One Piece Overrated?

Malintex_Terek

The manga is excellent, for the most part. In some areas it gets a little weird/weak, and not all the plot elements are "optimal", but for a super-long shounen it is remarkable.

Anime is a different story. It suffers from poor production, lackluster direction and horrible pacing. It is very, very overrated, and is due for a huge makeover.

For a long time, I've preferred the 4Kids dub to FUNimation's anime and the original Japanese simply because I don't think either of the latter two do justice to the manga, and it's not Oda's place to object.

That isn't to say 4Kids did a good job. I liked their intentions of making OP wackier and less "serious business" than Japan/FUNimation, but the end result left a lot to be desired.

Quexinos

@Malintex_Terek:

For a long time, I've preferred the 4Kids dub to FUNimation's anime and the original Japanese simply because I don't think either of the latter two do justice to the manga, and it's not Oda's place to object.

Wow I don't think I ever laughed THAT hard.. thanks.

…

shit were you being serious?

Smore

@Quexinos:

Wow I don't think I ever laughed THAT hard.. thanks.

…

shit were you being serious?

It's Terek. -_-;

Green_vs_Red

@pyromonki:

One Piece is overrated in my book. I love One Piece, but people always act like it's perfect, which it isn't.

Agree with everything in this sentence.

@pyromonki:

One Piece is a great manga with it's unpredictability (aside from the question, "Are they dead?")

And Haki amirite.

cheaptrick

imho one piece could have been considered a little overrated until the baratie/arlong arc because the contents were a little childish, but then the series got better and better and now i think it's quite underrated instead

Green_vs_Red

@cheaptrick:

and better and now i think it's quite underrated instead

What draws you to that conclusion?

Unrequited

I think it's underrated in America. I've also loved OP from the second I started reading it, so I don't think it's too overrated.

sniperking323

I don't think it's overrated, but a friend of mine and I were talking about it when I mentioned the character contest being held here right now, and he says that One Piece is stupid cause it doesn't make sense to him
After our heated arguement, I've come to the conclusion that maybe One Piece is underrated by so many people because most people just can't help but point out all of the illogical factors of the series (Cyborgs existing in the 1500s, The whole Devil Fruit thing, How did Pell survive the bomb and being blown up, etc.)

Some people just can't handle illogical happenings, which what I absolutley hate about people who won't give One Piece a chance

Envy

Quite a few people praise it to be better than both Naruto and Bleach (which I do personally think it is way better than both.), but still the general consensus does not seem to agree.

In America, the 4Kids dub brought it down a great deal. Even though FUNimation has brought a more accurate dub, and is going to put the original subbed episodes up on their One Piece official site, it's still not going to do a great deal of good for those who aren't already fans. I know one person who refuses to watch One Piece, because he saw the 4Kids dub and didn't like it. No amount of telling him that 4Kids ruined it would do any good… and it's likely that quite a few people are not very open-minded and will think just like that.

Then a lot of people are turned off by the animation, which I don't understand at all. But apparently it's a factor.

Overall I'd say, that perhaps among the fanbase it could be a little bit overrated, but in general it is not.

Green_vs_Red

@Envy:

Then a lot of people are turned off by the animation, which I don't understand at all.

Eventhough I'm pretty sure you mean artstyle, the "Poorly animated" thread is a good place to start.

Jakarta

The anime looks like ass.

sheng fu

depends on the english dub….

mechysonu

this manga is definately underrated. The argument that One Piece is overrated is an argument that bleach-tards and narutards like to highlight in their desperate attempt to compare with One Piece.

I think all the hype that One Piece has is justified; Goda did a damn good job in the previous arcs.

As for North America, the reason that its not as popular is because 1. 4kids screwed it up big time and 2. Americans are naturally more inclined to ninja and cool looking japanese swords compared to pirates. Many people do not give Oda credit for taking the unusual concept of pirates and make it a success. Its far easier to entice fans with flashy flashy sword and ninjutsu ect… than it is to make one about pirates

No Maam

Wasn't this thread closed ?

Reyairia

Let's face it;
Most people cannot get into One Piece from the get-go. It takes a long time for One Piece to start taking itself seriously so for most people you have to essentially sit them down and force them to watch the anime. And I say the anime because the manga is especially hard to read since Oda loves to cram in details in ever panel. It's not a bad thing, but it's hard to keep track of the plot at times and you kind of have to get used to it. That's how I got into OP - by practically being forced to watch it until Alabasta and Skypeia. I had to do the same with my boyfriend and again, he took until late Alabasta until he really got into it.

