Why One Piece Fucking Sucks
This one’s for Pirate Folks
If you are normal and have no interest in reading a 2000 word essay on why one of the best-selling series of history is dog shit, do not read this article. I repeat, do not read this article (I’m being serious; this article does require context).
When I originally made this blog I had something completely different in mind. It wasn’t going to be about politics or philosophy. It wasn’t going to share personal anecdotes or life advice. I wanted to do an in-depth analysis of manga. I wanted to treat comic books with the same seriousness reserved for Dostoevsky, Tolstoy or Dickens. I wanted to write about the intricacies of Chainsaw Man’s Christian symbolism. About the moral implications of Fire Punch and the hero’s journey in Naruto. Explore manga as one of the best creative forms.
This was meant to be ironic. I thought picking up a pen and approaching manga this way would be a fun exercise in mental gymnastics. What I discovered while brainstorming is that it would be fucking hard. Everything I came up with was vague and unsatisfying. Most manga follow a similar plot with persistent tropes. The ones that don’t are so fucked up that it’s hard to find consistent themes. I dream of doing at least one about Chainsaw Man; probably one of my top five favorite pieces of fiction. But I might have to do it after the series ends. The plot is so unpredictable anything I write could become obsolete in a matter of months.
Of course, some things are consistent across time and space. Some things are and always will be. For manga, that’s my disappointment in One Piece. Every new chapter makes me want to punch a wall. Every new character or plot twist is shallow and has bad or predictable writing. I have rarely felt this blue balled by a piece of fiction. This frustrated with leaks, chapters or volumes.
It was natural that one of my first manga essays would be tearing One Piece a new one. But, I found as time went on, that I wasn’t sure how to weave it all together. The moving parts hadn’t appeared yet and I didn’t want to grasp at straw(hat)s. I put it on the shelf and went with more well-formed ideas.
Then Shanks got a fucking twin brother. Wtf. Why. This ruined so many plot points. Instead of having Shanks as a quasi-supporter of the world government, as previously hinted, all the hype and aura farming got thrown onto a stranger 1100 chapters into the story. A new VERY STRONG character. A new Pirate King(tm) powerscaling member. Exactly what I wanted 200 chapters before the end.
This by itself wouldn’t have pushed me over the edge. There were other things. Like Saul coming back to life after freezing to death. Like when Luffy lost to Kaido three times before he won. Like the Egghead arc where 12 chapters are dedicated to edging the reader with lore hype that turned out to be already known (by real fans).
With so many fumbles, it’s hard not to feel betrayed. It’s hard not to feel angry after losing 1100 CHAPTERS worth of my life to this shallow garbage. I have always given One Piece the benefit of the doubt but no more.
So, without further ado, hears why One Piece fucking sucks:
1. The fan service
Yes, fan service is usually bad. It’s one of anime's greatest flaws, along with the 2000-year-old witch who looks like a kindergartener. Pre-time skip, I don’t know if I would be that harsh on One Piece. But as time passes, the disrespect towards women reaches preposterous levels. 90% of the women in One Piece would die in a matter of hours with real-world physics. The rest are ugly.
I didn’t think it would be this easy to sum up. I guess, in addition, the strongest women are unattractive (Big Mom). Or think they’re men (Yamato)? Or their power is related to laundry. Nico used to be really powerful, one of the strongest Strawhats by far. Now she’s fifth or sixth on most important boss fights. And Boa Hancock has become irrelevant.
Also Bonney is 12. I will not post a picture of her because that would be unethical.
2. The bad characters
One Piece does one thing really well: It gives everyone a tragic backstory. Everyone. Everyone has a sob story, regardless of whether they’re a villain, straw hat, or tangential side character. Everyone was kicked in the face by destiny.
This is not a mistake. Actually, for most of the Strawhats, this makes or breaks their characters. They are made by their unique suffering (which is probably not unique but actually copy-and-paste, but I digress). The reason why I am ride-or-die Sanji, in addition to him being the get-shit-done character, is that he has an excellent backstory. The same can be said of Chopper, Franky, Nico, and many others.
But all of these characters are now close to being irrelevant. They are no longer the center of plot points. They are tangential to major battles and serve no function except as footnote crew utility. They all had incredible build-ups that have gone to waste.
Other animes do this. Naruto had excellent characters like Lee or Shino and left them in the dust. This is the natural result of the Shonen trend “main character becomes a god”. If they become superpowerful, then old friends and foes will become irrelevant.
