One Piece Volume 2: Pure Enjoyment That Makes You Smile

Wow, this volume was a blast to get through. Not to say it was fast, but it was one of those books that makes you smile realizing how fun it is to be human. Imagine sipping tea and having a comfortable read. If there ever was a series for such a mundane and charming activity, you have found it.

Buggy the Clown finally appears, and it is awesome, memeable, and downright iconic. A true legend finally gracing the manga. We see him fight Luffy and his crew and loose spectacularly, and it comes to a point where it makes me admire more the action scenes in One Piece. Instead of having boring hang-to-hand fighting, One Piece uses its battle system to its fullest.

In these early chapters of One Piece, one thing that is particularly great is how exaggerated the characters emotions are. Even Zoro has his goofy moments, along with every other character here. Though one can say that is due to the insertion of Buggy, I still hold onto this point.

Compared to the previous volume, the action feels more amped up with Buggy’s henchmen fighting with Luffy’s crew in more mediocre fashion compared to all that’s next. While the fights here are more free throwing and all over the place quite blazingly, helping to heighten the tension, it all does feel slightly boring, mainly since the action here has no strong tension considering the goofiness of Buggy and that the fight feels a lot less serious and more fillery in its execution. While I love more mundane arcs similar in vibe to this, the issue here is that it feels as though Oda is trying to add some needed tension to our investment in these fights, but sadly, it isn’t there. Though, besides the fights, one compelling aspect is examining Nami before she joins the crew and her interactions, which make more sense considering her backstory. Besides that, the pacing here and overall story are decent, but they are made up for thanks to the immaculate art that is better than ever. Some panels here are truly jaw-dropping when I compare it to the previous volume, which was a direct expansion on the more awesome fashion designs, mainly due to Buggy’s iconic appearance that lives rent-free in my head.

Besides my nitpicking critiques, this is the kind of One Piece I love. Not detailed and overdone storylines; simply, a crew coming together on a journey that mainly just seems like pure fun.

An adorable journey is what I am continually left with so far and wow do I L-O-V-E it!