Hey everyone, so like every year, I’m doing an update for the new year where I reflect back at the old year and look forward to what we can expect in the new one. Given how this year went I decided to be more honest and serious about the matter and properly talk about the problems that happened across this year, but while it might be a bit long, it would mean a lot if you took the time to read it out for me.
For the fun of it I decided to format it similarly to Oda’s Jump Festa year-in-review messages, but if you find it uncomfortable to read from an image just scroll down for the text version.
(click on the image to enlarge it)
Hello everyone! 2020 has just ended and looking back on it, it’s been quite the hard year… or was it?
Honestly, I’ve never been a fan of overgeneralizing years for everyone. The individual years of every single person are so fundamentally different that it feels silly to consider a year universally good or bad. That said though, there is no denying how tragic the spread of Corona across 2019 and 2020 has been. It really hasn’t been as equally hard on everyone which is why I feel it it doesn’t feel right to generalize it so much considering how lucky some of us have been all things considered, but to anyone who has been seriously affected by the loss of a loved one, or even by economical hardship or by sheer stress, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you can heal and recover over time.
Yet, for completely different reasons unrelated to these events, 2020 has coincidentally been incredibly hard on me. Potentially one of the hardest years of my life. It was mostly a result of a series of negative events all happening at once at certain points and the loss of things important to me that really tested the limits of my mental and physical health. I don’t like to talk about this stuff much since I don’t like worrying others, but while I know it wasn’t as bad as those who’ve had it the worst and I’d never dare to pretend that’s the case, there were points in this year where it felt like a struggle to just push on.
Unfortunately, while it’s not really comparable to my personal life struggles, 2020 has also been one of the most difficult years for my content as well. For starters, 2020 just had less chapters, less events, and less stuff to cover as a One Piece fan. But I had even bigger problems than that: I was very happy about finally switching to the official release at the end of 2019, but the truth is that it had a horrible effect on my views. While my site has been growing and has made up over time, for a long while my content has decreased in views and viewers since it depends a lot on relevance algorithms on search engines (it’s quite a bit different from YouTube too, where the transition isn’t as bad), so while I was happy to do something I’ve wanted to do for so long, it was also demoralizing to be punished for it. I know many other content creators who are also afraid to do the same for this very reason and it just sucks.
A lot of people also took the matter very… very personally. I already imagined, which is what took the transition so long to happen in 2019 since I was dreading this, but I ended up getting a lot of harassment for switching to the official release, both from scan followers who wanted my content right away and from official followers saying I was only doing it for clout, etc. I made some mistakes along the way in handling it, I know fully well I did and I’ve owned up to them, but some people just kept condemning me for it all. There were also other similar instances, such as people sending me threats for referring to Yamato as male (not referring to anyone who disagreed with me here, nothing wrong with that, I’m specifically mentioning those that sent me direct threats), and other silly things like that. I know these are just petty comments I should ignore, but the sheer amount of them at some points became almost a bit overwhelming when coupled with how depressed I was at times, to the point they had a serious negative effect on me.
In that regard you could say that 2020 was pretty awful for me in a lot of ways, but… I could never really say that myself. I know it’s mostly played for laughs, but the idea of blaming a four digit number for all of life’s problems just feels silly to me. For all the struggles life has thrown at me this year, and all the regrets I might’ve had, I could never say I regret living through this year. Despite all the sorrow it has thrown at me, there were bright times among that darkness.
Switching to the official might’ve hurt the relevance of my content, yet being able to work from the official Japanese release made it so much higher quality by being able to analyze how Japanese is used in One Piece, and I feel I’ve learned to be much more professional and careful when approaching these things to become a trusted source of information. And as someone who has always liked supporting series officially, it’s so relieving to finally support Oda officially.
