Review for One Piece Collection 1

Introduction

Time for some stats... It’s been running since 1999, there are 600 episodes and counting at the time of writing, more than ten feature film spin-offs, OVA episodes, video games, and it has been the most requested anime in the UK since Manga Entertainment launched their Twitter feed. You demanded it, and now you have it. One Piece is here, the biggest shonen anime franchise of them all, against which Naruto is but a mewling infant, Bleach is just a glint in the mangaka’s eye, It came, it saw, and it conquered all that lay before it, and unless the last few years of constant whining were a collective April Fool’s prank being played on Manga Entertainment, it’s going to conquer here as well.


The truth is that I don’t like One Piece very much, at least not the manga. One of the advantages of having a library that has hopped on the manga craze is that before a new anime series erupts in the UK, I can go and sample a few volumes of its inspiration to see just what I’m letting myself in for, and with 67 volumes and counting, there is a lot of One Piece manga to choose from. I’ve taken in the first few, and it turned out to be quite funny, but visually it’s a mess, with busy and confusing artwork that takes me a little longer to fathom than is comfortable. For once I have been looking forward to an anime series to hopefully interpret that mess into something a little easier and instinctive to grasp.


One Piece the anime has had a pretty messy ride in the US, and thankfully by the time we get it in the UK, we’re getting the refined end product. It was initially licensed in 2004 by 4Kids for dub and television broadcast, and they wound up cutting it beyond US broadcast regulations to make it child friendly. It was so slashed that it actually reduced the episode count. Toei, who produce the show in Japan understandably weren’t happy with this, and the license was transferred to Funimation. They got in around episode 140, and they wound up with a dilemma. Keeping the translation authentic would please Toei, but would shatter continuity with what 4Kids had done. They wound up making two versions of One Piece while it was still being aired, one for broadcast that has continuity with the 4Kids version, even if it isn’t as drastically as cut, and one for home media release. They have then gone back to the first set of episodes, and re-dubbed them as well, again keeping the edits as few as possible to comply with US broadcast regulations for the broadcast version, while having a more translation authentic, and uncut version for the home video release. We don’t have to worry about the broadcast version; we are getting the home video release in the UK, uncut, and with the closer translation to the original for its dub and subtitles.


We’ve also got a long way to catch up. This year, Manga Entertainment are going to release the first four collections, 104 episodes in 26 episode chunks. We’re a step ahead in that regard, as we’re missing out on the initial 13-episode releases that Funimation release for each season. And this time a season varies between 52 and 91 episodes long. Funimation are up to around episode 263 and will be starting on Season 5 later this summer. Manga Entertainment’s schedule will put us in the middle of Season 2 by the end of this year. Remember, Japan is up to episode 600. I do not expect to live long enough to see the end of this show.


Monkey D. Luffy wants to be a pirate. No he wants to be the best pirate of them all, sail the Grand Line, find the legendary One Piece treasure left behind by Gold Roger, and become the Pirate King. He’s inspired in this by his mentor, Red-Haired Shanks, who saved his life when he was a child. He also ate the Gum-Gum fruit, a devil fruit which has given him stretchy rubber limbed abilities, although at the cost of his ability to swim. You’d think this would be a fatal handicap in a pirate, but Luffy has set sail nevertheless, looking to gather the best crew on the high seas, and venture forth onto the Grand Line. The first candidates for his crew include the mighty pirate-hunter swordsman, Roronoa Zoro, the skilled, pirate-hating thief Nami, the world’s greatest liar, Usopp, and the toughest chef around, Sanji.

The first 26 episodes of One Piece are presented across 4 discs from Manga Entertainment.


Disc 1
1. I’m Luffy! The Man Who’s Going to Be King of the Pirates!
2. Enter The Great Swordsman! Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!
3. Morgan vs. Luffy! Who’s The Mysterious Pretty Girl?
4. Luffy’s Past! Enter Red-Haired Shanks!
5. A Terrifying, Mysterious Power! Captain Buggy, the Clown Pirate!
6. Desperate Situation! Beast Tamer Mohji vs. Luffy!
7. Epic Showdown! Swordsman Zoro vs. Acrobat Cabaji!

Disc 2
8. Who is the Victor? Devil Fruit Power Showdown!
9. Liar of Justice? Captain Usopp!
10. The Weirdest Guy Ever! Jango the Hypnotist!
11. Expose the Plot! Pirate Butler, Captain Kuro!
12. Clash with the Black Cat Pirates! The Great Battle on the Slope!
13. The Terrifying Duo! Meowban Brothers vs. Zoro!


