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Anime Discussion

How To Start Watching Anime

Watching anime can be a great way to explore different cultures, stories, and art styles. Here are some steps you can take to start watching anime:

  • Decide what kind of anime you’re interested in. There are many different genres of anime, such as action, romance, comedy, and horror. Some popular anime series include “Naruto,” “Dragon Ball Z,” “One Piece,” and “Sailor Moon.”
  • Find a streaming service that offers anime. Some popular streaming services for anime include Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Netflix. These services often have a wide variety of anime series to choose from, and many of them offer both subtitled and dubbed versions of the anime.
  • Choose a series to start with. Once you’ve found a streaming service that offers anime, you can start browsing through the different series that are available. You can look for series that are popular or highly rated, or you can search for series that are in the genre you’re interested in.
  • Watch the first episode. Once you’ve chosen a series to start with, make sure to watch the first episode. The first episode is often a good introduction to the characters and the world of the anime, and it will give you a sense of whether or not you’ll enjoy the series.
  • Keep watching. If you enjoy the first episode, keep watching. Some anime series are very long and can have hundreds of episodes, so you might want to set a goal for yourself, like watching one episode per day or per week.
  • Explore more anime. Once you’ve finished one series, you can start exploring other anime. You can look for similar series that are in the same genre, or you can try out a different genre altogether.
  • Join a community. Watching anime can be even more fun when you share it with others. Join a community of anime fans, whether it’s online or in person. You can discuss the anime you’re watching, share fan theories, and recommend new anime to watch.
  • Don’t be afraid to experiment. Anime is a diverse medium, not all anime will be to your taste but don’t be afraid to give new shows a chance.
  • Try to watch with subtitles, it’s better to understand the context and emotions of the characters.
  • Read manga first: If you’re interested in a particular anime series, you can also read the manga (comic book) version of the story. Reading the manga first can give you a better understanding of the characters and the world of the anime, and it can also help you appreciate the anime more when you watch it.
  • Check out the OST: The Original Soundtrack (OST) of an anime can be a great way to immerse yourself in the world of the anime. Many anime series have memorable and iconic music that can help set the tone and atmosphere of the series.
  • Attend anime conventions: Attending anime conventions is a great way to meet other anime fans and learn more about the anime you’re watching. You can also attend panels, watch screenings, and meet voice actors from your favourite series.
  • Watch anime movies: In addition to TV series, anime movies are also a great way to experience anime. These movies can be standalone stories or an adaptation of a popular series. They are often visually stunning and a great way to experience anime in a different format.
  • Lastly, be patient, some anime takes time to build up to the climax and it’s important to stick around and enjoy the journey.

In conclusion, watching anime is a fun and engaging way to explore different cultures, stories, and art styles. By finding a streaming service that offers anime, choosing a series to start with, and exploring more anime, you can start watching anime and enjoy it. Remember to join a community of anime fans, and don’t be afraid to experiment and enjoy the journey. Happy anime watching!

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Anime Discussion

Why Luffy Fought Katakuri – One Piece

1. Why Luffy Fought Katakuri

1.1 Essential requirement

Luffy’s goal is to defeat all of the four Yonkos and before he can do that, he must prove that he’s worthy. He must prove that he’s stronger than a commander of a Yonko if he wants to stand next to the Yonko.

Katakuri provided Luffy with the perfect opportunity to distinguish himself above a commander level fighter and also the opportunity to greatly improve his haki prowess. Without defeating a commander level fighter, Luffy can’t hope to defeat a Yonko like Kaido and Big Mom.

luffy vs katakuri glare

1.2 Katakuri wants to protect his family

Katakuri as we came to understand, was not a bad guy. He just wanted to protect his family from the havoc and terrorism Luffy and co were creating in Whole Cake Island.

Luffy kidnapped Brulee, crashed Big Mom’s party, took down a commander like Cracker, and was threatening to steal one of the Road Poneglyphs. This disrespect to the Big Mom Pirates’ name is something Katakuri couldn’t ignore.

1.3 How Luffy defeated Katakuri

The differences in the reasons between Luffy and Katakuri is what led to Luffy as the victor. Luffy’s goal was far grander than Katakuri’s.

Although Katakuri was far stronger than Luffy at the time, Luffy was placing everything on the line with a reason to fight that far outweighed Katakuri’s. One Piece fights always revolve around the differences in will power which is why Luffy was sure to win.

