Alright, rather than creating a regular topic for One Piece (which would be pointless seeing as how me and only a few other members on this board even care about it), I wanted to create this as sort of a little survey, to gather information for something I might want to write in the future.
Anyways, I don't care if you love, hate, or are indifferent to One Piece. As someone who used to think it would be trash, then became indifferent to it, then came to really enjoy it, I just find it to be interesting to see people's different opinions on it.
Even if you haven't seen any of it before, I'm still curious to hear your honest impressions of it from what you've seen or heard of it on the outside, even if you think it looks like trash. Just be sure to include some reasons why you feel about it the way that you do, as that's important information for me to know.
And even if your only experience with the show is from the 4Kids sub, I'd still like to hear your opinion on it.
As for me, I see OP as and acquired taste, but honestly once it grew on me, it really did become a great experience. Its easily the best currently running shounen series that I'm reading, and I love its style of humor as well as its adventure elements that were inspired by the early portions of the Dragonball manga. Its far from being one of my favorite series, but I think it manages to encompass a very fun epic adventure story and masterfully combines it with some fairly deep and also surprisingly dark undertones.
Of course all of this was completely lost in translation, along with plenty of other things, in the 4Kids dub of the series, but the FUNimation dub fixes a lot of those problems. I still have trouble getting used to Luffy's English voice, but I have generally loved the voice-acting for just about every other character in FUNi's dub of the show. Still, my preference leans more towards the Japanese VAs since they really emphasize the unique qualities of each character, and really nail their quirky moments in a way that's just too hard to describe in words.
Overall, OP is one of the few series in which I really look forward to the next new chapter of the manga or even the next episode of the anime (even if I already know what will happen). Though, I have to say, Toei has been pissing me off with how much they've been slacking on the budget for the animation, except for a key few episodes. I know its very typical of them, but I thought that even they would make and exception for a single important arc like this which isn't even that long. I mean, they can honestly afford it with all of the money they must have made off of series like this and DBZ, among other things.
I got into One Piece due to Shonen Jump magazine I found at my Blockbuster that had Goku and Yugi on the cover. I mostly read it for DBZ, Sandland, YGO, and YYH. But then I decided to try out this series that I thought was Ne Pec, until I learned that it said One Piece. I thought the first chapter was pretty good, and wanted to read more. Unlike most, I was in love with it after the end of the Buggy arc, yes it was that early for me, Arlong was more like the point that I knew I would love the series forever. I really liked the comedic bits in the story at that point, it reminded me of Dragon Ball series in a way, along with the seriousness that it had, like Usopp trying to warn his neighbors about Kaya's butler being the famed Captain Kuro, to his devotion to protect the village.
Right now out of the big 3, One Piece is the only one I give a damn about, Naruto I check in from time to time, and Bleach, I avoid like the plague. But I can agree with the animation. Most people I've talked to actually dropped the anime adaptation somewhere near Thriller Bark arc due to all the padding they did, which I can agree is annoying. Streching out a 20 minute manga chapter into a 22 minute episode is annoying, especially considering most of those chapters had a shitton of two page spreads. As for me, I buy the DVDs from FUNi and check out the simlumcast from time to time. I can safely say that I will follow One Piece, even if I'm approaching my 40's.
Yeah, I couldn't give a rats ass about Bleach, and honestly, for whatever reason I still keep up with Naruto, but I don't know why because its like torture. Almost none of the characters are likable, and there are WAY too many characters to the point that I can't even keep track of them all.
Sure, OP has had a lot of characters, but it has wisely introduced them slowly over time, and when it does show you characters, they are almost always memorable. In Naruto, if they brought back a villain from several hundred chapters ago, I probably wouldn't even recognize him, except for Zabuza and Haku, with the former being the only decent villain Naruto ever had, and Haku ends up being memorable just by having been associated with him.
Anyways, One Piece's main strength is memorable and likable characters. And honestly I've grown to love its uniquely absurd art style. I really appreciate it compared to all of the genericly designed shounen series out there. It also helps that the writing is actually really solid most of the time.
