I think the idea of romanticism and the series overall being targeted to younger audiences works really well and is good to point out. As adults we lost for the most part to see the world through such innocent lens and Luffy himself is probably the most innocent in the series, only following his whims to let him be free. Great read!
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I always try to keep in mind who the target audience is when im reading something, it makes the story more clear in my mind
Have not read One Piece but really enjoyed this analysis. It always does me good to see popular/'kids' media discussed in terms of literary movements.
I kind of wonder if there was any cross-pollination between One Piece and Berserk, which is a very different beast (and began about a decade earlier), but there is some overlap - Berserk also had a lot to say about dreams and dreamers, and the magnetism of a leader who pursued his dream single-mindedly and selfishly (Griffith), and inspired others to do the same. Griffith is also often likened to Napoleon, a major 'hero' and dreamer of the Romantic era.
Will definitely write more about this at some point - my feeling is that Berserk is actually much more Existentialist, and therefore very post-Romantic in nature, hence Griffith becoming the villain (as Existentialist Dostoyevsky thought of Napoleon and other 'great men' of history), while the hero Guts constantly ponders the meaning (or lack of meaning) of life.
However, Berserk also ends up featuring pirates, young boys with shonen-esque ambitions (Isidro), and a lot of whimsy and wonder (elves and witches). So perhaps there is some relationship with the Romanticism of One Piece and shonen generally.
I have not read Berserk (yet, I really want to get to it eventually) but your points are very interesting. Something I thought of pointing out here was how the Romantics did very much idolize the "great men" of history, which also happens in One Piece with figures like the Pirate King. Perhaps the different demographics of the series is partially why Berserk is more existentialist, being aimed at adult men instead of children, and I do wonder how Berserk influences other series and vice-versa.
I think One Piece is the best story ever told. It really is fantastic. It is what inspired me to create my own comics. There is a series of YouTube videos that I think you would really enjoy. An English professor has been reading through and discussing the themes and his opinions on the story. Plus, his tone and speaking voice is really soothing. Sometimes I just put it on as background noise as I work, haha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVcq5OxUA34&list=PLhgH1o9NH60J5TsiXXfHM9VtUoG23vabr&index=4
I love One Piece, and I love your analysis of it! I think your characterization of Luffy is so spot on, especially that whimsy and joy power him more than his unbelievable strength!
I just realized I haven't written anything about One Piece yet, it's one of my favorite manga. Skypeia could have been shorter imo, but the ending is still one of the greatest moments in the series.
I think Blackbeard works well as a foil to Luffy — the dark side of romanticism and the desire for freedom. Through this dichotomy, Oda shows that freedom shouldn't mean the freedom to hurt others. I always saw Yasopp and Shanks as kinda morally ambiguous in that regard.
Blackbeard is one of the best foils Luffy has throughout the series, I can't wait to see the confrontation between them and how Luffy will respond to Blackbeard's ideology. It will be interesting to see how Shanks and his crew fits into that, he seems to be like a middle-ground between Luffy and Blackbeard.
Luffy idealizes Shanks, but he never really knew anything meaningful about him. I'm not saying he's necessarily going to be a villain, but we don't really know what his endgame plan is.
There aren’t really that many filler episodes (according to Anime Filler List there’s only about 8% of pure filler), the problem is that the anime adds a lot of padding on canon episodes. For example, a fight that takes one page in the manga may take a full episode on the anime, it’s not filler because it’s canon but the anime makes it longer by including lots of reaction shots and making each action slower than it needs to be. I highly recommend reading the manga instead or watching the One Pace version, it’s a fan project that edits every episode to make the pacing better.
I think the idea of romanticism and the series overall being targeted to younger audiences works really well and is good to point out. As adults we lost for the most part to see the world through such innocent lens and Luffy himself is probably the most innocent in the series, only following his whims to let him be free. Great read!
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it! I always try to keep in mind who the target audience is when im reading something, it makes the story more clear in my mind
Have not read One Piece but really enjoyed this analysis. It always does me good to see popular/'kids' media discussed in terms of literary movements.
I kind of wonder if there was any cross-pollination between One Piece and Berserk, which is a very different beast (and began about a decade earlier), but there is some overlap - Berserk also had a lot to say about dreams and dreamers, and the magnetism of a leader who pursued his dream single-mindedly and selfishly (Griffith), and inspired others to do the same. Griffith is also often likened to Napoleon, a major 'hero' and dreamer of the Romantic era.
Will definitely write more about this at some point - my feeling is that Berserk is actually much more Existentialist, and therefore very post-Romantic in nature, hence Griffith becoming the villain (as Existentialist Dostoyevsky thought of Napoleon and other 'great men' of history), while the hero Guts constantly ponders the meaning (or lack of meaning) of life.
However, Berserk also ends up featuring pirates, young boys with shonen-esque ambitions (Isidro), and a lot of whimsy and wonder (elves and witches). So perhaps there is some relationship with the Romanticism of One Piece and shonen generally.
Thank you for reading!
I have not read Berserk (yet, I really want to get to it eventually) but your points are very interesting. Something I thought of pointing out here was how the Romantics did very much idolize the "great men" of history, which also happens in One Piece with figures like the Pirate King. Perhaps the different demographics of the series is partially why Berserk is more existentialist, being aimed at adult men instead of children, and I do wonder how Berserk influences other series and vice-versa.
I think One Piece is the best story ever told. It really is fantastic. It is what inspired me to create my own comics. There is a series of YouTube videos that I think you would really enjoy. An English professor has been reading through and discussing the themes and his opinions on the story. Plus, his tone and speaking voice is really soothing. Sometimes I just put it on as background noise as I work, haha. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVcq5OxUA34&list=PLhgH1o9NH60J5TsiXXfHM9VtUoG23vabr&index=4
I love One Piece, and I love your analysis of it! I think your characterization of Luffy is so spot on, especially that whimsy and joy power him more than his unbelievable strength!
I'm glad you liked it! Luffy's spirit has always stood out to me so I'm glad I'm not the only one that loves that about him :)
I just realized I haven't written anything about One Piece yet, it's one of my favorite manga. Skypeia could have been shorter imo, but the ending is still one of the greatest moments in the series.
I think Blackbeard works well as a foil to Luffy — the dark side of romanticism and the desire for freedom. Through this dichotomy, Oda shows that freedom shouldn't mean the freedom to hurt others. I always saw Yasopp and Shanks as kinda morally ambiguous in that regard.
Blackbeard is one of the best foils Luffy has throughout the series, I can't wait to see the confrontation between them and how Luffy will respond to Blackbeard's ideology. It will be interesting to see how Shanks and his crew fits into that, he seems to be like a middle-ground between Luffy and Blackbeard.
Luffy idealizes Shanks, but he never really knew anything meaningful about him. I'm not saying he's necessarily going to be a villain, but we don't really know what his endgame plan is.
Agree! I'm excited to see more of Shanks soon
His videos sometimes pop up on my recommendations, I'll check them out!
There aren’t really that many filler episodes (according to Anime Filler List there’s only about 8% of pure filler), the problem is that the anime adds a lot of padding on canon episodes. For example, a fight that takes one page in the manga may take a full episode on the anime, it’s not filler because it’s canon but the anime makes it longer by including lots of reaction shots and making each action slower than it needs to be. I highly recommend reading the manga instead or watching the One Pace version, it’s a fan project that edits every episode to make the pacing better.