Ohh the glory!!!!!!!!!

I’m normally not one to watch the “popular shows“, but recently I’ve found myself watching One Piece. While I was never able to bring myself to watch it until now, the moment I started, I became hooked. I’m not sure what initially lured me into its utter randomness, but something did, and I am proud to say that I have watched a decent amount of episodes in the past few weeks. I believe this new found obsession is caused by three main reasons; the strength of the anime’s characters, the power of its message and the wonder of its lore.

Let’s begin with everyone’s favourite thing about anime: the characters.

Characters are figments of the author’s imagination that embody a form which everyone can relate to. While I do love a good story and tend to be drawn into the plot, this particular anime’s characters so firmly grabbed my interest that the plot was  was completely overwhelmed. Thinking on it now, this possibly stemmed from the fact that I am more able to relate to these characters than most other anime I’ve watched. (more…)

The Big Three

Throughout history, there had always been something about being part of The Big Three; to be considered that powerful or famous. There have been a lot of Big Threes in story and song (or Triple Alliances or Triumvirates or whatever fancy term you opt for.) When you talk the Big Three in automobiles, it’s Ford, General Motors and Chrysler. In sports, it would be the Miami Heat triad of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (who did a similar crash-and-burn like the auto makers did). And in history, the real, genuine Big Three came from WWII with Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt.

Anime has its own Big Three, and I refer to them as NOB: Naruto, One Piece and Bleach. But this is one NOB I won’t be turning.

Now, this is not a decision I reached without reason. I was never up to my pancreas in Naruto cosplayers at an anime convention, or unable to navigate the manga aisle at Borders, as all the One Piecers are there, reading, reading, reading. I gave these shows the full benefit of the doubt and I was treated shabby for my efforts (not even “Fantastic Children” was this rude to me and I barely made it to the closing credits for them).

Let’s start with “Naruto”. (more…)