especially when an arc gets to a point and becomes a series of one-on-one fights ending with Luffy vs the head villain. This happens too much.
But on the other hand, Luffy is funny.

Oda did an interview with Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan) to publicise their respective franchises' latest feature films that touches on something that probably accounts for Sanji's awfulness.

In the interview he comments

"But I also know that if I draw romance, some of my fans leave. I think it's fine when they're one-sided feelings, but if it goes both ways, both characters lose fans."

The Pudding / Sanji relationship is the one time feelings start to go both ways, as opposed to Boa falling for Luffy and Luffy being oblivious to it, or Sanji hitting on and being rejected by nearly every woman he meets.

And that was the time it looked like we could have a Sanji who had grown up, and then it's undone. Presumably to meet these perceived audience expectations.

I think the scene of Sanji being the damsel in peril (damoiseau in peril? gallant in peril?) in Wano due to his chauvinism, was some good use of his obnoxious character traits post-Whole Cake Island. The Kamen Rider riff with the power suit / cyborg powers kicking in, was less successful.

Plenty of insightful stuff in that interview in terms of both the One Piece & Detective Conan series, author involvement in the process of making movies and differences in approaches of two of the major manga magazines.

There's a good translation here:
https://wsstalkback.blogspot.com/2022/07/mysterious-pirates-of-sunday-seas_22.html
https://wsstalkback.blogspot.com/2022/07/mysterious-pirates-of-sunday-seas.html

[willbo]

I'd be interested in reading that,  I find Buddha and Buddhism most interesting.  Is this an effective place to read the manga? : https://m.manganelo.com/manga-jp97283

Edit:  it seems pretty good,  just a few ads every few pages.

no idea, I've never read a manga online. I was gonna look for it used or something. I don't actually know anything about Buddha, I just thought the art looked epic

[touchingcloth]

if you like Historical and period you could join me in reading Tezuka's Buddha. It's known as a masterpiece of the genre and I'm gonna try and read it for the first time this year hopefully.

Sounds like a plan. I'm halfway through a couple of books at the moment, but definitely up for joining you before the year is out.

[willbo]

Sounds like a plan. I'm halfway through a couple of books at the moment, but definitely up for joining you before the year is out.

There's also Vinland Saga, a Viking themed one I think. Food4Dogs, Youtube's fave older lady gamer/anime fan, is into that one.

[touchingcloth]

Has anyone done one in a Remains of the Day / Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility style? A manga of manners.

[Kankurette]

There's one about a Victorian maidservant called Emma that's josei.

Yeah Sanji is genuinely hateful at times.

I think after the time-skip a lot of the interesting stuff is the overarching story of the mysteries of the world, and it's easy to get fatigued with the shorter term "stepping-stone" stuff. Especially when an arc gets to a point and becomes a series of one-on-one fights ending with Luffy vs the head villain. This happens too much.
But on the other hand, Luffy is funny.

Luffy is my favourite of the Big 3 protagonists. Ichigo is a personality void and Naruto annoys the fuck out of me, he went from ninja Jürgen Klopp to ninja Tony Blair. Plus Luffy is less of a hypocrite than Naruto is. And he can stretch his dong (yes, someone asked Oda this).

[Mister Six]

Up to chapter 60 or so and loving this. The characters are all so daffy, but still with a genuine sense of pathos, and Luffy is a really likeable protagonist. Nami's my favourite at the minute, because she's basically every character I play in D&D, but Sanji's interesting too, and I'm a bit sad to see that he's going to be Flanderised at some point.

I also love the continuing story of Buggy and his crew that's happening in the title pages. Some genuinely funny moments, and a great use of real estate to keep subplots ticking over.

[robotam]

Oda did an interview with Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan) to publicise their respective franchises' latest feature films that touches on something that probably accounts for Sanji's awfulness.

...

Thanks for the links to the interview. I love that Tom and Jerry was a big inspiration for some of the recent big developments. I think that's a good assessment of Sanji in Wano.

Up to chapter 60 or so and loving this. The characters are all so daffy, but still with a genuine sense of pathos, and Luffy is a really likeable protagonist. Nami's my favourite at the minute, because she's basically every character I play in D&D, but Sanji's interesting too, and I'm a bit sad to see that he's going to be Flanderised at some point.

I also love the continuing story of Buggy and his crew that's happening in the title pages. Some genuinely funny moments, and a great use of real estate to keep subplots ticking over.

Sanji is a character with lots of peaks and valleys. Whole Cake Island, the (relatively) recent Sanji-focused arc that made Kankurette quit, is actually one of my favourites. The most excited I've been reading One Piece is in that arc when there is a meeting to formulate an extremely dangerous plan and Luffy just starts giggling because he's got a great idea of how he can do his part in a funny way. It's also an arc where Nami gets to shine.

The title page stories are such a neat idea. I haven't seen that done anywhere else.