 You know, around, I'm going to say early 2000s, I believe TUNAMI on Cartoon Network had premiered Naruto. I think it was 2003, November or December of that year, Christmas time of that year. And I was immediately hooked right from the get-go. It had a really appealing story, protagonist, all that stuff that I gravitated towards. And I think a few months later we had a promo announcing a brand new series about pirates. And in that series we saw our main crew, our protagonist and all that stuff. And right from the beginning, I could tell I was not going to be a fan of it. The art style voice direction and that oh so special for kids dub basically ruined the chances of one piece ever becoming a successful property in the United States and in America overall until much much later, but still I would like to argue or make the case that one piece never really got to where it needed to be and the effects are still there. Because on the public conscience, if you're not a fan of the medium of knowing about Japanese animation and manga and all that stuff, yeah you're probably going to know about things like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Pokemon. And if you want to go a couple of years back you're probably going to mention Naruto, Death Note, Attack on Titan. But nowhere in this list or at least you know calm down before you start hating on me, at least for the mainstream conscious if you will, you won't find one piece on that list. And it was just a series, a successive series of events that really did more harm than good for this title. And I'm using myself as an example because the show and the manga and everything began so long ago in the late 90s. I do believe it was 1998 or 1999, something like that. Please do correct me, I'm not an expert in this topic. But my journey with it was strange. My journey with one piece began with that horrendous dub. And you know what, because I am such a nice guy here at a Week in Geek Thimp, I'm going to show you guys something very special, something near and dear to my heart. This is sarcasm speaking by the way. I think that encapsulates the essence of what four kids, you know, and I don't want to be a hater because at the end of the day this company set out to take one of the biggest properties in Japan and turn it over to Western audiences. And of course they wanted to make tons of money, I should say, but they also wanted to spread this series around. However, you know, just the cringy sensors with the lollipops and weird shoe guns and all that stuff, it was rough, man. And I gave it a shot. I wanted to see what the fun was because I had heard for the longest of time how great the manga was and how great the anime adaptation is and this epic huge fandom that, you know, part of me like I never buy into fandoms. I really don't care about the word that much, but I kind of wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And may we join in on the fandom of anime pirates, if you will, or manga pirates in my case. So yeah, my journey of course started with the four kids anime and then it proceeded to, I think, I watched a good portion of it or at least until Arlong appeared. And by the way, if I butcher any names, I'm sorry. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not an expert on one piece. I think I stopped watching. I don't know if, no, actually, yeah, they did more. I don't know how many episodes they did, but they did a good chunk of them. I'm going to say more than 50 episodes. Eventually they dropped the license or they lost it or whatever happened and thank God for them. And just the property just sank to the bottom of the ocean, if you will, of the metaphorical ocean. And we never heard of one piece until many years later when Funimation rescued the license and redubbed everything and gave us an excellent cast and all that fun stuff and released the series properly on DVD and now with the movies on Blu-ray and all that stuff. But the damage I fear was already done simply because we never saw the title received, the love, care and attention that a property like Dragon Ball or a Naruto or something like that received where everybody knew what one piece was. And it's a shame because it is a worldwide phenomenon and a lot of people enjoy this. A lot of people read the manga, a lot of people watch the anime and they are huge, huge fans of one piece. So I watched the one piece anime done by Funimation and I loved it. I thought it was awesome. However, the one thing persisted. I could not get into the series with the wacky drawings. That's how I first talked about it with my friends. And I don't know what it was, but at the time everything else just seemed a little bit cooler to me whereas I was a fan of Pirates, but then you watch the animation and the character designs in the show and they are trippy and wacky as hell with talking animals and giant monsters and all that stuff. And at the time, it was just a product of its time. At that specific age, I didn't find it appealing enough where you had something like Naruto with, you know, it had animals and crazy jutsus and all that stuff. But it seemed a little bit more refined in the way it presented its characters and the world around it and all that stuff. I don't know. It took me many, many, many years. We're just going to skip a decade until 2017 where, sorry, 2015 where I stopped watching. I think I saw maybe 200 some episodes of Funimation or something like that or what Funimation released on TV because they did show stuff on Toonami and Old Swim and then