So we have to battle
1. Atypical art style, wacky character designs and crazy settings, which makes OP look childish.
2. Bad first impression with 4Kids.
3. Long time until OP shows that it's deeper than it looks at first glance.
4. Difficult to read manga.
5. It's VERY long and a lot of people are turned off by that.

Simply put, OP isn't a beginner friendly series. It requires a lot of time and dedication just to get to the part where the ball gets rolling and to feel appreciation for it. Not a lot of people are willing to sit down and watch and put up with East Blue before getting into the Grand Line and finding out just how amazing, creative and well thought out One Piece is instead of thinking "man this Oda guy is on drugs or something lol."

No Maam

Well I myself got into it from the get go, but that was when I was like 13, there was barely any other anime to watch etc.

I think the fact that I realy never watched that many anime doesn't make me an anime geek, which may be what gets in the way of most other people.

This one guy I know from the net, he likes watching anime only after it finishes, doesn't like ongoing series and says that Bleach has no plot holes.

What are you gonna say to that when trying to pitch the series ?

city_lights31

One Piece is constantly breaking it's own records. Hell yea it's underrated.

sanji499

I guess it depends on where you live. Around the world except Japan, it could be considered underrated.

Ajiro

Overrated? I haven't met a single person besides myself that liked it from the get go, everyone i know likes it because I got them into to it. Hell no is it overrated.

JERK DISEASE

One Piece will probably always be underrated in the US.

Maikeru Shinigami

@Reyairia:

Let's face it;
Most people cannot get into One Piece from the get-go. It takes a long time for One Piece to start taking itself seriously so for most people you have to essentially sit them down and force them to watch the anime. And I say the anime because the manga is especially hard to read since Oda loves to cram in details in ever panel. It's not a bad thing, but it's hard to keep track of the plot at times and you kind of have to get used to it. That's how I got into OP - by practically being forced to watch it until Alabasta and Skypeia. I had to do the same with my boyfriend and again, he took until late Alabasta until he really got into it.

So we have to battle
1. Atypical art style, wacky character designs and crazy settings, which makes OP look childish.
2. Bad first impression with 4Kids.
3. Long time until OP shows that it's deeper than it looks at first glance.
4. Difficult to read manga.
5. It's VERY long and a lot of people are turned off by that.

Simply put, OP isn't a beginner friendly series. It requires a lot of time and dedication just to get to the part where the ball gets rolling and to feel appreciation for it. Not a lot of people are willing to sit down and watch and put up with East Blue before getting into the Grand Line and finding out just how amazing, creative and well thought out One Piece is instead of thinking "man this Oda guy is on drugs or something lol."

I enjoyed the wacky start, and was glad when it got into the plot (while keeping a bit of the wacky).

MuseCuresCancer

@JERK:

One Piece will probably always be underrated in the US.

That's because in the US, people like their swords and ninjas and shit, they don't have huge imaginations. You have to have a huge imagination in order to fully appreciate One Piece, and I feel that more intelligent people are One Piece fans. I noticed this by lurking in different forums.

You should read some of the posts from Bleach threads where hardcore Bleachtards reside, it's nasty.

Anyway, I quoted you for truth. US will never really appreciate such a great series. Can't wait til Naruto and Bleach end, because those two will end before One Piece does.

tori22

@MuseCuresCancer:

That's because in the US, people like their swords and ninjas and shit, they don't have huge imaginations. You have to have a huge imagination in order to fully appreciate One Piece, and I feel that more intelligent people are One Piece fans. I noticed this by lurking in different forums.

You should read some of the posts from Bleach threads where hardcore Bleachtards reside, it's nasty.

Anyway, I quoted you for truth. US will never really appreciate such a great series. Can't wait til Naruto and Bleach end, because those two will end before One Piece does.

Agreed. You have to have a good taste in adventure and stuff and island hopping. It's not like pokemon interests, but you just have to have a good taste in adventure. If you only like dragonball z and bleach and other action shows and you only like extreme action anime's then you won't like OP. And that's pretty much how it is in the US. Or at least in here in New York. The action in OP comes second, the adventure and the jokes come first.

iamborednow

With all do honesty, I don't think One Piece is all that creative. Come to think of it, tv shows in general can't be that complex, or they lose viewers, which causes essentially all of them to be pretty simple.

tori22

@iamborednow:

With all do honesty, I don't think One Piece is all that creative. Come to think of it, tv shows in general can't be that complex, or they lose viewers, which causes essentially all of them to be pretty simple.

