blog
one piece: east blue saga
2024-9-12
(archival, 2023-9-11โ>9-26)
i started reading one piece because a lovely group of people were really into it and convinced me to check it out sooner than i would have otherwise! i wound up talking about the story as i went along, and have since decided to chronicle my thoughts and the conversations surrounding them in an easily accessible way for anyone to read if it so interests them (i know i enjoy liveblogs and things of that nature).
i started around the time season 1 of the live action show came out, so this "live"blog contains some spoilers for that, as well as the manga of one piece (of course). there is also occasional mention of how the anime handled things, so spoilers for that too, although iโve not yet seen the anime beyond the first 30-ish episodes, other than select scenes.
iโve given everyone who appears in this "live"blog a color and a two letter nickname for relative anonymity and ease of distinguishing between them. depending on how well you know me, my online presence, and that of those iโm friends with, you may be able to identify some of these people. the black text with no two letter identifier is my thoughts.
generally, my presentation on this website avoids the use of capital letters, but as this "live"blog was originally a casual discord conversation, i've chosen to retain the spellings, capitalization, and grammar of the original text.
romance dawn
ch. 1–7
Sooo...one thing led to another and I ended up reading the first 7 chapters of the One Piece manga in one sitting, and will probably read more tonight.
Honestly, having a colored version helps a lot
AA: Lol nice
I already enjoyed the beginning of the anime, but the manga just felt so much better paced so far and I've already noticed small differences that I prefer the manga's versions of
AA: Probably cuz with the manga you can control the pace
And having found a very good source for the manga in a place I can scroll forever on my phone with no ads, I might actually end up reading all of it
AA: Sweet
And it's cool that like, over 1,000 chapters of the manga are in full color
So must of it
The vast majority in fact
It's nice
AA: Ye
AD: we got another one
Eh I knew I'd end up getting into One Piece eventually there's just so much of it I can't promise I'll read it that consistently but we'll see
interlude: viz sucks
Hmm found out that the colored One Piece manga is a fan translation, and the b&w one is viz official...not sure what to do there
I like the color and I also dislike that Zoro was translated as Zolo in the official one
Some people say fan translation is better some people say the official is better
But both have mistakes and their own drawbacks
AA: Just go with fan translation
Eck
Idk what to do
AA: I'm tellin ya
Any reason why? EN is not convinced haha
AA: Whats wrong with the fan translation
Idk I had no issue with it and then EN looked at the first page of the first chapter and said "is this a fan translation?" And I was like uhh idk
I'm not sure what they have against it
AA: @EN explain thouself
EN: There are many different fan translations, dude
I said this because the word choices didn't feel very natural. It sounded like something a direct translation rather than something that could have been written in English, like the official one does
But maybe that's better
AA: Can I obtain a link to the one ariah is reading
[link redacted]
Translation vs Localization situation
AA: I'll check that out in a bit, but I'm willing to bet that the differences in translations aren't that bad
They aren't that bad, it was just noticeable to me
EN is going with the viz translation I guess
I'm sticking with that fan translation
AA: I spose yall can compare each others versions with one another as you read
EN: Decided the Viz version was bad so now I'm reading the same one she is. We did a side-by-side comparison for the first chapter together
AA: Fun
Well I hope yall enjoy, I gotta go eepy mode
AG: Ive seen people get turned off by the fantranslation the colored manga uses so i might reccomend it more for a second reading?
If You don't have a problem with it is def worth reading
Is just so pretty
Viz and especially early viz has it's problems too
Mostly name changing
Glad You guys are hoping into peak fiction๐
JY: I've just been reading the original black and white but I just got used to reading black and white from all the other manga I've read
I'm through chapter 21 now
I hate the bad pirate speech viz added
I thought chapter 1 of the official was trash
I'm enjoying the colored fan translation though
It's got typos and it has switched between "Rubber-Rubber Fruit" and "Gomu-Gomu Fruit," but that's easy to overlook
Apparently the most popular spelling of the currency is "Beli" which the fan translation uses (I think the official uses Berries) but apparently Oda spelled it "Belly" on the currency at one point
Overall I've preferred the fan translation to viz so far
AA: Cool
The what?
Oh like making people talk piratey?
JJ: yar
AA: Yarr harr fiddle de dee
Examples from Chapter 1:
AA: Lmao
They said LAND-LUBBERS
I actually can't
AA: Something leads me to believe the fan translations are more faithful than the "official" one lol
Yeah same
AA: MORE GROG!
Plus there are so many lines in the fan translation that are way more similar to what's said in the funimstion dub of the anime than the official translation
And I trust funimation more than early viz who confirmed didn't care about the series
JJ: har har har.
