I think this might be the best moment on HN, to talk about my my love of 'One Piece'. The highest selling comic-book by a single author of all time. The joy of

I think this might be the best moment on HN, to talk about my my love of 'One Piece'. The highest selling comic-book by a single author of all time. The joy of exploration, 'cool' moments, downright insane attacks, friendship and slapstick humor appealed to 10 yr old me. 20 years from then, it is still the best work of fantasy fiction I have ever read. Oda has managed to preserve all of those moments of childlike joy and unbridled creativity, while injecting societally relevant themes of authoritarianism, discrimination, the complex nature of morality and art that moves the genre forward, in a manner that is superior to a lot of grim-dark works meant to do exactly that. The current arc exemplifies that quality, 25 years since it started. Calling a manga with 500 million sales underrated is ridiculous, but I find that it is still not appreciated enough in American & 'critic' spaces. Here in the US, it is common to ignore manga because of the stereotypes that come with certain genres within it. However, I find that Japan's best artists & story-tellers find manga as their medium for expression more often than western counterparts. I find that American culture tends to invade American media in a way that demands attention until the next 'big' issue is identified. Every community is forced to comment on the one issue, in a manner that kills all diversity and 'magic' from creative works. It feels lazy and repetitive. To some degree, it might do some good for American culture and American media to reorient towards more localized concerns, and not care so much about what is ruling the 1st-page of the new cycle.