One Piece. Whether in anime form or the manga by Eiichiro Oda, it's not easy to like; it sweeps most people to the extremes of either loving it or hating it.
Those who hate it usually point at the character design; they can't look past Usopp's nose, much less their own. But those who love it relish things like its bedrock message of our individual worth, its rapid-fire action, its world of sometimes Toriyama-esque whimsy, and of course its cast--a few grotesque or macabre, but always fantastic.
On each of those counts, One Piece is very much in the spirit of "Thimble Theater," Elzie Segar's adventure comic strip that begat Popeye in the 1920s. And just as the late "God of Manga" Osamu Tezuka--a longtime proponent of doujinshi who helped lay the groundwork for today's doujinshi subculture--honed his drawing skills as a youngster by practicing drawing Popeye, aspiring manga-ka in countless circles across Japan are drawing Monkey D. Luffy and his crew.
The result is an ocean of One Piece doujinshi that has made it one of today's most popular genres. That ocean is deep in talent as well as in numbers, and with so many books being produced, it's hard to know where to even start.
But in January 2001, I was lucky to get the chance to wade in with the best pontoons possible: two days of reading in the office library of Comic Box Junior, a monthly doujinshi anthology magazine that receives doujinshi from many circles to review. Being able to page through a several-month crop of One Piece doujinshi made it easy to learn which circles' work appealed to me--and soon after, I joined the masses lining up in the One Piece sections at events and searching the One Piece shelves at doujinshi shops.
So, just in case you and I are comrades in seeking the finest fan-drawn further adventures of Luffy and friends, here are galleries for my favorite One Piece circles and 359 of their doujinshi:
If there are other circles that you'd recommend, I'd love to hear about them!
Feel free to e-mail me or visit some of my other silliness:
Includes all-chara gags and Captain Kuro & Jango.
Includes all-chara gags, Sanji main, Zoro & Sanji, and Zoro x Sanji.
Includes Sanji main and Luffy x Sanji.
Includes all-chara gags, Arlong & Nami, Bellemare & Nami & Nojiko, Ben x Shanks, dog Ben x cat Shanks, Kuina & Zoro, Luffy x Sanji, Makino & Shanks, Mihawk & Shanks, Nami & Nojiko, Sanji & Luffy, Shanks & Sanji, Shanks & Sanji & Zeff, Smoker & Tashigi, Zeff & Sanji, and Zeff x Sanji.
Includes all-chara gags, Gin & Sanji, Gin x Sanji, Luffy & Sanji, Sanji & Zoro, and Zeff & Sanji.
Includes Arlong x Ben, Ben & Shanks, Ben x Shanks, Fullbody x Shanks, Mihawk x Zoro, Sanji & Nami, Sanji x Zoro, Shanks vs. Arlong, Shanks x Ben, Shanks & Buggy, Shanks & Luffy, Tashigi x Smoker, Zoro & Luffy, and Zoro x Sanji.
Includes all-chara gags, Ace vs. Shanks, Ben & Shanks, Ben x Shanks, Jango & Kuro, Mihawk & Kuro, Mihawk x Kuro, Mihawk vs. Zoro, Mihawk & Shanks, Mihawk x Shanks, vampire Mihawk x Shanks, Sanji x Zoro, Shanks & Luffy, Shanks & Mihawk, Shanks & Zeff & Mihawk, Shanks' crew & Luffy's crew, Smoker x Ace, and Zoro x Luffy.
Includes all-chara gags and Zoro x Sanji.
Includes Ben x Shanks and Shanks x Ben.
Includes all-chara gags, Arlong x Ben, Ben x Shanks, Luffy x Zoro, Mihawk & Shanks, Sanji & Ben, Sanji x Ben, Shanks & Ben, and Shanks vs. Arlong.
Includes Zoro x Sanji.
Includes all-chara gag adventures and Zoro x Sanji.
Includes Ben x Shanks.
Includes all-chara gags, Ace & Zoro, Chopper & Zoro & Luffy, Luffy & Chopper, Luffy & Nami, Luffy x Zoro, Nami & Vivi, Sanji & Luffy, Sanji x Luffy, Sanji & Robin, Sanji & Usopp, Shanks & Luffy, Zoro & Luffy, Zoro x Luffy, and Zoro & Sanji.
This page was created November 10, 2001. Last updated January 22, 2006.