The Yamato drama might’ve been stressful but fuck it all, Yamato’s one of my favorite characters in recent times and no dumb discussion can take away how much I love him. Even the lack of overall content to cover was made up by the absolutely legendary event that was the release of Return to the Reverie; the sheer hype and emotion around those days of releasing it was absolutely incredible and I’m really happy I was able to bring such an ambitious project to fruition. I also have to thank Gemini for working with me to the end and being such a great friend. The stuff we created this year has been nothing short of incredible and I’ve felt very proud to finally see her grow so much as an artist and creator. Furthermore, by the end of the year, I was finally able to get into a rhythm of uploading weekly and my channel has been blowing up since with a massive amount of support I can’t thank you enough for. It really feels like things have turned around.
Obviously, there’s also been a lot of personal issues, which have been far bigger than those related to my content. But like I said, at the same time, there were also pockets of hope across this year. So I could never bring myself to say that I’ve hated or regretted living through 2020. I don’t want the hardships I’ve endured to make me have any regrets. Because even the struggles have made me a better and stronger person and have made me even more capable to overcome anything life might throw at me in the future.
I know it’s hard to think of the positives when the human brain tends to focus so much on the negatives, but I hope there is something positive you can take out of this year as well. So for everything you’ve given to me, good or bad, thank you 2020. Farewell.
Okay, that’s enough of being sappy! The future is here and 2021 is already getting exciting!! Woo!!!
We’re kicking off with the legendary release of Chapter 1000 and wether the chapter lives or doesn’t live to expectations doesn’t even matter, because its advent alone is something worth celebrating. In fact, it is something we will be celebrating! I’ve got a really big surprise coming alongside the release of Chapter 1000 that you’ll be hearing about very soon, potentially the biggest crossover we’ve ever pulled off as a community!! And in terms of my own content, there’s a lot of things I want to cover this upcoming year. I really hope to finally grow my YouTube channel (while also still keeping my site going, don’t worry) and to interact with a lot of the wonderful folks from all over the world. I have so much to look forward to!
But it’s not fair to just speak vaguely like this, right? So let me leave you with a proper sneak peek: A year ago, during the release of Chapter 967, I had hinted at the fact I had developed a very strong idea of what the One Piece is!! At first I felt like there was no way it could be, yet the more time that passed across the year, the more certain I’ve become of it. I’m not Oda and it’s obviously just a theory, so I hope I’m not sounding conceited, yet it makes so much undeniable sense in my head that I hope you can at least allow me to be a bit confident about my prediction.
But I’m not going to be annoying and keep it a secret.
This year, I finally spill the beans!!! Not on just that, but on everything else I’ve been holding on for years. This year I hope to bring to fruition some of the biggest projects I’ve ever worked on, so I hope you can look forward to those! Expect some proper announcements around the end of January or so.
There’s a lot of other things I wish to pull off this year on a personal level as well. For a very long time I’ve been hoping for 2021 to be the year where I move to Japan (not permanently for life obviously, but at least for a good while). Obviously with the current situation a lot of this depends on regulations and seeing how things shift, and I also need to make sure my mental health is in its best state so I can pull everything off, but while I wouldn’t mind if I need to wait just a little longer to make sure all goes right, I’d really like to be able to pull it off this year, alongside other things in my personal life as well. So while some of this stuff might not affect you so much directly in terms of my content, I hope you can still join me as I go on this journey.
So here is to a great 2021! To those of you who have also struggled across 2020, I hope 2021 can help you heal and recover, and I hope that all of you are also able to make something special out of 2021 so you can look back at it fondly.
Thank you all for your neverending support. You guys mean the world to me. I love you all!
1/1/2021 ~Artur
The Library of Ohara 
Thanks for your kind words and your top-notch content. I hope you will be able to fulfil your dreams.
Greetings.
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I am not sure if you will ever read this Sir Artur, but please do not let you affect by negative comments or threats you receive. The work you do is an enrichment for the world of One Piece. There will always be some Morgans or Akainus, but keep in mind, there are also a lot of Nakama on the other side.
“Destiny. Fate. Dreams. These unstoppable ideas are held deep in the heart of man. As long as there are people who seek freedom in this life, these things shall not vanish from the Earth.” – Gol D Roger
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I… I simply forgot that you waited for the official release, I just though you needed time to compile all that information. I’ve waited patiently for every of your releases and will continue to do so.