AA: Plus the fans of the manga would probably want to do it justice
And lines that just have completely different connotations between the viz and the fan translation, where the viz gets it totally wrong from what the character means
Lemme find what I'm thinking of
AG: it happened a couple times of commonly used words not getting a standard translation until way later
not a japanese expert but it has to do with katana being spel phonetically right?
but yeah the coin is named after berries like the fruit
The currency in katakana is ใใชใผ which yeah could be beri or beli
I just noticed the fandom wiki page used Beli as the most common word for it
But also currency in real life has many nicknames so honestly I don't mind that it can be called many things
AG: true
Okay I found the thing I was looking for and a bunch of other differences where the fan translation is just better
The connotation here is completely different. The first one honestly doesn't make a whole lot of sense in context while the second one is saying not to use guns as a threat if you aren't gonna follow through, which seems more correct
AA: no shit its not safe to point guns lmao
AG: lucky roo my goat๐ ๐ ๐
This one I prefer the fan translation because they are referencing something that both exists in the world and has (assumedly) a lot of plot relevance, rather than just saying "battleship"
This one is aggregious. What does "a real pirate would never drink milk" mean!? Is it a joke that pirates are drunk all the time? The joke is Luffy is a kid because he drinks milk???
The fan translation instead paints Luffy as a kid because he dropped what he was mad about to enjoy some fruit juice. Not that a pirate wouldn't drink it but that he acted childish in that way
AA: Lul
JJ: yeah the fanlation is much more like the funimation translation
This one isn't the biggest of deals but like, I just like the fan translation better here. "It's Sake, we're just out of it"
Why does the concept of a tab need to be shoehorned in here? I think it makes way more sense for Luffy to just be like "yeah of course I'll have treasure one day, and I'll use that to pay you"
Those are all the screenshots I've taken
So needless to say I'm happy with reading the fantranslation
Thank you for coming to my TedTalk
AA: ๐๐
orange town (mostly live action)
ch. 8–21
Watched the second episode of live action One Piece
It was very good
AA: Noice
I really like how it was so different from the manga but still followed the spirit of the arc
En said they liked the episode more than the Orange Town arc in the manga, and honestly I'm inclined to agree
There are a couple things that they didn't do in the episode I kinda wish they could have, but they more than make up for it by just going all in on the dark carnival aesthetic. And I really liked the touch of having the townsfolk be forced into watching the carnival and even forced to applaud and laugh. Buggy was done so well imo (at least with only having the knowledge of the Orange Town arc, I wouldn't know if he appears again)There are a couple things that they didn't do in the episode I kinda wish they could have, but they more than make up for it by just going all in on the dark carnival aesthetic. And I really liked the touch of having the townsfolk be forced into watching the carnival and even forced to applaud and laugh. Buggy was done so well imo (at least with only having the knowledge of the Orange Town arc, I wouldn't know if he appears again)
AA: :o)
I thought it was interesting that there was no flashback to young Buggy and Shanks, but I feel like that would have probably messed up the pacing when there was already another flashback sequence happening at the time. Plus, it's cool backstory but it wasn't necessary, I think the way Buggy talked about it was enough.
Speaking of flashbacks, I really liked that they split up the chapter 1 young Luffy stuff between last episode and this one. It made for some really good parallels between what happened back then vs. what was happening now. I especially liked that Luffy used that line Shanks had "You can spill a drink/dump seawater on me and I'll let it slide. But don't threaten my friends"
AG: One piece live action confirmed aims to go for 12 sesons adapting the entire thing
If so is going to be the most accesible way to watch one piece for sure lol
GA: my grandkids will love it
syrup village + baratie
ch. 22–68
Caught up in One Piece with where I had originally gotten to in the anime (through chapter 68)
I'm not reading that quickly I know but w/e
Maybe I'll pick up speed eventually
GA: nice
AA: Rad
JY: I'll start reading again soon
(sorry i didn't discuss these arcs much. i already saw them in the anime in the past, so i didn't have much to say)
arlong park
ch. 69–95
Arlong Park slaps
I think this is the first arc I'm like, fully into instead of being a little bit bored with the pacing
When Nami asks Luffy for help and he puts the straw hat on her AFSGSHDHD
(I'm on chapter 82 so far)
AA: Hell yea, classic moment
JY: When I was sitting there I was just like screaming on the inside "GO FUCKING GET HIM LUFFY"
AG: yeah arlong park is usually where people realize if they are fully into it or not
CC: I literally can't get through that moment without crying
JY: Cold Take, Luffy is the GOAT
I've cried a few times already
AD: Ah arlong park a classic
loguetown
ch. 96–100
I'm through chapter 100
finally entering the grand line!
AA: Pog
JY: Back to reading One Piece for me
(again, sorry i didn't really say anything about loguetown. i liked it a lot! going forward in the story, i get more invested and therefore the amount i say about each arc increases exponentially. don't worry!)
this post discusses 'One Piece', which is intellectual property of Eiichiro Oda.
the screenshots used in this post are not mine, but are used under fair use for the purpose of commentary and review.