Bleach will reach the 500 chapter mark in 1 year or so.
And Naruto is 520 something chapters. And we've basically seen the village of the sand, the village of the leave, and the cloud village. Oh, and the Iron country. And NON of them looked exciting, well build, or anything. Pretty generic stuff if you ask me.
You forgot the Samurai's that came out of right field. I pop into that manga every now and then and god is it bad.
@Speed:
As of 2011 the US has troops stationed in 172 countries arround the world, we are now under the control of an organization the size and scale of of the WG.
Military presence doesn't always equate political control. Some of these countries are stable because of US presence. For others it's more of an annoyance. However if the US wasn't stationed in most of these countries another larger boarder country may potentially invade. I.e. Iran into Iraq. Though I'm completely against the way our military and goverment conduct themselves and the general US public's power of either has become (or always has been) a mirage. Though this whole argument is off topic and better suited for the Wiki thread.
One Piece.
Complex, Yes.
Deep, Selectively.
TL ; DR
OP has depth as well as complexity but nothing the scholars will throw a fit over in the centuries to come.
Deep isn't so much that the author is touching on Unique topics. Because in the flow of time all things are no longer original. There has always been someone to do it before. The best one can hope for is to be Fresh. Which I'm sure most agree Oda is.
Norland Flash back on the surface was a great arc. But under the surface it was amazing – despite my own personal opinions of finding sections of Skypiea boring. These natives with a extensive culture and beliefs system based around their snake gods and ancestors meet a man who cherishes science and medicine who eventually brings them to his ideals by showing them the true path for their peoples salvation. These same people are shot into "heaven" with their new beliefs and are attacked by "God and God's Army" who seek to claim what the "Land Dwellers" have. A struggle of peoples with an underline implication of the struggle with religious faith over fact based science.
Oda also seems to push existentialist ideals through the use of perceived evils versus individual examples.
- SH's being Do-gooder Pirates which further expands the sentiments that "SH's are good thus Pirating is good" even though on a grander scale Pirates are perceived as horrible people and individuals like Kidd, Caribou, Arlong, Fluffy, Early Appearance Buggy, Alvida, ect. reinforce the notion of Pirates are "bad people"
- Dadan FOILing the mountain bandits from Romance Dawn,
- The varying beliefs of "Justice" within the Marines – even though "Justice" is suppose to be a solid common mantra that all marines are suppose to share
- Existence based on situational perception. I.E. Vivi, Robin, Mr. 3, Croc, Franky, Buggy, all initially "bad guys" and eventually become allies through the revelation of information or raw situation. (I think this one is more blatant with how Luffy accepts someone as good or bad. A persons worth is based on their most recent actions. Buggy, Croc, and the misunderstanding with Zoro at Cactus Island. The exception of this maybe when Nami stole their boat in Baratie arc.)
In a number of situations paneling and character placements can often reveal more than what may be seen on the surface. Instead of taking this point further I'll just cite a previous argument I've made that is related.
http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=1822010&postcount=280
To dig for all examples would be time consuming so I hope this single citing is sufficient for my point. Paneling is potentially an indicator in Oda's work.
There are other things that can be pointed out as well but I'll leave my argument here.