NOTE: If you want to check out any of the episodes referenced in this article–and if you happen to live in the United States–you can find One Piece on Hulu, both subtitled and dubbed into English. You can also find the series on Crunchyroll, where the latest episodes also stream every Saturday.

Ever find yourself watching anime and suddenly a family member or loved one walks in and the episode is either embarrassingly drawn or prominently features female protagonists dressed a little more scantily than you’d like to see in polite company? Well, this article is not about those episodes!

A lot of fans get really apprehensive about Toei Animation’s adaptation of the One Piece manga. Over the course of its decade and a half run, the anime has definitely seen its fair share of questionable animation and pacing issues. This has left a lot of fans concerned over how well it represents the source material. Like many people, my first experiences with One Piece came from marathoning the anime, and while it may not have the auteur-ship of Eiichiro Oda’s manga, I’ve still created so many fond memories because of it.

This article is not, for the most part, judging the quality of the source material. Ninety percent of what’s great about One Piece is Oda’s work, but that other ten percent ain’t nothing. My criteria for which episodes get on the list are thus: It has to improve on the manga in some way. I have to have something to say about the adaptation quality on Toei’s end. Finally, I have to have something different to say about each episode. This isn’t a ranked or definitive list, but rather an overview of the variety of things that can go very, very right in the production of an anime series.

Episode 1: “I’m Luffy! The Man Who’s Gonna Be King of the Pirates!”

What better place to start than the very beginning? One of the things that’s really admirable about this episode is just how much of an improvement it is over the manga’s introduction. It may start at a slightly different point in the story, but doing so was a such a knock-out decision on Toei’s part. A cruise ship is a much more interesting location than some boring, unnamed island. We also get some killer build-up to our hero Luffy’s introduction with the barrel gag and the reveal of his crazy powers. I can just imagine a new viewer stumbling upon this and asking, “Who the hell is this guy? Why is such a weirdo so strong?” This episode completely nails the show’s main character and tells you everything you need to know through his personality alone. Right off the bat, this episode perfectly sets the standard for what the original batch of episodes are going to be like and what kinds of adventures we can expect.

Episode 19: “The Three-Sword Style’s Past! Zoro and Kuina’s Vow!”

Being able to really flesh out parts of the story that the manga more-or-less skimmed over became less and less of a luxury for the series as Oda’s writing naturally grew meatier and more complex. However, re-reading the manga equivalent to Zoro’s back story almost feels like a joke considering just how much beauty the writers and directors of the anime clearly saw in it. The result is truly something special. The music track “Mother Sea” will always be associated in my mind with this episode over the death of the Going Merry. I still get choked up whenever I watch the scene where Zoro weeps as Kuina’s father hands him her sword. This is a phenomenal episode that tells a perfect story of rivalry, friendship, and death all in one go.

Episode 86: “Hiriluk’s Cherry Blossoms and the Will That Gets Carried On!”

Obviously this episode goes hand-in-hand with episode 85 as a great two-parter, but it’s in the second half where all the juiciest stuff is. Since I’m trying to avoid evaluating manga content in this article, the onus here is all on the music. The insertion of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Marie” is one of the few times the show has ever deviated from its own original soundtrack. For that reason, this episode will forever go down in history as an iconic moment in the hearts of fans. The anime up until this point had done an incredible job giving the series a fairy-tale, picture-book feel both in visuals and sound. These elements are all in full force in this episode as it delivers one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the entire series. It’s a perfect example of the anime turning an already tragic encounter from the manga into something transcendent and beautiful.

Episode 119: “Secret of Powerful Swordplay! Ability to Cut Steel and the Rhythm Things Have!”

I think of this episode as One Piece film language 101. We’re talking framing, lighting, editing, musical cues and all that fancy jazz. As a film student myself, I can say with certainty that many of my own sensibilities and voice were inspired by the One Piece anime, and this is the episode that has it all. The freedom that the camera expresses as we watch one of the coolest one-on-one fights in the series is super impressive. It also features a very thoughtful use of slow-motion as it completely alters the flow of time on a whim and trusts us to fill in the blanks with our imagination. As usual, it’s towards the end that things get really interesting. The music grows silent and the backgrounds get blown out with over-exposure. One Piece has always been known for its blending of tones, and here they’ve done the miraculous in using calmness to emphasize drama. Also, Zoro throws a house at someone.

