As long as I can remember, I have resisted the pull of anime.

Throughout my University days, I would listen to my colleagues talk, fight, and defend their favorite anime. One man’s meat is another’s man’s poison. You keep your anime, and I will hold on to my books. 

The boys in my life finally led me to Anime.

My very first anime was Pokemon. I watched a few episodes just to get a hang of what they were watching and determine if it was safe enough for them to consume. 

Then they moved on to Naruto. I enjoyed watching it with them, but when I heard how many episodes each season had, I gave it up.

How could I invest so much time into this? Precious time I can use to devour books? No, thanks.

Netflix Paved the Way

Netflix came in, and the Boys started cooing about One Punch Man. I followed wearily to make sure they weren’t exposed to things they shouldn’t be, and then got hooked.

One Punch Man was the first anime I truly watched and enjoyed. Then I checked anime movies since anime series can be long and unending. 

Flavors of Youth: International Version, New Gods: Nezha Reborn, Violet Evergarden the Movie, and Spirited Away caught my attention, and although I am no big Anime fan, I can say I am in the fandom.

Then Netflix announced One Piece.

One of the first things I did was to research how many episodes it had: 1,075.

I laughed in Fantasy and left it alone. If it had 1,075 episodes and Netflix is only creating 8. Just how long would it take to film it all? 

A friend convinced me to watch it by giving it a good rating, then people started throwing spoilers left, right, and center. So I thought to myself, it is best to watch it before they spoil it, just as they did with October First. 

It was one of my best anime series decisions. One Piece was all I never thought it was and more. 

The Adventures of Monkey D. Luffy

We followed Monkey D. Luffy, with his signature straw hat and his ragtag crew, on an epic voyage for treasure: the prized possession that once belonged to the infamous dead pirate Gold Roger, which is the One Piece. 

The Straw Hat crew includes swordsman Roronoa Zoro, thief and mapmaker Nami, storyteller Usopp, and sous chef Sanji.

I don’t do this often but I liked Zoro immediately I saw him. It helps that his name is Zoro, a childhood reminder of a hooded Mexican hero who fights for the poor. 

Luffy, with his elastic limbs, is always optimistic, which drives both his friends and rivals crazy and earns him his crew’s loyalty. They know he can be trusted to show up and fight for their dreams. 

Since I came in fresh, without background knowledge of his powers, I was pleasantly surprised by how far his rubber body could go. While it was fun to watch him do all that, there would be no Gum Gum fruit for this pretty lady. I fear that not being able to swim in a world that is filled with water is too much of a risk to take. 

The villains themselves are spectacular, from Alvida, Kuro, Buggy, Arlong, and Dracule Mihawk.

I was impressed with Mihawk. He fought off three swords from Zoro, a legendary pirate hunter with a tiny blade. That is badass. I don’t know if Axe Hand Morgan would be considered a villain since he is on the side of the Marines, but with a change of attire, he might as well be one of them.

Despite all the challenges and near-life-and-death experiences they went through, they kept pulling each other in and being there for each other regardless of their past. For a crew that never agreed that they were a crew, that’s great.

Would I recommend it?

Yes. Please go and watch it.