Unless you count a few miscellaneous episodes of the 4Kids dub, I have never watched an episode of One Piece. I’ve never read a chapter of the iconic Big Three series either. At a whopping nine hundred seventy episodes and over a thousand chapters, One Piece is more than a little intimidating.
The series appeals to me in a lot of ways—I like the art style, I like pirates, and I like the idea of a grand adventure with a motley cast of characters. It also helps that everyone I’ve talked to about One Piece says it’s more than worth the time.
But I can feel the sheer mass of the OP canon towering over me. Every time I think about starting it, I’m reminded of its length, and the fact that the manga isn’t even finished yet. I’d also be way behind everyone else and I’d be totally out-of-the-loop on the latest arc.
It’s not that I don’t think I’ll like it. I’m actually pretty confident I’ll enjoy it.
And that’s what scares me.
Am I going to get sucked in and spend hundreds of hours of my life on this series?
Well, today is the day I stop avoiding my fate. It’s time I dip my toe in the water and get started.
Over the next few…weeks? Months? Years? I’ll be watching and reviewing every arc of One Piece. I’ll also be reading the manga at my own pace, since I can read faster than I can watch but still want to experience the fights in animated form. I recognize that this is quite the undertaking, but I hope my journey provides some entertainment and can offer an outsider’s perspective on the series.
And now it’s time for me to set sail for One Piece. (Sorry, I had to.)