I’m sorry to hear about the threats, it’s sad… but fits the expectations I have of the world. Cyberbullying is hard, specially if you can’t simply cut ties. What some people do is have a man in the middle of communications that filter those (but that means employees).
I’m eager to see your One Piece hypothesis (and lowkey hope you’re wrong haha). What I believe, is that discovering what the One Piece is won’t be on the last episode. I don’t think the expectations placed on it are so small that fit in one episode, and that “item” or “discovery” or “knowledge” will require to be put to use for us to understand the repercussions of it completely. Provably will become the catalyst for the last arc of the story.
Happy new year and good luck.
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Hey Artur, I just wanted to say how much it means to me as a trans masculine/enby person that you keep using he/him pronouns for Yamato. Even if in the manga it ends up being a joke as the people who are outraged at it (ehm, transphobes, ehm) keep claiming, right now the information we have is that Yamato wishes to be referred to as a man, and we should respect that. If at some point we get an update on his preferred pronouns I will definitely switch to those, but for now as someone who knows how shitty it feels to be misgendered I will keep using he/him, and thank you so much for doing the same, it is very validating.
I hope you have a nice year (or at the very least not worse than the last), and I hope you can move to Japan! Best of luck with everything!
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Thank you Artur 🙂 have a great year!
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Hell yeah man, I’m glad to hear your positivity and enthusiasm persevering through the year! Best of luck to you with your move and all the other exciting stuff you have going on this year; know that I look forward to your content every release and appreciate you for all the hard work you do!
Kanpai!
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Hello Artur, I comment your poste often as “Don_di_Age” giving you feedback on your analysis – both negative and positive.
I think that humankind concentrates itself too often on the negative things…and does not really acknowledge some effort accordingly.
While I obviously don’t know you, it makes me sad to read that you are insulted but some nor-do-wells regatding Yamato and other stuff.
Those people, and I want to make this point very clear, do not represent the vast majority. I belong to it – approximazely each week I look into your analysis – it became a standard procedure for me to read your analysis, to see that I failed to remark some points etc.
Artur, you receive way too less recognition for what you do – as far as I see it, you are a highly intelligent, emotional and in the same way objective human…I sincerly see you as a heavy-weight in One Piece’s…no, the whole manga’s fandom and I wish you a healthy 2021, where you can achieve your dreams and where you receive the credits which you deserve.
Most sincerly, a fellow fan of One Piece and admirer of your work as a professional and as a person from Germany,
Don di Age
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Thank you for working so hard to give us this amazing One Piece content! Whenever I finish a chapter, my first thoughts go to the great analysis I know you’re going to put out. Have a happy new year! 🙂
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Thank you for working so hard to give us this amazing One Piece content! Whenever I finish a chapter, my first thoughts go to the great analysis I know you’re going to put out. Have a happy new year! 🙂
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Hey Arthur, that’s the very first time I comment here on your site. I’ve been following you since the end of 2019 if I’m not wrong and I always loved your work. You’re the most reliable source to me in the fandom and I hope you can achieve everything you had planned. Can’t wait to see what’s next in 2021, happy new year from Brazil.
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You are and have always been doing amazing, Artur. You don’t need a proof for this testament, as everyone cherishes your contents and recognise your hard work.
It was noticeable how Yamato drama has escalated. Personally, although I never commented on the matter, I believed otherwise; she is a “her”… Nevertheless, to know that among this party, few would aggressively threaten you as such, just wow! So so soo sorry about that Artur.
Till now, all of your projects are fascinating and god knows how they amuse us (encyclopedias, Return to Reverie, etc.). In my case, your contents become equivalent to official chapters, I wait patiently for the next Chapter Secrets, always checking for any new articles. Furthermore, with YouTube channel now, dayuwm more entertaining than ever! So please don’t stop your creativity.
Congratulation for moving to Japan, I wish if you had a personal v/blog sharing a bit about of your journey to Japan, talk on your personal life and your memorable moments, it would be great. Your trip to Japan will also increase the reliability of the information that you provide, as well as enhancing your Japanese-skills for better translation and further the in-depth analysis.
