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Well, two obsessions actually:
One Piece and Naruto.
Even though I’ve always been a big fan of CG shows like Naruto, and more recently, One Piece, I never could get myself to buy any art work from it. I was too much into cels to be able to fully appreciate the beauty of genga and layout sets. Which is actually a weird thing because I make sketches and drawings myself so I should value the work.
But now it seems that I’ve finally been caught in the same stream I was so careful not to step in, and man, am I being dragged by the current. So much even that I’ve actually lost interest in cels and look for sketch work only these days. Somehow, cels lost their radiance a bit, as if I miss the artist’s touch.
I especially love the rough genga and lay-outs. I enjoy seeing the artist’s pencil strokes and the correction lines of either the artist himself or the key animator checking his work.
Now it’s not difficult to understand why someone would be obsessed with Naruto. Apart from a wonderful story, it also has very lovable characters, some great humour at times, and pretty amazing fighting scenes. So I’ll leave it at that.
One Piece is a whole different story though. Not many people I know are willing (or able) to see past the somewhat weird character designs of this show. Which is too bad...for them.
Truth is though; it is pretty amazing!
The colourful animation, even with the incessant bizarre designs for the bad guys, is downright astounding, making use of unusual angles and nifty slow motions to emphasize the sheer power used in an attack. Also, the different perspectives used in the animation are, from artistic point of view, very interesting and not to mention quite intriguing. Even if you do not like the style there's no denying that the quality in animation is high, even during the filler episodes. They do change the style a bit at a certain point which particularly affects the noses.
It's actually quite amusing to see what outrageous design they come up with when it is time to introduce the next villain. As someone who likes to draw an occasional sketch herself I can tell you it is very, VERY creative and not at all easy to do.
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The show isn’t afraid to beat up its main characters either, letting them sustain severe and excruciating damage during most of their fights.
And no matter how harsh or desperate things may get, it never fails to make you laugh. Even during the most serious battles or situations, when you’re literally on the edge of your seat, they will pull some stunt, some totally absurd silliness, that will make you laugh out loud.
But most of all it’s refreshing, in the sense that it is definitely not your typical 13-in-a-dozen-bishonen series and that it has its own unique style which is instantly recognizable.
In this generation, with its dominating feminine pretty-boy mentality and where all super-handsome heroes look the same, that definitely is saying something.
Each of the main characters (and I really mean every single one of them) is fantastic. They are all very well portrayed with sufficient and interesting background information, experience in-depth character development and are brought to life by wonderful, well known Japanese voice actors. One Piece has some great voice acting overall, but Luffy’s seiyuu, Mayumi Tanaka, is particularly awesome.
I guess the fact that all characters have had their share of drama and torment, but do not sit and emo-gloom over their terrible past is what speaks to me the most.
No time for brooding and self pity in the world of One Piece; there's adventure waiting, bad guys to slice and dice, dreams to follow and money to be made!
To quote a wonderfully written One Piece review I recently read:
“One Piece is a must see for everyone who hasn't had their inner child surgically removed.”
I can only say Amen to that, brothers and sisters.
Amen to that.
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9.17/10 
9.14/10
9.08/10 
124 votes