User blog comment:Videogamep/Why is One Piece so Popular?/@comment-108.6.46.110-20140119034122

In my opinion, from all of the other mangas, Naruto, Bleach, Attack on Titan etc. One Piece is the best. There are a couple of reasons that I believe makes One Piece stand out from the rest.

1) Is the different fighting powers. Yeah, Devil Fruits play a huge role in fights but Oda doesn't just focus on that. He introduced Haki, Fishman Karate, Swords etc. (Not saying the other mangas don't have variety) but for example in Naruto, it's all about eyes and jinchuriki's now, "Oh he has the Rinnegan, we ninjas can't do anything, Naruto has to swoop in with Kurama and save the day, or Sasuke has to Susanoo or Amaterasu and sometimes his sword to fight". Not only does One Piece have different styles, but no character is invincible. Logia users has been stated that they are not invincible just because they have the power of fire, light, magma etc. There is a logical way to beat them, not some random power-up or getting talked every time to come into the light.

2) Is the variety of characters that Oda has introduced. In Naruto and Bleach, I believe, heavily focuses on only a couple of characters (like Naruto, Sasuke, Obito, Kakashi) and (Ichigo, Renji, Rukia). Just this current Bleach chapter, Kubo didn't even let the two captains (Forgot their names) have a good fight between The Superstar Quincy. He immediately threw Renji in to show his new powers off. Also in Naruto, the war heavily focuses solely on Naruto and Sasuke. He barely showed Kakashi's and Obito's fight and the Hokages (especially the Third Hokage) weren't really shown at all, with the exception of the Second and Fourth helping out defeating Obito. But the First and Madara's fight wasn't shown at all (with only a couple of panels) even though Kishimoto hyped up their fight. One PIece, every major person, Crocodile, Jinbei, Whitebeard, Ace, "Hawk-Eyes", Shirahoshi, Doflamingo, Kuma etc. plays a huge role in the story. The list goes on and on, the characters that have been introduced from Alabasta and up have been hinted that they will be seen again.

The reason I believe, that some of the characters in the East Blue Saga (with the exception of Buggy and Arlong) were not shown to play huge roles in the future arcs is because they probably havent gone to the Grand Line as their dreams were crushed by Luffy and they simply have nothing to do.

3) Is the sense of adventure. Luffy is not only a lovable character but like DarkSkullPirates said, the grand sense of adventure is the whole story. We get to explore new places, meet new people and have great adventures with the Straw Hat Pirates, and we slowly see them get closer and closer to their dreams.

4) Is the emotional attachment between characters. In Naruto, chasing after Sasuke constantly has made many fans create gay jokes between Naruto and Sasuke. I personally don't get why Naruto chases after Sasuke for so long, even after gaining many new friends and allies. I get it's a promise of a lifetime and he was entrusted to him by Itachi but in all honesty, Naruto dying for the sake of Sasuke just doesn't seem to make any sense to me. Luffy loves his nakama dearly and Oda has shown us that multiple times. The story between Luffy and his crew makes sense why Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook follow him. It created tear-jerking and epic moments for us.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy reading Naruto, Bleach, Attack on Titan and even Fairy Tail and I hope that I survive long enough to see the end of all these great mangas. But recently (with the exception of Attack on Titan) these mangas haven't been giving me these "Oh my God!" or "What the hell just happened?" moments like One Piece has. Every chapter is wonderful to read but recently just look at chapters 730-732, not only did these chapters mindblow me into oblivion but that this is just the beginning of many more to come.

If anyone has taken the time to read this, please I would love to hear your arguments or opinions on this.