Summary
- One Piece is the clear winner among the Big 3 Shonen manga, thanks to its extensive length, emotional moments, surprising twists, and well-developed side characters.
- With over 1000 chapters, One Piece's massive length allows for an intricately interconnected story that fans can deeply invest in and love.
- One Piece sures Naruto and Bleach in of emotional peaks, shocking plot twists, well-developed side characters, intriguing mysteries, and a compelling main cast, making it the best of the Big 3.
There has been debate among fans since the series were first being published in One Piece, Naruto, or Bleach was the best of the bunch. While there are arguments that can be made for each series, in 2024 the best answer to this question is easily One Piece. This isn't just because it is still being serialized and the others aren't, it is instead because One Piece is arguably the best it has ever been right now.
Eiichiro Oda's manga about a young boy named Luffy setting off to become the pirate King has grown into something much larger than that over time. The ragtag crew of the Straw Hat Pirates have become major players in the world at large and the stakes of the story have risen to match that. The current Egghead Island arc is revealing the answers to major questions that fans have been speculating about for decades while still developing the characters involved in satisfying ways. But Egghead Island is the product of a variety of factors that make One Piece better than Naruto and Bleach.
10 There's More of One Piece To Love
One Piece has over 1100 chapters
Both Bleach and Naruto were long-running series, but neither managed to make it to over 1000 chapters. One Piece has, and while length alone wouldn't normally be an argument for quality, the way Oda has used the series’ massive length enhances the story. One Piece is constantly building on itself, with no event occurring in a vacuum. Over the course of 25 years, all these events have built up into an incredibly interconnected story that wouldn't be possible to tell in a shorter amount of chapters. Its longer chapter length also allows fans to become even more invested in the story and have more of it to love.
Naruto has 700 chapters and Bleach has 686 chapters.
9 One Piece Has the Best Emotional Moments
One Piece's flashbacks just hit different
Both Bleach and Naruto have their fair share of gut-wrenching moments, but they can't match One Piece in of the number and intensity of these emotional peaks. Not every emotional moment in One Piece lands, especially in the early chapters where Oda is still refining his craft. But the best moments in One Piece like Robin saying she wants to live in Enies Lobby or Kuma's tragic past don’t just sur anything else in the Big 3, they also are better than almost anything else in Shonen manga. With each new arc bringing even more of these gutwrenching s, One Piece is only going to keep suring Bleach and Naruto in this regard.
8 One Piece Has the Best Twists
One Piece can still surprise its fans after 25 years
One Piece broke the internet when its anime adapted the infamous scene of Luffy awakening his Devil Fruit, revealing it is actually the Mythical Zoan Fruit of the Sun God Nika. This moment turned 25 years of established lore on its head and it is hardly the only major twist that the series has featured in recent years. While Naruto and Bleach both had a number of iconic twists as well, especially in the latter’s Soul Society arc, they don’t come close to reveals like this. Even after years of fans analyzing every of the series, One Piece can still surprise its readers.
7 One Piece Has the Best Side Characters
One Piece gives minor characters major depth
Not every side character in One Piece gets the development that fans may want, but even so most of them easily outclass the side characters in Naruto and Bleach. The perfect example of this is Señor Pink, a minor antagonist in the Dressrosa arc. Pink initially appeared to be a goofy character until he received a flashback that tragically contextualized his silly design. Even characters who don’t get their own backstories often feel more real than one-off characters in other manga. This helps the world of One Piece feel a lot more lived in and real, which is essential for a manga with such a focus on its own geopolitics.
One Piece also develops its side characters through cover stories.
6 One Piece Has the Best Mysteries
One Piece fans have spent decades theorycrafting
One Piece has one of the most dedicated fanbases in manga and a big reason for this is the manga’s many mysteries. Despite being over 1000 chapters long there are still a myriad of compelling questions that the series has not answered yet. These include such fundamental mysteries as what exactly the One Piece even is. They also include more important questions such as who the mysterious villain Im is and what happened during the Void Century. While Naruto and Bleach may have featured some major mysteries during their runs, they were nowhere near as multifaceted and compelling as the questions One Piece fans have been trying to answer for almost the entire series.
5 One Piece Has the Best Main Cast
One Piece's Straw Hats are great
All of the Big Three have a core cast of characters surrounding the protagonist. Naruto has his friends in Team 7 and Ichigo has his high school friends, although in Bleach’s case, the importance of those characters fade as time goes on. However, even though Naruto handles its main cast better than Bleach, One Piece’s Straw Hats easily take the cake as the best main cast in the Big 3. Every Straw Hat is an important part of the story and has their own fully fleshed-out backstories and dreams. Although some were occasionally absent during certain arcs, the crew is still the beating heart of the series and whenever they interact in One Piece it is a joy to read.
4 One Piece Has the Best Overarching Plot
One Piece's story is truly epic
While the quality of each of these series may vary from arc to arc, in of the overarching story One Piece easily has Naruto and Bleach outclassed. Although the scale of One Piece’s story has grown as the Straw Hats have become more powerful, the original end goal of Luffy finding the One Piece and becoming pirate king has not changed. However, the ramifications of this happening have become more clear as more has been revealed about One Piece’s world and the coverup surrounding the Void Century. This has led to each arc in the series feeling like a smaller battle in the larger war against the World Government and the other powerful but evil pirates like Blackbeard.
Many fans think the series won't end when Luffy finds the One Piece, instead concluding with a major war
3 One Piece Has the Best Main Character
Luffy is better than Naruto and Ichigo
The best main character of the Big 3 has been a hotly debated topic, with Luffy, Naruto, and Ichigo all having their ardent ers. However, while Luffy may be the most simple of these characters, this is precisely what makes him the best. Luffy is the embodiment of freedom, both in of his Devil Fruit and his personality. This causes him to do whatever he wants regardless of the consequences, which often drives the plot forward in interesting ways. It also makes the often subtle moments of growth he does experience even more satisfying. Ichigo and Naruto are both great characters in their own right but they can’t compare to Luffy.
2 One Piece Uses Its Themes Best
One Piece's themes are central to its plot
One Piece at its core is a story about the struggle between freedom and control. The World Government epitomizes unjust subjugation and pirates like Blackbeard represent the dangers of anarchy. Luffy and his crew lie somewhere in the middle, which is shown again and again in each arc of the story. These smaller arcs have their own pertinent themes such as overcoming national trauma or the dangers of discrimination, which often tie into the climax of the arc in a satisfying way. Naruto and Bleach also deal with broader questions and themes, but the way that One Piece explores its themes is much more complex and satisfying than those manga.
1 One Piece Has the Best Worldbuilding
One Piece's world is superb
Naruto and Bleach both have interesting settings that fans love to explore. However, every new island introduced in One Piece is just as complex as those settings. These islands are also vastly different from each other like the futuristic Egghead Island and the much more historic land of the samurai Wano. Each of these complex settings also has its own place in the broader world, which is fascinating in its own right. In an adventure story like One Piece, the world is as important an aspect as the characters and plot, which makes it vitally important that it is great. This is just one important reason why One Piece is the best of Shonen Jump’s Big 3.
