As the only manga/anime of Shonen Jump's Big Three still standing, One Piece presents quite a convincing argument for surpassing Naruto and Bleach.
For those not in the know, the title of "The Big Three" was a name given to the three dominating manga that featured in Weekly Shonen Jump during the 2000s.
While an argument could be made that there existed other "big threes" in the past – Slam Dunk, Dragon Ball, and Yu Yu Hakusho in the early '90s and One Piece, Ruroni Kenshin, and Hunter X Hunter in the late '90s – no big three has the long-lasting impact of the current three.
The most recent and well-known big three were One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach, with many believing that One Piece was the best. Why this belief? Well, this list will go into a few reasons for that belief.
#10. THE ADVENTURE IS GROUNDBREAKING
One Piece has become a phenomenon on a global scale that series like Naruto and Bleach can't quite compare to. This refers to the story's influence outside the realm of solely manga and anime. While Naruto arguably broke out in the West earlier than One Piece, the latter's continuing success puts it above the former. An adventure with the scope of One Piece only comes around once in a lifetime.
In terms of telling an "epic" story, One Piece can be compared to stories like Moby Dick and Homer's Odyssey. One of the things that attribute to this amazement is, of course, the amazing sense of adventure prevalent throughout the series.
#9. THE ART IS SO DIFFERENT
When compared to its brethren series, One Piece truly stands out when it comes to art. While Naruto has its quirks and Bleach embraced a full-on modern (by early 2000s standards) style, One Piece does one thing differently and to great effect.
The manga's art can be super over-the-top and exaggerated, while seldom being too overwhelming or difficult to follow. The characters are some of the most recognizable in anime/manga and One Piece's battles feel awesome. The amazing usage of colors helps even more, while the art's quality has remained relatively consistent despite One Piece's long publication run.
#8. IT'S THE Freshest
When compared to the tons of anime and manga that are about monsters and inner demons as well as the usual Japanese culture, One Piece is a huge breath of fresh air. While pirates are a part of global history, they tend to be associated with the culture of the Western world. One Piece takes this concept and runs with it, taking both historical and fictional pieces of pirate lore and creating something completely new and original. Seriously, who thought that Black Beard would become one of the biggest names in anime and manga?
#7. THE CHARACTERS ARE THE MOST WELL-WRITTEN
When compared to series like Naruto and Bleach, One Piece sits on the top of the castle when it comes to well-written characters. While the other two have many great character moments, One Piece is on a whole other level, boasting an expansive cast of fully-realized and likable personalities that compliment each other brilliantly.
Each character feels real, no matter what tropes they might exhibit, and none of their changes or development feel forced. While the competition's characters may have inconsistent motives and underwhelming subplots dragging them down, One Piece is 100% organic.
#6. NO CHARACTER IS FORGOTTEN
Another criticism of the rest of the Big Three is that many times fan-favorite characters will get introduced and have tons of spotlight; at least, until three weeks later when they are thrown into the background with nothing to do. This is one of the worst trends that many shonen follow.
Not One Piece though, as even the smallest characters leave a large impact on the story. Furthermore, they always eventually come back, giving readers and viewers a "where are they now" finish to their arc that might have happened hundreds of chapters before.
#5. THE WORLD IS SOMETHING ALL NEW
The world of One Piece is unlike anything else seen in manga and anime. While it, of course, pulls inspiration from real-world cultures and other things of the sort, they simply serve as an inspiration and nothing more. This influence is weaved into something all new and equates to a world that feels completely singular and otherworldly. The entire world of One Piece feels like something that is just waiting to be discovered by newcomers. The idea of something like the Grand Line and beyond is genius.
#4. THE WORLDBUILDING IS UNPARALLELLED
With an all-new and original world comes a seemingly hard task of covering all this world to let the reader and viewer know what is exactly out there. Apparently, this task isn't hard at all to someone like Oda as it seems like he can do world building better than most mangaka out there, and with the greatest of ease to boot.
One Piece comes across like a giant open-world video game with no load times. That's probably the best analogy for how seamlessly Oda takes followers from location to location while also teaching multiple concepts without having them feel shoehorned.
#3. THE POWER SCALING IS THE BEST
Naruto and Bleach have some creative ways of power scaling, but they can't touch One Piece in this department. One Piece has created what is probably the best version of power scaling in any shonen manga ever.
Even at 900+ chapters, the series still has the main cast trying to surpass characters introduced in chapter 100. Yes, Naruto does the same but One Piece introduces greater consistency and the devil fruit being the main power-up in the series helps make this even more so.
#2. IT'S TAKING THE GENRE TO NEW HEIGHTS
One Piece may not have the grasp that Naruto has in the West but its praise has long since surpassed it. While Naruto and, to a lesser extent, Bleach have enjoyed periods of popularity were they eclipsed Oda's series, One Piece is more critically acclaimed. So much so, the manga can lay claim to being the epic tale of the century, akin to books like Moby Dick. This is something that is mostly unheard of when it comes to manga, putting One Piece on the map in an all-new way. Also worth noting is that, in Japan, One Piece's popularity far exceeds Naruto and Bleach.
#1. IT NEVER FEELS RANDOM
One Piece is one series that seems to never be random. The series has hit 900+ chapters and it still seems as if every single plot point has been directly planned by Oda, seldom leaving any room for any plot-holes.
Inconsistencies are few and far in-between. With the other Big Three properties, complaints about plot holes tend to be far more rampant.
So, comment down below if you guys have something else that you love from One Piece. Or maybe any of you Bleach or Naruto fans that maybe disagree with this facts? Let's talk about it! :D