Watch One Piece Episodes

One Piece is one of the top anime shows to watch. It’s definitely one of the longest running anime shows with about 1000+ episodes in this entire series. Since this show was running for a long time, there is plenty of time to develop the story lines and the main characters with the side characters.

For example, the main story line involves the main character, Luffy, the young pirate captain with his pirate crew called the Straw Hats searching to find the One Piece, the legendary treasure with gold and riches beyond their wildest dreams. If they find it, the captain will be also known as the Pirate King, the leader of all the pirate crews of the world.

Each member of the Straw Hats have their own character arc and story development throughout this series. This crew is known as the Straw Hats pirate group because Luffy wears a distinctive straw hat that was given by a pirate named Shanks, who Luffy looked up to when he as a child.

What makes One Piece great to watch

This anime has a lot action and drama, it’s similar to another anime show, Dragonball, with the characters using superpowers, like fire, ice, lighting, etc. when they are fighting each other to resolve a dispute/conflict, leading to the epic fight scenes. The conflict usually involves Luffy and his crew mates, fighting to save the people/citizens from a powerful, sometimes ruthless antagonist/organization who rules over any particular island/area. There is also a World Government organization that governs and monitors the world’s activities through it’s powerful navy which makes the show more interesting by including regional and global politics.

I continue to watch One Piece for many years now and always looking forward to watch the next episode in this series. What keeps me coming back to watch this show is for any new reveals about the main storyline about Luffy’s current progress in finding the legendary treasure, the One Piece and becoming the Pirate King. I also enjoy when he sails across the world, the creativity and imagination this anime shows about how there are diverse races of people/other beings live and work together and the depth of detail of how each place/island works as a society. For example, there is a land of Giants, a race of beings, who are physically many stories tall in size and live in these huge infrastructure because they are so huge in size.

The cultural impact of One Piece is huge, in terms of increasing the popularity of anime in the United States and in pop culture. When visiting my local library, I see shelves of manga, or japanese comic books, of One Piece and other japanese comic book series that have dedicated sections to themselves. There are stores in malls that sell many One Piece related merchandise like clothing, toys, even the manga books themselves.

Since this show starting airing in 2001, there is plenty of online testimonials from fans and critics. According to IGN.com “One Piece will go down as one of the best shōnen anime ever created. Based on Eiichiro Oda’s long running and equally celebrated manga, it features a comical yet thematically rich story full of amazing action sequences, heartfelt moments, godlike beings, and some of the most wholesome characters this side of Disney.”¹ This show has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.²On IMDB.com, it has a 9.0/10 IMDB user rating based on 255K ratings.³

How to Start Watching One Piece: A Beginner’s Guide

One Piece is currently the longest running anime show with over 1000 episodes. It can be overwhelming, trying to catch up to the current season. The series is split into many story arcs, each involving Luffy and his crew mates resolving conflicts in a particular place and thereby pushing the story forward. As the story continues, more world building elements and plot twists are revealed.

Just like most TV and anime shows, the episodes are sequenced from episode 1 to the most current episode. The watching order would be to start watching episode 1 and then go from there. There are some small amount of filler episodes that do not advance the story forward and can be skipped. You can find complete list of all the episodes, including the filler ones, at this website – https://www.animefillerlist.com/shows/one-piece.

There are many good story arcs and memorable episodes in this series. Some of the arcs deal with Luffy meeting new friends and/or enemies which sometimes leads them to become part of his Straw Hats pirate crew. Some examples of recruited crew mates include Zorro, the swordsman, or Chopper, the crew’s doctor who is also half human/half reindeer.

Here are some key arcs:

Paramount War. This is a major arc that involves a huge conflict between the top pirate groups, also know as the Emperors of the Sea, and the World Government’s Navy. This arc begins when one of the pirates, Ace, from the one of top pirate groups, Whitebeards, is captured by the Navy. The Straw Hats crew create a plan to try to rescue Ace, as he is Luffy’s step-brother.

Skypia. The crew rides a “knock up stream” and reach a land above the clouds. Some new story concepts like Haki and the Void Century are introduced in this arc. Luffy has his main fight against Enel who is ruler of this land and has lighting powers by eating the Rumble-Rumble fruit.

Wano. This arc has Luffy and crew come face to face with one of the Emperors of the Sea, Kaido, and his Animal pirates crew. The setting takes place in a Japan-like island with samurai and wooden houses with sliding doors. The main plot involves the Straw Hats crew helping the exiled samurai from Wano reclaim their land from Kaido’s rule.

There are many ways One Piece can be watched legally and safely. Crunchyroll is one of the most popular online streaming services to watch anime like One Piece. Netflix is another popular streaming site where you can watch many movies and other streaming shows as well. There is also a live-action version of the One Piece show on Netflix as well. Hulu is another streaming site to watch One Piece, but it may not have all the current seasons of the show. PlutoTV is another website you can stream older One Piece episodes and is free with ads.

Connecting with the One Piece Community

After watching many episodes of the show, many fans of this anime may want to discuss with each other many aspects of the show like the story plot, characters, future speculation on the story, fan’s theories, etc. through the online forums and social media websites.

Reddit. There is a Reddit discussion post — (https://www.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/) where fans can post pictures and respond to each others comments about the show. They can discuss fan theories about the show like what are past/history of certain characters or even what is One Piece

Discord. There is a Discord channel — (https://discord.com/invite/onepiece)– where fans can chat with each other in real-time about any aspects of the show as well. There are many sub-channels that focus on different categories like character or plot discussions in the anime or just the manga.

If online discussions are not enough for fans, they can meet up in-person in anime conventions to socialize and talk about the show instead. They can dress up as their favorite characters (Cosplay) at the convention to display their passion for the show.

One piece Cosplay — ***Here are some fans cosplaying characters from One Piece.***

There are panels where they can meet the voice actors from the show or the show’s creators and learn from them about how the shows are produced and managed.

Here are some anime-related conventions:

One Piece Day. (https://www.cbr.com/one-piece-day-2024-date-location-reveal/) This is one is in Chiba, Japan. There were music artists singing the theme songs from the show and booths where fans can buy figures.

Anime Expo. This one is in Ontario, California. (https://www.anime-expo.org/) There is a large ‘Artist Alley’ where fans can meet the amateur/semi-professional artists who draw comics, prints and custom clothing and purchase these items from them.

Anime NYC. This one is in the NYC, New York. (https://animenyc.com/exhibitor-info/) There is large exhibition hall with booths where fans can take pictures and buy merchandise. There are a lot of people who Cosplay and dress up as characters from many anime shows.

There are plenty of avenues to purchase merchandise and fan art from the show. Fans can buy them from anime conventions, as listed above.

They can also be bought from online websites like the One Piece Store (https://onepiece.store/) where show-themed shirts, figures, and plushies are sold. Amazon.com has plenty of One Piece merchandise like the Funko Pop Toys.

Funko toys — ***Here are some examples of Funko Pop Toy of characters from the anime.***

There is even a One Piece Card Game Shop which is a physical store https://www.facebook.com/opcgshopus) where they sell One Piece Card Game decks for a card game based on the characters from the show.

Many local malls have video game stores like Gamestop that sell similar merchandise like the actual Straw Hat that Luffy wears in the show and even video games like One Piece Odyssesy for the Nintendo Switch.

Would you consider watching One Piece as well? Please feel free to leave your comments below. Thanks!