One Piece is a pirate adventure manga created by the iconic writer and artist Eiichiro Oda who launched the series in 1997 and it is ongoing to this day. In 1999, Toei Animation, the same studio behind Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, launched an anime adaption that also continues to this day. 

It was brought to the United States thanks to 4Kids who edited it into a kid's show, but Funimation later did a full release of the first several seasons before Crunchyroll took over. 

I decided to begin a journey through the anime and join Monkey D. Luffy, a rubber man who wants to find the ONE PIECE. It is the lost treasure of legendary pirate Gold Roger who declared before his execution, "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you'll just have to find it!"

Inspired by one of his mentors, Luffy sets sail to gather a ship and crew in the first season of the anime, known by some as the East Blue Saga, as that is the ocean it takes place in.

The pirate captain Alvida (Kathleen Delaney) finds a barrel floating in the ocean which, to her surprise, contains Monkey D. Luffy (Colleen Clinkenbeard), a pirate who ate the "Gum Gum Devil Fruit" and is now a rubber man. After defeating her and her crew, he saves Koby (Leah Clark) who dreams of becoming a Marine, the archenemy of the Pirates. Luffy sets about recruiting a crew including swordmaster Roronoa Zoro (Christopher Sabat), the navigator Nami (Luci Christian), crafty coward Usopp (Sonny Strait), and chef Sanji (Eric Vale).

They acquire the ship Going Merry and set sail as the Straw Hat Pirates for the Grand Line, a current believed to lead to the One Piece treasure. Despite Luffy's plucky attitude, they encounter other fearsome pirates, monsters, bounty hunters, greedy bureaucrats, and corrupt Marines who want to stop them. 

I will be honest, the show felt like a little bit of a chore to get through as Luffy was gathering his crew. You can tell a lot of these early episodes were fillers to stretch, no pun intended, the season out a bit so that the manga could publish more stories. However, once Zoro in particular, but the rest of the crew in general, are recruited, it starts to get good. 

Luffy is a charismatic character who I would describe as plucky. He is optimistic and despite being a pirate, he has no desire to pillage or plunder, but to become the King of the Pirates by finding the One Piece. He is not someone you would expect to be a pirate, much less a captain, but somehow you glom to his happy-go-lucky attitude that often irks the rest of the crew. 

Oda and, by extension, Toei do a good job of making the rest of the crew feel unique. Zoro is serious, strategic, and confident. Nami is brisk, blunt, and pessimistic. Usopp is adventurous and hesitant but has some inner strength. Sanji is disinterested, caring only about his skills as a chef, as well as the attention of the ladies. This makes them seem like an unlikely group, but they manage to come together when it counts. 

As for the enemies, many are truly terrifying. Buggy (Mike McFarland) is the most terrifying, especially after he allies with a newly reformed Alvida (Laurie Steele). The two of them only care about destruction and vengeance on Luffy. They plan on following him into the Grand Line, especially after their showdown in Loguetown, the place where Gold Roger was executed. Many of the other opponents were interesting, but those two had my attention. 

It also has that retro anime feel with how the animation runs. The exaggerated expressions, slow motion action, sped-up action, shiny power-ups, and a strong sense of adventure. I look forward to continuing this quest and seeing what new opponents the Straw Hat Pirates will face. 

One Piece is a pirate adventure manga created by the iconic writer and artist Eiichiro Oda who launched the series in 1997 and it is ongoing to this day. In 1999, Toei Animation, the same studio behind Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon, launched an anime adaption that also continues to this day. 

It was brought to the United States thanks to 4Kids who edited it into a kid's show, but Funimation later did a full release of the first several seasons before Crunchyroll took over. 

I decided to begin a journey through the anime and join Monkey D. Luffy, a rubber man who wants to find the ONE PIECE. It is the lost treasure of legendary pirate Gold Roger who declared before his execution, "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you'll just have to find it!"

Inspired by one of his mentors, Luffy sets sail to gather a ship and crew in the first season of the anime, known by some as the East Blue Saga, as that is the ocean it takes place in.

