By Erica (Okazu) Friedman

One Piece is like Dickens’s Oliver Twist, or Frank Herbert’s Dune. Something you know about, something you know you ought to read, because it’s clearly insanely popular around the world, but somehow intimidating and maybe even off-putting precisely because it’s so popular.

Aside from the sheer number of volumes, there’s the art. It’s so…screwball. It’s hard to take a story about a rubber pirate with enormous goofy grins and elongated limbs seriously. And even setting the lead character aside (which you cannot do, not even for a second,) there are his enemies – clowns, zombies, angels… the list of goofy goes on and on. It’s totally understandable to not know where to start or why you should even bother. Many of the other MMF reviews are going to explain that to you – I’m not going to try and convince you that the goofy art is to distract the target audience of young boys from the incredible writing and character development. I’m not going to dwell on the sheer emotional bombardment of Nami’s or Robin’s (or Zorro’s or Usopp’s or Sanji’s or Franky’s or Chopper’s) backstories. I’m not going to talk about the craft of storytelling that is expressed in One Piece in such a refined manner that you don’t even notice it. I won’t write about how Oda is, in my opinion, the best writer in manga today.

What I’d like to do, instead, is talk about a theme that is so beaten to death in shounen manga it’s a cliche of a cliche – friendship. Is there a shounen manga (especially a Shonen Jump manga) series that doesn’t trot out friendship and teamwork as a key element? And yet. And yet. In One Piece it’s more than that.

There is a character who appears in Chapter 129. That’s pretty far into the series. His name is Mr. 2 Bon Clay. The “Mr. 2” appellation lets you know that he’s one of the bad guys of this arc, a member of the Baroque Works. His appearance is… distressing. He looks like a badly shaven man wearing garish and poorly applied make-up, swans on his shoulders and stubbly, naked legs that protrude awkwardly from a very ugly pantaloons. His long jacket proclaims in Japanese おかま道, Okama Way – the path of the cross-dresser. He is clearly meant as a figure of ridicule and gender misalignment. Only…he’s not. Mr. 2 is never made fun of. His powers are not slandered as being “effeminate.” He’s dealt with by Luffy the exact same way Luffy deals with everything and everyone else – 1) Can I eat it? Yes/No. 2) If I can’t eat it, is it funny? Yes/No 3) If it’s funny, does it want to be my friend? Yes/No.

Luffy cheerfully proclaims Mr. 2 to be his friend. And then it all goes wrong. Luffy and his crew are attacked by the very Baroque Works that Mr. 2 works for. It’s all over for the Mugiwara Pirates! Until Mr. 2 does something unexpected. Unthinkable in a comic book “for children”… Mr. 2 sacrifices himself to save Luffy and the others. In the middle of a battle against his own people, Mr. 2 defects to save his *friend.*

Now, I don’t want you to mistake this sentiment. Mr. 2 is not suffering from low self-esteem on account of his gender identity. In fact, as he sings in his wonderful image song, because he is both man and woman he is the STRONGEST!

しかしアチシは男で女
だから最強!!!(最強!!)
最強!!!(最強!!)

But I’m a man who is a woman
So I’m the strongest (the strongest)
The strongest (strongest!)

Mr. 2 is not lost, alone, desperate for a friend and pathetically glad to have Luffy’s acceptance. Hell no, he is the STRONGEST and when someone as funny and strong as Luffy is his friend, that means something. He’s a man and woman of his word.

So, why does Mr. 2 react the way he does? Because he can see that Luffy is someone who will go to the mat for him. And Luffy does. Luffy, standing on top of Arlong Park has put himself and every member of his crew on the line to redeem Nami. And again, when Luffy leads to the team to Alabaster because Vivi wants to save her country…and again when Robin has been taken to Enies Lobby in a scene so filled with emotion that I can’t even type about it without choking up. Luffy is just that kind of guy – and so is Mr. 2. Mr. 2 is all Swan Lake, until he’s busting someone’s ass with Swan Kenpo. Mr. 2, a character that in any other series would be unlovable, unloved, mocked, tormented and ridiculed is, in One Piece, a paragon of friendship. And when he returns from the dead (which they all do, this *is* a shounen manga, after all,) he still values that friendship above all other loyalties.

And that, my friends, is why he – and his good friend Luffy – are the STRONGEST.

I can’t make you want to read One Piece. I won’t try.

I’ll just say this – Mr. 2, a minor side character in a series slammed chockful of minor side characters, is awesome. One Piece is so good that it is totally worth reading 52 volumes until you find out just how awesome he is.

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece (Viz) is a shônen manga about pirates. As a child, Luffy D. Monkey grows up in a seaside village that serves as a sort of off-duty destination for a group of pirates led by Red-Haired Shanks. Enthralled by the Red-Haired Pirates’ tales of adventure, Luffy determines to become a pirate himself, even after he encounters a less benevolent group of pirates.

Since this is shônen manga, where dreams are nothing if not big, Luffy determines not only to become a pirate, but to become the king of the pirates and find the legendary treasure, the titular “One Piece.” Of course, Luffy has a bit of a handicap for a seafarer. He consumed one of the mysterious “devil fruits” that give those who consume them amazing, often bizarre powers but rob them of the ability to swim a stroke. And, if shônen is about big dreams, it’s also about overcoming obstacles. And an innate tendency to drown is certainly an obstacle for a pirate.

