A little introduction of One Piece

As I said in my ‘first post’ I’ll write something about One Piece. Well you could already see from the title that I’m a hardcore fan of this series. I’ll tell you a little bit about this wonderfull awesome fantastic series, then maybe you’ll get interested and started reading ^_^ (yup this is a propaganda if you can’t already tell by the title XD)

One Piece is an awesome manga created by the genius Eiichiro Oda since 1997 and still on going up until now (there already 46++ volumes or 466++ chapters!!), and just getting more and more interesting. This year also served as its 10th anniversary. Wonderful isn’t it? And in Japan, all those hardcore fans made something soo special that you’d wish you lived in Japan. ^_^ it’s true, I didn’t made up this thing. Btw, the anime version is made by TOEI since 1999. But I’ll write this introduction based on manga.

So, what’s so interesting about this manga?? One Piece is a story about pirates lived in great pirate era in One Piece world (I mean, the setting isn’t our real world or earth). Just like other shonen manga, the main themes of this series are: Friendship, Adventure, Comedy, and Action. Other than that, you’ll also find certain parts in the story that can make you cry (I mean it!! You’ll cry even though you’re not a sappy person like me. At least you’ll feel touched). Usually these parts are around the character’s pasts. But unlike other Shonen series, One Piece doesn’t have any romance between the main characters at all!! I repeat NO ROMANCE!! At first this make me a little disappointed but then, to tell you the truth, deep in my heart, I like One Piece as it is. Romance will just ruined the series. Besides there are always tons of fanfics, doujins, and fanarts out there to satisfy my need-for-romance attitude =P

The stories of One Piece usually follow a certain formula: the main characters came to an island, there were troubles in the island caused by the antagonist characters, the main characters fought against the antagonist characters, at the end, the island lived happily ever after and often ended with a party. But if you start thinking “then, that’s such a boring story!”, you are completely wrong!! The way Oda writes the story never bored the readers. You’ll find so many surprising things, not to mentioned crazy character designs, and unbelievable crazy ideas in each chapter. Therefore, we fans/readers will always want to read more, and more, and always at the I-can’t-wait-to-read-next-chapter state. (You may think I overdid these, but unfortunately no, I tell you the truth)

The story started with the execution of the Great Pirate King, Gold Roger. He was known to have everything wanted by humankind: wealth, power, and fame. Before he was executed he told everybody who gathered around the execution stage, “do you want my treasure?? Go find it!! I have put it all at that place!”. He was then executed with smile on his face, but his words had pushed everybody to become pirates and find the treasure which was known as One Piece at the Grand Line, thus started the Great Pirate Era. 22 years later, a 17 years old boy, Monkey D. Luffy (our main hero ^^) started his journey to find this treasure and to become the next Pirate King. Along the way, he would meet people that would become his crews, under the flag ‘Strawhat Pirate’ (Mugiwara Kaizokudan).

Start to get interested?? ^_^ I myself started to become a hardcore fan not too long ago. I think it’s around December 2004. A little bit late, but I didn’t regret it at all. Actually I’ve started watching (yes, I watched the anime first) around year 2003. Then with my I-don’t-want-to-die-from-curiousity attitude, I searched for spoilers here and there. Then around December 2004 I stumbled on my fav character’s site, and apparently the arc that going on the manga was focussing in my fav character. At that time, in search for more information, I came to a great One Piece forum, which unfortunattely in a ‘bashing’ attitude towards my fav character, because the story made my fav chara looked bad. Then in order to defend my fav chara, I registered in the forum, but at the end, I never able to make any argument because well....... I’m really bad at it XD

Okay, I’ve warned you about spoiler thing on top of my blog, so I’ll talk freely now. Time to talk about fav characters.

So who is my fav character?? Of course none other than Nico Robin, the beautiful-calm-silent-mature-smart-yet-sometime-can be-very-funny archeologist of the Strawhat Pirate. Her joining the Strawhat crew is one of the bigest shock in One Piece. But not for me. Why? Cause I already know that from spoilers XD Sometimes I wished I have strong will so I won’t open any spoiler, but my curiousity is just too big, so yeah... I always succumb to temptation and ended reading the spoilers
-_- Well.... I’m still lucky though, since I joined the One Piece forum in a ‘Robin centered’ arc, so I didn’t spoil myself about her past, which is indeed very touching (I got a bit dissapointed on several little things though) but I must say Water 7/ Enies Lobby arc is my fav arc up until now. The reason I like her is not just because I always love strong heroines in a series, but because of her personality. She is complicated. We will often saw her as the ‘observer’ type à silent, calm, mature, always seems put some distance towards the other, but actually cares deeply for others. Like I said, she is complicated, so complicated that I got difficulties to describe her. -_-

My second fav chara is Roronoa Zoro. The reason?? Well..... he is a cool-incredibly strong- but sometime can be an idiot-handsome swordsman of the Strawhat Pirate. Need I say more?? XD other than that, again, his personality is what attract me. He is also an observer type. Always act cool, but actually can be very gentle at times. And as a habit of mine, I always pair my fav characters, thus I’m also a Z/R pairing worshipper.

Ah, I could continue writting about One Piece, but I better stopped. Cause I’ll make the post too long if I don’t (as if it haven’t already XD) So, have I convinced you to start reading One Piece?? ^_^ okay, whatever it is, if you’re interested in more information about One Piece, please go to the link on the right side of my blog. Anyway... the One Piece forum I’ve mentioned before is Arlong Park forum. Feel free to join ^_^