Please explain to me why One Piece is worth picking up cause im interested

[Prideless]

I am genuinely asking because my initial impression is that its a good shounen but not a great one.

Ive watched One Piece back in the day up to I think sometime they are in the desert and Luffy or Robin put water on the villain to make him vulnerable, some sand villain, thats as far as I got. I finished that arc.

I am very faithful and typically agree with ratings on anidb.

It was shocking to me when I found out the rating for One Piece is a whopping 8.77 compared to Naruto which is like a 7 and Bleach which is like a solid 8. I am assuming why Naruto has such a low rating is due to the plaguing filler episodes.


Now in regards to One Piece the reasons I decided to drop it was because of

- Not a compelling enough ambition/goal, getting to the grandline and finding the ultimate treasure. Just didnt feel grand enough for me.
- Every arc revolves around protect my comrades and you obviously know no one in the main cast will die. Personally sometimes I feel they put to much emphasis on it.
- Im not a fan of 24/7 slapstick comedy, i dont mind slapstick as long as its not all the time.
- I felt like it took them eons to get to the grandline and started feeling like "theyll never reach it why am i watching this?"
- Everytime there was a new villain I occasionally asked myself so this is like a sidetrip and not really relevant to them getting to the grandline?

So those are the reasons why I dropped the show. I listed my reasons not to attack One Piece but give you a better understanding of me and if you think I may or may not like One Piece if I kept on watching.

I heard from a few friends the show gets more interesting and seeing the anidb score I am even more curious and am willing to consider picking it up again from ep1 to refresh my memory.

Also as a side question for those who have read both One Piece and Naruto manga which did you like more and why please keep it SPOILER FREE. I love the Naruto manga and if I get responses like One Piece is better or on par I just might pick it up.

I would like to know if any of my reasons I list might be possibly addressed later on in the show. again PLEASE SPOILER FREE. I want to pick it up but I am just intimidated how many episodes there are and im just not that motivated to watch it and I dont want to waste my time if I am going not end up not liking it.

Thanks for reading guys hope to hear some feedback soon.

----

UPDATE 2/21/12

Thanks everyone for all your feedback as it was enough of a motivational boost to get me to attempt to watch One Piece. I think I have watched enough episodes to determine for myself if I am going to continue to watch it. 150eps

Now One Piece is indeed a good show and I have addressed or come to terms with my problems I had with it before picking it up.

I really dont like slapstick particularly when theres more emphasis to it. However in One Piece I found myself genuinely laughing and enjoying the slapstick. Its well delivered and although it occurs almost every other minute its explosive and that somehow doesnt bog down the series for me. Its quite unique and the slapstick has this charm to it, I cant put my finger exactly on what it is.

In regards to the goal/ambition of the protagonist not being very compelling. I still think the same even being 150 episodes in. The protagonist being a complete idiot doesnt do himself any justice in the sense that he seems to be a static character and most likely will remain that way throughout the series. Its just hard to CONNECT with Luffy and his ambitions due to him being so severely simpleminded. Its difficult to imagine character growth in Luffy. Its hard picturing him becoming a dynamic character even 300 episodes later. I find One Piece to be more on the lighthearted side than serious. I am also under the impression One Piece is aimed at a younger shounen audience like 12 maybe opposed to 14.

I understand now why One Piece is soooooooo long. Its setting creates the possibility of a very expansive universe. One Piece is not binded to any one world/universe like Ninjas, Shinigami, Samurai, Sci-Fi, Prehistoric, Modern etc. The creators have more freedom to write an adventure to whatever it is that their imagination takes them.

In regards to how grand or epic One Piece is, I feel like it just doesnt have the same sky high apex/peak like other shounen anime. It falls short mainly due to arcs being so short and disconnected from one another. The formula is basically

Go to Island -> Found Island Problem -> Backstory of Problem -> Fix Problem then NEXT Island and Repeat

Other shounen anime previous arcs still have great relevance to later arcs and are interconnected hence allows the viewer to feel more connected with the characters and there is a greater sense of awesome when things do finally happen. One Piece however appears to be more consistent in regards to how interesting things are opposed to other shounens that have their ups and downs.

