The 10 Year Top 10 Podcast Episodes (Patreon)

Hello everyone, my name is Zach and I am the host of The One Piece Podcast. Our tenth anniversary is coming up on May 31, 2019. As part of the celebration, I will be putting together all sorts of special behind-the-scene retrospective material from the last ten years. We will also have some really huge announcements coming in the next few weeks. This will all be EXCLUSIVE for Patreon listeners. This week, I'm going to go through my favorite 10 episodes from the last decade, in chronological order!

Episode 64, "The Godcast"
I am not one to tout the early days of our podcast. The first year or so included a lot of rough takes, a lot of figuring-out-what-we're-doing, and a lot of audio issues that I'd rather forget. I believe this episode, however, was a real solidification of our crew and of our show. On this episode, we take over two hours with J. Michael Tatum to talk about his history with One Piece, his career in voice acting and acting, and have a really amazing conversation (one of many to come). This wasn't our first interview or our most informative interviews, but it was certainly one of my favorite. Shoutouts to Tatum's interviews in Episode 100, "The Marathoncast" with Brina Palencia (Tony Tony Chopper), Episode 128, "Banana Me" and the interview with his Japanese counterpart in Episode 174, "Banana Him".

Episode 75, "Twelve Years Later"
I remember recording this episode during a snow storm in February 2010, with just the four of us around microphones (albeit remotely), quietly contemplating what it meant for Oda to kill off his first character. We have since brought a lot of levity to this moment, but if you want our earnest reactions to one of the most gut-punching events in the series, this is for you. 

Episode 150, "Mugiwara no Podcast"
When people ask me "what episode should I start listening to your podcast from?" or "when do you believe your podcast starts getting good?" or "when do you really hit your groove?" I point to this episode. Colleen Clinkenbeard (Monkey D. Luffy) has always been one of my favorite guests on the show. At the start of 2011 we went to Dallas to peek behind the scenes at Funimation's dub of One Piece and had the chance to talk with all sorts of amazing people. This one was particularly great, as it was our first chance to talk with the actress playing the protagonist of the series. Colleen gets to show off her prophetic abilities, and more, in our first in-person interview. Be sure to also check out our other interviews with Colleen in #OPPDallas, 

Episode 164, "It's All About Strawberry"
From 2010 through 2011, Steve and I recorded the podcast together every Saturday night at his dorm in New York City. You may ask why we chose Saturday nights to record? I can assure you it was not because of my love of wading through hoards of party-goers in the Lower East Side. This episode, along with Episode 163, "Adventures From the Lower East Side" marked the end/beginning of an era. This episode provides a really good slice in time: a look at an Oda interview with Greg, an amazing chapter from the flashback in the Fishman Island Arc, and Strawberry!  C'mon. 

Episode 191, "The Next Voyage Begins"
When this was released back at the end of 2011, I believe I mention that: one day, in the distant future, I will tell the story behind this episode. Prior to its release, the one question we got almost every single day, constant and unwavering, was: "when is Season 4 of One Piece coming out??" We were lucky enough to be the ambassadors of the amazing news that Season 4 of One Piece (which included the beloved Water 7 Arc), was indeed on its way for release in 2012. I remember how much fun it was to hint to this arguably-huge news on social media, and with a big countdown clock on the website. It also was an episode I arguably spent more time editing and compiling than any other -- despite the fact that it's only an hour and fifteen minutes.

Now, the story behind this -- early on in the podcast's history, maybe in 2009, we had begun working with One Piece's brand manager who had been at the helm of the series since its inception. In mid-2011 we recorded a segment announcing Season 4, but were held off because of the inner machinations at work here -- and in that time, the brand manager we had interviewed to announce Season 4 was no longer at the company. Since then, as the more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed, we have had a whole slew of brand managers including: Curtis (featured in this episode), Charlene (who has since moved on to VIZ and Capcom), Josh (featured on many podcast episodes, who has since moved on to HP), and today Paul and Chris. 

