One Piece BMS' One Piece Journey

There was a thread at one point where we tracking my progress through viewing of this anime. I had never followed it from the start, so catching up to the present was going to take some serious viewing. My main consideration for doing so was that of the three currently long-running series (the others being Bleach and Naruto), it's the title I've heard the most positive things from.

Things I've heard have been the following:
-Strong character development
-A snowball effect story, where it takes a while to pick up at the start, but once it does, it has built upon all that came before to its betterment
-Consistency with characters and strength rankings (the antithesis of DBZ-syndrome)
-Well done filler, to the point where filler is either unnoticeable to the casual viewer or even well done

So, I've been sort of half-heartedly chronicling my journey as someone who is lagging about 12 years behind everyone else. My own experience with the series hasn't yet found anything too incredible yet (although I've been told repeatedly that it takes until a certain story arc to really take hold).

Current progress: Sanji introduction arc.

Next I'll see what of my previous opinions I can recollect and current thoughts on individual characters and the series as a whole.

 

Just finished the whole Sanji/Baratie arc and starting to see some overall improvements. The last three fights have been more than the simple one-shot KOs the previous showdowns have been to this point, but they're still...I want to say, a bit unrefined, like the production team/writer is still finding their way?

Krieg vs Luffy could have been a little more abridged. Too many unecessary pans and swipes to the reactions of the onlookers that serve nothing but to lengthen the duration of the encounter. I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if they didn't cheaply draw it out. Sanji vs Gin just before that was probably the best for me thus far.

I dunno...the overall pacing feels a notch too slow as well. Episode 30 felt like a slog because I knew exactly what was going to happen and it took its sweet time to do it. Thus far, I'm thinking some abridging would be improvement.

Still, I'm optimistic. With introductions out of the way, I'm hoping the pace will now improve.

 

Update: I believe I'm almost through Nami's arc (Luffy is currently squaring off with Arlong, everyone else mostly out of commission) now and can add some more constructive thoughts now.

First, the improvements keep coming. This arc has certainly been the most entertaining so far.

Nami's back-story was the best done to date and generated actual sympathy from me for the character. She feels like the deepest of the crew for me right now, with Zoro and Sanji probably close behind. I sitll need to warm up to Luffy and Usopp is nothing short of annoying.

Arlong is probably the best done villain in the series of what I've seen thus far and can't wait to see him get his due.

The battles still seems to drag its feet with cliche "oohs" and "ahhs" between attacks, but having the mermen in the mix made for more dynamic fighting. Stuff was over the top but enjoyable. Once the fighting started, I'd blitzed through a half dozen episodes before I knew it. I wanted to see what the next crew-mate's style was and was in suspense for Luffy's predicament, although I'm still lukewarm towards Usopp (kudos for taking down the merman, but you still haven't won me over).

We'll see how this arc wraps up, but I'm certain I'm on board to see what happens next.

 

When you do get to Luffy's actual back story waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay later on, it's kind of sweet and sad. And yeah Wert, that Water 7 fight was the most hilarious and awesome thing ever. Skipped to the manga once we caught the anime up a year ago. Need to find somewhere to catch up the show, but loving the current manga arc. Hell, Nami has even become awesome. Same with Usopp, hell it's weird how he is now. Though it's a good weird. And Sanji no longer annoys me, he needed that island to happen to him. Mwahahhaha