Overall I am probably going to watch at least 2 more arcs before I decide to commit to all 500 eps or not.

One Piece is definitely a good show that should at least be given a fair shot.

Thanks again for all your input guys helped me a lot into deciding to get into One Piece.

EDIT

5/17/12

Well now I am now completely caught up with One Piece. I am updating this thread to give my final conclusion of what is One Piece for those that were in the same boat with me regarding if they should pick it up or not.

To put it simply One Piece is simply magnificent and I believe it deserves to be in its own league. This is coming from someone who mostly enjoyed Naruto and Bleach.

For an anime to push out over 500 episodes and still have the viewers still captivated by its charm and wonder is no easy feat. The anime series is only beginning to pick up steam it is a marvelous achievement that I dare say no other anime has done before. You will eventually grow to deeply appreciate the crew over the span of the series more so in the latter half when the series takes on a heavier tone. If youd like to know more about whats so good about One Piece keep reading otherwise if your sold then dont read the rest and find out for yourself when you pick it up. I will list a small comparison between how Naruto and Bleach fare against One Piece.

My biggest gripe with the show initially was that I felt all the characters and villains the crew meets in the show you will never see or hear from again due to their irrelevance however it appears that is not that case and BRAVO my hats off to the writers in finding creative ways to keep older characters involved it certainly boosted my enjoyment level.

PROS

One Piece:

-diverse crew with widely different personalities
-crew skill level ups/powering up make sense (CONSISTENT)
-a vast variety of villains and allies alike all giving different vibes; no generic characters
-a grand adventure that is an eye to behold with an actual interesting overarching plot that they reveal in tidbits through the series
-a mountain of drama splattered throughout the series that keeps you invested in their adventure and in the crew.
-abundant in epic moments
- expansive universe / rich lore
- the series stays consistently interesting; never gets dull or boring
- always introducing new characters and villains

CONS
-pacing is a bit slow
-occasionally drag out a few fights, flashback stories etc
-it takes a long time before you actually appreciate the characters, took me 250+ before I was invested in the crew significantly
-Luffy's idiocy may be a bane for some, hard to connect with the protagonist.
- One Piece is very formulaic and mostly predictable, go to island > find island problem > flashback > fix island problem > next island.
- same themes are overused repeatedly; rarely introducing new ones. Nakama(Comrades/Friends) this can be a con or a pro for some.



Naruto

PROS
- fast paced plot
- Naruto's ambition is more compelling it feels more personal and sentimental
- the tone of the anime is more serious
- interests will have high peaks
CONS
- no focus; Anime focuses on different characters inconsistently; Naruto - Konoha 13 - Orochimaru - Akatsuki.
- supportive cast eventually loses relevance to the story; thus no more screentime
- Naruto skills/power ups will eventually feel a bit rushed and overpowered.
- the villains eventually lose their flare due to the lack of introducing new villains ones
- same plot elements are severely dragged over for far to long.
- questionable direction of where the anime is heading currently
- reoccurring theme a bit to much. I will become Hokage.
- Partially lackluster story due to to lack of refreshing new plot devices
- It is not always interesting it has its highs and lows. You may be interested then eventually fade to boredom with some story arcs and vice versa.

BLEACH

I am deeply saddened with the direction this anime has gone, dont want to type anything. =' (

One Piece has more pros and less cons and the pros hold more WEIGHT then the pros that Naruto or Bleach have to offer in my opinion.

Naruto is a show where your primarily watching to see how his story unfolds rooting for him while One Piece not only are you rooting for the crew members but you are glued to their very adventure and who they meet along the way.

Well that sums up my opinion of One Piece, hope it helped those who were on the fence. In regards to my PROS/CONS of Naruto it has been sometime and not everything is fresh in my mind; may have missed some pros/cons.

[Malakai0]

I'm in a similar boat, I watched One Piece up to about ep60 back in the day, when he's still a kid, and didn't like it that much. But my best friend loves the anime and the manga, and said if I just keep watching Ill start to love it.