Another reason for Luffy’s win that has been theorised is: Katakuri allowed himself to be defeated. I don’t believe this is the case because in their final stare-down, Katakuri had finally stopped hiding his insecurities and didn’t bother to care about his “pelican-eel” face. He didn’t need to make an effort to hide his face and stabs himself to honor their fight. Katakuri held too much respect for his opponent and believed that he owed Luffy a fair and square fight.

katakuri ou're looking pretty far into the future

2. How long is Luffy vs Katakuri?

Manga ChaptersAnime Episodes
Start877852
End896871
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Anime Discussion

Why Zoro Took Luffy’s Pain – One Piece

1. Respect for his captain

Zoro is Luffy’s first mate. Although initially he had no respect for his captain, Zoro began to witness what Luffy was capable of throughout the course of their journey together.

Zoro has a grand dream of becoming the greatest swordsman in the world but Luffy has an even grander dream of becoming the Pirate King. Zoro more than anyone else knows the difficult path that lies ahead for himself and even more so for Luffy. This is why he has immense respect for his captain.

Eiichiro Oda has excessively made a point that they are the only two people more than ready to sacrifice their lives to achieve their dream and has put the two on a pedestal in that regard.

This is a special bond that exists only between these two. Luffy living up to Zoro’s expectations is what makes Zoro loyal to him.

In short, Luffy living up to Zoro’s expectations and Zoro believing without question that Luffy can achieve his dream is what makes him loyal. Loyalty and respect for Luffy makes it a duty for Zoro to protect his captain first and foremost. In Zoro’s mind, if he is not even able to protect his captain’s dream, how the hell is he going to ever achieve his own dream.

Why Zoro Took Luffy's Pain - One Piece

2. It makes the most logical sense

If we take the time to think about the predicament Zoro was in, we can understand that he actually made the most logical decision he could at the time. Zoro was in a pinch, every singe one of his crewmates were completely knocked out in the fight against Kuma and the Shichibukai was a threat of impending doom for the crew.

Had Zoro stayed silent, Bartolomew Kuma may have completely wiped out the crew, which would result in the end for not only Luffy’s, but also of everyone else’s dream. If Zoro makes a successful deal with Kuma, he can secure the crew’s life and their journey to becoming pirate king.

3. What this means for Zoro

This was the biggest character progression for Roronoa Zoro. A man that was always driven by one goal willing to sacrifice himself only in the pursuit of his own goal, had turned into man that would sacrifice his own life for someone else’s dream.

The fruition of this scene is later shown when he practically begs Dracule Mihawk to train him which the Shichibukai points out is extremely pathetic, embarrassing and something he never thought Zoro would do. For someone that was willing to give up his life for his captain, discarding his pride wasn’t a difficult thing to do.

zoro begs mihawk
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Anime Discussion

Does Zoro eat a devil fruit? – One Piece

Question: Does Zoro eat a Devil Fruit?

Short Answer: No, Zoro does not and has never eaten a Devil Fruit.

Question: Will Zoro eat a Devil Fruit?

Short Answer: Zoro will never eat a Devil Fruit because of the parallel Oda has set up between him and Rayleigh.

Long answer:

Why Zoro will not eat a Devil Fruit

1. Parallels between Zoro and Rayleigh

There are countless parallels Eiichiro Oda has set between Zoro and Rayleigh in One Piece. Some of the most prominent ones are,

  1. Rayleigh and Zoro are both the right hand man of the Pirate King Gold Roger and to-be Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy respectively.
  2. Rayleigh and Zoro both have similar scars on their eyes.
  3. Rayleigh does not have a devil fruit and neither does Zoro.
  4. Rayleigh and Zoro both use a sword as their primary weapon.
  5. Rayleigh and Zoro both enjoy drinking sake.

2. Mihawk does not have a Devil Fruit

Mihawk is Zoro’s goal. He is and has everything that Zoro desires, but one thing Mihawk does not have is a Devil Fruit. Although it’s not proven yet, it’s safe to assume Mihawk does not have a Devil Fruit because he never used it during the Marineford battle. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Zoro will not a Devil Fruit either.

Mihawk and Zoro parallel

3. Zoro is a swordsman

Zoro is first and foremost, a swordsman. He wants to win fights with his swordsmanship skills alone. If he were to use a Devil Fruit to gain even the slightest advantage against his opponent, the battle would not be seen as a fight between two swordsman.

