As a child, Monkey D. Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by listening to tales of the buccaneer "Red-Haired" Shanks. But his life changed when Luffy accidentally ate the fruit of the Gum-Gum Tree and gained the power to stretch like rubber... At the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on his adventure... One guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary "One Piece," said to be the greatest treasure in the world...
Reaction Shot: or, THINGS THAT ARE AWESOME ABOUT THIS VOLUME:
Shanks! Shanks and his crew are FABULOUS and their fight against the bandit (I admit this was the scene that made me sit up and pay attention, because I honestly did not expect deaths/cigarettes TO THE EYE drawn in this sort of art style. I know, I'm weird.). And then Shanks protecting Luffy, his complete lack of concern about his arm so long as Luffy's all right, and the scene with the hat! ♥ Basically I love Shanks and his patience and the fact that Luffy yelled at him and then defended him. HE HAD BETTER SHOW UP AGAIN LATER, is what I'm saying, otherwise I'm going to have to shake down the fandom and hope fic falls out.
Luffy! Luffy is going to be a pirate captain. He has no sense of direction, he can't swim, and he's completely laissez-faire when faced with drowning in a whirlpool. He is the rudest, nicest character I've seen in ages. He sticks up for everyone - Koby, Zolo, the little girl... He gets them kicked out of town for Koby's sake. He gets played by Nami. Luffy is the best goddamn person ever.
Zolo! Eating the riceball after it got stomped to dust because he is an awesome person. And his determination, and his goal, and his promising to make Luffy commit hari-kiri if he stopped him being the greatest swordsman in the world. ♥♥♥
I love that all these characters are shaped by something they saw, did or promised when they were kids. I'm serious! It makes me go ♥ and flail over little!Luffy and little!Zolo. I've read a few chapters of the later books in Shounen Jump, and I take this opportunity to flail over little!Nami too.
I ♥ the fightscenes 1001% - especially with Zolo, because DAMN, I love Zolo and his swords. And the muscles in his arm and his pose when he's ducking under Luffy's leg? I want to lick the art there. Um.)
The villains in this are fabulous and completely over the top. Axe-hand Morgan! That fat lady in the cowboy hat who thinks she's the witch of the west! The idiot son! The fight scene against Axe-Hand Morgan, and the conclusion - oh man, Luffy and Zolo tagteam of AWESOME. I WANT MORE, GUYS!
The art makes me happy. I thought it would irritate me, but no - I really honestly love it. I repeat what I said about wanting to lick Zolo's arm muscles. *_*
I want to see the anime, actually. It might make me froth incoherently about the voices, but I want to see it.
I can feel this is going to be one of those translations where I'm going to use something from it and everyone who's read it in scans is going to make suspicious faces at me. I can feel it. OH WELL, WHAT DO I CARE. ONE PIEEEEECE!
Verdict: Guys, it is AWESOME and I can't think of anything that irritates me enough to deserve a mention. I feel like the sky's turned green.
I am using this as a herding cats review even though it doesn't start till May - the book has to go back to the library on Monday, and I can't review without it. ;_; ALSO, if I see the title of this when I'm not expecting it, I always think of a dorky puzzley PS1 game I used to love called One Piece Mansion. Yay trivia?