Toonami again or something like that. It was weird. So I sort of left the series there and it wasn't until this year when all this, you know, in the Obna Bus groups and all that stuff all this manga talk started happening and everybody kept mentioning one piece and I knew that the manga typically, you know, almost always the manga is the superior of the two. And I saw the manga and, I don't know, I was intrigued to check it out. I got into the, and I have it here with me. This is the first of the, I know, you guys know that those are Obna Bus. If you're into the Western comic book scene, this, I don't know why they call this an Obna Bus, but I guess it is an Obna Bus, but more in manga form because it collects three volumes and it's pretty thick. But, man, I was in it. Like the effects, the art style, everything about it, I really enjoyed, man. Like there is this sense of motion and fluidity that just looks amazing for some reason. Like take that panel for example, there is, you know, the way Oda puts out or frames each scene and stuff, followed by a huge splash page of you will of action. It's just really fun. I gotta say, I'm loving it. I'm really into one piece at the moment and I am tracking down different volumes and stuff and I'm currently reading one piece material. Whether it be the introduction with Luffy or who is he, Buggy the Clown. By the way, I hated that clown in animation form, but here he actually seemed menacing, badass and actually a formidable threat. You know, a formidable quote unquote because this is the starting point in the series. I know it gets a lot crazier and this is just entry level compared to the thousand chapter journey that awaits me. But one piece is one of those titles where it just sneaks up on you when you least expect it and it may take a few tries. If you're like me and you wanted to experience the title more than once to fully grasp it, go for it. Like give it another read or watch more of it because or if you don't like it, drop it and then come back to it later. Because eventually it has this weird, awesome way of hooking you up and not letting you go. Whether it be with the character designs, with the amazing creature designs and just this fantastical world of mischief, piracy, superhero, kaiju, awesome world. I don't know how to really describe it. It's going to take a while to do like a proper video on the different arcs and stuff on one piece that I actually would like to do. Sorry, videos on each arc and talk about it. But that's going to be in the future and not right now because I want to like gather some thoughts and do like a proper discussion on all things one piece. I think that's going to be fun to do. So I'm currently reading these Stake Omnibus editions if you will. So I'm very much looking forward to continuing that journey. Like I mentioned, I do not like the anime compared to the manga. I don't know what it is, but before recording this video I was actually looking at some footage from the anime. And it looks fine, I guess, but I don't know. The manga in most scenes just has more depth. It just looks a lot better in my honest opinion. I don't know. Plus the whole deal with the 4Kid stuff just flat out ruining some characters for me. That just made it a little bit weird and not as likable. And it's a shame because it is an excellent world with amazing, amazing world building. Great characters, hundreds of characters that you don't think are going to impact you. But they do several chapters on and Oda has this way of just weaving all these interconnecting stories to form this grand narrative that I think... You know, I know a lot of people know this already, but in the large context of Geekdom is heavily underrated. A lot of people will just focus on, oh yeah, Luffy and his crew and all that stuff. But the stuff that Oda does to fill out this world is a thing of beauty. And absolutely should not be missed. If you are someone that is looking for this video and you're a Nube One Piece fan like myself, or you tried it and didn't like it, give it another shot. And if you do like it, then yeah, that's awesome. It's quite an adventure that I've set sail to. I don't know. Guys, what do you think about One Piece in its infancy? When you first read it, how did you come across the title? And what were your impressions on the very first volumes that you read? I'm very interested in finding out. And if you want me to continue talking about One Piece, let me know down below. I will eventually do proper reviews or my thoughts, I guess, on the different arcs that One Piece has. Because if I were to do a review for each volume, I don't think I'd ever finish. So I would probably just review the whole story itself. I don't know. That is to be determined. So yeah, this was sort of impromptu. I didn't really put that much thought into what I was going to say. Just share with you guys some interesting ideas and ramblings in my head about my initial thoughts, starting my adventure with One Piece. Hopefully you guys dug it. Thank you for liking, subscribing, and commenting. I don't know, we can keep them. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And you know what's even more? You know what's even better? If you would follow me on your favorite social media platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that stuff. Thank you so much. God bless. I hope you have a great day, night, morning, wherever or whatever you're doing. Be safe. And I love everyone of you guys. I have got to go. I will catch all of you at a later time.