Finally starting The Great One Piece Re-Re-Reading after, uh, maybe a decade? Going with official English translation because it's more smooth. Part of me still prefers the catcher Japanese names for the fruit, but overall this is the easier read.
Zoro's (Zolo's?) childhood flashback feels a lot clumsier than it did when I was younger, which is hard for me to say because it was a big deal to me back then (though Sanji's would be even more shocking).
The English Jump localization has some really clumsy sound effect redraws, sometimes covering up the art to the point I can't tell what's happening. These were early efforts, though, and will get better.
Oh hey, Oda likes Puyo Puyo. That seems almost... stereotypical of him. 
I would be much more intimidated by this re-re-reading if I hadn't just somehow blown through all 37 volumes of Dai no Daibouken in about a month.
Meanwhile it took me almost a year to read all 14 volumes of Tokyo Ghoul, which I enjoyed much more. I guess it's easy to tune out and eat junk food. Dai didn't compel me to think about the material.
On the Buggy arc now and I'm reminded of how good Oda is at making villains who are threatening incompetents. I first noticed it with Wapol(?). I've never read anything else that does it quite like he does.
From the get-go, Buggy reads as someone whose ambition exceeds his savvy, with an ego inflated by his power. Power without empathy or experience makes for an interesting villain, particularly when juxtaposed with...
Characters like Nami, who lacks power but has experience, and Luffy, who has power and empathy but absolutely no sense.
The fact that Nami is playing both sides for her own benefit, when the others are idiots, makes for really fun dynamic. I couldn't quite parse that as a kid, but I had some awareness that Oda knew how to play with scenarios, especially later on.
Also lol I'm remembering as a kid not really caring about Nami as much because she didn't have a superpower, and thinking she just made things more complicated and difficult, but now that I'm an adult she's awesome and nuanced.
It's a big deal that early in she clarifies she wouldn't stoop to stealing from regular people, only from pirates. She's not just a wrinkle of chaos, she's someone with a plan and allegiances, perpetually undercover.
Always surprised to remember how young Oda was when he started publishing. Another extra space described him as being 17 when the first one-shot for Romance Dawn went out.
