Hell I thought it was fucken ugly at first and the show looked so retarded, stupid looking stretch armstorng kid dressed like a fisherman teams up with a zoro knock off who carries a blood sword in his mouth and dicknose guy.
One of my friends after watching it on holiday in germany kept nagged me for good 5 months to watch it(funny thing is he never really understood what was being said and still enjoyed it), I only started to watch it so I could trash it (I was 15 dont judge me).
Controversial opinion - One piece is the greatest anime ever created (530eps on and it still hasn't betrayed me, it only got more awesome)
I know its uncool around here to like mainstream shows but Ive been watching anime for most of my life (around 18 years) none of it could prepare me for the epic, hilarious and emotional journey I was going to embark on.
I set off with hate in my heart but By arlong park arc the show vanquished the darkness in my heart and sent it back to the shadow realm.
ussop vs chuu - the first time I laugh so hard when watching anime that I fell off my chair.
I had a sort of similar experience.
I had a friend nagging me forever to watch, and it just didn't seem like something I thought I'd like, so I went into it sort of resisting the idea that I'd like it. I eventually kinda started to like it like... near the end of the Baroque Works Saga, and after that it started to sort of snowball as my attachment to the characters grew, I started to care about what was happening more, and it started to have this cyclical effect. It's something that can happen with anything, but it had an enormous effect on One Piece for many.
Then after I caught up, I watched it again a couple years later with a friend starting from the beginning, and suddenly all the stuff I'd been a bit bored by at the beginning was great, and the stuff that I thought was pretty good was much better than I'd remembered.
you enjoyed the filler episodes? the ridiculous recap episodes and the really padded episodes? (jesus christ sky island)
Its a lot of peoples favourite anime, but saying that it never betrayed you is questionable
I actually loved Sky Island (hi, cosmicblizzard; you've found a live one!).
And with regards to filler and recap episodes, I never watched them, and since I was starting the show when there were like... 400+ episodes, I was marathoning the series, so I wasn't really bothered by the padding.
I prefer marathoning whenever possible, so right now I'm like... a year and a half behind on the anime and about a year behind on the manga, so pacing issues like that usually don't effect me the way they do people watching week to week.