I have watched many “long” anime shows, two of them are long running comedies (Ranma 1/2 and Love Hina), and even those two failed to continue the innovation and comical value. One Piece being mostly a shonen anime (action) delivers more and better comedy than those two shows combined.

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The story starts off with a young skinny boy named Monkey D Luffy, and after a few minutes we quickly find out that he is no ordinary boy, and that he has set a very high goal for himself: to become the King of Pirates.

During his journey he starts finding members for his crew, each of them completely different from another. When you first look at the series you’ll find it’s drawings awkward and the animation sluggish. But if you give it enough time (don’t worry, it doesn’t take too long) you’ll find that you have never seen a better comedy/action anime ever.

Every island is filled with weird and wonderful new characters and enemies, each of them have their very own little story, and of course, each of them (or most at least) have their very own challenges to beat.

Character development is also one of the big pluses of the show. While in most action anime what the creators seem to understand by it is to “power up the characters”, in One Piece, even though the characters always keep their main traits, if you watch episode 10 and episode 40 you’ll quickly notice some differences in the character’s behavior.

And as for the “power ups” they are always done in an imaginative and “realistic” way. The characters don’t just bring up a pile of dust and turn their hair yellow. They almost always use their creativity / strength to create a new move with the powers or abilities they do, they don’t make up special powers. All the main characters are human (well, with one exception), and as humans they bleed, laugh, cry and become angry.

Whether you’re more into comedy or action, if you start watching One Piece you’ll quickly learn to appreciate the other and love this show more than any other before it. One Piece delivers the best of two worlds, and regardless of how many episodes the creator throws at you, you can be sure that all of them are as original as the ones before.

This is a 5 star anime that any self-respected shonen (action anime) fan should watch.