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'One Piece', written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, is every bit the magnificent work of art it's reputed to be, and has been honoring the pages of Shonen Jump since 1997. It's an extraordinary creation which is very well planned and interestingly structured.

Often described to be one of the greatest manga of all time, One Piece has existed as a pillar that has consistently supported the world of Japanese entertainment for generations. Following the journey of a beautifully written protagonist, it is a story that enthralls readers with it's creative storytelling, foreshadowing, characters and plot development. As a manga, it allows readers to witness ... the evolution of its art across nearly 28 years of serialization.

Monkey D. Luffy wishes to circumnavigate the globe, find the One Piece, reputed to be the greatest treasure of all, and thereby become the King of the Pirates. To do this, he must find himself a loyal crew and take down rivals that get tougher and tougher as his journey continues. That is about all that those who aren't acquainted with One Piece imagine it to be. But that is nowhere near what it's all about. This story explores a plethora of worldviews, building dynamics and parallels along the way, and represents accurately, the various political and social problems we face as individuals, people, and nations. The world of One Piece is much darker than most imagine it to be. Exploring the pits of the worst of the worst, the story does not hesitate to portray the corruption, hate, greed, and disloyalty that bewitch worldly institutions. Wars, slavery, discrimination, ostracization, each of these and many more, have been depicted with powerful accuracy.

Despite it's undeniable greatness, One Piece too, is not perfect and there's a few problems that a lot of people point out.

1. The art style is not very good at beginning of the series.

However, I'm being very serious when I say it gets a lot better, and you should think yourselves fortunate to be able to witness the development of not just Oda's art, but any art whatsoever.

2. The story is very slow and takes an enormous amount of time to pick up. It takes even longer to get consistently good.

For the most part, I too agree with this. But the fact remains that its always engaging. One Piece is a story that requires commitment due to it's longevity. Oda has not hesitated to take his time in developing the story and revealing important plot points very slowly. As a result of this, the story ends up being inconsistent at times, with a few great arcs followed by rather boring ones. Even so, said arcs are not very difficult to get through, and there's always something good in there. One Piece is a diverse story with varied amounts of action, comedy, darkness, pain and plenty more so, you can't expect to be sitting around hoping for it to quickly pick up speed. The time you've spent is eventually well rewarded.

3. The story is badly paced.

It's true that events sometimes seem like a very odd patchwork, but if I'm being honest, it isn't much of a problem in the manga. The problems of pacing are more acute in the anime, and Toei is to blame.

There's more that can be said but these are the main problems of One Piece. Honestly not difficult to get through.

This is a story that emphasizes on friendship, following your dreams, committing to yourself and your goals, and doing all that you can to achieve what you wish, even if it means going against the agendas of prominent institutions and governments. It embodies the virtue of being kind and doing what is righteous. All in all, it's a very good read that deserves all that it has.

My only advice for those wishing to read it is that you shouldn't read it for the sake of catching up to it and getting it over with quickly. Just read it. At your own pace and at your own time. Eventually you'll find that you just keep going automatically and your mind doesn't even realize that you've caught up when you have. You'll wish for more. That's a given.
Thanks for reading.

I'm sure plenty of people have highlighted this before, but 'Oyasumi Punpun' isn't the kind of manga you should be reading while expecting to receive satisfaction. It's undeniably a great manga, but I could NEVER recommend it to anybody.

It follows the normal, yet extremely dark life of an eleven year old up until adulthood. Punpun has had a complicated past which has rendered him to do things that make him an extremely dislikable character. I think that to be able to like him and sympathize with his situation, is something that can only be done by those who've had difficult lives themselves, and can ... relate to his character. I am not one of them, and as such, I've ended up disliking him. Based off of the story I can tell that this wasn't something I was supposed to enjoy, but I did not like that. That, added to my slight dislike of a few characters including Punpun himself, is what drove me to give this manga an 8.

The art is extraordinary; quite certainly some of the best that's ever been seen in the industry. It's vivid and picturesque in addition to being very meticulously detailed, whereby it gives life to every aspect of each panel. It's beautiful to look at. The story progresses very slowly, so this isn't something that someone who lacks commitment can pursue. It is a very depressing story which will test you in varied ways. It focusses on disturbing themes that come together at the end.
It gets significantly better at the end as it explores various worldviews and diverse people. It shows you a dark side of the average human that many may be woefully ignorant of.

It's a magnificent work of art and Inio Asano is highly commendable for having produced something as nuanced as 'Oyasumi Punpun'. It's the kind of rare manga that you recognize to be good, and yet you probably can't say that you like it.
I won't say much about the ending except for the fact that it just ends, perhaps best described with the snap of a finger. I doubt that this sort of ending would've worked for any of the other manga I've read, if for any other manga at all. The whole story just goes by as you're still organizing your thoughts. I had a feeling that something of this sort would've been the case when I was just a few chapters in, so I chose to read it VERY slowly; not that I'd ask anyone else to do the same, but I suppose that it helped me get through it with a mind slightly steadier that I would've expected, by the end. It's rather unhinged, yet realistic and has a very deep and powerful representation of personalities, alter egos, and emotions. An 8.57 is what I believe is a fair score to give this manga. I do not recommend it.