One Piece: East Blue 1-2-3 [ペーパーバック]

Bought this manga on a whim. I always like One Piece but never considered it seriously as something to be stocking my shelves at home with. After reading this manga though I am hooked! The art is cool, the story is funny, and I like the Oda's tidbits between chapters. Grab this manga if you want a future full of good reading with plenty of mangas in your future to entertain you.

After reading "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z", I had gotten hooked onto Japanese comic books, more commonly known as "manga". After Dragon Ball, I began exploring more manga series, and I came upon "Bleach", "Fullmetal Alchemist", and "One Piece". One Piece was the longest, spanning 61 volumes and still going. I had first heard of One Piece in a volume of Shonen Jump, and I called it "the weird looking-logo one". I had no idea what the blue-colored logo was, but then my friend said that it was called "One Piece".

After finishing the first nine volumes of "Dragon Ball Z", I wanted to read new manga. I picked One Piece due to its cool-looking logo and its characters. Before purchasing this Omnibus, I read part of the first volume "Romance Dawn" to get a sense of if I liked it or not. One Piece revolves around a teenage boy named Monkey D. Luffy who, at the age of 7, accidentally ate the Devil Fruit and gained the ability to stretch like rubber. However, this comes with a price when he finds out he can never swim again, a serious flaw due to Luffy wanting to become the King of the Pirates. Luffy ends up in a fight with mountain bandits who insult his role model, the pirate captain "Red-Haired" Shanks. Luffy is taken out to sea, where Shanks rescues him. Nevertheless, Shanks loses his arm and gives Luffy a straw hat to remember him by. Ten years later, "Straw Hat" Luffy sets out to find the One Piece, a legendary treasure.

(Warning: Contains little spoilers)
Luffy gets sucked into a whirlpool and meets Lady Alvida's cabin boy, Koby, when he snuck onboard in a wine barrel. Luffy fights Lady Alvida, who tries to kill the rubber Luffy, and demands that Koby be given a shot to get into the navy. Luffy then sets out to find Roronoa Zolo, the famous pirate hunter who was jailed for a false murder. In order to save him, Luffy kills the Captain and his son and retrieves Zolo's three swords. After getting rewarded, they are thrown off the island due to being pirates. Luffy punches Koby because he wants to hunt down him, and is forced to leave.

Luffy sets out to the Grand Line, but his boat is hijacked by pirates of Buggy the Clown, who are mad after a woman named Nami stole her treasures. Luffy meets Nami on the island, and he wants her to navigate his ship. However, Nami gets angry when Luffy reveals himself to be a pirate. Nami refuses to talk to Luffy, who is jailed for betraying Buggy. Nami gets caught in a fork when she decides that she could risk her life for Luffy. Luffy escapes the jail before it is bombed, so Buggy kills a crew member.

(spoilers end)
My reviews for One Piece:
Artwork: 8/10- the drawings are really cool, and unique. Characters look unique, and are very detailed.
Action: 7/10- One Piece has awesome action scenes, punches look realistic. Characters' techniques are unique.
Dialogue: 7.5/10- The dialogue is not the best, but there is lots of humor in the story, lots revolving Nami.
Humor: 8.5/10- Unlike other manga, One Piece can make you laugh.
Characters: 10/10- Each character is unique, and their designs are just so incredible.

Final Rating: 41/50 or 8.2/10

My father brought this 3-in-1 book back from a trip and before long my brother and I were hooked on the series(we got this book in January,now in March we're on volume 51). It's cute, funny and unique. It's got lots of action with some of Oda's unusual sense of humor thrown in. The 3-in-1 volume is a great buy because it's light, (surprisingly), thick and can be read over an over again. But some should note that despite the immature looking hero the book is rated 13+ (although my brother,10 read it)because some blood is spilled (and in later books there is some sexual humor).