Yea a show like naruto is a lot more creative and complex and that's partly what americans see in it. However, One piece is more about the adventure and the jokes, which still makes it better than a show like naruto.

GumGumBattleAxe

Everyone I know who knows One Piece likes it, but it takes a backseat to other anime/manga. One Piece is and probably always will be my favorite anime/manga and I can DEFINITELY testify to its underrated-ness. I was made fun of in high school BY anime/manga nerds ALL THE TIME for my interest in One Piece. ALL THE TIME.

city_lights31

@MuseCuresCancer:

That's because in the US, people like their swords and ninjas and shit, they don't have huge imaginations.

That's a pretty huge and hasty generalization - one I totally agree with.

city_lights31

@GumGumBattleAxe:

Everyone I know who knows One Piece likes it, but it takes a backseat to other anime/manga. One Piece is and probably always will be my favorite anime/manga and I can DEFINITELY testify to its underrated-ness. I was made fun of in high school BY anime/manga nerds ALL THE TIME for my interest in One Piece. ALL THE TIME.

Do go on.

…........

tori22

@GumGumBattleAxe:

Everyone I know who knows One Piece likes it, but it takes a backseat to other anime/manga. One Piece is and probably always will be my favorite anime/manga and I can DEFINITELY testify to its underrated-ness. I was made fun of in high school BY anime/manga nerds ALL THE TIME for my interest in One Piece. ALL THE TIME.

LOL Same! All of these bleach fans who have high nasally voices would just make fun of me cuz i liked one piece. I just ignored them cuz they were nerds and they would never get near a girl. Never liked them either, I hung around moderate anime fans and cool kids. And of course all what they liked was either the anime that weren't popular in the US, as in all of the anime you've never heard of, or bleach and dbz. I like bleach and dbz but still…..... but the tools who just dont have respect for anime at all didn't mind me. Anyway I think the main reason why One Piece isn't big in the US is because anime and manga in general aren't really big in the US.

city_lights31

^^while it's true that anime and manga aren't huge in the states OP still isn't big next to it's SJ Big 3 pears stateside. Why do you think that is (outside of the obvious 4kids thing)?

tori22

I'd say because people don't have a sense of adventure and just generalize OP as another "pokemon".

iamborednow

@tori22:

Yea a show like naruto is a lot more creative and complex and that's partly what americans see in it. However, One piece is more about the adventure and the jokes, which still makes it better than a show like naruto.

Look, of all those stereotypical series, bleach in the manga is the best. Aizen's hilarious.

tori22

@iamborednow:

Look, of all those stereotypical series, bleach in the manga is the best. Aizen's hilarious.

Yea ur right. It's getting way too much like dbz. Recently the manga's gotten a lot better, but I mean seriously ichigo doesn't even have a real power, he just makes power slashes. That's not a power the MAIN CHARACTER should have, and

! recently kubo had a chance to make that better, but he failed and ichigo's fullbring just ended up being another "power slash". At least OP has unique characters. im not saying bleach is bad, I love bleach, but seriously if the main character's unbearable then…...........

GumGumBattleAxe

people who are getting into anime and manga just SEE MORE Bleach and Naruto and the like than One Piece…and they ask their friends and their friends think One Piece has a stupid premise or whatever their reason is.....probably 4kids....and they just don't give it a chance.

sanji499

I remember starting One Piece with episode 1 of the anime.

At first, I thought Luffy looked crazy, weird and even creepy. However, the eccentricity and over the top theme made me go on and I would have been rewarded.

I was right because Zoro's past was amazing. Mihawk vs Zoro was epic and emotional. The arlong park march made me a fan.

Ironically, I think Bishonen Luffy is very creepy and not the good old crazy Luffy.

tori22

@sanji499:

I remember starting One Piece with episode 1 of the anime.

At first, I thought Luffy looked crazy, weird and even creepy. However, the eccentricity and over the top theme made me go on and I would have been rewarded.

I was right because Zoro's past was amazing. Mihawk vs Zoro was epic and emotional. The arlong park march made me a fan.

Ironically, I think Bishonen Luffy is very creepy and not the good old crazy Luffy.

