The One Piece: Master Shounen Formula

I don't know if this is a new post series for The Otaku Reviewers (since we're always loving One Piece, publicly and privately), but I'm going to talk about what makes One Piece a shounen masterpiece. It hasn't been around for as long as the Dragonball (DragonballZ, Dragonball GT and Dragonball) series but it's fast catching up to them, in both selling and fan popularity. It frequently makes the top five in anime TV ratings in Japan.


It's only a matter of time before the much better Funimation version is broadcast on one of the three main young people networks (Disney, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network).


So what is one thing that makes One Piece so great?

Ultrasacrifice (Compassion)


It hasn't happened once, it hasn't happened twice, it hasn't happened three times. No it's happened plenty of times. As a one piece fan you're expecting the next time someone on the good side sacrifices something for their nakama... 


Ultrasacrifice is crap by itself. Make a shounen story and put tons of ultrasacrifice in it then watch people call your story fatalistic or negative or just stupid. Only a genius like Eiichiro Oda can weave it in so that it flows flawlessly, evokes smiles, fluttering heartbeats, and tears. And the feeling of being loved :)



In One Piece ultrasacrifice is balanced by the other things... Including but not limited to; kicking ass and taking names, extreme friendship, MMMsupar!, and other things. Ultrasacrifice by itself is kinda dumb. But also part of Shank's story, he barely knew Luffy. Luffy was just some kid that bothered his crew with his ranting but he still sacrificed his arm to save him from a bloodthirsty eel/shark. Especially since he liked Luffy's heart/courage, no other reason was required.. Oh and I forgot the keyword... The keyword is Compassion, that should be the real reason in fact I'm gonna change it now.