Close friends chase their dreams in high-seas adventure.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 11+?
Any Positive Content?
Violence & Scariness
a lot
A wide range of violence, from slapstick comedy antics to brutal fights between rival pirates. During the action scenes, weapons such as swords, knives, martial arts, guns, and even various superpowers are used. Though characters can be grievously injured almost to the point of death, death isn't all that common and is rarely shown on screen. The main cast, while pirates, only resort to violence if there's no other alternative, and there are moments when the more aggressive characters are shown that violence will only make matters worse.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
During some of their lighter moments, some characters are shown drinking alcohol to the point of intoxication, but they don't do anything too outrageous. A few characters -- such as Sanji and Captain Smoker -- also smoke cigarettes and cigars, respectively.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
The show's main themes are the pursuit of dreams and the importance of friendship. The Straw Hat crew always put others before themselves and will go out of their way to help people in need -- but only if they demonstrate their honest passion about what they hold dear.
Positive Role Models
a lot
As a pirate, Monkey D. Luffy knows he's not a saint -- but despite his career choice, he's very kind and courageous and has unbridled determination when it comes to protecting his crew and becoming the new pirate king. The rest of the main crew are fairly worthwhile role models in how, despite their very different backgrounds, they behave very much like a close family.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that One Piece, while cartoonish in its animation and humor, has many very serious and dramatic moments. As pirates, the Straw Hat crew are willing to put their lives on the line in order to achieve their goals. This leads to a lot of serious conflicts in which characters die or come close to death. There are currently two English dubs of this anime, one by 4Kids Entertainment (which has been discontinued) and another by Funimation Studios. The Funimation dub includes more mature language (including "s--t" and "bastard"), and some of the fight sequences include large amounts of blood (especially during the sword fights). There can also be a bit of sexual humor, but it's very mild.
I think my 'totally existent' kids would LOVE this anime, as it tells a lot about friendship, loyalty, fictional history, and character development. It also has a lot of action and comedy which I am 100% sure would be entertaining for Kids.
This review is in regards of both the manga and the anime. I see some kids and adults bringing up 4kids but they lost the rights back in 2006 so any English dub you find online is going to be the funimation versions. The Funimation dub and the Japanese with English subtitles are both uncut and unedited. There's less cursing in the manga than the anime. One of the early episodes in the anime Luffy is protecting a dogs treasure from a hairy man and his lion and because the hairy man and his lion destroyed the dogs treasure Luffy decided to kick their "a$$". In the manga, because they destroyed the dogs treasure he decided to "clobber" them instead. There is some cursing and violence. There's bloody scenes but nothing gory. In the anime the sexualization of female characters is extremely tamed at first. Starting in the 200's and later it gradually gets worse to the point where as an adult you're rolling your eyes. The manga, on the other hand keeps the sexualization tamed. There are moments but in comparison to the anime it's as if you're looking at two different genres of the same series. If you pay attention to who are the animators for which episodes then over time you'd be able to tell if the animation is going to focus on the sexualization of the female characters. As for unrealistic body proportions, I'd say this is true for both the male and female characters but it works due to the art style. Even though the viz translations early on are kind of meh due to them being similar to 4kids translations since they were both being done at the same time, I'd still recommend the manga over the anime and I'm saying this as someone that prefers animation over still drawings. The translations in the English version of the manga does get better as the series progresses, however, any mistakes in translations early on are kept to keep consistency within the series.
Now, the manga is a lot less sexualized than the anime, but it's more graphic in terms of violence than the anime. The anime also cuts out characters flipping another character off while the manga shows it. There's also more blood and not more violence but the way the violence is carried out is a bit more extreme in the manga. So, in the manga and the anime the violence/sexualization is flipped when it comes to what is more prominent. Also, in the manga, you get Q&A from the author himself from readers at the time that the volumes were published in Japan. Since the questions are generally coming from young teenager boys or even pre-teen boys in Japan you'll get some sexual curiosity questions. Like, what are Nami's body proportions, or since Luffy can stretch due to being rubber does that mean that his privates can also stretch. Due to all of that,I'd have to say that this series is for 13+ for a general audience but ultimately you'd have to decide based on your knowledge of how mature your own children are if you want to let them watch it at a younger age.
Lastly, for adults, there are a lot of themes and messages that will go over even teenagers heads and even if it doesn't go over their heads it will hit them differently as a teen than it does as an adult. What I've enjoyed out of this series as time progresses is that when I was a teenager it had things that garnered my attention that today as adult I couldn't care less about and themes and messages I didn't care about as a teen I am heavily invested into now. It brings up messages about human trafficking/slaves, corrupt government, racism, sexism, old money, poverty, the values of how both halves live and how there are good and bad from both. It really brings in positive messages about how it doesn't matter if your circumstances are good or bad as that doesn't define who you are as a person. It doesn't matter what sex you are, what race you are, what your sexual orientation is, what your gender identity is . . . the world is gray and what you are does not define who you are. For some people that may be a negative message but to me that is a positive message.
What's the Story?
A 17-year-old boy named Monkey D. Luffy (voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard) dreams of becoming the next pirate king. He sets off to the open ocean to find a ship, gather a crew, and follow the clues to find the lost treasure of the previous pirate king, Gold Rodger. With an entire ocean full of rival pirates -- not to mention the Marines trying to capture them -- the journey won't be an easy one. But with their unbreakable bond, the newly formed Straw Hat crew is willing to take on all this and more in order to make their life-long dreams come true.
Even though One Piece is animated and has very cartoon-like humor, it's a very well-rounded adventure show with as many serious bits as funny ones. While to some that might be a turn off, it does make the crew's journey and struggles all the more realistic.
The characters are unique to the point of quirkiness and really bounce off each other well. It's hard not to smile at some of the crew's antics -- and even harder not to cry for them when they go through a tough time. While One Piece is anything but a children's show, older tweens and up can have a fun romp while watching this gem of a Japanese anime.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what separates Luffy and the Straw Hat crew from the other pirates seen in the show. Does this make them good or bad? Can you think of other rascally characters on TV or in the movies that you root for?
How far are you willing to go to achieve your dreams?
How does the violence compare to other anime shows? Does it make the show more realistic or cartoonish?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
