Log 3: A Full Roster

Gold Roger, The King of the Pirates

         The story of One Piece starts out pretty simple, Gold Roger, the Legendary King of the Pirates’ final words before being executed is that he left all of his treasure in one place and the one who finds it first is welcome to have it. As Roger was a man said to have “gained everything the world has to offer” his treasure is famously named “One Piece.” Over 20 years after his death, young and adventure seeking Monkey D. Luffy, who as a child ate the Gum Gum Fruit, one of the mysterious devil fruits turning his entire body into rubber, making him a rubber man. His dream is finding the legendary One Piece and becoming the next King of the Pirates. 

One Piece main protagonist,
Monkey D. Luffy

We follow Luffy as he gathers his crew, a collection of other like minded unique individuals, as they go from island to island meeting new colorful characters along the way, having different adventures on their road to finding One Piece. So while one piece is your typical battle adventure shounen manga, along side other giants such as Naruto, Bleach, Toriko, Fairy Tail and many others, what makes it stand out among the rest, to make it the Number 1 of shounen Jump to this day, to keep it fresh and exciting over a collection of 20 years. There are several aspects to this answer, but one of the main reasons why which is that Oda does something that is primary and essential when it comes to all forms of Story telling, it isn't about the plot, its about the characters.

One Piece Character Roster

One Piece has built a tremendous cast of characters with a collection total being over 600. But let’s focus on the main characters, the Straw Hat Pirates, they are one of the most diverse and corresponding set of protagonist that I’ve ever seen, from the eccentric and overly sensitive Franky, to the cowardly, yet prideful liar Usopp, to the motherly yet ghoulish tounged Robin, every single member of Luffy’s crew has their own strengths and weakness, and their own traits and unique characteristics that balances the crew very well and it soon becomes a delight to seem them all interact with each other, as they all have their own relationships and feelings towards each other. 

Luffy's crew, The Straw Hat Pirates

    Even outside the Straw Hat Crew, many of the supporting characters are great too, being very fleshed out and deeper than you might think, with their backstories and quirks explained and given layers to. Unlike a lot of Japanese manga series, that mostly seem to always rely on a similar character design for their characters, every new character Oda creates gives off a sense of dynamism and unique, with different facial features, social quirks and laughs, that gives every single character a sense of identity and individualism.

Several different Characters