10 Best Reasons New Fans Should Start One Piece

Although One Piece has over 1,000 episodes it’s a richly rewarding experience and it’s never been a better time to begin a voyage with the Straw Hats.

In 1997, author Eiichiro Oda launched his flagship shonen manga One Piece, and incredibly, the series is still going strong to this day. While many series lose steam over time, One Piece has only gotten stronger and more compelling than ever, both for longtime fans and new fans. In both manga and anime form, One Piece is asbsolutely worth getting into, though there are understandable reasons why new viewers/readers might hesitate.

The most obvious barrier to entry is the One Piece franchise’s legendary length, with over 1,000 episodes and chapters to its name. And, of course, all that content means keeping track of countless characters and plot threads, which takes a lot of work. Still, enfranchised fans will agree that One Piece is richly rewarding for those who take the plunge anyway, and as of the year 2024, it’s never been a better time to begin the One Piece voyage with Monkey D. Luffy and the others.

10The Netflix One Piece Series is a Good On-Ramp

If prospective fans are intimidated by the sheer length of One Piece‘s manga and anime, they can turn to the live-action Netflix version to get a quick sample of what this shonen franchise is like. Other shonen series have live-action adaptations too, such as Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist, but One Piece does it far better.

The Netflix series is just the right length to give a thorough and storng impression of what One Piece is like and serve as a complete story in its own right. In eight episodes, new fans can fairly judge how good One Piece is and decide if it’s worth getting into the manga and anime. Fans who do choose to dive deeper into the franchise will be richly rewarded.

9One Piece’s Manga Has Better Pacing Than Fans Might Expect

It’s unusual for a franchise to have roughly the same number of manga chapters and anime episodes. The One Piece manga has 1,100+ chapters, and the anime has roughly that many episodes, but normally, one episode covers two chapters’ worth of material or so. Clearly, the anime version is slower-paced, and fans may not like that.

The One Piece manga and anime are nearly neck and neck with the story’s progression, but the manga is a quicker way to digest that story and enjoy its many offerings. It fans don’t like the sluggish pacing of the anime’s episodes, they can rest assured that the manga is properly paced. No matter the manga’s length, it will feel like a brisk adventure, and the chapters will fly by.

8Luffy is an Unconventional Shonen Protagonist

In some ways, protagonist Monkey D. Luffy is a typical shonen lead, since he’s an energetic go-getter who embraces the power of friendship and faces incredible challenges without hesitation. But in other, more thematic ways, Luffy is actually quite different than shonen leads like Son Goku, Naruto Uzumaki, and Tanjiro Kamado.

Luffy’s main goal is not to save the world or defeat evil, but to life freely and enjoy his carefree life on the high seas. In a benevolent way, Luffy is a self-centered protagonist who wishes to live freely as the future pirate king, meaning he’s not very idealistic. Still, Luffy will save people from oppression because he sympathizes with their desire to live in freedom.

7One Piece Has Some Great Spinoff Stories to Check Out

Most major shonen anime series have spinoff movies and video games, and One Piece keeps pace with the likes of Naruto and My Hero Academia in that regard. What sets One Piece apart is the addition of bonus manga and light novel adventures from other artists and authors, showing how popular this franchise really is. Not all shonen series have extra installements like that.

One example is Ace’s Story, which appears in both light novel and manga format, which makes Luffy’s foster brother Portgas D. Ace the star. There’s also the Shokugeki no Sanji manga volume, written and drawn by Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki of Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma fame. It’s quite an honor that other manga creators work so hard to make fun One Piece side stories for fans to love, which is a good sign for prospective fans.

6One Piece Has Breathtaking Worldbuilding For New Fans to Enjoy

Several of the best shonen manga/anime franchises have solid worldbuilding, such as the various nations of the Naruto world and the Soul Society found in Bleach in the fondly-remembered Soul Society arc. But many fans will agree that One Piece has the best worldbuilding of all, and that helps new fans feel like they’re truly on an adventure, not just following a story.

It helps that One Piece‘s world is oceans dotted with islands, so each island can easily look and feel different than the rest. Examples range from the Egyptian-inspired Alabasta kingdom to the gothic Thriller Bark ship to the Japanese-inspired nation of Wano and the exotic vistas of Fish-Man Island at the seafloor.

5One Piece Has a Massive Fandom For New Fans to Join

One advantage of starting a popular anime like Naruto or One Piece is the size of the fandom. Meeting and chatting with fellow fans isn’t required, of course, and some fans do just fine on their own. Still, it can be enriching to discuss new plot twists or fan theories with fellow viewers and readers.

Given One Piece‘s vast wealth of material, including some ongoing mysteries, it pays to engage with fellow fans and see what they think about theories. Sites and apps such as Reddit and Quora are good places to start, where fans can engage with other One Piece lovers all over the globe and chat about anything from the Void Century’s mysteries to Blackbeard’s inexplicable dual Devil Fruits.

4One Piece Has Great Power Scaling For Action Fans to Enjoy

It’s important for shonen action anime series to carefully handle the power levels of the characters, heroes and villains alike. It’s a problem if characters get too strong too fast, such as with contrived power-ups, and it’s disappointing if the characters don’t get stronger over time. Ideally, the power levels will rise smoothly and in meaningful ways.

In that way, One Piece delivers, since it’s remarkably consistent about who can beat whom, and why. Rarely do the heroes win via plot armor or contrivances, and each victory or defeat feels appropriate. Also, over time, Luffy will keep upping the ante with developments like his Gears, his use of Haki, and the incredible use of Gear 5’s transformation. Those power-ups are well timed, so new fans can enjoy looking forward to Luffy’s power-ups every so often.

3One Piece Offers a Whole Crew of Protagonists For New Fans to Meet

It’s common for the protagonist of any shonen action anime to be the fandom’s favorite, since they are well-developed and take part in the best fights. Characters like Ichigo Kurosaki, Deku, Denji, and Naruto Uzumaki may come to mind, for example. Such characters might even be part of a shonen trio like Team 7, but One Piece has them all beat.

While Luffy is clearly the main protagonist, he has not just a trio, but an entire pirate crew to his name. All of them are worthy of being shonen leads, meaning One Piece offers a lot of bang for any fan’s buck when looking for a protagonist to love. New fans can have fun meeting these Straw Hat crewmates one by one as they join the crew, from Zoro to Franky to Nico Robin.

2One Piece Has Powerfully Emotional Scenes of Grief and Loss

One Piece may not be a conventional drama anime, but it does have a talent for making fans cry. If shonen fans want a series with strong emotional resonance in the same vein as Demon Slayer, then One Piece is the ideal series for them. In between the slapstick comedy and whimsical adventures are moments of hard-hitting grief and loss.

Certain character deaths or grieving characters will make the conflicts of One Piece‘s story feel that much more real and consequential. Even if the series is reluctant to kill off lots of characters, some people do die, either in flashbacks or in the present, and such scenes are definitely worth watching or reading lots of content to reach.

1One Piece Has Grim Yet Fascinating Themes For Fans to Chew On

Plenty of shonen series have meaningful themes for fans to mull over, such as the cycle of hatred in Naruto, and One Piece goes even further with its heavy themes. The story focuses on topics like oppression, slavery, and racism, which are pretty serious for a shoinen title. Yet One Piece handles them with finesse, making such themes digestable for any fan.

New One Piece fans will explore a world of not just islands and pirates, but also deep-rooted conflicts and tyranny that make this world a challenging place to live in. Those themes gave the Fish-Man Island arc some thematic weight, and the same is true for Boa Hancock’s former slave status and the cruelty of the Celestial Dragons.