By 2012 this manga has reached phenomenal popularity and if you are a keen anime/manga fan you must have heard about it at least a few times. If you here to finally give this a try I will be glad to stand behind you and give you a great push towards it. Why? Well besides the fact that everyone is talking about it in the anime world and not knowing anything will be annoying and frustrating, you will be missing out a GREAT deal.

At first look the manga may seem quite childish and 'fun'. The art may not be as detailed and mature as many others, and the cover displays bright colours not to mention a smiling kid like boy as the main focus. Now if you are a fan of dark and intruding story linesyou may be thinking of turning around right now. However the saying 'don't judge a book by it's cover' applies here greatly. This manga as well as having funny times is filled with great shonen manga moments. The fights are intense and throughout the series each character is devoped into a perfectl giving you an isight on their personality, past, but also leaving enough mysteries which are uncovered on the way.

The story is about a young boy called Monkey D Luffy which is the idioticly grinning boy on the cover, but even if you find him weird at first, he becomes one of your best friends on your journey through the One piece series. As the books names suggests the manga is centered around a treasure with that name. The story begins when the pirate era once again starts, and everyone goes sailing off to become Pirate King. Luffy is also one of those pirates and on the journey he builds his own crew, strong friendships and new enemies.

This manga truly turns your view on a typical 'pirate' crew. The world of one piece is filled with magical powers (gained through mysterious 'devil fruits'), your not-so-typical sword fighting as well as witty sarcastic battles. Luffy may seem like your cliche shouju protagnist as a happy go lucky boy but will seriously suprise you as well make you absolutly love him.

Overall I would definetly recommend this to a friend, especially anyone who loves shonen jump mangas. Although on average more boys read this (as espected fromo shonen) i would still urge girls to give it a try. I as a girl really enjoy it and would tell you to give it a try.