How to get into One Piece

So — you’ve just finished the live-action One Piece on Netflix, and you surprisingly enjoyed it! Or, maybe you haven’t seen the live-action series yet, but your friends and/or family just won’t shut up about the pirate anime. Trust me, I understand.

I want to get into One Piece, but I don’t know how!

I started One Piece in 2017, after I decided to watch One Piece Film: Gold with very little prior context. But, I remember thinking to myself: if there was a whole anime series that’d make me feel the way this movie made me feel, then I needed it to be part of my life. I made it around 60-something episodes in, then dropped it. That’s not to suggest I thought it was bad or anything, but life got the better of me.

It’d be four years before I would pick the series back up. By late-2021, I had made it to Enies Lobby, and by early-to-mid 2022, the War of the Best at Marineford was raging. I finally caught up with the anime in or around February of 2023, and then caught up with the manga shortly thereafter.

All this to say, I get it. There are a lot of episodes in One Piece. In fact, as of writing, there are 1082. I remember when the 1,000th episode aired, and the thought of consuming 1,000 episodes of any series, let alone this silly anime about pirates and trauma, sounded ridiculous to me. But now that I’m only a handful of episodes behind — and I believe I speak for the entire community here — there’s not enough One Piece. 

Some tips to getting into One Piece without losing your mind

If you find yourself curious about how to start climbing the mountain that is One Piece, I have a few pieces of advice. To start, do your best not to worry about how many episodes you have left, because as I said, once you’re caught up, you’re gonna wish you had 1,000 more episodes. It’s only intimidating until it isn’t anymore, and then you’ll be left crying in a corner singing “We Are” until the next episode airs.

It helped me to remember that the point is the journey — not the destination. Sure, that sounds kinda cheesy, but that doesn’t make it any less true. To that end, might I consider keeping a tab opened with a list of story arcs handy? If you can train your brain to look at each saga and each arc as its own season, then you’ll hit milestones a lot easier and it might not feel like such a slog.

Lastly — and this might be a somewhat controversial take — don’t force yourself to watch One Piece. I believe it’s one of the greatest works of fiction humanity has ever produced, but just because I believe that doesn’t mean you have to. If you start watching and find it’s simply not for you, then no one can fault you for that. What matters is that you tried. And for that, Luffy would be proud of you.

Oh; and don’t go online and talk about One Piece on online forums like Reddit or Twitter. It’ll just make you sad and you’ll inevitably be spoiled more than you’re comfortable with.