One Piece

One Piece has become something of a colossal cult-phenomenon around the world, though it's a household name in Japan thanks to Toei Animation's seemingly undying commitment to Shonen Jump adaptations, such as Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump, Saint Seiya and Slam Dunk.

At over 900 episodes this show has become probably the longest running digitally-painted anime in history: thanks to Toei's transition to digital cel-animation in the late 1990s. This show's got great characters, a fun world and the action gets just enough punch to not be too boring or derivative of Toei's other Shonen-derived shows.

This is an anime household name and anyone into Japanese animation should give this one a shot. P.S. You DON'T need to have seen all of this show's episodes because... y'know: it's ridiculous catch-up time in one sitting.

On first glance, One Piece is not too different from other Anime series. It has hilarious, roll on the floor from laughing humor and so much action it makes you wonder if the crew ever gets tired.

But in its core, One Piece is about something else: it's about nakama. Nakama, a Japanese term generally referring to comrades, receives a completely new feeling in One Piece. Stand by your nakama, believe in them no matter what happens, no matter what anyone does or says about them. Help them in any situation, even if it means putting your own life on the line. With you nakama, you can do anything. And it is this extreme sense of comradry that makes you fall in love with the characters and wish you could be a part of the strange little group.

It also teaches how humans are allowed to have flaws; in fact, all people do: seemingly perfect Swordsman and first mate Roronoa Zoro has no sense of direction whatsoever and can easily get himself lost on any one way street, navigator Nami is absolutely crazy for money, cook Sanji loses his mind once he sees a lady.. and the list goes on and on. But despite these flaws, they continue fighting. For each other and with each other. If one crewmember can't do it, somebody else will be right there for support.

If you're looking for a funny, action-filled series whose main characters easily grow to your heart and feel like family: go for One Piece. You will not regret it!

One Piece takes place in an alternate world where pirates rule the seas and anything can happen. Gold Roger was the Pirate King who had fame, fortune, and power. But when he was captured he was sentenced to be executed. On the day he was executed he revealed his One Piece treasure is hidden somewhere at The Grand Line.

This made people set sail and try to hunt down the One Piece treasure. Many have failed and never found the location of it. But over the years it's drawn attention and formations on hundreds of Pirate groups who seek the title of Pirate King. The whole world has entered the Golden Era of Pirates.

On one island lived a boy named Luffy, who is friends with a pirate named Captain Shanks. He looks up to Shanks as a hero. And would do anything to be part of his crew. But he was too young to become a pirate or part of any crew. One day Luffy encountered the Devil Fruit. He ate it and obtain the power the fruit hold. It gave him the ability to stretch with a body made of rubber. But once you eat the Devil's Fruit, you're cursed with the powers forever. And can never be able to swim again. After almost drowning in the water, his friend Shanks saved his life. As Shanks departs with his crew, he gave Luffy his prized straw hat. He told him to keep it with him, until they meet again. While Luffy was left feeling sad but honored at the same time. And his new destiny in life, will be to start up his own pirate crew, go to the Grand Line, find the One Piece treasure, to become the new Pirate King.

A few years later, Luffy starts his quest to find him some friends for his pirate crew. Throughout the series, he'll find new lands, new allies, treasure, danger, and plenty of villains to face off. But with some faith and the powers of the Devil's Fruit. Luffy will sure to succeed his goal in becoming the Greatest Pirate that ever lived.

Comic made back in the late 90s, and the anime series has been around since the earlier days of SpongeBob. I first heard of it when it came on the FoxBox back in late 2004. I wasn't entirely into many anime back then. And I never saw the English Dub of the series, as I found it to be an OK series. After reading on the internet that the dub is heavily edited and nothing like the original. I grew interest on how good it is. I read the first volume of the Manga series. And liked how the story was going.

Wasn't until January 2007, when I finally start to check out the Anime. Only I viewed the episodes that are subtitled, uncut, and uncensored. And I grew to love it. The animation is very well done, it's funny, it's action packed, and it's dramatic sometimes. I don't even consider it a kid's cartoon, when it's more aimed to teenagers. But with an interesting cast of characters, and over a hundred secondary/miscellaneous characters. One Piece is indeed a great Anime next to Case Closed, Naurto, & other ongoing series.

