Why is One piece the best selling manga series of all time?

I honestly have no idea why it's so popular. It's completely average to me, then again, I'm not Japanese.

OnE Piece is easily better than the crap that Naruto turned into and Bleach and Toriko too

In circulation and actually owned by someone are 2 very different things. Obviously a manga/anime that would only appeal to a kid or mentally retarded individual wouldn't be the highest selling. Don't get me wrong I used to like one piece when I was 13 or something and the story actually looked like it was going somewhere. Even still at that moment in time shaman king, naruto, beyblade, pokemon, dragonball all blew one piece out of the water.

@jestersmiles:

I came in just to say that.

The reason behind it is Johnny Depp... Oops wrong wrong pirate...

Pilasy:La Voix d'un homme

I've never been impressed by it...

A lot of reasons, some of which being:

- It's generally light-hearted and fun

- It's never experienced a serious drop in quality. This can't even be debated. The manga has been very consistent through all of it's chapters.

- It has a streamlined over arching, easy to follow plot

- The characters are very unique, memorable, and fun

1. It's part of the largest demographic in manga.(Shonen)
2. It's part of the largest Shonen magazine
3. It's a rather simple story so it's easy for people to get into.
4. It has the "fun" factor people rave about.
5. It's very remnant to the other most popular manga: Dragon Ball Z.
6. It came out at the right time.
7. Luck

Personally, I drop One Piece about 2 years ago. While it had great world building and background, the arcs were practically the same thing, the characters were too static, and, not to repeat a point everyone has said, the arts is quite underwhelming. The worst part though is how utterly boring and sometimes cringe worthy the beginning of each arc is; case and point: Thriller Back. Also saying that "it's great because it's better than Naruto and Bleach" isn't much of an accomplishment.

Because Dragon ball ended, if goku was still around luffy would be working at McDonald's

I honestly hate the Strawhat crew, but I really do like the world around them. Coby and Garp are in my top 10 list of anime characters. Heck, one of the first times I almost cried was from a chapter in One Piece.

But as a main character Luffy annoys the ever loving piss out of me.

Beats me

Prolly because aside from having a great story, I think One Piece is not televised/exposed as much as Naruto has been on tv and online videos.

I also think Naruto fans prefer to watch rather than read.

In our place though, Naruto is pretty much more popular than One Piece.

It's like everybody knows Naruto ( and some other popular Naruto characters ) but not everybody knows Luffy or even his name.

Apparently a lot of people love it. I just got into it like a year or two ago and so far I enjoy i a lot.

The art used to bother me. Back in like 4th or 5th grade when the only anime I liked was DB and YYH one of my friends tried showing me One Piece in a Shonen Jump he had (I didn't know it was One Piece at the time) and I remember thinking to myself that I wasn't even going to try and read that crap because it looked so damn stupid. Then like a year or two ago I came across the anime (Along with Bleach and Naruto) on Toonami and got hooked, the art is still silly but I like it now.

People like to buy into mediocrity and simplicity. You don't have to think about some deep plot or use your imagination, everything is spelled out for you. Manga is a lot like a T.V. remote, lazy incarnate.

/thread.

Same reason garbage movies like Transformers earn a living f**kton.

People like rubbish.

Because it never stops...

Because its not.

And to say it's better than Naruto or Bleach is a matter of opinion. Personally, I find Naruto much more enjoying than OP.

Alot of OP hate in this thread.

Beata

I agree with both statements. While both Bleach and Naruto had their obvious decline in quality at least I could stand them, well Naruto at least. One Piece started to really urk and bore me after it's 3rd major arc; honestly, the only parts I'd consider legitimately good would be the White Beard War Saga and Water 7 Saga.

Ugh, for some reason I'm not getting notifications. But yes, I agree. The OP manga is...better, but the anime is unbearable for me. Very boring. The White Beard War and Water 7 arcs are hands down the most interesting stories (and battles), and even then, I'd consider putting Bleach's Soul Society arc above them.

Because it appeals to a large demographic.

I already have Ennies Lobby above Water 7 and im not even finished with it yet. Water 7 was cool but I like how Ennies Lobby is going so far, cant wait to see what happens next.

I've watched and read One Piece it started out great and hit its stride during Enies lobby, now I'm starting to wonder if Oda even remembers what the story's supposed to be about.

Isnt it about luffy becoming pirate king?

@those_eyes: Not just that. All the Straw hats had goals, but honestly, they don't even talk about them anymore. Just nonsensical plots.

Do you think they will ever reach a conclusion? I know they will but i mean do you think they will do it right by actually having luffy and his gang reach their goals?

@those_eyes: Someone told me that Oda said he planned on continuing it for another ten years...so who knows.

Its going to be pokemon all over again. The never ending anime.

I thought it was about finding One Piece as the name implies.

i forgot what the one piece was. lol

@russellmania77: I know it's late to reply, but those numbers are false. The Dragon Ball series has 230 million sales worldwide , and at the time this discussion started One Piece had 345 million http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_manga. One Piece is the only manga to ever get over 300 mil sales and there was even an article in the New York times about it.