It has been shown time and time again that Zoro only wishes to win fights with his swords. This is what differentiates him and Mihawk from someone like Big Mom (who also uses a sword). Although Big Mom uses a swords, she amplifies its powers using her incredible powerful abilities as Devil Fruit user which doesn’t make her a true swordsman.

4. Zoro Sees Devil Fruits as a Liability

Zoro sees Devil Fruits as a liability. He values the power to swim in the ocean far more than any power a Devil Fruit would give him. Zoro has repeatedly shown his distaste for Devil Fruits with statements such as “You devil fruit users are a pain in the ass”.

5. Zoro has something to prove

Zoro made a promise to Kuina a long time ago that he would train his sword prowess to be so great that it would even reach the heavens. He wants to see just how far his swords will take him and that has been his sole desire. There is absolutely no reason he should eat a Devil Fruit because it will not bring him any closer to his goal.

What Devil Fruit Should Zoro eat?

When Eiichiro Oda was questioned by a fan about what Devil Fruit would most fit Zoro, he stated that Kaido’s would be the most fitting, but what would be even better is if his Swords ate the Devil Druit.

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Anime Discussion

One Piece Manga vs Anime – 10 Major Differences

Before you continue down this list, this page contains some major spoilers for the new fans of the series. If you have not at least reached the time-skip part of the anime, turn back or proceed with caution.

1. Whitebeard’s death

Whitebeard was significantly injured during his fight with Akainu at Marineford. However, his injury was far more severe in the manga. Akainu managed to destroy nearly half of Whitebeard’s face while in the anime, only his moustache was slashed.

Either way, both anime and manga showcased just how much of a powerhouse Whitebeard was. He suffered 267 sword wounds, 46 cannon blasts, and shot by roughly 152 bullets. All this and he never suffered a wound on his back because he never ran away. He died while standing up but not before leaving the world with the most powerful and important last words in One Piece.

One Piece does exist

Whitebeard

2. Zeff’s Sacrifice

Zeff was the adopted father of Sanji during his time at Baratie. When Sanji falls into the sea, Zeff goes to save him from drowning.

In the anime version, Zeff’s legs get clamped underwater between rubble and debris so he had to cut them off in order to save Sanji.

In the manga however, it is much more heart wrenching as Zeff gave all of his food away to Sanji and ate his own leg in order to survive. This also makes a lot more sense than him surviving for roughly a month without eating absolutely nothing.

This is one of many instances in One Piece which showcases that you don’t have to be blood related to be family. Zeff was more of a father to Sanji than Judge ever was.

3. Luffy vs Doflamingo

When Luffy transforms into gear four during the final battle at Dressrosa, in the anime, Doflamingo manages to hold his own for a while before Luffy inevitably beats him.

However, in the manga when Luffy transforms, he completely obliterates Doflamingo. It was a complete one-sided victory for Luffy.

Either way, Doflamingo got the beating he deserved.

4. Luffy vs Kaido

During the very first fight between Luffy and Kaido, the anime shows them both exchanging multiple blows.

In the manga, Kaido tanks every single blow from Luffy. However, he gets up having seemingly taken little to zero damage and proceeds to use the ability shown above to one shot Luffy. They never exchange blows and you can barely see any reaction of struggle from Kaido. It was totally unexpected and delivered on what I expected from a Yonko of the New World.

5. Start of the story

There are some various difference here in how the story starts for Luffy.

Shanks appears in chapter one of the manga while he only appears in episode three of the anime.

You can see Nami sneaking around in the ship Alvida invades but she was never there in the manga. In fact, the initial start of the story is on dry land, not on the sea. Therefore, in the manga Zoro is the first crewmate to appear in the series, not Nami.

6. Hordy and Zoro

Hody never “fights” with Zoro. Zoro simply enters the water and one-shots Hody without a moment of hesitation.

There are multiple instances of this happening during the Fishman Island arc. This was the warm up arc that was supposed to showcase the Straw Hat’s progress, so seeing them even slightly struggle was annoying to see in the anime.

7. Law gives Kid the middle finger

This is simply a censorship issue that doesn’t really make or break the story in any significant way.

8. Batolomeo cuts off a hater’s tongue

When a colosseum fighter bad mouths Luffy, Bartolomeo gets extremely angry and cuts the fighter’s tongue right off.

Removing this from the anime made Bartolomeo less menacing than how he felt in the manga.