This episode took months to put together and clear -- and I put it together in the style of "RadioLab," which, let's be honest, was not quite up to that caliber. It includes some really fun interviews with the hilarious Chris Sabat and the amazing Colleen Clinkenbeard. 

Episode 205, "The Pirate's Life"
To this day this episode is the most highly rated, the most contentious, and a true flashpoint in the podcast's history. On this 2012 episode, Stephen had just started working for Weekly Shonen Jump Alpha, as Shonen Jump was then known, which published chapters of the manga a week later. At that time, when official online "simultaneous" releases began, we decided to make the move as well. To put things in perspective: today we receive online chapters of One Piece not just at the same day as those in Japan, but at the exact same time -- and for free -- and all over the globe!

I am glad to say that all the "demands" of the scanlation community made on this episode have since come to fruition. 

Regardless, this episode was a really cathartic and important discussion that presents the debate the community was having at that point. The representative for the scanlators was certainly respectful. It definitely caused quite a stir after its release, but I think it made it clear just how far we needed to go -- and retrospectively, just how far we've come -- not just for the official release, but for decorum in the anime/manga community as well.

Special 12, "Greg's Bizarre Adventure"
Covering The Greg Trilogy:

• Episode 213, "Don't Stop Believing"
• Episode 245, "We Are The Champions"
• Episode 299, "Culmination" 

Greg first lent his voice to our small podcast on Episode 29, "The Gregcast" back in mid-2009. Since then, he became a regular contributor -- bringing us inside access to exactly what went on in the Japanese One Piece world. Somehow, in the course of two years, he achieved it all: he competed as a super-fan ("Mania") on the hit show Hoko x Tate -- not once, but twice. On this show, fans of the series competed against Oda's former manga editors in an open battle of One Piece trivia. Though Greg and his fellow Mania did not win the first round, he was the only member of the original team carried over to compete in the second round, which they won! He became a huge hit in Japan after that: receiving columns in the Jump sister-magazine V-Jump and for the official One Piece website, and the rest is history...

Episode 300, "Stand and JUMP" (Sasaki Hisashi)
This was another big episode for us. I met Sasaki-san during our filming in Japan. He was extremely nice and very accommodating to us as we roamed the halls of the Shonen Jump offices at Shueisha. He was his usual awesome self in this episode as well, as we discussed the now-simultaneous releases and more in a 3+ hour episode.

Episode 394 & 395: "Arcs of Consequence" (Parts One & Two)
This was a momentous and amazing 6+ hour recording session with my favorite co-hosts. We discuss each and every One Piece arc and do our best to rank each of them. It was a monumentally difficult task, an exhausting recording, and an amazing episode. If you give any of these episodes a listen, please make it these.

Episode 409, "X Marks The Spot"
This is an episode that featured an amazing chapter with an amazing cast -- we had Greg, Stephen, Erin, Joey, Sam and Bryan on for this one. We go really deep into One Piece lore and into one of the most explosive chapters in the series (for those who are really into One Piece lore). This episode is the best of the kind of prototypical episodes we produce. There's no amazing or crazy story behind this one -- it's just us and a great chapter of One Piece.

HONORABLE MENTIONS
It's too soon for me to include these, so here are some other episodes I really love...!

Episode 283, "In Japan"
Fresh from our filming of #OPPJapan in 2013, Greg and I head back into the podcast with this 4+ hour episode of the show. It was the return after my longest break from the show (nearly 20 episodes), and it was great to be back! 

Episode 522, "It's a Hat on a Hat"
Greg is back to discuss some deep One Piece lore, as the Reverie takes a strange turn. In the spiritual successor to "X Marks the Spot" we get to dive deep in an almost-90 minute Manga Recap about Chapter 906. 

Episode 549, "Monkey Free Luffy"
This was some really exciting news! One Piece is now FREE, LEGAL and available WORLDWIDE! We were lucky enough to have the whole Shonen Jump crew on to talk about it, too!

Episode 562, "Robin's Bangs"
Is it too soon to add this episode to the list? I had so much fun recording it that I released an extended edition just for all of you on Patreon -- so you all already know how much I love it!

NEXT TIME: Episode Titles!