20 years of One Piece!

Who would have guessed? One Piece, that manga whose main character is a boy able to stretch his body in an incredible fashion, has acquired his hero's ability and is reaching quite a publication history.

Still, it's a consequence of the slowness that Eiichirō Oda has become used to when he develops One Piece arguments. One Piece has 871 chapters and only Dressrosa arc is over one hundred, which forced him to write the next one faster.

It's also fair to admit that Oda is repetitive. We have already read various arcs where a princess is saved from an evil guy. Some of the problems that Luffy's nakamas (1) confront show obvious parallelisms. The number of secondary characters is starting to surpass The Simpsons and are blamed of stealing screentime to the Strawhats.

But what's the matter? The truth is that One Piece is still one of the most successfull mangas in Japan and almost the only shōnen that gives pleasant surprises then and now. Oda follows the first plan he had in mind, even when the extended length of the story has forced him to introduce changes, as they're never last-minute.

Personally, I found One Piece a bit silly when i caught a glimpse of an episode on Tele 5 channel around 16 years ago, probably (Time sure flies!) (2), but it's quite addictive, evidently. And the characters have strong motivations, not based only on whims, and it's developed delicate themes such as racism, classism or explotation.

Also, let's not forget that in this world, appearance doesn't decide whether you're one of the good guys or of the bad ones, a technique you find in fiction at an alarming frequency. Neither, on the one hand, the apparent monsters are evil, nor, on the other hand, the topic of the hot and snob chick is found. Actions are what determine the moral quality, nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, it's mandatory to note the great originality given by the presence of Devil Fruits, which makes impredictable for you to guess which will be the next powerful enemy' ability and has become the most distinctive element, in spite of some readers prefering a Hokuto no Ken clon.

And that's it, because others more expert than me will emit torrents of their knowledge for free. The problem of the anime can be discussed in other occasion, even if it's so related to the manga. Let's hope, of course, the plot never again gets slowed down like it happened in Dressrosa...

1 One Piece has the merit of having been the responsible of the expansion of term "nakama" among manganime fans around the world. Always better than Azumanga Daioh respect to "waifu"...

2 It started being broadcast on Tele 5 in 2001, which confirms my estimation.