This accumulation of said skills will be HIGHLY recommended in countless manga communities, especially after the ending of serialisation of One Piece. Which makes me wonder: what manga would you focus on afterwards?
In the other hand, I wish if we could receive the same amount of dedication in terms of creating similar contents, however, for other manga (although we know how just only one is already consuming your personal and professional time).
Anyways, much love brother, we love you.
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Hi, Arthur happy new year man!
First, thanks for all your hard and amazing work, big fan of yours. I’m always expecting reading your analysis. Also, man the Return to the Reverie, i can’t believe how good and big was this project, and you manage to do it with a lot of other things in your head, amazing.
Also, thanks for sharing your feelings with us, it’s not easy, and sometimes, as you said, we may think that we shouldn’t be complaining for our personal situation if there are people passing trough heavier things from our perspective. But man, our pain is as real as anyone else, and if it help we should talk about it, and seek help if is needed. There is not such thing like and objective measure of pain and suffering, we all have different minds therefore different views about life and happiness, and if this view is not gonna cause suffering to anyone, we should pursuit what makes us feel happy and healthy, and then we can share it with others. Fortunately, everything is impermanent, the good and the bad, nothing last for ever. Life is like roller coaster , if we try to hold so tight we are gonna feel that the speed and changes are gonna break us, so let it be, accept everything that comes, the good and the bad, the changes and the pass of time. Every moment is fresh and full of possibilities.
Happy new year Arthur, my best wishes!
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Man you’ve done great this year plan and simple like you always have been since day one of you have haters your doing something right no worries cause with hate comes more love to overcome it! Also I respect all your opinions in one piece and hold you in highest regards! Also if your free and I’m sure your busy but I have a great idea on a anime I’m working on and would like to tweak your brain if you have time!
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Happy New year Artur, always rooting for you! Take care.
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Thank you Artur, you’ve done great stuff. Keep pushing, hold strong, and let the haters hate, it won’t dim your awesomeness.
Cheers,
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When you said you just had a theory about what’s the one piece after reading chapter 967 I almost jumped off my chair. When I read it a lot of months ago I thought that one piece is binks sake and I made a whole theory about all the story of one piece but I didn’t share it with the community because I’m not very active on social media and I thought that it was a theory more of thousands of theories. If I’m right I would love to discuss with you the whole theory because maybe both of us are the fans of the series more close to the one piece!!
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Hello Arthur, this is my first time writing here. I met you this year and I thinks it is amazing the way you create and expand the contents of One Piece, not only in terms of the storytelling but in the way the manga is published. My favorite articles so far are the ones about panneling and onomatopoeias.
So I wish you a great romance for this 2021 and thank you for your work!
(Sorry for the mistakes in the writing, not a great english speaker)
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Thank you.
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(Disclaimer: Maybe I have already sent this comment because I´m still a roocky in this page and i don´t inderstand it very well) When I read you just had a theory about what´s the one piece after reading chapter 967 I almost jumped off my chair. When I read it I thought that one piece is binks sake and I made a whole theory about one piece story, but I didn´t share it cause I thought it was one theory more of the thousands of internet. But if you came at the same conclusion, maybe we´re the fans of the series more close to the one piece!! If I´m right I would love to discuss it with you 🙂
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Hey Arthur,
Thanks for all the amazing work you’ve done.Ignore the haters and be strong.◉‿◉.And a happy New year.
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Hey Artur just wanted to thank you for all your work and wish you a great 2021, I hope you the best for this year. Greetings from spain.
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Artur,
Happy New Year! Thank you for all your hard work and the wonderful content you consistently produce. I know that negative comments can be draining, but take solace in the fact that they’re a loud minority and the majority of your followers appreciate everything you do!
I hope 2021 proves to be a much more positive year for you and the rest of the world, and I’m looking forward to your long-awaited ambitious projects!
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Hey Artur,
Thanks for all your great content over the year. I’m sorry to hear your interpretation of Yamato and switching to officials has caused you such heartache. Know that I respect you more for both those choices. I am looking forwards to the new year since it will have new One Piece, and also new Library entries!
