One Piece is a series of action and adventure that was released in 1999. It's based on a book that has released chapters since 1997 and is still ongoing. The cast is composed by the Straw Hat Crew members, whose leader's name is Monkey D. Luffy, and the others join the crew during the series. The protagonist's goal is to find the "One Piece", a treasure aimed by many, but found by none. With more than one thousand episodes and an weekly serialization, the animation may seem inconsistent, and in fact it is. Even though it can change the hype of those watching something like a fighting scene, it can't change how deep the history is.

Toei Animation Studios is responsible for the production of the series, and is popular for making big hits like Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, Slam Dunk, and others. Even with tough deadlines and production issues, their great managament is what makes the series keep releasing episodes weekly, maintaining or even improving the series quality.

Racism, xenofobia, drug addiction, corruption, and many others social criticism are present in One Piece. The way Eiichiro Oda, original creator of the series, shows the spectator these critics is really subtile, but easy to understand. Besides showing a lot of the bad side of humanity, it's not all. Oda still teaches us about two crucial things: hope and dreams. He shows us that even though the world may be too hard on us, we need to always get up again and again, and never lose the hope to realize your dream.

Personally, I think the adaptation could be divided into seasons, each one covering a whole arc. It would improve the quality of the series by A LOT, but well, Toei has been handling the production pretty well (recently, at least), so there isn't really a huge problem. The great history and characters make up for the slow pace.

Talking abut the characters, you feel that after the timeskip, their interactions (mainly the straw hat crew) are less creative and funny, maybe I'm thinking too much, but the off-battle scenes were way funnier back then. Of course it doesn't makes the series bad, but I still miss those times.

Yet the series got so many problems, they aren't even nearly enough to make you enjoy less the series and its quality, because trust me, its quality is insane when we talk about history, world building and, of course, entertainment. It makes you cry and laugh in minutes, it really makes you feel as a member of the crew. It's like you're there, travelling with them, laughing with them, and suffering with them.

Anyway, I really recommend the series for those who have some time to spare. But don't feel pressured to watch it fast to get to the recent episodes, take your time and enjoy your journey through the sea.