yo ho ho

A: Recommend me an anime.
B: One Piece
A: I'm looking for an anime not a life commitment


An ancient proverb says that an anime with more than a hundred episodes is a bigger commitment than marriage and here I am faced with a 700+ episode monster. Like come on, even the manga is "just" 800-ish chapters, just how many fillers do you have??
Ok here's the thing, I almost never watch anime unless I've read the manga first because then I can pick and choose my favourite parts and fast forward a lot. But like I said, the manga itself is a 800 chapter beast and it can be really intimidating to newcomers.
I tried reading One Piece a few years ago, and stopped just after the Enies Lobby arc, around ch400. I thought it was good, but I guess it didn't make me obsessed enough to keep on going. Also I heard that Aerith Ace dies so I wasn't sure if I even wanted to get into all that. But a few days ago I randomly decided 'hey you know what would be a great time to avoid my responsibilities and re-read One Piece? Now!' So I did. And I think I'm liking it a lot more this time around, for whatever reason.

AND FINALLY even though I'm still only on the ~500 chapter, I'm writing this post as I go along to help keep track of this epic. There's a reason why the One Piece Wiki's page for Story Arc's is divided in three categories. You could use it as a handy guide if you're the type to jump around the story and skip arcs to read YOU MONSTER.
I'll probably post each Saga in a separate post because god this is a long series, so to start off:

East Blue Saga

Romance Dawn Arc (Ch.1-7)

GOMU GOMU NO BELIEVE IT!

Here enters another silly kid with a bright colour scheme who declares his ambition to be [important position]. It has Shanks, who's pretty cool but doesn't do much except make cameos at important moments. But it also introduces Zoro and lemme tell you right now I fucking love Zoro. I love that he's this OP badass, but also that he's this 19 year old op badass getting pulled along by an idiot 17 year old. It's incredible and I love it so much; the fact that he made this dumbass his captain because of this one random incident AND PRECEDED TO GIVE HIS LIFE FOR THIS DUMBASS I LOVE THEM. And the SBS corner is hilarious."Q: How does Zoro talk with a sword in his mouth? A: It's his heart speaking." Also I just love that Luffy pretty much wins over every single member of his crew by looking at them with a wide blank stare. Look at him, his head is empty, he has no idea what evil means, his head is just adventure and nakama and god he's the best.

Orange Town Arc (Ch 8 - 21)

My favourite panel in this arc tbh

He uses the super effective blank stare to recruit Nami (temporary) for this arc too. He's like a puppy staring at you. There's no sense of danger and he doesn't believe for one moment that his potential nakama would ever be cruel to him in anyway. And again, even though he pretty much arbitrarily decided to join Luffy like yesterday, Zoro immediately follows him, defends him from attackers, then almost breaks his stomach carrying the cage his captain's in. A+ nakamas. Nothing else too special about the arc itself though, Buggy is forgettable which seems like a waste of someone who was on Roger's ship.

Syrup Village Arc (Ch 22 - 41)

Yeah sure there are cooler panels but let's be real it's truly these dorks who have captured my heart

Some afro stuck in a chest, I forgot about him even though I just re-read this series. Then Usopp is recruited with the power of Luffy taking it for granted that everyone is his nakama. You can't resist that. He looks at you and shounen opening music starts playing the distance, like how can you fight that? Anyway, not my favourite arc nor my favourite nakama. I'm kind of curious what happened to Kuro after all that but honestly after getting to Enies Lobby and taking on all sorts of superhuman guys these villains are so small. Kaya is cool though, and she gives them the Going Merry!

Baratie Arc (Ch 42 - 68)

Give me back this Sanji. Give me back the Sanji from his intro arc who was moved by Zoro's conviction and would talk about his dreams with his captain.Forget cool battle mode Sanji, forget dumb woman obsessed Sanji, THIS SANJI the one grinning like a dumb kid talking about his dreams with wide open arms THIS IS THE SANJI I LOVE AND WANT

It's only when I'm writing these that I realize how quickly they recruited their first few members and the gap between the last few. But yeah Sanji shows up here. Now he's a hit and miss for me. I like that he's yet another 19 year old being dragged around by a dumb 17 year old captain, but between him and Zoro I'd have to say I like Zoro better. The womanizing character isn't my favourite, and I'm sick of the 'wouldn't hit a girl' type. But his attacks are one of the coolest in the crew and I think it's a nice highlight of how well Oda draws action. That aside, the fight with Don Krieg wasn't that exciting...and actually Hawk-Eyes showing up was the most awesome part. I do like how Luffy's straightforwardness and again, lack of any complicated thoughts pretty much recruits Sanji. The same feelings that move Nami to tears even as she's leaving them. You know what they say, once you go straw hat you can't go back.

Arlong Park Arc (Ch 69 - 95)

It was hard deciding between this one and the one where Sanji says 'Looks like I've chosen to follow a dumbass for a captain' because both of them are like check out this idiot. He never thinks about anything. Doesn't listen to backstories, doesn't think before fighting. And that's why he wins all of his fights. HE LITERALLY DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK. NOT A SINGLE ONE. WHEN YOU GIVE A FUCK YOU'VE ALREADY LOST

Nami's arc! A pretty solid arc, although I don't really like the trend of all (two) female Strawhats having the same 'fake face heel turn' character arc. But I love this band of nakama and friendship things override all objections. Just like how Luffy destroys the room where Nami suffered, as if erasing her troubles takes first priority, and defeating Arlong just happens to be a side-quest. Or how I'm really reading this series for the friendship and the shounen battles are just a side dish. Like how important is it that Nami is first moved by how importantly Luffy treats his hat and how in this arc he gives to her to take care of? I don't ship any one in this series and I'm so glad it doesn't try to go this way because - say it with me - NAKAMAS FOREVER. "Our navigator." Nami's goodbye was real sweet.

Loguetown Arc (Ch 96 - 100)

"Hey...do you believe in God?" Sanji and Zoro trying their hardest to save their dumbass captain is what I live for.
(Also, in hindsight considering what we know now, if Luffy had really died there man those guys would've seen hell - imagine the monsters that would've come after them: a Whitebeard Pirates commander, one of the Four Emperors, a Marine Vice Admiral, the Revolutionary Army leader, not to mention his own crew's Black Leg and Pirate Hunter...like damn...they done fucked up.....)

"Even though it seems a little excessive, I believe 30 million Beli is the right price to issue" [laughs forever] Oh doesn't it seem like just yesterday Luffy was walking around with an 'excessive' price of 30 million on his head and nowadays he's one of the top rookie monsters, taking on the government, the marines, damn well everybody. I love this mini arc, because it's got the feeling of a starting line to it. Because Luffy declares his determination in the same place as the legend that kickstarted the Golden Age. Because he's the one who's gonna lead the way to a new age and a new legend. Because he's got a kickass crew behind him, and the luck of the gods on his side, and a smile in the face of death. Hell yes.