Comic Years

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Starting One Piece: How I Became Obsessed With One Of The Most Popular Manga & Animes Of All Time Posted: 28 Jan 2022 11:15 PM PST When the pandemic first shut everything down back in 2020, I had to find new ways to bide my time. I tried making my own tofu. I organized my closet à la Marie Kondo. I even tried taking up several new crafty hobbies, including knitting, crocheting, and adult coloring, just to name a few. Sadly, most of these fell off the wayside, but one quarantine passion that I have been able to maintain? My love of One Piece. This beloved story has been around for almost 25 years: the manga was first started in July 1997 and the anime followed shortly after in 1999. I had always been interested in starting One Piece but it was very intimidating! I had 90 volumes to catch up on and more than 900 episodes to watch; a major commitment for any normal person. However, when I found myself stuck in the apartment with lots of free time on my hands, I thought why not begin watching and reading One Piece? Maybe two or three weeks later, I was obsessed. OBSESSED! I started watching YouTube videos of other One Piece fans talking about their favorite moments, and I ordered a pack of One Piece character stickers. I also joined the One Piece subreddit, although I was warned straight off the bat that it would have a lot of spoilers. As of right now, I’m still not caught up, but if my estimates are correct, I’ll probably be up-to-date by the end of February or early March. And then? I’ll be able to join in all the spoiler conversations! The creator, Eiichiro Oda, said that he hopes to wrap up the series in the next few years (2025-2026), so I am psyched to be part of the conversation as the Straw Hat saga comes to an end. So, let’s get into why you should be reading and/or watching One Piece! What Is One Piece? Image via Toei Animation My Comic Years colleague, Shah Shahid, wrote a post about the most popular anime series of 2021 and One Piece won hands down. I excitedly messaged him, saying I wanted to have a One Piece discussion podcast because I love it so much, and he replied, “It seems like you should write a blog post about this.” So here it is (thanks Shah!). One Piece is the story of Monkey D. Luffy, an optimistic 17-year-old boy who wants to become King of the Pirates. When he was growing up, he heard stories of many great pirate adventures from his friend and father figure, Red-Haired Shanks, which inspired Luffy to go out to sea when he got older. Shanks is from the Golden Age of Pirates, a time when many set sail on the Grand Line (an ocean route that covers the entire equator of the world) in search of the infamous pirate Gol D. Rogers treasure aka the One Piece. Unfortunately, Luffy eats a Devil Fruit, a magical fruit that grants the eater any number of crazy powers but also takes away their ability to swim. In this way, Luffy becomes a rubber man, meaning he can stretch and bend his body like rubber. He ends up setting off on some swashbuckler adventures wearing a straw hat that Shanks gave him. Along the way, he recruits others to join him, thus creating his team of Straw Hat Pirates. As of now, the Straw Hat Pirates consist of nine members (including Luffy): Nami: the crew’s navigator. She was originally a thief and pickpocket and is very money-minded. Roronoa Zoro: a skilled fighter who specializes in “Three Sword Style.” His dream is to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman. Usopp: the sniper of the crew. He’s known to tell tall tales and his father is a pirate on Shank’s crew. Sanji: the crew’s cook. He’s a big ladies man and refuses to hurt any woman, no matter how evil. He has a powerful high kick and can always be seen with a cigarette in his mouth. Tony Tony Chopper: the doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates. He’s a walking, talking reindeer that loves reading and has seven different human/reindeer hybrid forms he can transform into. Nico Robin: an archaeologist that has the ability to read the ancient Poneglyphs, which many believe will explain a century-long gap in human history. She ate the Flower Flower Devil Fruit, which enables her to sprout duplicates of any of her body parts from any surface within range. Franky: the crew’s carpenter. He’s part cyborg and is powered by Cola. He enjoys dancing and likes to walk around in his underwear. Brook: the musician of the Straw Hats. He’s a living skeleton because he ate the Revive-Revive Fruit, which brought him back to life after he died. Besides being a skilled musician, he’s also a talented swordsman. Why Is One Piece So Beloved? Image via Shonen Jump Manga One of the reasons I love One Piece so much is the emotional depth and character relationships. Luffy is stubborn in his dedication to those he considers his friends and it’s his naive and optimistic outlook on life that often gets him into trouble. This same simplistic look on life also endears him to others though and results in some very deep and meaningful relationships with others. There’s also kickass storytelling and character development that ties things together I wouldn’t have even expected. There have been times when I was reading on the subway and I started to tear up or gasped aloud because something crazy happened. The loyalty of these characters and the bonds they develop with each other are some of the best portrayals I’ve ever read. In an interview with Viz Media, Oda talked about how he’s able to elicit strong emotional responses from his fans: “The thing is, I get bored easily. So if my manga was just about the action, or comedy, or tearjerking moments, more than anybody, I would get bored. So I change up the style of the series to keep up my motivation to draw the series. The real secret? I think of the plots and scenes when I'm tired. The only way that I can think of a new idea is to think about it a lot without sleeping or eating. That's the only way that I know, because humans can only come up with truly new ideas when they reach their limit. So every time I am done with my manuscript, I am completely exhausted.” Another thing that I love about the series is that it touches on societal issues that are often pushed aside because they’re “uncomfortable” to address. One Piece has portrayed slavery, xenophobia, government corruption, and an out-of-control military power. The creative ability of Oda to create worlds and characters around these issues is amazing and I’m always in awe of the care he puts not only into the story and characters but also the settings. From an island in the sky to a desert kingdom, the imagination of Oda is beyond comparison. Lastly, Oda has made a very participatory fanbase. In the mangas, he has an SBS Question Corner (it stands for Shitsumon o Boshū Suru or “I’m Taking Questions”) and fans can write in to ask questions or submit artwork. It can get pretty R-rated, but it’s also a fun way for Oda to interact with his fans. What Tips Do I Have For Starting, Reading, Or Watching One Piece? Image via Toei Animation When I first started One Piece, I began with the manga. Oda’s illustrations are on point and I enjoy the SBS Question Corner as well as the Cover Stories, which supplemental stories told through the cover pages of select chapters. They often focus on side characters or antagonists that the Straw Hat Pirates encountered. With that being said, sometimes the fight scenes can be hard to follow in the manga format, so I’ve been watching those in the anime. I’ve been told that overall, the plot moves along much more smoothly in the manga because the anime tends to have a lot of flashbacks. However, the anime allows me to enjoy the character’s voices as well as see how everything looks in color. So what’s my final consensus? I’d say start with the manga first. You can be crazy like me and do both the manga and anime at the same time, or you can wait until you get through one form and move onto the next. Either way, they’re both a wonderful experience! There are several One Piece movies that aren’t canon, but still star the Straw Hat Pirates. A few of these include Clockwork Island Adventure, Strong World, and Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island. In addition, there’s going to be a live-action One Piece, which will premiere on Netflix in the near future. So if you’re done watching One Piece, you can still continue to find more content to satisfy any needs you have! You can begin watching One Piece on Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll, and Funimation. I personally get my manga from the library, but if you find it at your favorite local comic book shop, that’s great too!  Are you going to be starting One Piece after reading this? Or are you already reading One Piece and love it just as much as me? Do you have any strategies for watching One Piece? Let me know in the comments below! Also, I’m here for all the One Piece content and conversations, so tweet at me @keilinhuang! Featured image via Toei Animation Starting One Piece: How I Became Obsessed With One Of The Most Popular Manga & Animes Of All Time Keilin Huang

