Picaresque

Written by bankaiboy89 on July 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM

I watched this show when it was first dubbed and because of my schedule and the times it was on, I only saw every third episode and kind of got bored. I got up to the arc with Nami's island and Arlong and then somehow I skipped to the Crocodile arc. But since those days, i've rewatched all those subbed episodes and now I'm up to the Foxy arc. It's great. The pace drags sometimes and I just want Luffy or Zoro or Sanji to beat people's brains in but it's always funny and it has the emotional moments at just the right times and then before they get too sappy, there's a little gag.

The style of fiction (so far) is known as Picaresque fiction, which is the episodic story of a rogue and his travels. There are other elements to it, but Luffy is just sailing from place to place with different story arcs that eventually fade and it's onto the next one. There is some little thread that ties them together, like Robin's search and Luffy's dream and Zoro's dream, etc, but it's not the reason I watch. With Naruto and Bleach, there's this grand story that I want to see end eventually, but One Piece is just fun to watch.

It's sometimes immature because so few people die or they get beat up and you think they're dead, but nope, they're just in jail now. It's hard to believe but it's never so jarring that I stop watching.

The characters aren't three dimensional, but they're vivid and lovable. The characters aren't unique, but their actions and the way they express themselves can be. Luffy is one of those never-give-up types, but he's goofy and a bit stupid. And really, we all love someone with his courage and determination. It's inspiring, even if trite.

The theme is pretty typical for anime. Never give up, everyone has a right to live as they want, these are my friends and I won't let you hurt them, yadda yadda yadda.