Original Post Date: Mar 17, 2015
I have seen 52 episodes. Checked the big 'arcs' of the rest up to ~350. It isn't even 1% of what I expected. Another long "shounen" (stories about young teenagers who gain power on their way, the most popular type in Japan) Bleach was The Godfather and I didn't know it. I have rated OP with a 5/10, which is pretty low in my standarts, I don't rate anime "series" with 1-2-3 ratings; at least I haven't, so far.
I was told "what did you expect?"
I don't know what to expect from a very long shounen but I didn't expect this. It is quite similar to another long shounen, Fairy Tail, which I couldn't even stand for one episode. There's one more similar shounen, not as long, Soul Eater, but I guess it's not as bad... or maybe it is, I don't know.
But Bleach isn't like this, Hunter x Hunter isn't like this, Dragon Ball isn't like this. And I haven't seen it but probably Naruto isn't like this either. Bleach and Naruto are among the anime most people tend to rant about but buy didn't I know such poor quality existed on the dark side of the moon.
Better yet (or worse) I see people who choose "OP" over "HxH" or who think "HxH is good but OP is special" or so. Now I respect everyone's opinions but when there's such a drastic difference of quality, I get confused when One Pice is seen as equals of those, or even better than them.
How could the level of quality be overshadowed by "taste" so much is what I don't understand. Now sure most people accept and speak of One Piece being not very serious, but there is so much love for this show that one can't simply not expect a great depth benath that childishness. But there WASN'T one. There wasn't the slighest of it. For instance in Bleach there're also lots of comedy scenes, childishness, but not only it is fun, there's also a great depth behind it and the main story isn't affected by this childishness. I guess I have to give up on hope on an anime when it is talked as "not being so serious", at least the audience who watches shounen once in a while but who is more of a "seinen" anime watcher (anime which aim at more adult audience also with more serious stories with serious, darker tone). I always thought it was one of those "I laugh at the life but there's a storm in me" type of things, but turns out it wasn't.
There are much more "fillers" (anime are mostly adapted by manga, Japanese comics, fillers episodes in an anime that isn't any part of the original work, manga) in Bleach, but I think One Piece's episode that aren't technically fillers, are, in fact fillers in a way that doesn't contribute to the main story. For instance, Alabasta story arc of One Piece, IIRC was episodes 92-130 or so, an arc that completely fitted to the "side-story" description. In fact, in my opinion, everything after ~50 episodes are like that. Hence my act of dropping it.
I have looked at Alabasta, Water 7, Skypiea, Thriller Bank, Sabaody Archipelago and lastly the everyone's favorite Marineford arcs, none of them made me curious in the slightest.
So how many filler episodes does Bleach have, 150? And how many does One Piece have? 50? Well I think 600 episodes of One Piece are fillers in the story-wise meaning! (Technically not fillers, but fillers because they don't contribute to the main story at all, that is if there's a main story after such time)
I was actually suspicious when I found out One Piece had so few fillers. I guess we have to be scared of anime that doesn't have much fillers. 'Cause all of it may be filler!
Bleach, Naruto and alike are at least making a distinction between "fillers" and rest. In One Piece the anime's quality suffers from the fillers when it is in every arc and episode. There is no way to skip the "bad parts". Of course this is just in theory, because despite the homogeneous state of the "fillers" about the anime, it doesn't work even if you try to skip 10 mins of an episode and watch the good 10 mins. I have tried that, first few episodes had that, but then entirety of the anime turned out to be one big meaningless chore. I think the story AND the world is completely very weak.
And I see the reason behind this as the extremely long life of the both manga and the anime. Because entering the Grand Line or near (hinted from the very first episode) happened in 50-100 episodes, it might have ended in 200 episodes or so if it progressed as initially planned. But despite entering the Grand Line very early, no other real progress was made next ~600 episodes. People say "did he still not started to fly" to Clark Kent in Smallville, I am not a fan of that saying, but now how can I not take side with those who say "is he still not King of the Pirates?" for Monkey D. Luffy, the main character of One Piece? How is this any different than never-growing Ash Ketchum of Pokémon?
For instance Bleach's Bounto arc felt more "cannon" than One Piece's Alabasta arc. It is common in video games especially in fantasy RPG's, that we go and help to a villager in distress, save them from bandits. These are "side-missions". Alabasta arc was exactly a "saving the villager" type of thing. Bleach's Bounto arc on the other hand, despite the meaninglessness of some of it, contributed a lot to the development of the main character and it was philosophically interesting and of course, in my opinion, had much more level of quality than the other.
I was already planning on starting Naruto, realizing this small detail, my desire to start it increased even more. I will of course probably not watch its fillers.
That's all I have to say about One Piece... If you seek a great or a decent story, seek elsewhere.
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