Drama

Now THIS is one of my favorite parts of the story--Blackbeard. The way he and Luffy, or even Luffy with the other Blackbeard pirates--is hilarious in the moment and in layers at different reminiscent moments later. How can a few scenes that aren't a climax be so awesome? Oda is good at that. So many funny stuff has layers of different funny once you look at it in a different context--it doesn't even matter if the moment is innocent and has no plot relation. Everything to do with the knock up stream is also one of the most memorable things in the story for me. ( )

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Title: The 100 Million Berry Man
Series: One Piece #25
Arc: Skypiea #2
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Words: 9K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_chapters_(187_388)

"Noland the Liar"

"Mont Blanc Cricket, the Last Boss of the Monkey Mountain Allied Force"

"Let's Eat"

"Pursue the South Bird!"

"Bellamy the Hyena"

"The 100 Million Berry Man"

"The World's Greatest Power"

"Please Remember"

"The Knock Up Stream"

"The Ship Sails to the Sky"

The Straw Hats meet with Mont Blanc Cricket, a descendant of the first person to discover Skypiea. Though Skypiea is widely believed to be a myth, and Cricket's ancestor was a liar, he searches for evidence that can confirm Skypiea's existence. Over the years he has come to believe that Skypiea, once a part of Jaya, was launched into a cloud by a powerful upward current of water. If the Straw Hats want to reach Skypiea they will need to ride that same current, but must first locate a special bird that will help them find their way. While Luffy and company go searching for the bird, Bellamy attacks and robs Cricket in an attempt to crush his dreams of finding Skypiea. Enraged to learn this, after returning with the bird, Luffy seeks out and defeats Bellamy to recover Cricket's belongings. Cricket thanks him, and the Straw Hats leave to ride the current to Skypiea.

My Thoughts:

This was pretty good. Luffy suddenly is overpoweringly strong and pretty much beats the stuffing out of Bellamy with one punch. I have to admit, it felt like the manga-ka wanted to move on and the quickest way was to have Bellamy simply defeated. Thankfully, so much else was going that it didn't drag the volume down.

The whole sky stream to Skypiea was quite engaging. It was funny seeing the crew trying to find the South Bird and I must admit, the manga-ka really manages to balance the serious with the utterly ridiculous. How he does it so perfectly, without one overpowering the other is beyond me but I never feel like a scene is ever too serious or too ridiculous. (I know, I know, we're talking about pirates on an imaginary world with super powers but still, you know...)

Overall, this series continues to keep me entertained volume after volume. It is impressive and I can see why this has kept on going and going in Japan. This is one series I would unreservedly recommend with the caveat that this genre might not work for everyone.

★★★✬☆ ( )

Where the Strawhat Crew makes a new friend and where Luffy's reputation grows. ( )

One of my favorite graphic novels.

This novel takes place in a fictional setting in an age of pirates.
The main character Luffy sets out on a journey to find the ultimate treasure "One Piece". Along the way he accumulates many interesting mates that also strongly contribute to the story.

The storyline is quite straight forward, but it is the character development that drives this graphic novel into solid popularity.
There is a strong sense of Japanese culture of loyalty and trust between "nakama" (brothers or friends) in this novel.

Overall, a very solid manga. Like most Japanese graphic novels, One Piece was initially drawn slightly childish and cartoon like, but as the story became more established, the drawings and storyline becomes more mature.

If you enjoy One Piece graphic novel, do check out the anime (Japanese cartoon). Just as exciting! ( )