One Piece in yo' face!

So I was cruising around Netflix and I discovered that finally Netflix has the first, third and fourth voyage box sets of "One Piece." What took so long?

I mean, it makes absolutely no sense to release the second voyage first, then all the other voyage box sets later. And it especially makes things difficult for me to review them on time.

Urgh. I want to punch those Netflix guys in the face for not getting their act together.

By the way, my next reviews will cover season two of "Maria Watches Over Us" and the film "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time."

DVD Review: Get a Piece of this

One Piece is heating up with the second voyage, which includes episodes 14-26. In fact, more than ever, "One Piece: Second Voyage" proves that One Piece is one of the best shonen anime for both male and female anime nuts alike.

The story continues Usopp's romance with Kaya, a sick girl who lives in a mansion on an island. Usopp was obviously modeled after Pinnochio, because he has a long nose and lies a lot. He and Luffy discover that Kaya's caretaker, Kurahadol, is actually the evil Captain Kuro (or Black in English). Kuro is known for his crafty plans, and in this case, Kuro wants to assassinate Kaya in order to earn her family's inheritance.

Meanwhile, Zolo dreams about his past. He once fought with his best friend and rival, Kuina, to become the best swordfighter in the world. However, Kuina suffered a fatal tragedy, leaving Zolo to fight for her, to become the best.

The last few episodes cover Luffy's adventure at the Baratie, the best sea restaurant in the world. To make a long story short, Luffy accidentally bounces an incoming cannonball into the restaurant. Thus, Luffy has to pay it off with one year of kitchen work.

Luffy then meets the quiet but tempermental Sanji, who works as the souz chef for Zeff, the head chef. Sanji is an expert breakdancer fighter who will serve anyone who lives his food. However, he causes quite a stir by serving a starving pirate from Don Krieg's ship. Then Don Krieg arrives demanding food for his entire crew. And he wears a metallic body suit with guns.

Admittedly, "One Piece" is somewhat repetitive with the characters and the big battles. However, it is very entertaining. Sanji is undoubtedly the coolest breakdancing chef in anime history (actually, the only one). And Sanji also has a crush on Nami, leading him to offer her free food, while all the other guys have to pay. Usopp offers plenty of funny emotional outbursts as well.

Zoro's brave story of fighting for his deceased girlfriend is also admirable. It's pretty fun to watch Zoro fight the greatest swordmaster, Dracule Mihawk, even though he gets whipped pretty badly. And there's also slight hints of romance between Luffy and Nami, especially when Nami runs off with the Going Merry ship in the Don Krief story arc. Luffy's really intent on getting his navigator back, although one could easily suspect he likes Nami as well.

Image from onepiece.wikia.org

My heart is in Pieces

Unfortunately, I need to change part of my review on the One Piece anime. The dub is average at best.

Believe me, Funimation really tried. However, their miserable dub over the original Japanese opening theme is awful.

Thankfully, the rest of the dub is pretty solid. There is the occasional awful dub, such as the part in the first episode when a guy is trying to retrieve a barrel in the ocean. When he misses, his mates says loudly, "Ha! Ha! You suck!"

Sometimes the characters say some stupid lines where there shouldn't be any talking. For example, Koby looks in the cabin and sees a bunch of barrels in one corner of the room. Then he just says, "Wow! That's one big barrel. I wonder what's inside of it?" I guess it's a very, very interesting barrel.

Despite these problems, the One Piece dub is still decent. And overall, I like the voice actor who plays Monkey D. Luffy. But if anyone is listening to the dub, they should do themselves a favor and skip the opening song. Really.

DVD Review: Piece out!

Like I said, I wish Netflix had the DVDs of the "First Voyage" of One Piece. Fortunately, through the power of the internet, I watched episodes 1-13 of One Piece.

I'll have to say that One Piece is one of the best shonen anime series out there, with plenty of unique twists to the typical formula.

First of all, the main character, Monkey D. Luffy, is a teenage guy with the power to stretch and bend his own body at will. He is literally a rubber man, who received his powers from eating the devil's Gum Gum fruit. However, as a consequence, he cannot swim.

He's also far more outspoken than most anime shonen. He literally speaks up whenever somebody is in trouble, sometimes completely blowing the element of surprise. Then again, he's such a versatile and powerful character that one could call him "flexible."

Luffy is planning a voyage on the Grand Line, to search for treasure and become the pirate king. Of course, we still have no idea how he's going to do that, until he knocks out other pirates to get their ships. He also befriends a number of friends to help him.

He first helps Koby, a purple-haired boy, escape from his slave work on the ship of the Pirate Queen, Lady Alvida. Then he starts looking for a crew. The first member he finds is Roronoa Zolo, a swordsman who handles three swords to kill his enemies. He wants to become the master of swordfighting.That's one big ambition.

After Luffy rescues Zolo from his execution, kills the evil Captain Morgan and saves the town, Luffy sails his ship to search for the map to the Grand Line. After launching himself in the air with his arms, Luffy runs into Nami, a pirate thief. She's very sneaky at stealing loot from pirates, and she tricked Luffy into getting captured by other pirates, so that she could get the map from Buggy the clown...er...clown pirate.

While the plot of this part of the series is certainly standard shonen action, in which Luffy kicks Buggy's butt, the characters are so multifaceted that one could hardly call it typical. Luffy is wearing the straw hat of his childhood friend, Captain Shanks, who saved him a long time ago. Luffy is hoping to return the hat. Zolo is getting better at swordfighting so that he can once again duel his childhood girlfriend.

Most of all, the female character, Nami, is one of the most complex characters. Nami hates pirates, especially after they killed one of her best friends. Although at first she despises Luffy's ambition to become the Pirate King, she become more and more impressed with Luffy's passion for fighting other pirates. To say the least, Nami identifies Luffy as an anti-pirate, who fights pirates who attack innocent villages.

While there are times when Nami gets hurt, she is far more independent than Kamiya Kaoru in Rurouni Kenshin. And Nami is very smart, and often identifies the pirates' special abilities sooner than Luffy or the other guys recognize them. This is one of the few anime series in which all the characters work as a team, each contributing their own talents.

Although this first DVD set consists of only the stories with villains Lady Alvida, Captain Morgan and Buggy the Clown, the story remains very solid. Most of all, the characters are very admirable. And while the fighting mostly consists of the villains pulling off special moves before Luffy and Zolo kill them, they are visually stunning fights with lion tamers, acrobats and a clown who can freely move his arms and legs off his body at will.

Even if this is a rather typical shonen, it is far more optimistic and epic than most shonen anime out there. In my opinion, it looks a lot cooler than Dragon Ball Z. It is an anime essential, especially for anyone who really hated the previous release of One Piece by the dreaded 4Kids company, with awful English dubs. The Funimation version features a decent dub and the original Japanese voice track as well (with optional subtitles). This is one set that I highly recommend.

Image courtesy of animecubed.com