Shônen manga is also about making friends, more often than not, and Luffy is a gregarious sort. While he starts with a raft and a souvenir hat from Shanks, he quickly acquires the beginnings of a crew and a sturdy ship for them to sail. He’ll need both as he sets off into increasingly dangerous waters and encounters with formidable rivals. But Luffy and crew are no slouches; they can hold their own in tough spots.

If this all sounds like pretty standard adventure comics for boys, it doesn’t factor in Oda’s comedic idiosyncrasy or his facility for surprising drama. One Piece has big battle set pieces, but it doesn’t have the conventional storytelling rhythms of the genre. Oda rarely asks his audiences to endure any sequence that overstays its welcome. His ability to build appealing, sympathetic and diverse characters is matched by his sure hand with moving the narrative around though a number of different perspectives. Storylines can run for a number of volumes, but they never feel too long, since Oda can jump around with point of view so easily.

The series is insanely commercially successful in Japan. According to Anime News Network,

“The market survey firm Oricon reports that the 60th volume of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece pirate manga sold 2,094,123 copies between its first official day of sales (November 4) and November 7. It is the first book to sell over 2 million copies in its first week of sales since Oricon began reporting its book ranking charts in April of 2008. This volume topped the previous first-week sales record held by the 59th volume, which sold 1,852,541 copies in August.”

Oda seems to be making a hobby of new sales milestones. The series has a successful anime adaptation, and there have been a number of special book products supporting the franchise. But it’s hard not to conclude that its commercial success comes from genuine fondness. For all of Oda’s playing around with tone and narrative, it’s ultimately an old-fashioned, good-natured property. It’s perhaps not surprising that Oda cites Akira (Dragon Ball) Toriyama as an inspiration.

One Piece has run in Shueisha’s Weekly Shônen Jump since 1997, and it’s part of the line-up of Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine, along with titles like Naruto and Bleach. It’s not nearly as popular in North America, though Viz did give it a run of accelerated release recently, allowing it to close in on its Japanese release schedule, not unlike the “Naruto Nation” initiative of a few years back. Perhaps some of the pieces that are posted this week will explore some of the reasons why the series isn’t a North American smash proportional to its hometown popularity.

I’ll post daily link updates starting tomorrow, and I’ll update this blog page regularly as well. Please email me when you’ve posted something for the feast, and, if you’re on Twitter, use the #MMF hashtag if you think of it. I’m looking forward to reading and hearing everyone’s thoughts about this series!

Just as a reminder, the Manga Moveable Feast focusing on Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece (Viz) begins tomorrow and runs through Saturday, Dec. 4. Click here for details! Luffy? Any additional thoughts?

In the run-up to the next Manga Moveable Feast, it occurs to me (mostly thanks to Johanna Draper Carlson of Manga Worth Reading) that people who aren’t familiar with Eichiro Oda’s One Piece (Viz) might appreciate some suggested entry points to the very long series. (The 55th volume came out in early October.)

Viz has released the first twelve volumes in less expensive omnibus editions, with three paperbacks collected in each book. The first two omnibuses contain fun material and introduce the story’s core characters, and they’re certainly worth reading.

If you want to see what Oda is really capable of achieving, however, I’d recommend you go for the third and fourth omnibus collections, which contain all of the chapters comprising what some call the “Arlong Arc.” While the story arcs prior to that are certainly accomplished in terms of their ability to combine adventure and comedy, the Arlong Arc represents Oda’s most successful addition of dramatic material into the mix. If you’d rather buy or borrow individual volumes, I believe the Arlong Arc is contained in volumes eight, nine, ten and eleven. Even if you buy individual volumes, there’s going to be some overlap with previous and subsequent arcs, but it will be a “cleaner” read if you only want to sample one relatively contained story arc. I don’t think reading the material that runs up to the Arlong Arc is strictly necessary, but there’s some fun stuff in those volumes.

On its dedicated One Piece site, Viz lists the various sagas of the series, which is less useful than you might expect, especially in the early going. The “East Blue” saga actually consists of about four discrete individual arcs, with Arlong being the strongest. I believe “Baroque Works” is also more a collection of loosely related arcs than a single narrative, though I’m not entirely sure. I’m approaching One Piece from two directions, using the omnibus editions to catch up on older volumes while picking up recent individual volumes from the 29th forward. Prior to reading the 29th, I’d only read a few of the earliest volumes and liked them well enough but was not yet fully converted to the cult of Oda.

I’m hoping that Viz continues with the omnibus collections of the earlier volumes, though there doesn’t seem to be one on the schedule any time soon. It does seem to be one of those series where all of the volumes are readily available at your average chain bookstore. I’m not sure how much of a presence they have in libraries, and I’m sure that partly depends on how interested your local library system is in manga and graphic novels.

Does anyone else have any suggestions on entry points for the series? I would think that the most recent volumes to be made available in English would be kind of impenetrable, or at least you wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate what’s going on except in the sense that it’s an accomplished adventure story. And that might be plenty for some readers to enjoy it just fine.