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While not the first manga I ever read, this was by far one of the most impactful in my life. I used to rent volumes upon volumes out from the library, to the point where speeding through them was my favorite past time. One Piece led me on a journey into anime and manga in a way that only Dragon Ball Z can rival.

The story is by far and away one of the most intricate I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Oda builds upon each arc in such a way that nothing is ever unnecessary to the larger narrative, working to craft masterpiece ... after masterpiece. While the story does admittedly start slow, this works as a way to integrate into the world easily as Luffy journeys through the East Blue, learning about the outside world alongside us. It's not until more than 500 chapters in that we finally get a backstory to the main character, but this lack of a backstory is never noticeable because of how well the story truly is!

The artwork provides a sense of movement and fluidity seldom seen in other mangas. Though it is over 1000 chapters, the artwork makes it easy to consume the action scenes, while endearing people to the characters through exaggerated faces and movements like with Luffy. The only reason I did not give the artwork a perfect score is that it starts out a little messy, but gets better over time, and some of the female designs can look a bit same over time!

The characters are what drives this manga in addition to the worldbuilding. Every character introduced has their own distinct personality that contribute to the overall universe created, and all of the main and supporting characters get a tragic and personalized backstory that makes them hard to dislike! One Piece has also introduced some of my favorite villains in all of pop culture, with the likes of Blackbeard, Crocodile, Doflamingo, and Kaido, with each of them being significantly more rich in personality and motivation than the average Shonen villain!

Put together all of this, and One Piece functions as one of my favorite mangas to consume over and over again, supported by the fact that I have reread it multiple times! Between the art, story, and characters, I am never failed to once again be excited to re-experience the world of One Piece, and I hope that others are able to walk away from my review eager to experience this world for the first time!