Disc 3
14. Luffy Back in Action! Miss Kaya’s Desperate Resistance!
15. Beat Kuro! Usopp the Man’s Tearful Resolve!
16. Protect Kaya! The Usopp Pirates’ Great Efforts!
17. Anger Explosion! Kuro vs. Luffy! How it Ends!
18. You’re the Weird Creature! Gaiman and his Strange Friends!
19. The Three Sword Style’s Past! Zoro and Kuina’s Vow!
20. Famous Cook! Sanji of the Sea Restaurant!

Disc 4
21. Unwelcome Customer! Sanji’s Food and Ghin’s Debt
22. The Strongest Pirate Fleet! Commodore Don Krieg!
23. Protect Baratie! The Great Pirate, Red Foot Zeff!
24. Hawk-Eye Mihawk! The Great Swordsman Zoro Falls at Sea!
25. The Deadly Foot Technique Bursts Forth! Sanji vs. The Invincible Pearl!
26. Zeff and Sanji’s Dream! The Illusory All Blue!

Picture

Manga Entertainment and Toei logos precede the content on the disc, which dating from 1999 is presented in 4:3 regular format, and with an NTSC-PAL standards conversion. Other than the slightly lower resolution and softer image associated with such, it is a pretty decent transfer, putting across the bold lines and bright colours of the animation well. Ghosting isn’t readily apparent, unless of course you pause and frame advance the disc. There is a bit of rainbowing around fine detail, but by and large the biggest problem with the transfer is the compression artefacts around fast motion, bursts of mosquito noise that on occasion are distractingly obvious.


One Piece looks like an early digipaint show, an anime accomplished wholly in the innards of a computer, and the stability of the image, absence of flicker and print damage tends to support that. There are moments where the show can look a little too static and obviously digital, but on the other hand, there are moments where the animation really takes a walk on the wild side, bringing to mind the wackiness of Tex Avery cartoons and the like. This is a show where surprise can make people’s eyeballs bug out of their sockets, and their jaws drop to the floor.

I did notice one frame of minor pixellation, 1.06:13 into disc 3.

Sound

You have the choice of DD 5.1 Surround English, and DD 2.0 Stereo Japanese, with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. I gave the dub a try, but it was late at night, and my concentration focused on the insides of my eyelids. The most I can say is that the dub exists. I may give it another try at a later date. As usual, I watched the series through in Japanese with subtitles, and found a fairly standard shonen anime dub, with enthusiastic and over the top performances that suit the tone of the show well. The stereo does a good job in conveying the show’s ambience and action sequences, while you get an instant hit of spatial separation in the audio with the opening shot of seagulls. Where One Piece really impresses is in its music score. Far from the comparatively weedy synth efforts afforded to the usual anime shows, One Piece apparently gets a full on orchestral score, at times giving the show an epic and grand soundscape that by far belies its comic book origins.

The subtitles are free of error and are accurately timed, except for one subtitle 1.52:15 into disc 1 that just flashes on screen for a single frame.

Extras

The discs present their content with static menus set to the English version of the theme song, with jacket pictures to look at when the discs are at rest in compatible players.

Disc 1’s sole extra is the audio commentary on episode 1, hosted by ADR director Mike McFarland, and with the voices of Luffy, Colleen Clinkenbeard, and Zoro, Christopher Sabat. It’s a nice, informative commentary and well worth listening to.

Disc 2 gets the first two textless credit sequences.

Disc 3 has a commentary on episode 17, with Sonny Strait (Usopp), and Luci Christian (Nami) joining Mike McFarland, covering much the same area as in the first commentary, but from two different actor perspectives.

Disc 4 has the textless credits again, and it should be noted for this release, that you can either hear the English dub version of the credits without subtitles, or the Japanese versions with player forced lyric subtitles that can’t be turned off.

Conclusion

How do you spell over-saturation? I’ve just jammed 10 hours of One Piece into my head and I’ve over-dosed on shonen anime. With this show, Manga Entertainment now have four of the main franchises coming out in the UK, this, Naruto, Bleach, and Dragon Ball Z. On top of all that there is Fairy Tail, and Kazé’s Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan. There is so much testosterone oozing from Manga’s offerings this year that I won’t be surprised if a wodge load of young adolescent anime fans show up to school with full beards and Barry White baritones. I want to urge Manga Entertainment to let one of these shows end, before licensing another shonen action show. Then Season 1 of Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple shows up for review, and my head explodes like that of a Fist of the North Star villain.