The pirate captain Alvida (Kathleen Delaney) finds a barrel floating in the ocean which, to her surprise, contains Monkey D. Luffy (Colleen Clinkenbeard), a pirate who ate the "Gum Gum Devil Fruit" and is now a rubber man. After defeating her and her crew, he saves Koby (Leah Clark) who dreams of becoming a Marine, the archenemy of the Pirates. Luffy sets about recruiting a crew including swordmaster Roronoa Zoro (Christopher Sabat), the navigator Nami (Luci Christian), crafty coward Usopp (Sonny Strait), and chef Sanji (Eric Vale).

They acquire the ship Going Merry and set sail as the Straw Hat Pirates for the Grand Line, a current believed to lead to the One Piece treasure. Despite Luffy's plucky attitude, they encounter other fearsome pirates, monsters, bounty hunters, greedy bureaucrats, and corrupt Marines who want to stop them. 

I will be honest, the show felt like a little bit of a chore to get through as Luffy was gathering his crew. You can tell a lot of these early episodes were fillers to stretch, no pun intended, the season out a bit so that the manga could publish more stories. However, once Zoro in particular, but the rest of the crew in general, are recruited, it starts to get good. 

Luffy is a charismatic character who I would describe as plucky. He is optimistic and despite being a pirate, he has no desire to pillage or plunder, but to become the King of the Pirates by finding the One Piece. He is not someone you would expect to be a pirate, much less a captain, but somehow you glom to his happy-go-lucky attitude that often irks the rest of the crew. 

Oda and, by extension, Toei do a good job of making the rest of the crew feel unique. Zoro is serious, strategic, and confident. Nami is brisk, blunt, and pessimistic. Usopp is adventurous and hesitant but has some inner strength. Sanji is disinterested, caring only about his skills as a chef, as well as the attention of the ladies. This makes them seem like an unlikely group, but they manage to come together when it counts. 

As for the enemies, many are truly terrifying. Buggy (Mike McFarland) is the most terrifying, especially after he allies with a newly reformed Alvida (Laurie Steele). The two of them only care about destruction and vengeance on Luffy. They plan on following him into the Grand Line, especially after their showdown in Loguetown, the place where Gold Roger was executed. Many of the other opponents were interesting, but those two had my attention. 

It also has that retro anime feel with how the animation runs. The exaggerated expressions, slow motion action, sped-up action, shiny power-ups, and a strong sense of adventure. I look forward to continuing this quest and seeing what new opponents the Straw Hat Pirates will face. 

Chillin' in My 30s After Getting Fired from the Demon King's Army is a comedic fantasy anime from the Japanese animation studio Encourage Films. It is an adaption of the manga by Rurekuchie who based it on a light novel series by Rokujūyon Okazawa and artist Sage Joh.

Dariel (Tomokazu Sugita) is a demon who lacks any magic power. As a result, he has become an administrator and essentially runs the Demon King's kingdom. After the war with the humans ends at a standstill, the newly appointed general Bashvaza (Atsushi Abe) fires him. Dariel ventures into the human world since he looks like one and happens to save the human woman Malika (Akane Fujita), who instantly falls in love with him. She takes him back to her village which borders the Demon Lands and he uses his skills to help it, even negotiating a deal with a nearby mine run by rock creatures called Knockers who know him. However, he faces unique challenges at every step including the outbreak of another war. 

For parents, be prepared for minor foul language, action violence, and some crude humor, but nothing gross. 

While the animation is very good, it did not blow me away. A lot of the characters resembled the tropes they were representing and that is fine, but it did not stand out. That being said, the magical abilities were very well done and captured my eye. It was truly a sticking point to the show. 

Dariel is a character you can cheer for. He starts on with who you would consider the bad guys or "demons." In this world, demons can use magic naturally while humans have to use weapons or other instruments to channel it. Dariel's place in this works very well as he goes from soldier to town mayor, settles down, and learns a startling secret to his past. It blended very well and watching his journey was very interesting. 

This is an aside, but the Knockers were cute little creatures. They added the extra seasoning to this and I was glad they were not a one-off group, but appeared multiple times. 

Now, the ending did feel a bit rushed. With only twelve episodes, I was fully expecting a cliffhanger, but it was tied up in a bow, but a wrinkled one. They kept hinting at other future story arcs, but none came to fruition and I think the studio knew it was not getting renewed so they just wrapped it up. There was nothing wrong with how it ended, it just needed another punch. That being said, it was still a very compelling story and one that is worth exploring.