I know it gets a lot better after the time skip, but what 500 episodes to catch up on? I have through 400 something on my hdd I just need to get motivated enough to watch it. I have about 20 other series on my drives to watch too so...

Another big one I need to catch up on is Hitman Reborn, my friend loves that too (well series is over, but manga is ongoing), I stopped right before it started getting really good around ep 25 or so.

There's just so much great shit to watch right now (I love Shakugan no Shana, Guilty Crown, Naruto when its not in filler mode tho I really prefer the manga lately, Nisemonogatari, and Zero no Tsukaima among others airing now) I haven't had the time.

[Takeshi]

- Not a compelling enough ambition/goal, getting to the grandline and finding the ultimate treasure. Just didnt feel grand enough for me.

This changes once you reach the Whitebeard War Saga. You get this, "oh fuck, this thing is huge."

- Every arc revolves around protect my comrades and you obviously know no one in the main cast will die. Personally sometimes I feel they put to much emphasis on it.

One Piece is still very entertaining despite of this. And just recently we experienced that One Piece wasn't the kind of show we thought it was.

- Im not a fan of 24/7 slapstick comedy, i dont mind slapstick as long as its not all the time.

Not like Oda has stopped doing this so I don't suppose you would like it a lot better.

- I felt like it took them eons to get to the grandline and started feeling like "theyll never reach it why am i watching this?"

The manga is about half-way done. Actually, probably the same reason why I stopped reading the manga. Boy was I wrong. In fact, I wish I would've refrained from watching the show until it had actually finished.

Furthermore, seeing that One Piece is really moving somewhere is really making me want to follow this franchise again. I read the manga until around Skypia, and dropped it since wasn't sure if this was worth investing my time in.

Also as a side question for those who have read both One Piece and Naruto manga which did you like more and why please keep it SPOILER FREE. I love the Naruto manga and if I get responses like One Piece is better or on par I just might pick it up.

They're both great shounens and kind of hard to compare. One Piece is definitely the better shounen, but Naruto ossacional has those "oh, man, this is epic" moments that just doesn't fit at all with the fillers.

Another big one I need to catch up on is Hitman Reborn, my friend loves that too (well series is over, but manga is ongoing), I stopped right before it started getting really good around ep 25 or so.

Not really sure if Hitman is really that good. It certainly doesn't give you the kind of payoff that OP does. For example having the show censored pretty much destroys it for me.

[i_am_otep]

Maybe it's with the main character?

Naruto - don't find him funny, just too annoying of a retard

Bleach - nothing very striking, neither a badass nor a funny guy

Luffy - an even bigger idiot, 24/7 pothead but turns badass when needed

Of course, this is just for me...

[Prideless]

holy cow.... are you being for real with me One Piece is better than Naruto?! your talking about manga? and is your conclusion based on being up to date on both of them?

Thats just hard for me to believe. ;_; anyone else vouch for this?

Thanks so much for your detailed response Takeshi. Really helped me.

Is there any fillers in One Piece like there is in Naruto?

Another question in terms of plot progression is it the same pacing from ep1 to the sand villain guy or does the pacing actually go faster? *hoping it goes faster.

[Hadouken]

There are fillers in One Piece, but they're done better than Naruto's and Bleach.

[Takeshi]

holy cow.... are you being for real with me One Piece is better than Naruto?! your talking about manga? and is your conclusion based on being up to date on both of them?

I'm not up-to-date with One Piece since every chapter takes about five minutes to get through whereas Bleach usually just takes two and Naruto three or four. I think I'm 24 chapters behind. Plus due to how much Oda puts in his chapters, it's easy to get thrown off what is actually happening. I'm just following the anime for now.

Is there any fillers in One Piece like there is in Naruto?

What Hadouken said, plus, there's much less than in Naruto and Bleach. On the other hand plot progression in eps aren't that fast. Naruto benefits better from this since they can make a great season of canon content and then focus 15-20 weeks on fillers and then do another great canon season. What's great about Oda though is that he crams so much content into his chapters so that One Piece never really needs a whole season full of fillers.

