REVIEW: One Piece

One Piece (manga)

By Eiichiro Oda

One Piece

Began monthly publications in Shonen Jump starting 1997 to today

·         As per Shonen manga series premiers for contemporary manga, One Piece opens up with a two page spread of all the important characters initially since the beginning of the series (Luffy, Nami, Zorro, Shanks and Shanks’ pirate crew). It is to note that Shanks’ cast does not show up as much since the pilot first volume. (Page 5)

·         The story in fact starts with a prologue of sorts where Luffy gains his powers though this makes the manga go REALLY slow in terms of pacing. As a One Piece fan, I admit that the pacing of One Piece since the beginning first arcs is extremely slow and hard to take in.

·         Zorro as a character and first mate doesn’t show up until Page 91. Nami doesn’t show up until the end of Volume 1 too.

·         It is to note that the first volume’s villains are defeated relatively easily and quickly, taking no more than a few chapters at most. This is a common trend in Shonen manga first volumes so as to establish protagonists being relatively strong in their introductions and to introduce character motivations and possible recurring characters.

·         Luffy is like a baby faced Western character (ie Tintin) where he looks like a young adult (eighteen years old when the series started) and yet he manages to do things that even trained adults cannot do.  Unlike tintin however, Luffy is noted to actually be aged by the author as with Tintin it is ambiguous to how old Tintin actually is.

·         One Piece is a noted example of a “three group friend” Shonen manga where there is a happy-go-lucky protagonist, a more practical male friend and a headstrong female friend. This is noted in series like Naruto (Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura), Rave Master (Haru, Hamiro, and Elie), Magi (Aladdin, Alibaba, and Morgiana) Yu Yu Hakusho (Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Boton), and other Shonen manga.

·         It is to note that besides the barkeep in the beginning and Shanks, Luffy’s parents are never addressed and neither his relationship with the others that live in his island town. While this is addressed MUCH, MUCH later in the series, it could be seen that Luffy was like Doctor Who in that he did amazing things and yet we knew nothing about him, allowing us to mask ourselves into his situations and the like.

·         As this is a manga, the pages are printed black and white save for Page 5 where a bit more detail towards grey scales are given to the print. This may be as the original serializing of One Piece in the Shonen Jump monthly publication was originally in color and yet the reprint into a serial for One Piece by itself had it so the inking was noted instead of coloring.

·         One Piece admittedly is not a great series when it first came out; as it carried many of the troupes that contemporary manga has today. However, unlike its contemporary Shonen Jump titles like Bleach and Naruto, it seems to me that One Piece keeps getting better and better with each new arc. Naruto and Bleach are notable as series that started off really strong yet eventually reached a tournament story arc that drew readers away or lasted much longer than need be due to the goading of editors. One Piece is noted to be only half way done since 1997 so if the series was to continue on in the vision that Oda planned it we would not see the end of One Piece until 2028.

Bibliography:

Oda, Eiichiro, and Lance Caselman. One Piece. Romance Dawn. San Francisco, CA: Viz, LLC, 1997. Print.

REVIEW: Death Note

Death Note

By Ohba Tsugumi and Asami Yuuko

 Published 2003-2006

Death Note

·         Light is a noted individual of good grades and social standings, which may indicate his use of the Death Note may indicate his disdain of criminals and humanity as being beneath him.

·         Light as the main character is like having Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes as the protagonist, which is fitting given that L is the Holmes character throughout the series

·         The nature of the Death Gods indicate that killing people with the Death Note is boring under normal circumstances, though in the hands of a person it becomes more violent than need be

·         The realistic style of the humans next to the surreal demon style of the death gods contrasts well though it makes the whole series feel surreal also

·         The fact that each chapter or chapter arc adds more rules to the Death Note does give noted plot expansion for the series, though this could also be interpreted as the author making up restrictions and such for the series as he goes along

·         The fact that the Death God Ryuk bothered to make the Death Note in English and Japanese subtly indicates the nature of the series’ demographics, as it was expected for Japanese audiences to pick up yet it also indicates the foreign nature of the English language to the Japanese. It also could be a bid to see if American audiences would enjoy it as well.

·         There is more noted drama in between the deaths as opposed to the constant massacre of characters, which is unusual for a Shonen Jump manga as series by Shonen Jump are known for over the top violence and the breaking of physics. This in turn binds the series of Death Note to the laws of physics despite the existence of Death gods.

·         Light’s willingness to kill his father if he becomes a threat shows his adamant look on his ideals.

·         The creation of Kira notably reduces crime, so although the acts of Light could be seen as bad they do indeed serve the greater good

·         A good noted part of the beginning was dedicated to the means to which Light was to protect his identity as Kira, such as the possible burning of his Notebook should the house be raided

·         Light notably doesn’t make the deal with the Ryuk, or the devil, himself to gain the power to look at people’s names and lifetimes. This is a good contrast to Faust as though Light has the powers of a devil with him he prefers control for himself as opposed to gaining knowledge or powers.

·         The series is notably more of a drama as opposed to a conflict comic, a rare thing in Shonen manga.

·         Light notably does experiments with the Death Note to see if people will die in specific ways if he writes with a specific instruction in mind

·         Light’s use of the Death note makes him notably like the Spectre in DC comics.

·         Given the nature of his attacks, Light becomes more like the criminals in ruthlessness as the series progresses

Bibliography

Ōba, Tsugumi, Takeshi Obata, and Pookie Rolf. Death Note. San Francisco: Viz Media, 2005. Print.