Star Wars 1313 Gameplay – Unseen Boba Fett Combat Released Posted: 28 Jan 2022 05:20 PM PST LucasArts put out some really imaginative games over the years. No project, however, feels more like a missed opportunity than Star Wars 1313. This is the Boba Fett video game we never got. To this day, I get sad thinking about what could have been. I’ll tell you what – the latest canceled game leak of Star Wars 1313 gameplay starring Boba Fett doesn’t make me feel better. That said, it’s super cool we get to see any of this at all. Most times, games that get canceled are just shelved and set aside forever. At least this way we can see what might have been possible in a Star Wars game starring the fan-favorite bounty hunter. Let’s talk about the chase scene released online to celebrate the Vault Project’s 6th anniversary. What Could Have Been for Boba Fett Image Credit: LucasArts In a new look at canceled game footage from Star Wars 1313, Boba Fett is doing Boba Fett things. Much like the events of The Book Of Boba Fett, 1313 aimed to show us what the bounty hunter did outside of his time in the films. Of course, we know now that Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc Pit across Star Wars canon in a bunch of different ways. 1313, however, took place in Fett’s early adulthood. The depths of Coruscant, meaning the truly vile, villainous parts, were his working grounds. 1313 proves that our infatuation with Boba Fett is still at a fever pitch. When finally scrapped back in 2013, it’s been a decade of us still wanting to know what this game might have looked like. The latest look is a pretty early build of a chase sequence from the game. Still, you can see bits and pieces of what would have been a great adventure. I’m not saying 1313 would be one of the best Star Wars games ever. However, I will say that the footage revealed this week shows off some promising progress at that point in the game’s development. Think of it this way. With sprinklings of Tomb Raider and games like Uncharted evident in the gameplay, Star Wars 1313 might have been really, really good. If you add a Star Wars skin to great game mechanics, then chances are you’re doing something right. The Spirit of 1313 Lives On in Promising New Star Wars Games Image Credit: LucasArts Well, we never got 1313, but more Star Wars games are on the way. Projects at Respawn and a new LEGO Star Wars game are just a few of the exciting things upcoming. There’s a Quantic Dream High Republic RPG, an open-world Ubisoft title, and so much more. Overall, we’re not starving for Star Wars games or any sort of content. Still, I feel like Star Wars 1313 will always be the canceled game that got away – here’s to you Boba Fett. If you haven’t watched the Star Wars 1313 Gameplay, then be sure to check it out here. Let us know what you want from a future Star Wars game – either announced or simply hypothetical! Thanks for reading Comic Years for all things gaming, comics, and pop culture. Featured Image Credit: LucasArts Star Wars 1313 Gameplay – Unseen Boba Fett Combat Released Taylor Bauer

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