This year I have recently discovered a love for manga, it originally started with “Alice in Borderland” by Haro Aso after watching the Netflix TV Series of the same name, both of which I absolutely loved!

As a child, my brother and I used watch the anime series of “One Piece: East Blue” and then I watched the recently released live action version on Netflix, I don’t remember much of the original anime but I remember enjoying it and I also very much enjoyed the live action version. Naturally, I wanted to read the manga as a follow up, along side the original anime series now available on Crunchy Roll.

First of all, some pretty obvious differences between the original anime, the live action and the manga, but once you get past particular scenes in the first episode of the anime the rest of it pretty much aligns with the manga. Monkey D. Luffy as the main protagonist is as goofy and carefree as ever, however you do get way more to his backstory in the manga than in either show in the beginning. His need to follow his dream but still fight for the dreams and wellbeing of others is such a core part of Luffy’s character, it’s evident in every comment and action made by him. Koby is one of the first characters we see Luffy fight for, especially for Koby’s dream to be a naval officer, even if it puts them on opposite sides of the law, which Luffy does not seem to mind. We come to realise very quickly that Luffy is no ordinary pirate in this story, he follows his own code that quickly pitts him against every pirate he comes across.

Our introduction to Roanora Zolo (not Zoro as is pronounced in both shows – much to my surprise) is one that aligns with Luffy’s code, despite Zolo being the famed pirate hunter. His agreement to join Luffy’s pirate crew comes after Luffy saves his life (naturally) and Luffy’s support of Zolo’s dream to become the best swrodsman in the world (again, naturally). We then get Nami’s introduction, a fame thief who only steals from pirates due to her apparent deep seated hate of pirates, we don’t have details on that yet only that she lost someone important to pirates. We know that she wants the map to the Grand Line but not why she wants it, there are hints about gaining enough money to buy a village but nothing will be revealed for a while!

This leads us to Volume 2, we get even more information about Luffy and his strong love for his straw hat which he got from his pirate friend Shanks as a child after promising to return it after he became the world’s greatest pirate. It’s obvious that he cherishes the hat, but how deep that goes is not revealed until later, especially when he finds out that Captain Buggy the Clown knew Shanks and hates him! Did I forget to mention that both Captain Buggy and Luffy are consumers of the Devil Tree Fruit? This makes the up coming battle between the two a very interesting one since niether of them seem to sustain serious injury! Thus comes the end of Volume 2.

What I also love about this particular manga is that the story broken up not just by chapters but random pages of information about pirates, how to draw a pirate flag and rough draft sketches of the manga before it was published. It’s a very intriguing aspect of the story that you don’t expect but it seems to draw you into it more. While the story itself is more of a comdeic and carefree one, it has a deeper narrative about working towards your dreams and overcoming the obstacles that arise to stop you, as well as supporting the dreams of others. It’s a great read so far, and one I look froward to continuing.

Green Mage