But yeah to reply to the thread properly, I love the unapologetic emotional authenticity of One Piece, where Oda will show characters ugly crying and really expression emotions and their feelings or w/e.
I actually find characters like Kinemon, Kuma, Bonney, Kyros maybe Rebecca too very compelling. I do hate Oda's fetishism for damsels and making girls cry a lot and be helpless but he does write some lovely, wholesome, likeable female characters too as well as male ones too ofc.
I love Oda's eccentricity and sense of humour, he has a very jovial perspective of the world, he kinda reminds me of Robin Williams and the way Oda can really make you laugh one minute then the next cry, the way he can transition between complete goofiness and pure seriousness, horror or any kind of major emotional gravitas generally is commendable.
Oda is extremely imaginative and intelligent, he does copy a LOT from other series but he does put his own uniquely weird charms on things and his worldbuilding is still phenomenal to say in the least.
I always rave on Thriller Bark, Skypeia, WCI, Alabasta, Water 7 etc but even the likes of Impel Down, Long Ring Long Island, Wano (especially Onigashima too), Zou (with Zunesha too ofc), Punk Hazard etc have some really cool, interesting world building and designs too.
Oda has created a series with hundreds of memorable characters imo. When I play One Piece games and I can explore all these islands, play all of these story arcs and relive those amazing moments, actually be part of the One Piece world and play as tons of my favourite characters, it actually makes me really happy, despite all my constant complains about Oda and One Piece and thus negativity on here.
There are lots of really subtle, wonderful, underrated things that Oda does throughout One Piece from beginning to now and in hindsight, I quite like the Hachinosu/Beehive mini arc with Garp, Kuzan, Koby etc a lot now actually, especially after the anime and Toei went so all out gloriously with Garp, Kuzan and Koby too too which always helps.
I really love the backstories Oda writes for people too, he writes these absolutely tragic, compelling, enticing backstories that are so powerful and memorable and easily could be entire stories on their own for other series or w/e.
When I started out with One Piece, I fell in love with every single new Strawhat as well as various characters like Shanks, Mihawk, the Admirals, Smoker, Tashigi, the Supernovas, Bon Clay, Galdino, Buggy etc and a lot of that hasn't really changed even now. They are all like individual and thus absolutely pivotal ofc pieces of the grandest, most spectular jigsaw piece puzzle. All the elements that make the puzzle what it is in the first place and without each piece, the puzzle will be incomplete and thus not truly feel whole or "One Piece" you could say!
Oda really preaches the importance of acceptance despite where you come from, who you are, to not demonise someone for who their fathers/mothers were and thus heritages or who they were associated with or what they look like or w/e. He also preaches the concept of forgiveness, grief and thus moving on, sacrifice and such which are all things I feel extremely strongly about personally and really respect how Oda handles it.
That recent fan letter episode felt like a reminder, a nod to what we love about One Piece, these individual, compelling character stories and perspectives in such a vast, insane, chaotic, complex, nuanced world and a microcosm of what we experience IRL, both feeling like our lives and self are extremely important on a personal scale BUT also realising how our own world, our planet, the universe/solar system, time are so much bigger, powerful, more complex and such beyond what ever we may truly ever understand, explain and truly control and comprehend if that makes sense?
Even though One Piece has changed a lot, there is still that childlike innocence to it and that is especially evident with Gear 5 ofc but also Odas writing and focus on characters like Shirahoshi, Rebecca, Tama, Toko, Momonosuke, Bonney and so on. One Piece is very much a "Peter Pan" style series for better and for worse and I've always been drawn to Japan and anime for those reasons too, that sense of adventure, wonder and escapism as well as embracing the inner child and nurturing it.
Oda manges to interweave hundreds of compelling stories both small and big, grand and simple into One Piece. To do this for almost 30 years too and will be over 30 easily, closer to 40 years by the time its over at least is INSANE and a truly GIGANTIC feat ofc! Monumentous!
Also to add on a side note, I'm so happy the Kuma and Bonney storyline ended so happily. On a personal level, I really love all these adoptive parent storylines like with Dadan (who I adore and think is fantastically witten especially post Marineford too), Belle-mere, Zeff, Kinemon, Kyros (although he turned out to be her actual father ofc), Kuma etc ofc and when he wants to, Oda can really write and draw some heartwrenching, absolutely shocking, unforgettable storylines, moments and panels.
Oda is the kind of guy to make you really understimate him then deliver the most shocking twists/gut punches/horror/tragedies etc and writes like he has lived for even maybe several lifetimes already, that he's an old man (much older than he is now I mean) and has absolutely tons of stories to recount from and such from an extremely long and varied life with many ups and downs, triumphs and losses, many complexities and difficult dilemmas, challenges and moral conondrums etc.
Odas writing is like an encyclopedia itself gained sentience or even the internet and he's just trying to share everything he knows with us as much as he possibly can. It's like seeing a million futures/timelines and trying to recount them all, to tell everyone everything you saw somehow.
