spoiler

(Pictured: One of my favorite moments, from the Marineford arc)

I watched ALL OF IT! All episodes, filler, OVA, specials, Movies, manga cover stories, even the dub voice actor blooper reel.

So many fantastic moments, “good” filler and “bad” filler, side character plots continued in the cover stories, the discussion on this stuff is limitless.

If you have a favorite moment, an OVA you really enjoyed and wished was canon, a movie you didn’t think worked, an underappreciated character you need to discuss, the best parts of the soundtrack, anything at all, let’s talk about it!

Note: Even though I watch the sub and dub interchangeably, I stopped at 1096 where the dub arc is currently halted at. I found that, without a ton of free time to dedicate to the show, I was able to still squeeze in a few episodes during my weight-lifting workouts to keep progressing through it. It’s easy and surprisingly motivating to lift weights to the dub, but near impossible to accurately read the subtitles during intense sets. That said, impatience might cause me to trade sleep or other shows/games/social-stuff for time to watch the subbed 1097 and beyond instead of waiting for the dub.

PSA for new adventure seekers: For anyone like me that loved the anime as a kid but was massively intimidated by how big the growing episode count for one of the longest running shows in history has gotten to now, let me say that you can catch up and it is absolutely worth your time if it’s something you truly want to see. I did things the “hard way” but you can skip the filler, drastically cutting down the episode count and fixing the pacing, and experience an adventure unlike any other. (If the earlier stuff still feels like a slog, maybe wait for the reanimated early seasons that Netflix is putting out).

At some point I’ll post one of those chronological/recommended watch order lists with all the specials, movies, cover stories, etc., put in reasonable timeline order with the main arcs.