But One Piece hasn’t only done this for old characters. It has done this for active crew members. People are kept around for five-chapter montages as they become increasingly irrelevant to the plot. Usopp, one of the greatest pre-time skip One Piece members, is now an annoying coward. Nobody goes through any meaningful struggle unless it’s “I got defeated several times, but miraculously powered through and won”.
Nobody loses anything (except Ace, and Bon Kurei (fucking goat)). Characters aren’t forced to make difficult choices. The crew isn’t put between a rock and a hard place. They, like Luffy, get crushed until they bounce back.
Deaths are super trivial. I don’t take any at face value anymore. I imagine Kaido and Big Mom are still alive. Because I care so little about One Piece (I suppose this article could be considered evidence to the contrary) I got Chat to do some work for me:
Long story short the characters are bad and deaths edge you to oblivion.
3. The powerscaling
One Piece used to have one of the best power scaling systems. The devil fruits are interesting and unique. Although it’s somewhat controversial, I like the Haki system. It’s a cool way to divide characters into different tiers. There are levels, and the Strawhats slowly climb their way up the ladder.
But the further you get into the story, the more inconsistent these rankings become. Characters like Crocodile got upscaled out of the blue. Others, like admirals, are as strong as the context requires. People are used in one-panel shots to hype each other up. Few real battles exist. Rather, most comparisons are done for the point of aura farming, showing off how each character is cool and powerful without any meaningful achievements.
Each fight isn’t about creativity or originality. Rather, they act to make the characters cooler, with the exception of Strawhat fights. This leads to:
4. The repetitiveness
Although there are unique arcs in One Piece (Impel Down, Marineford, Egghead), most arcs follow the island pattern. Below is Chat GPTs explanation:
Of course, a formula similar to the above, and the listed tropes, is true for most of Shohen. But One Piece is 1100 CHAPTERS LONG. More than half of it follows this formula, with some arcs like Dressrosa or Wano being around the same length as the average manga series. These cookie-cutter arcs, respectively 102 and 140 chapters, are longer or similar in size to Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, and Attack on Titan. In the time it takes authors to start and finish a series, a handful of One Piece arcs with identical patterns are equivalent in size.
The good
I spent hours writing this article not because I hate One Piece. I deeply respect and admire the series. There are many reasons why it is justified as one of the most successful media franchises of all time. The power system is incredibly unique. Devil fruits are a cool way of building (power synonym). The world-building in One Piece is one of the best, if not the best, in fiction. The different powers, countries and history of the world are fascinating. The scope of the universe is immense and well thought out.
The characters in the first half of the story are great. They are well thought out and imaginative. Although the story arc is repetitive, in a sense that is justified by the existence of Joy Boy. Each trial and tribulation that Luffy goes through is emblematic of the hero's journey. Each tyrant overthrown adds weight to the protagonist’s credentials as a historical liberator of the people. Of the timeless notion that good will triumph, in a karmic cycle.
But this is what makes it so frustrating. It is so close to being one of the greatest fiction series of all time. Instead of focusing on meaningful character development for a handful of characters, everyone gets brief lip service. It’s hard to have 30+ important characters and deliver satisfying outcomes for everyone. Instead of victories being hard-earned through sacrifice and struggle, they are the inevitable outcome of every major arc. Because of its bad writing and Shohen tropes, it comes across as shallow.
I will continue reading One Piece. I’m in too deep. I have dedicated hours of my life to this toxic relationship between consumer and producer. I also think the coming arcs will be better (fingers crossed). We are finally experiencing the payoff of 1100 chapters of buildup. The much-anticipated finale is within sight.
But I am keeping my expectations low. It will be really, really hard for Oda to give each beloved character a satisfying, sensible conclusion. I expect it to feel a bit forced and mostly consist of hype and aura farming instead of complicated, well-thought-out battles.
As a media franchise, I can’t deny its success and congratulate the author. But as a lover of fiction, One Piece is emblematic of everything wrong with anime. The fanservice, lack of authentic character development, inconsistent rules, and predictability are what turn many of the greatest creative works into repetitive garbage.
Hopefully I’ll be proved wrong. Hopefully, the ending will satisfy a variety of fans. There will be a climatic bang, where all foreshadowing pays off in a climatic finale. But until then I’ll stay a hater. Until I see I’ll stay resentful at the wasted deaths and my wasted time. I hope I’m proved wrong.
Finally someone willing to speak truth to power