A new shonen sensation in Japan, this series features Monkey D. Luffy, whose main ambition is to become a pirate. Eating the Gum-Gum Fruit gives him strange powers but also invokes the fruit's curse: anybody who consumes it can never learn to swim. Nevertheless, Monkey and his crewmate Roronoa Zoro, master of the three-sword fighting style, sail the Seven Seas of swashbuckling adventure in search of the elusive treasure "One Piece."

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Even with the over-the-top character designs, superpowers, and elements of magic, Luffy and his friends are all enjoyable and sympathetic, with well-balanced flaws and strengths. Luffy seems too stupid to captain a ship, but occasionally has moments of brilliance that make you wonder if he's secretly a genius. Zoro, the gruff woman-hating swordsman, softens when faced with a little girl who did something special just for him. Nami begins to care about Luffy and company, despite her insistance that she will never be a pirate. Usopp is a coward, but comes through when those he cares about are in danger. Despite his suave exterior, Sanji goes gaga when a pretty woman pays him the slightest attention. Chopper begins to see that there are humans out there worthy of his trust. The dynamics between the whole group, once they are assembled, is incredibly fun and full of chemistry.

On the most basic level, you could call it a pirate comedy, but it is so much more than that. Sure, it is full of funny jokes and silly sight gags, but there is something very serious behind all that.

"One Piece" is about chasing your dreams, and doing so with a group of loyal nakama ("companions") at your side. Luffy's crew are more than friends; they are family, bound together by affection and hardship. They trust their lives to one another, and learn each other's limits. Along the way, they confront their pasts and look to the future, and set out to make their individual dreams into reality.

22 of 25 found the following review helpful:

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirates Life for Me!Nov 08, 2003
By Zack Davisson "japanreviewed"
"One-Piece" is currently the most popular manga series in Japan, and it well-deserves the fame and praise. It is a well-done, funny adventure and a rollicking good time. Full of strange, non sequitur characters and bizarre physical humor, One-Piece is a genre unto itself.

"Romance Dawn" is the first volume of the English-translated series, and has the stretchable would-be Pirate Captain Monkey D. Lufty in search of the fabled treasure, the One-Piece. He who finds the One-Piece will have the right to call himself the Pirate King, which is Monkey's dream.

"Romance" does not mean girls in this title, but the dawn of the romance of high adventure and the roaring seas. Of course, no adventure is great without the gathering of the crew, and that is what you find here.

It is hard to see anyone not liking One-Piece. Definitely the best comic coming from Japan today! Yo Ho!

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:

The first book will hook you and won't let you goOct 24, 2003
By E. Cheng "manga enthusiast"
This series is wonderfully original and phenomenally funny! Just reading the first chapter made me a fan for life. The art style is very different but quickly endears itself to the reader because of its flow, pacing, and simplicity. The author, Oda has a gift for storytelling which is evident in this book and only improves as the series progresses. I strongly recommend that everyone pick up this book immediately and see why the series is loved all around the world.

The book is set in a world where pirates roam the seas, and mysterious powers can be gained by eating "devil-fruit". The characters in this series are immensely likeable, with stories that will make you laugh and cry. The sense of adventure that the main character Luffy exudes is insanely infectious, and will quickly instill a desire in the reader to grab a bandana and join the crew.

This book is the epitome of how stories should be told. There are 29 volumes published in Japan (as of October 2003) and the series is still going strong. Currently it's being serialized in Viz's Shonen Jump monthly anthology (also highly recommended) and collected into Graphic Novels when enough chapters have been published. Shonen Jump tends to print 1-3 chapters of One Piece in each issue, and each volume contains 9-10 chapters each, so readers can expect 2 or 3 collected volumes each year.

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Finally, we're on the cruise!Aug 02, 2003
By Simon
I'm surprised at how long its taken for One Piece to finally make a debut in the United States, especially considering its got over 140 anime episodes, 27 volumes of manga, video games, plushies, and just about every sort of tie-in the Japanese can come up with. Plus, the concept is a lot more original than the "catch em all" anime trash that has flooded North America over the past few years. If the reason for this delay is because One Piece can occasionally get violent to the point where characters bleed (sometimes ridiculously so, but only for effect), then one only has to realize that in Japan this series is aimed at the Pokemon demographic to see how far behind we in America are with censorship. Get over it already, and bring on the anime!

