One Piece Is Pretty Mid
As someone who has seen all sorts of anime from extremely good to extremely bad ones, One piece was mediocre in my opinion. Not something I’d recommend to be honest, due to the length of the show and the painfully slow story. Overall, I’d give it a score of 5/10.
Sorry, but I’m very strict with my ratings.
Now for the record, I’m all caught up with the series and the idea of one piece itself is great. The background story is a phenomenal piece of work with creative ideas like devil fruits, a new outlook on pirates and their correlation with a evil world government.
However, the overall quality takes a nose-dive in the most disappointing way possible.
Starting with the pacing, it's excruciatingly slow at times, with episodes dragging on without any significant progress in the story. This often makes it difficult to stay invested in the show and can feel like a chore to get through. It wouldn't be an issue if it happened rarely, but it seems to be a recurring problem throughout the series.
One of the other reasons I found One Piece to be mediocre is its repetitive formula. Although the story has its unique elements, it often follows a pattern: the crew goes to a new island, they come across a villain, they face some challenges, and eventually defeat said villain. While this can be entertaining for the first few arcs, it becomes tiresome after hundreds of episodes.
In addition to that, the animation quality can be inconsistent, with some scenes looking great while others look subpar. For such a long-running show, it's expected that the animation will have its ups and downs, but it's still disappointing when it doesn't live up to its potential.
Another issue I have is the excessive use of flashbacks. While it's essential to provide backstories for characters, One Piece tends to overuse this narrative device, which can disrupt the storytelling flow and make the pacing drag even more.
Lastly, the character development leaves a lot to be desired. While there are certainly some memorable and well-developed characters like Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, there are countless side characters that seem to exist only to advance the plot without leaving any lasting impression.
In conclusion, One Piece has a lot of potential with its creative ideas and intriguing story, but it ultimately falls short due to its problematic pacing, repetitive formula, and inconsistent animation quality. It's not the worst anime out there, but it's certainly not one of the best either.