Episode 126: “I Will Surpass You! Rain Falls in Alabasta!”

Something about this episode just makes for great television. It serves as the climax of the series’ first long arc, and you really feel everything winding down simultaneously as it builds to its big finish. The episode is at its most satisfying at the end of a long anime marathon, with quiet moments that all feel like little celebrations of everything that came before. Like Episode 86, this episode is famous for its use of outside orchestration, specifically Antonín Dvořák’s New World Symphony No. 9 4th Movement, as Luffy finally lands the finishing blows on Crocodile. And let’s not even mention some especially creative animation for Luffy’s Gum-Gum Storm attack that expands on the original manga panels brilliantly. Hard to beat a point-of-view shot from the perspective of a fist.

Episode 411: “The Secret Hidden on the Backs – Luffy and the Snake Princess Meet”

There are only a few episodes in One Piece that have a noticeable animation-style change, and this one is easily my favorite. It’s the kind of animation that puts interesting movement over keeping the characters on-model and it works bizarrely well here. The goofy drawing quality is a lot of fun to look at, and Luffy’s monkey-like body language in particular is given 110 percent. This is also an episode that delivers on some great buildup and payoff. Luffy, who had been the main focus of the Amazon Lily arc up until now, is barely present. This allows us to spend some time with Boa Hancock right up until she meets Luffy for the first time when he accidentally crashes into the bathhouse and sees her naked. It’s the small things in life, you know?

Episode 547: “Back to Present! Hody Makes a Move!”

Pacing is a funny thing. It’s never as simple as making something really fast or really slow, but rather deciding when those choices are appropriate. Long-running shonen anime series like One Piece really don’t get to choose due to scheduling and budget concerns, but every now and then you get magic. If they were to ever re-cut the show, Dragon Ball Kai style, 547 is an episode I hope they wouldn’t remove a single frame from. Every scene is beautiful. I always thought Fishman Island’s color palette was underappreciated and both King Neptune and Jimbei’s crying scenes are incredibly tender in animation. On top of all that, the music choices throughout are spectacular. I’m especially fond of the music during Fukaboshi’s speech. Good stuff.

Episode 553: “Shirahoshi’s Tears! Luffy Finally Shows Up!”

Eneru almighty! Two Fishman Island episodes! I’ll admit, of all the entries on this list, 553 is one that’s kind of only half good. Oh, but what a half! Luffy emerging from Megalo’s spit and kicking Hody Jones in the gut is some of the coolest animation I’ve ever seen on a TV budget, period. The story boarding and planning of each shot is also a step up from the original manga. It’s after Hody crashes into the cliff in pure spectacle that we’re treated to the iconic arrival of the Straw Hats at Gyoncord Plaza, set to our good ole friend, “Overtaken”, in the soundtrack. This entire sequence has always stuck out in my mind as one of my favorites in the entire series.

Episode 646: “The Legendary Pirate! Don Chinjao!”

I watched this episode six times in the first week it came out and I’ve probably seen it at least that many times since. Would it be weird if I said that this is kind of my favorite episode, adaptation-wise, period? The strength of this episode is in its sense of momentum. It’s almost like you’re watching the characters performing a dance as they bump left and right into a variety of humorous and action-packed encounters. Everything just keeps moving and building, culminating to the big finale where Luffy and Don Chinjao clash with the might of their Conquerer’s Haki. I had to double check the manga to see how closely the anime version followed it, and it’s to a tee. However, Oda’s version doesn’t have nearly as much energy or sense of build up, so it’s all in the execution here. At the very least I think this is by far the most fun episode to watch and we all have Toei to thank for it.

Sam’s Piece is a biweekly editorial that is released on Fridays, only at OnePiecePodcast.com.