I got into One Piece the same way Dax did. I remember my first exposure to it seeing a Luffy action figure in Wizard's Toy Fair magazine, not knowing where it came from. Years later I saw a commercial for Viz's Shonen Jump magazine, noticing how they mispronounced Luffy's name "luh-fee". I thought it looked too silly and ridiculous at first, but then actually reading it I thought it was awesome. I was really into the manga and hoped that FUNimation would pick up the series. Then 4Kids got a hold of it and turned it into something worse than I thought OP was going to be like. I don't think I need to go into detail as everyone knows of the horror that was Hacked Pieces.
When 4Kids finally lost the license this gave it a chance to redeem itself and for a better company to pick it up again. I hoped one again for FUNi to get the license and to my surprise, they finally got it. Overall I really like FUNi's dub of the series. I didn't like Colleen Clickenbeard (sp?)'s Luffy at first as I think Luffy should have been played by a male actor. Yes I realize his Japanese VA is a woman, but so is Goku's and I prefer him to be voiced by a man in english as well. However her voice for Luffy grew on me. All the other voices I had no problem with, I was glad to see the show getting treated with respect and not absolute stupidity. There are some minor errors in the script that I find questionable ("Zoro killed Daz Bones" despite him later playing a rule in the Whitebeard War), but that's more or less nitpicking.
I still keep up with One Piece, both the manga and anime, when I can. It's like every awesome aspect in culture, from pirates to cyborgs to dictators etc, added into this kickass story.
I first heard of One Piece from Cartoon Network and all those 4Kids complaints. I didn't bother with watching the series until about a year or two ago, when I saw some One Piece episodes at the library and when Funimation was fully dubbing it.
I do like the adventure aspect of the show. It reminds me a lot of Dragon Ball, which I had always preferred to Dragonball Z for years until I finally got to hear the Japanese audio. The characters get introduced gradually and their stories get decently developed so that you feel like you can care and cry too. Lots of baka moments to mix in with the drama, and it's always fun to see the next new Devil Fruit power, and not hear characters moaning about getting stronger all the time.
I'm at a little over 100 episodes at the Alabasta arc, so who knows when I'll be able to catch up, but it's my current favorite shonen to marathon along with Soul Eater.
My opinion on it. I have never seen it, but I'm SURE it's a solid show and is miles better then the ones it often gets compared to (InuYasha, Naruto, and Bleach). But the animation is just... ugh, a complete turn-off for me.
I believe you mean the art design. I always tend to point out that animation and art design are 2 completely different things.
That said, One Piece has pretty average animation outside of the movies, but the Thriller Bark arc actually has pretty decent animation, and is about the only exception to the rule with the TV series.
I'll admit that the art design took a lot of getting used to for me, personally, but really now I prefer it over the generic shounen-art style, at the very least, and at its best its actually fairly pleasant, since it is purposely drawn the way it is as the series is self-aware and a lot of its charm comes from its humor and how it doesn't take itself seriously in areas where a lot of other shounen series do (and fail miserably at it, in the process).
I've never really been a fan of One Piece, but after watching some of the non-4Kids version I realized that it's actually pretty decent for what it is. Not something I'd watch or read, but it's certainly better than Naruto or Bleach or Hitman Reborn or Inuyasha or anything else like that.
I actually think the art style is pretty cool. A lot more interesting than the super generic stuff in the other of Big 3 shounen series, for sure.
I like the art style myself. Very Fleishcer-like. It looks like I'm watching a long-lasting Talkartoon or early Color Classic short.
That's kind of how I felt about One Piece after watching a few episodes of the sub, but really I think for me I mostly got surprised by how much more complex and dark the series gets. Its definitely not for everyone, which is why its the one thing I don't mind when people say its not for them, but I have to say that the Marineford arc stands out in quality above the rest of the series for me, as something that's genuinely one of the best things that I've ever read or seen from anything that has been produced by Japan. Though, even that isn't exactly Urasawa level, but it comes so close for me that its actually kind of scary. I don't know if the series can ever reach that brief level of insanely high quality again, though, but it has certainly evolved over its decade+ long run.
