My first experience with One Piece was the 4Kids dub, almost dropped it completely, then one day at a big name book store, I picked up the first volume and read it on a whim. Bought it and kept buying them, eventually I jumped ahead and started reading the scans while buying volumes, DVDs (once Funimation took over) and haven't turned back since.
I agree the anime is the inferior version if you are going for the story but yeah, it starts slow and is more humor based but grows into a monster and worthy of its massive success.
NoirSon said: My first experience with One Piece was the 4Kids dub, almost dropped it completely, then one day at a big name book store, I picked up the first volume and read it on a whim. Bought it and kept buying them, eventually I jumped ahead and started reading the scans while buying volumes, DVDs (once Funimation took over) and haven't turned back since.
I agree the anime is the inferior version if you are going for the story but yeah, it starts slow and is more humor based but grows into a monster and worthy of its massive success.
I was also first exposed to One Piece through the 4kids dub...and I also dropped it pretty early. Dear god...the lollipops and name changes and no death ever. It was almost like a comic relief of how never to dub anime. I honestly don't know what they were thinking picking that up for a children's TV block in the first place.
I didn't attempt the manga until only a few years ago, and I'm glad I did. LIke you said, it definitely deserves its success.
I think if something were to occupy the space that Naruto and Dragonball held, then it would have caught on long before chapter 66+. The themes you mentioned, while they tend to grow in any shounen series, people didn't follow Naruto for as long as they did because of the themes it developed later, but because of what it had from the beginning. Handseals, chakra, the ancient yet modern ninja theme, etc, those were all concepts that resonated strongly with fans early on.
Looking at history, an interesting title may help as well. Dragonball, Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, Death Note.... My Hero Acedemia? It sounds pretty generic. There's also Sky Wizards Academy, Magicians Academy, etc, and there's just so many manga that takes place in an academy-like setting nowadays. You mention how you're surprised that you liked the manga, and that some characters were surprisingly likable, but is that a good thing? Because there are a lot of good shounen manga/anime out there with characters and stories that people take a liking to early on. Another important factor is having a unique artstyle, concept, and appealing character design.
And I don't immediately see that with Boku no Academia.
With all the manga and anime to chose from today, even if Boku no Academia has great characters, will enough people flock to it in order to find out? I feel like they won't.
I'd say the closest thing right now is Attack on Titan. But it's not likely going to get there, because it suffers from the same problem as Fullmetal Alchemist, in that each chapter comes out at a much slower pace than weekly shounen serializations.
And in spirit of this topic, random Cha La Head Cha La:
Well I'm not going to lie that is a sound argument and in some spaces I agree.
Chapter-wise it took off in the first volume. It definitely has a slow start, as I mentioned earlier, but nowhere near close having to go 66+ by the time it picks up.
*I can't vouch for the exact sales and such for it simply because I tend to not look into sales generally, but I'm also pretty sure that its been very well recieved since its first volume. Beyond that is beyond me.
Thinking about it, initial concept isn't as immediately impactful as Naruto. One Piece's popularity in the West I think was much more recent, especially in comparison to Naruto and the difference between One Piece and Boku No Hero is that One Piece had a large amount of volumes and anime episodes out, as well as the already insane popularity it has in Japan. To that I can only say we said before about the chapters.
I agree with the name thing. I can only hope they adjust it.
To the character thing, I say yes its a good thing. I'll even go foward to say that its absolutely vital. You can have a good plot or premise but ultimately it the characters that are there that make or break a series. It really begins with the plot but the characters are the ones that drive it further. Naruto as a series wouldn't work for example if Naruto himself started off cold and bitter or hyper-analytical and suave. Ultimately the manga was carried by his stubborness and hard work.
I kind of laugh at the character design thing. Not because its wrong by any means. In fact that's absolutely right. It jsut reminds me of a Gintama episode where Gintoki talks about this stuff. Funny as hell. Wish I had a clip. But I digress.
In terms of artsyle and unique character design, I think Boku no Hero has that. Alot of Dragon Ball took inspiration from the Journey to the West when it started. With Boku No Hero, a lot of the style is revolves around comic books.
The artstlye is disinct among other manga and it really holds up well. The pic you used doesn't do a disservice to manga by any means nor is it misrepresentative at all, but one of the things about this is they alternate between two to three attires including the one above. Also a lot of the more active scenes are reflective by the author when the author uses a more active form of the artstyle such as a fight, a huge expression or a personal stance. I think during the spans of time where you see their personalities come out and you see how it presents itself, I really think it would draw in a lot of people.
I think that the only reason AoT may not get that longevity that other manga had like Naruto isn't because of the manga release timeframe, though of course it is a detriment to pacing and the release of the anime. Its mainly because it will be short. The author at one point said it would end soon. I forget how much time it has, but I beleive it was a year. Even it was released weekly it would really make the anime all the more quicker. With that said, I still think AoT is a unique phenomenon.
In terms of FMA I agree. I absolutely loved that series. The anime FMA and FMAB really nailed it. Though the pacing of the manga did hurt it. Its funny you mention it too because I found out that BONES is doing Boku No Hero and I beleive they did FMA