But anyways, for those who've never heard of One Piece, the best comparison I can make is to the LucasArts Monkey Island computer game series. Both take liberties with the pirate age, mixing it with modern trappings and sensabilities for great comedy and adventure. Long ago, a great pirate named Gold Roger was executed, but not before leaving behind a cryptic message for people to find his treasure. Whoever finds his "one piece" will become the next king of pirates. Enter Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who has eaten the gum-gum fruit, and has gained the ability to stretch his limbs and become the ultimate rubber man. Because of a promise made to his childhood hero, the Red-Haired pirate Shanks, Luffy sets out to become the king of pirates. In this volume, he runs into a bounty hunter named Roronoa Zoro, a pirate thief named Nami, rescues a town from a corrupt Marine Captain with an axe-hand, and prepares for a fight with a clown pirate (to be continued in volume 2).

Having seen the chinese version of the manga and some fansubbed episodes, the story always follows a strict formula, like every long-running series. Luffy and company come upon a town that needs help, fight the local tyrant/pirate until they eventually win, and move on. However, something new is added each time, and the series, if a little dragged out, never becomes boring. The art is simple but effective, and the character designs get wackier and wackier as the series progresses. Plus there's a lot of great character development, with some genuinely touching backgrounds for Luffy and his crew. If you've got the money and are in the mood to read a long-running manga title, you can't go wrong with One Piece.

3 of 3 found the following review helpful:

I want some of whatever Eiichiro Oda is on!May 14, 2004
By Subayaitori "Tristan Vick"
What happens when you take Brad Pitt (Sanji) and team him up with the likes of Pinochio (Usope), the Legendary Zorro (Zoro), A mysterious Cowgirl (Mrs. Robin), A princess in disguise (Bibi), an expert cat theif (Nami), and one of Santa's Reindeer (Chopper)? Then you finalize the group by puting them under the command of Reed Richards love child gone wrong; a Hero with what appears to be down syndrome (Monkey D. Luffy)...in the setting of mythical pirate times; enter the imaginative oddity called: "ONE PIECE. "

Maybe some of you have heard of it. It is probably the most famous ANIME and MANGA among teens in Japan now adays. "One Piece" done by Eiichiro Oda takes the action and adventure of Dragon Ball Z and combines it with the story telling quality like Alice in Wonderland and weaves in the intricate character development and relationships not so unlike the X-Men, and takes you to far off lands once upon a time, somewhere over the rain-bow, and it's anything but Kansas anymore.

What I mean to say is, it is so strangly original in the artistic sense, that you can't help but keep turning page after page. Sure enough, the story contains recognizable elements of the same old duke it out in Street Fighter/Goku with a bad hair day/Ultimate kung-fu style, but it is told in a quirky and often offbeat way. Sometimes you have to keep puting the book down to dry your eyes from all the tears of laughter. The narrative has a wonderful flow and ocassionally the humor is dark, and other times it's just too bizarre. I will say this is one of the most entertaining and consecutively enjoyable Manga series I have ever read. I bought the entire 36 collected issues, and will continue to buy the ongoing series straight from Japan.

Oda's art is anything but traditional. His characters don't look anime but have a loose lines mix between Tim Burton sketches and Alice and Wonderland drawings. The art is constantly wonderful energetic and dazzles you with Oda's excellent aesthetic design sense. It may take time adjusting to the visual stylings of "One Piece" but falling in love with it is easy to do.

Originally I avoided One Piece at all costs, and just like a Pokemon plague I was refusing to get sucked into the consumer market hype just because it is some popular trend. But I caved in, and now I am peniless and in love.

Extremely dynamic and action packed, constantly laugh out loud funny, with odd situations, strange occurances, and even stranger characters that would give Lewis Carol a run for his originallity... enter the bizarre world of One Piece.

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