Ok folks, I'm about to do something different, I'm going to write a review/analysis essay of each story arcs one by one, released depending on how I feel like making more. I'm going to follow only the main storyline, I'm not going to post fillers, Strong World and Z's Ambition. For why I'm not going to do the Strong World is because Oda did not add it in his main storyline. Sure he explored Shiki's past but since he did not appear in the current storyline and I prefer to follow it; I decided to deduce that Shiki's experiment failed and never appeared. I'm not going to cover up side stories despite the fact that some of them are connected to main story. I'm not even going to do specials. Plus this essay is full of spoilers as I'm going to be jumping ahead often so if you hate spoilers, turn around and read other blogs. Depending on how long each arcs are, some of the review series can be long and some can be short due to how much content each arcs are I'm going to analyze them all. I hope Oda finish Dressrosa this month to early next month and by the time I reach Dressrosa, we either be in the middle of Zou or at the beginning of Wano. That's right folks, I'm going to do this until the series ends, as Oda himself said that the series is 70-80% finished. As for the one shots, since Oda only mixed one of his four one shots manga in his main story, I highly doubt Oda will add the other two in and since "God's Gift from the Future" is set in the modern day Oda will not be inserting this in his story, and I don't think i'm going to cover up his one shots. Also all of these reviews will have my opinion so some may sound like a rent but it is not. Anyway, I'm going to be using arc names basing on locations even during the East Blue, due to that fact that during the Grand Line; each arcs were based on locations so to fit the flow I've decided to do that. Romance Dawn arc is different because there are three locations in this arc and only two (Foosha Village and Goat Island) is covered in one chapters each. Before I begin, let's explore the content of this series.
As we all know Oda's history; he was born in Japan in 1975, grew up obsessed with Vikings, became a fan of Dragon Ball when it came out in 1984 and one day said "I'm going to draw a manga." And judging the cartoonish nature of One Piece, Oda definitely watched many cartoons(Anime) of his country and maybe even American cartoons that was dubbed over there where cartoons would show people popping their eyeballs out. Since One Piece nearly lacked logics and broken half of the law of physics, It's safe to say that cartoons does inspire him, however let's not forget Avater: The Last Airbender that was cartoonish yet popular with all age. In fact Oda often threw pop cultures of his country in his story or his experiance. When he decided to chose Shonen as a place to publish his work, he intended One Piece to be lighter and softer, he intend to aim his work for young boys which would even appeal to older readers. Oda decided to even keep this series childish despite adult content that is thrown in there such as drugs, blood, some death, smoking and much more but Oda has so far avioded sex issue. There was times when the series became serious; at some case "darker and edger" but Oda will always pull it back to being lighthearted and comedic as it appears to be a selling point of One Piece. Oda decided to make this story a pirate one, however One Piece is different from a typical pirate story, since we never see any pirates doing what common pirates would do and we don't even see random pirates bury/unburying treasure, Oda decided to make this a straightforward one; A main character gathers crews and sail around the world to obtain One Piece. Not only that but Oda has been adding elements not found in any pirate story such as Ancient Weapons, corrupted World Government, a possible nuclear attack 800 years ago, no good vs. evil archetype, Will of the D. and many others. Oda even mixed many genres in his story except for romance and focus on worldbuilding rather than a typical Shonen fighting. And I also must point out when Oda create islands, they will be based on one climate and/or one themes; historical or cultural. One Piece is often unpredictable, early in the series it was predictable but once they reach the Grand Line that changed but by Impel Down Oda was wearing down and after the timeskip, Oda was sometimes unpredictable (King Riku not being evil, saw that million miles away Oda). Oda even re-uses forumla such as worst case scenario, superstition trick, and no-death policy. I'm even suprised that One Piece still holds a very large fan base despite Oda sometimes doing that would disappoint fans or they end up losing interests after a certain event. Naruto stuffers this and I never see a One Piece fan doing the same thing they would do to Naruto; quit it. Even though One Piece is riddled with inconsistents but fans will never admit that. But I still like One Piece as it taught me this; how to write and not to write.
When starting this series in 1997, he was 22 and perhaps when start it he had no idea that his series was going to be hyper-popular in the future that it would end up suppress the manga of his childhood; Dragon Ball. He even planned his series to run for five years but after putting so much content in his story and how he was creative that he kept it running for almost 20 years. He even wanted to add more but his editors would often tell him to leave this out and what was left out end up in the anime. Now that the series is closing to the 800th chapter, it is big enough to analyze it piece by piece. When One Piece started, it was simple and now look at how deep and complex it is. While most of Oda's writing can be terrible at times, most of the time it was good.
I would love to review the very first arc, but I would end up making this page long so I'm going to create a fresh blog for it. Currently 25 arcs to explore, so many characters and events to explore. I might even have to get one of my blog "Dressrosa: Operation Mindscrew" deleted. So turn for my blog "Joekido Arc Analysis: Romance Dawn Arc" Coming up next.