9. Fillers

I think this is a given. Everything from manga is canon while anime contains far too many fillers, especially during the earlier volumes. I will note that everyone unanimously agrees that the G-8 filler arc should be canon because it’s extremely funny and unique. However this is only one good arc out of the countless unbearable filler arcs in One Piece.

10. Making Character look weaker than they actually are

This actually build on some of the points I made previously. For example, extending a fight scene for longer than intended such as Kaido vs Luffy or Luffy vs Doflamingo can make the character seem weaker than they actually are.

There is a significant difference between Luffy being able to exchange a few blows with one of the Yokou and getting one-shot by them. The anime also made gear fourth seem weaker than it actually is when Doflamingo was able to exchange a few blows rather than letting him get completely destroyed.

I can understand it makes for better viewing experience for casual fans, but it is very frustrating for long time fans who are heavily invested in the series.

Some changes are understandable such as Law giving the middle finger to people since anime fans tends to be watched by a younger audience so censorship is definitely necessary.

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Anime Discussion

Why Boys Like Watching Anime (and why women don’t)

Results from a survey in the anime subreddit during 2015 linked here showed that a whopping 92% of anime watchers were male with 16-20 year old being the primary age group which begs the question, why do guys like anime so much? and why don’t just as many girls like it? In this post, I will go through why in my opinion, anime is being dominated by male audience.

So why do boys like anime?

Here is the short answer:

Because there are significantly more anime series targeted towards the male demographic.

The Shounen Genre

a genre of Japanese comics and animated films aimed primarily at a young male audience

Oxford Languages

Shounen anime are the primary driving force for a male audience since the genre has almost three times the amount of shoujo, and is a genre targeted towards a young male audience. You have endless choices of anime series to pick from such as One Piece, Naruto, Haikyuu!!, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Hunter x Hunter, Kimetsu no Yaiba etc. that are constantly being pushed by anime studios in japan. I could go on and on but the main takeaway is that every single one of these anime have male protagonists.

When I watch an anime series, I want the main character to be as relatable to me as possible which is what hooked me into anime in the first place with series such as Naruto and Dragon Ball. I would be lying if I said that having a male protagonist didn’t help. But I certainly wouldn’t mind a badass female character in the lead role either. For example, anime series such as Black Lagoon, Kakegurui, and Violet Evergarden are all I personally love watching.

But these are more of the exceptions than the norm. You will be extremely hard pressed to find any anime that has a female lead compare to male leads aside from genres specifically made for women like Shoujo (literally meaning girl), which brings me to my next point and that is relatability.

Relatability

Only one of the anime listed above actually has more female watchers than male (barely), and that is Haikyuu!!. This is similar in the case of Yuri On Ice (figure skating anime with a male lead). I believe the primary reason for this is relatability because while the cast consists of primarily of boys, volleyball and figure skating are sports dominated by the female demographic. In fact, if you look at the statistics from satista.com here, you will notice just how big of a gender difference there is in the sport.

Therefore, I believe that it can be comfortably deduced anime is not a medium inherently for boys but one that is targeted to be consumed by men. This is evident by the fact that there is an abundance of sports anime such as boxing, soccer, basketball, baseball which are all sports dominated by men leading to the anime being dominated by men as well.

Of course there are slice of life and romance anime that needs to be talked about however, both genders tend to enjoy these because at least this genre requires the creators to focus on two characters with equal character development.

But even this genre of anime can be argued to be targeted towards the male demographic because more often than not, they also come with other genres such as harem and ecchi, both of which are turn offs for women.

Fanservice

Anime is a medium that is riddled with fan service. It wouldn’t be a surprise if a girl turned on something like Prison School or High School DxD then associate anime into a certain category never to be touched again. While Prison School is one of my favourite anime series, I can certainly understand the frustration with the fanservice. This is what stopped me from watching something like Free! There is nothing wrong with the anime and I have nothing against it personally, but I can understand that I’m not the intended target audience. What is unfortunate is that there aren’t many anime like Free! to garner more female audience.

One anime that perfectly balances this aspect is Kuroko no Basket. The anime has equal amounts of fanservice for both genders to enjoy with equally attractive characters (in my opinion) such as Satsuki Momoi and players like Ryōta Kise. While you can argue that Momoi is more sexualised than her male counterparts, there is only one of her but a bountiful number of attractive boys in the anime. But again, this anime is more of the exception than the norm.