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Best of luck, Artur. Here’s hoping the end of 2020 pushes us all to pursue our goals even more fervently.
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Hi Artur, sorry that people are buttheads but it’s been great following your analysis. I just wanted to say hi as someone who has been following since orojackson but has mostly been lurking since they were laid to rest.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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I’ve been reading One Piece on and off for about fifteen years now, the latest manga release when I switched from anime was the one with the walk to Franky house. It’s hard to be a regular reader of a series like this, so some of my breaks have been years at a time. I picked it back up week-to-week about a year and a half ago and it’s been so rewarding and joyous to keep up with story as it progresses, and you’re a huge part of that. Getting to appreciate so much more detail that Oda places into this grand story is all thanks to yours and others in the one piece community’s hard work. 2020 was up and down, but One Piece content was consistently great. Here’s to another great year of being a one piece fan! Thank you, Artur!
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Hi Artur,
I wanted to thank you for your work 😉
I’m really sad to learn that some people had inappropriate behaviour, because you switched to official schedule. For me one piece is so nice, that I don’t understand why people “waste” a new chapter by reading spoiler or a subpar translation.
Is sad that people can become aggressive, just because they can’t wait a few days.
Anyway, for me it was a pleasant surprise, as I decided to stick to the official around the same time, so I can follow your work without fear of spoil 😉
Thanks again for everything, and happy new year !
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Hi Artur,
Thank you for sharing your story, I got it now that it hasn’t been easy for you as a content creator.
I came across you about 1-2 years now, and I found your content is definitely top-quality. Similar like you, as an OP fan, I wanted to contribute to Oda and just this year I switched to Manga Plus, an official paid platform to read OP. It feels great.
So it is very special to me when you say that you switched to official release. Waiting for your content now really gains a new meaning to it. The similarities between Artur, the #1 OP Librarian and Oda, the Manga God, is that you both have high quality content and authenticity that is quite unparalleled. And for that, I believe that you are allowed to do whatever you feel is necessary for to produce A-grade content. Thanks man for all you do, I really appreciate it.
Will keep supporting you from Patreon. Hope to meet you someday in person my friend.
Greetings from Indonesia.
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Thank you for all your work, and for using what, as far as I can understand, are the actual pronouns implied and stated in the manga for Yamato. I’ve been reading you since I did some research on Bepo’s brother at one point, and also viewed your wonderful timeline at that point. I write one piece fiction, and I often direct people to you as a resource for figuring out times and so on. I can’t actually get the official in English online where I live, so I need to read the scans, but I’m definitely happy to wait for your analysis. There are so many things that I don’t understand until I’ve seen them here, and things like outlining all the obake and bakemono surrounding Big Mom are fabulous, thank you.
I do comment here sometimes. Usually to thank you and give support, but I can’t ever remember which user name I use. You are popular and well-known, and with that, unfortunately, comes a fair amount of flack. But you seem to remain calm and measured, and to maintain your sense of humour. It’s admirable. Especially as you’re still pretty young and I don’t mean that in a condescending way. Anyway, Happy New Year! Here’s to a much more uplifting 2021 for you.
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It deeply saddens me that you have to deal with problems such as harassing and threatening. Even more so now we know how it affected you.
I’ll join the chorus and say this: don’t let those trolls ruin your day. You do exceptionally great work which all TRUE One Piece fans love and appreciate.
I will definitely continue to support your Patreon campaign in the hope to do my part in fulfilling your dreams, both personally and as the amazing One Piece content creator that you are.
Hearty greetings from Germany and a happy new year as well!
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All the very best Sir Arthur..
Wishing u achieve all dat u want to..
Cheers..!!!
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Hey Sir Arthur Greetings from India.
Wish u all the very best for all ur future endeavours.
And wishing u achieve all that u want to in life.
P.S. keep up this best work which u r doin and be strong always.
Cheers..!!
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Hey Arthur, I have always been and will always be a fan of your site. Yamato male-female, official non-official, whatever stance you take, I’ll support you. If Luffy can survive, succeed and strive Ace’s passing, so can you! Ganbatte!!!
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