The reason why it's very underrated was because of 4Kids being the first company to distribute the anime. Which they edited and censored a lot. And many flaws in the dubbing. Such as voices that don't suit the characters' personalities. Too many pirate accents and catch-phrases that get old instantly. All the violence, blood, alchol, drugs, and nudity were altered and removed. All the weapons were altered to look harmless. 4Kids spent more time edditting than spending time on the scripts. Plus a lot of filler and small episodes were removed. And most of them were too important to take out in the series.

The good thing is 4kids no longer owns rights to One Piece. I knew they would drop it, because they did a poor job in introducing the series to English speaking countries.

With over 300 episodes, I can tell that One Piece is really big in Japan. I've seen all the current episodes. And can't get enough of it.

So those who like their Anime uncut, should highly recommend seeing One Piece uncut by fan subs or Funimation's release on the series.

One piece holds a Guinness world record for it's Manga with 100million copy sales across the world. One piece recently celebrated it's 20th anniversary which started it's legacy in 1999 by the creator eiichiro oda. It is set in a beautiful yet harsh world where pirates raise their flags high Expressing their freedom and sail the waters in the search of the grand treasure "One Piece" left behind by the Pirate King Gol d. Roger which marks the beginning Of "the great pirate era." While the marines fend off pirates in order to protect civilians with their own sense of justice. The ruling system has it's very own dark side which strives the pirates to struggle and fight against it for their freedom. The story follows an ambitious and high spirited young boy Monkey d. Luffy who aims to become the "King of Pirates" by conquering the seas and finding one piece. As he ventures on his quest he makes many allies with never ending bonds and stumbles across enemies, kicking their ass for good and more importantly his crewmates who swore their loyalty to him as their captain and work hard to make their dreams come true. The crew starts their journey in the grand line, the toughest seas that are feared by everyone which only Gol d. Roger was managed to conquer. The Grand line is described as hell and as a nightmare for every pirate which the crew rocks in as the "Strawhat Pirates" named after their captain's hat. One piece has the best adventures, high action, drama and comedy that you can ask for. The bonds and relations between the characters are well built in such a way that if you follow them close enough you are sure to wet your tissues. With beautiful seas, islands and breath taking stunts, nerve wracking epic battles, loads of laughter, great openings and ending tracks and addictive OST's you will never want to miss this out anymore. I am sure you will be loving the crew while they progress towards their goal. Finally One Piece is a best source for inspiration and motivation, the theme of "never give up on your dreams no matter what the cost is" gets the good expression here. Every character of one piece whether it be protagonists or antagonists have their own believes, sense of justice and vision of the world for which they fight for putting them on high stakes. If you want to change your approach or view towards the world then you must watch one piece. It can be undoubtedly crowned as Best of the best shounen series. Their adventures still continue as they unfold various mysteries and cruel fates. At the end of the day don't expect the crew to be all kind, gentle and selfless, they're PIRATES after all

I watch a lot of fan subbed anime and occasionally watch some dubbed anime if there is nothing else good on TV. Well one day while watching Toonami in the UK i stumbled across show called one piece. It wasn't amazingly good, there were obvious problems with the dub, but it was enjoyable none the less. After i'd watched few episodes i started to become curious about the characters and the origins of the story. I did a little bit of research on the web and found out that the version of One Piece i was watching had been butchered from its original format. There were A lot of sources that all said the same thing, that the original One Piece was brilliant and that the dub was nothing in comparison. I liked the show and wanted to see what Uncut One Piece was like. After a little more searching i found some fantastic fansubs and my real One Piece experience started. What can i say, Japanese One Piece is one of the best stories ever told and is by far my favourite show to watch. I look forward everyweek to watching the next episode when the fansub is released. 280 episodes into the series and its still as great as it was when it first started.

A poor dub led me to discover my favourite show, and so if nothing else, the dub will let new fans like me discover One Piece.

Lets all hope this adventure continues for a long time.