You may benefit from reading this (although it's also full of haters of all three shows).

[newy]

Bleach is bad, simply bad. Like most ongoing show it started strong but degenerated quickly. I don't understand why the Bleach anime still has such a high rating...

Naruto is good, very good. But inferior to One Piece. The anime probably has a relative low rating because of the fillers at the end of the first series but the series is thousand times better than Bleach, even in regards of the fillers. They at least try to start fillers after an arc has finished unlike Bleach who likes to have fillers right in the middle of an arc.

One Piece, superior, 'nuff said. It fleshes out every character that joins Luffy (your so called "Protect the comrades"-shit...) unlike in Naruto, no real need to mention Bleach (what is the past/motivation of character X). You must have been on drugs while watching the anime because Alabasta (your sand environment is on the Grand Line... I can only remember one filler arc about a girl and a dragon, and a vacation island. Other methods to stretch the arcs are additional scenes which can be annoying but are better than fillers that will never have any influence on the story.

[Malakai0]

All bleach main arc from the beginning to the end of the arrancar arc was great IMO. Filler is mostly all fail, as is the current anime lost powers arc.

The new arc starting in the manga should be good.

OT i know

[Prideless]

Can anyone explain to me VAGUELY and SPOILER FREE reasons why they like One Piece over Naruto, what is it exactly that One Piece has that Naruto doesnt? I am very INTERESTED in the reasons why people could possibly like One Piece over Naruto?

and for those who like Naruto more what were the reasons WHY you like it MORE than One Piece.

- Newy you said that it flushes out every character more so then Naruto and are you referring to that each cast member has their own mini arc? and afterwards are side characters stories ever revisited or thats it? If so in comparison to Naruto in which side characters just arent emphasized near as much but I prefer it that way it makes the show more focused on whats really at hand. It would be to many side trips to what I would consider the main story at hand.

I find Naruto to be a superb show and as for Bleach I think they ruined it midway into the arrancar arc and beyond gave up on it long ago. If you think about it Bleach sadly only amounted to rescue Rukia then lets go rescue Orihime. Im surprised the next arc wasnt about rescuing someone.

Thanks again guys.

[AceD]

holy cow.... are you being for real with me One Piece is better than Naruto?! your talking about manga? and is your conclusion based on being up to date on both of them?

Thats just hard for me to believe. ;_; anyone else vouch for this?

Naruto is only good at times, these good bits dont make up for the vast majority of it which is just poor (which is a shame because Naruto had so much potential to be really great)....One Piece is actually solid nearly all of the time; by far the best

[TwEeD]

Too late at night to actually make a graph but if you would visualise it:

Naruto: irregular sinus wave, goes anywhere between epic to mediocre on all it's points (storytelling, animation/direction quality, etc...). Fillers are quite bad but at least sometimes try to tie with cannon.

Bleach: strong positive start which falls down to mediocre after the SS-Arc ... occassional peaks of epicness but they are far and few between. Storytelling goes from good to a complete mess. Fillers are mostly mediocre and after bount arc doesn't even try to fit in cannon anymore.

One Piece: Starts slow but keeps on building and expanding with only a few little drops (in canon-material) as it can't stay epic all the time (but it damn well tries to ... Whitebeard Saga was phenomenal). Solid storytelling, lovable characters, very expansive universe and awesome buildup. Fillers are few and mostly quite good + tie in with the cannon.

Summary:

Bleach: Strong beginning turned to shit
Naruto: Inconsistent quality
One Piece: Consistent and get's better and better

I loved Bleach until Kubo screwed it completely up (last arc was like a fanfic), I love Naruto but it's sometimes quite hit and miss, I adore One Piece as it does so much right on so many levels. It clearly is in a league of it's own and rightly deserves it's popularity

[Meandola]

So you're interested in picking it up, yet ask us why you should do so. In my eyes what you're doing now is trying to find excuses as to why you will or won't watch it.

