General & Others Retrospective : East Blue saga

[Buusatan94]

Rethinking about and rereading the beggining of the manga, East Blue saga, and having read all of the other sagas and arcs of One Piece that have been published so far, what are your thoughts and opinions on early One Piece in East Blue ?

What are your thoughts on each East Blue arcs, on its worldbuilding, its tone, its characters and characterization of the Straw Hats and their allies/friends/families and enemies back then ?

How would you rank the arcs of East Blue saga ? And how good it is compared to later One Piece ?

 

[BattalGazi]

I think it was the best saga because Oda was trying to not get canceled but after he solidified his place in shounen jump he started to write the manga he wanted and that is where everything started to go downhill.

 

[Kung-Fu Dugong]

It was an alright saga (above average by post-skip standards 😅). It started slow and only really got me halfway through the Syrup Village Arc. Arlong Park is an absolute classic, it holds up as one of the best arcs in the series until now (it's usually the arc that hooks most readers into One Piece ofc).

In a second read, it's possible to recognize that the One Piece was still in its (very) early stages of development. The world seems to be much smaller and less fantastic than it is as we know currently. More sober characters, more ordinary places, less numbers, even Luffy seemed to be more serious and intelligent back then (he progressed backwards in terms of personality)... 😂