Bishonen? When's he bishonen?

sanji499

It's only anime version, you see bishonen Luffy. It is hilarious and creepy.

Pirate Captain Ganzack

@tori22:

Bishonen? When's he bishonen?

Only during Hancock's silly fantasies.

JERK DISEASE

@iamborednow:

With all do honesty, I don't think One Piece is all that creative. Come to think of it, tv shows in general can't be that complex, or they lose viewers, which causes essentially all of them to be pretty simple.

What a tremendously wrong and stupid post.

Mr M

@iamborednow:

With all do honesty, I don't think One Piece is all that creative. Come to think of it, tv shows in general can't be that complex, or they lose viewers, which causes essentially all of them to be pretty simple.

very stupid post

for many reasons

EDIT:seems like jerk saw it before me

Bill

This post is deleted!

Bill

@MuseCuresCancer:

That's because in the US, people like their swords and ninjas and shit, they don't have huge imaginations. You have to have a huge imagination in order to fully appreciate One Piece, and I feel that more intelligent people are One Piece fans. I noticed this by lurking in different forums.

You should read some of the posts from Bleach threads where hardcore Bleachtards reside, it's nasty.

Anyway, I quoted you for truth. US will never really appreciate such a great series. Can't wait til Naruto and Bleach end, because those two will end before One Piece does.

Firstly, its not just the US it's the same for the rest of world outside Japan(with the exception of Italy and some other places). Secondly, One Piece is fairly popular in the US as evidenced here.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/18500.html
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/19090.html

Still not as popular/well known as Bleach/Naruto but still fairly popular.

In South Africa you wouldn't even see One Piece on any charts, and Bleach and Naruto still outsell One Piece internationally.

One Piece just isn't appealing on an international scale as DragonBall/Bleach/Naruto.

Edit: Also One Piece is overrated in Japan, and somewhat underrated in most parts of the world .

Tsume

@JERK:

What a tremendously wrong and stupid post.

@metteminne:

very stupid post

for many reasons

If you're to insult someone, at least bring some argumentation…
(it's always easy to trash people on the net, make it a discussion instead...)

eliman12

One Piece really underrated all over the world except Japan, most of the fans like my friends thinks Naruto and Bleach it the best series but the true One Piece much better than the most of the shonen especially Naruto and Bleach.

Killax

Agreed with the above posts.

At this moment One Piece is very underrated, however it is the best running manga atm imho. I do truly belive that it will not be long for it will be discoverd in the Western world and even more merchandise will be created.

My small problem with Naruto is that they have cool ideas and concept but I always feel a bit dissapointed when they carry the cool ideas out. One of many examples is the big bad guy within Konoha who basicly is another frankenstein.

Bleach has the best art but one of the worst stories and that's all there is to it imho.

city_lights31

Bleach has the best art? Kubo may be stylish but he is a lazy sob. I think Bleach has the worst art of the 3.

eliman12

@Killax:

Agreed with the above posts.

At this moment One Piece is very underrated, however it is the best running manga atm imho. I do truly belive that it will not be long for it will be discoverd in the Western world and even more merchandise will be created.

My small problem with Naruto is that they have cool ideas and concept but I always feel a bit dissapointed when they carry the cool ideas out. One of many examples is the big bad guy within Konoha who basicly is another frankenstein.

Bleach has the best art but one of the worst stories and that's all there is to it imho.

Let me tell you something, best art it's not the best style you love.

tori22

@JERK:

What a tremendously wrong and stupid post.

well he's right about ONE PIECE not being THAT creative. I mean, its very creative but not in the same way as a show like naruto or death note, like intelligent creative. It's still better than those shows, but it's not intelligent creative. The second part was just retarded

@eliman12:

Let me tell you something, best art it's not the best style you love.

Nah other way around, the manga doesn't really have the best art at all…..... not that it's bad but not the best out of the 3. It has the best style, kubo knows how to make badasses but the art isnt as great.

zachri

One Piece?
OVERRATED?

[hide][/hide]

Killax

@eliman12:

Let me tell you something, best art it's not the best style you love.

Well, I'm not here to defend Bleach at all, and I agree, the style is what makes OP so attractive.

I am also fully aware that Tite makes Manga Panels with no background whatsoever so please do thake that last sentince with a grain of salt.

I think the main reason why I said it was because the Bleach characters have something very striking where OP characters have that a bit less sometimes, but then again that's all taste and opinions not really discussible…