Just start watching it, it's a fuckton of episodes and you won't be watching all 500+ in a month (if you did I'd be very worried lol) take your time to try it out and decide for yourself if you enjoy watching it or not. Bottomline is we can't tell you that you'll like it, nor will anyone else.
There's plenty of "haters" among the fanbase of OP/Bleach/Naruto that trash talk the other shows every other hour. And likely you won't find these extremes as much on bbt, but people will still have a quite a bias towards one or the other. So I'm not really seeing what benefit you'd get from asking.

Though I'll still answer your question on why I like OP over Naruto in order of importance.

Having a straw hat is way cooler than having a nine tailed demon inside of you.
I'll watch a pirate over a ninja any day of the week.
Luffy is made of rubber.
Did I mention the straw hat yet?
OP has next to zero fillers.

[TwEeD]

Just start watching it, it's a fuckton of episodes and you won't be watching all 500+ in a month (if you did I'd be very worried lol)

I went through 400+ in less than a month, was well worth it

[Meandola]

You have far too much free time TwEeD

[Tatsujin]

I have on my list to watch from those 300+ episode anime:

Bleach
Naruto (seen up to episode 102)
One Piece

So I am as curious about One Piece. Should I watch it? ...

[Takeshi]

Jesus, you haven't even started on Bleach yet, Tatsujin? You talked about starting months ago.

Read what's already been posted and take a chance, or don't.

Best case scenario: you'll have one-heck of an adventure totogehter with The Straw Hats. One you can't find anywhere else.
Worst case scenario: you'll find out you don't like the show and stop watching. Worst is you have to at least watch 100+ eps, maybe even 200 to make certain.

[BronBron06]

1. Light-Hearted Show

2. Lots of Characters Introduced has great development

3. No-Serious Romance, all becomes part of the gag

4. Screen Time for the Straw-Hat crew are well-balanced

5. Lots of Questions from the beginning of the show are still unanswered even after 500+ episodes

6. Power Ups or Power Scale during fights / after an arc isnt totally LAMELY presented

[lordfrikk]

I watch Bleach, Naruto and One Piece (started in that order, haven't picked up OP until last summer holidays, watched Bleach from the start of the series and started Naruto while I was waiting for new Bleach episodes back in 2006, I believe) and OP tops the other two, easily. The scale of the universe is just unparalleled, you will know what I mean when you watch it. Also - all the members of the crew are holding up on their own, while in Bleach Chad, Orihime and Ishida all receive very little exposure and they became just bland 2D attempts at characters (especially Inoue, she's just walking D-cups that serve as a healing item).

Where Bleach feels like it should've ended 60 episodes ago (now being at 359) One Piece is just picking up steam at 500+ episodes and I believe it's been said we are only in half now and boy, I can't wait to see what's in store.

It's better experienced than being told "this and this is great so go watch it!". Everyone likes it for different reasons, although some of those will be common to a large group of people. In short, One Piece is amazing and if you care even a little bit about shounen anime, you should watch it because it's the best out there. The first episodes might be hard to get through, because they're from 1999 and thus 4:3, but it's worth it.

[livanu]

If you are a girl Naruto comes first(it has Sasuke), Bleach second(a few bishounen here) and don't bother to read or look at OP.(Oda doesn't give a penny on how the heroes are looking ). You will see a lot of stupid chars(but not lame) in OP .I know that there are fans for all OP characters no matter if they are weak or tough.

I'm not looking anymore at the OP anime because I'm reading the manga and the anime is pretty much after the manga (fillers ~0).
I started OP later than Naruto and Bleach because I ain't into pirate action idea . If you expect to see Luffy like a pirate it isn't so . Luffy and comp aren't attacking other ships . They are cool, nice ,strong. Not as strong as Goku from DB but strong enough to lose fights and live.

(click to show/hide)

There is an issue here about Ace , Luffy's brother.All fans have liked him from the start (he had some girl fanbase too) but Oda killed him in Whitebeard arc. He was too strong and cool and good looking for an OP character .