But there is a reason for One Piece to come to the UK. After all, it is the biggest anime franchise around, and fans have been clamouring for its release for years. Now that it’s finally here, we can see what all the fuss is about, and I have to say that at first acquaintance the results are very promising. For one thing, it cleans up the messiness of the manga art considerably, and I find it a lot easier to follow. The second thing is that One Piece is something that many anime go out of their way to avoid. It is a cartoon. It manages to entwine its story, drama, and emotion, with slapstick comedy and extreme visuals that gives it a somewhat unique position in the anime pantheon. If you want eyes bugging out of their sockets, and jaws literally hitting the floor Tex Avery style, then One Piece’s unique visuals and bizarre character designs are for you. Not that it actually disobeys the rules of its universe, no painting tunnels on walls and then walking through here, but it isn’t shy of using cartoon physics to emphasis a gag. I haven’t laughed as much as this at a shonen anime since Gintama, although that is a whole different style of verbal humour.


One Piece also has one of the best opening episodes of an anime series that I have seen, capitalising on that wackiness, and opting to throw fans straight into the middle of the story, rather than offer any set-up or back-story beyond that of the pre-credits intro. A cruise ship targeted by a bunch of oddball pirates, and into the fray comes floating a barrel, containing our rubber-limbed protagonist. It’s just replete with unexpected comic moments that induce bursts of laughter, one after the other. That sense of unexpected humour maintains and even grows over the first few episodes in this collection. Luffy is our hero, Monkey D. Luffy and his ambition is to sail the Grand Line, find the fabled One Piece treasure, and become king of the pirates. To do that he needs a crew, and this first season of 26 episodes follows him on his recruitment drive, introducing the main characters in the show, and as the series unfolds, filling in the back story of Luffy and his crew as well.


It’s a pretty interesting world, not only in terms of design, but in concept as well, where piracy is a career aspiration as well as a crime. Of course despite its villainous overtones, Luffy is nothing if not honourable and heroic. There are certainly more villainous pirates than otherwise though. There also exist the devil fruit, which bestow powers on those who consume them at the expense of the ability to swim. Luffy is the rubber man, but early on we meet a more infamous pirate with devil fruit powers, Buggy the Clown whose limbs are detachable. The ultimate prize awaits the pirate who can conquer the Grand Line, and that is Luffy’s aim. We’re nowhere near that point in the story just yet though, this is just the preliminaries.


At first the show is great stuff, well-paced, and full of that sense of humour, as Luffy recruits first the greatest swordsman Roronoa Zoro, and then master thief Nami. Zoro is a somewhat ridiculous character (well, they all are except Nami), a man who fights with three swords, one clenched in his teeth, and who can sleep off being stabbed. That encompasses a short arc where Luffy and Zoro face a villainous Navy Captain named Morgan and his whiny son Helmeppo. Then it’s the battle against Buggy the Clown which results in them recruiting Nami, again a great mix of action and comedy. It’s just that around episode 9, where they come to recruit Usopp, the traditional slow shonen pacing kicks in, and One Piece begins to lose steam. It’s apparent at this point that One Piece is adhering pretty closely to the manga story, and indeed the manga pacing. The Usopp story is twice the length it needs to be, and really does begin to drag towards the end, with five and a half episodes devoted to the story’s climactic battle. Thankfully we’re not talking Naruto or Bleach slow, which could have a one-on-one fight stretched over several episodes, whereas each of these One Piece episodes has a different fight in it, but I did begin to sense that familiar tedium set in again.


The same is true for the Sanji arc, with Luffy’s ever-growing crew visiting a sea-going restaurant in search of a chef. Again the initial episodes have a goodly amount of comedy to them, but once the villain shows up, it’s a several episode stretch of fighting that once again begins to feel tedious. In between these arcs are single episode stories, an odd bit of nonsense on a deserted island, an essential bit of back story for Luffy, and an unexpectedly moving back story for Zoro. One Piece may be the biggest shonen anime franchise on the planet, but it is just another shonen anime, action packed with go getting heroes succeeding against all the odds through superior willpower, and shouting out the names of their special moves with abandon. There is that ‘seen one, seen them all’ feeling that comes with it. But One Piece does something different with its sense of humour that makes it worth checking out, even if shows like Bleach and Naruto are wearing thin by this point. You might just fall in love with this one.