I think that's what intrigues me the most about OP. Its really nothing special in the beginning parts of the series, but unlike the lazy-ass authors of most shounen manga, Eichiro Oda clearly gained writing experience as he went along with the series, and constantly shows a ton of improvement with each new story arc, IMO.
The one thing that I like the most, though, is that no matter how dark or serious it can get at times, it never completely forgets what it is, and it mostly remembers to not take itself too seriously and tell a good fun adventure story. That's probably its main appeal to me.
I'm totally going to go through that arc you recommended me tomorrow, and I'll post here with reflections.
I'm willing to give anything another chance. Hell, I saw FLCL three times to see if I can find anything I liked about it. I did not, but damned if I didn't try.
Heh, you're a braver man than me. I saw it 1.5 times before giving up on it. Well, to be fair I can at least respect it now. Its something that I can get appeals to certain people, and it does have damned good animation, but its definitely not my kind of show, personally.
Just out of curiosity, did anyone here who is actually a fan of One Piece see the latest movie for it, Strong World?
I just got around to seeing it and I thought it was a lot of fun. Obviously its still tied down in quality by the fact that its a movie, and none of the OP movies can truly be that great because OP's strength is sort of in its length, since the manga and anime TV series have all the time that they need to build up a strong plot and give the characters a lot more time to show personality and interact with one another. But, having said that, I found his to basically be as good as you could probably ever make a One Piece movie. Its a bit of a special case in that it had a 2 hour running length when every other OP movie is under 90 minutes long, but to be honest most of that extra time was used on action scenes anyways. Still, I was really impressed by the animation in this movie. They went all out and spared no expenses in this case, which makes the animation stand out even more relative to the other One Piece movies, and especially to the TV series which cuts way too many corners.
I thought that the movie was pure fun from beginning to end mostly based on simply just catering to things that fans would love to see. It wasn't necessarily a very well-written story or anything like that, but there was a lot of eye-candy in the visuals, and there was some really good humor throughout the film for those who enjoy OP's style of humor. I at least felt that this movie gave each Straw Hat at least one opportunity or more to show off some aspect of their character in some way in the movie, and overall it had a lot of parts that were just plain fun to watch. The music was also pretty good, and I like how the movie actually had some of its own original tracks, rather than just relying on tracks from the regular TV anime. Overall I thought it was a highly enjoyable experience.
Hmm, they showed Nico Robin as part of the crew in the opening for some of the episodes of the Alabasta arc, before she officially joins.
I love it when I see/read it. The art is amazing, the characters are enjoyable, and the writing is solid.
But I just get scared off by the huge number of episodes/chapters.
It was kind of the same with me, but by a certain point in the series I just started marathoning through entire arcs without even noticing the time go buy. It has a sort of addictive quality for me, I guess. I managed to watch over 250 episodes in the span of a month (which is a lot for me, since I usually don't watch more than an episode or 2 of an anime a day). I think the series is sort of like an acquired taste in that respect, though. Also, I have to say that I still haven't gotten used to reading this manga at one chapter per week, considering how much of the series I read in chunks until I caught up with the story.
I heard volume 50 was supposed to be a good start for those fearing any sort of archive binge. Is that right or not?
Well, you could probably star reading from there and understand what was going on and all that, but the arcs that come shortly after the Sabaody Archipelago and Amazon arcs (the Impel Down and Marineford arcs) heavily reference earlier parts of the series, what with Luffy teaming up with a lot of his old enemies and adversaries and then heading into a huge war zone to try and rescue his older brother from being executed by the Marines. You could still read and understand those arcs, though, but I feel that they'd be less effective without some knowledge of some of the characters involved them. Still, you could essentially start One Piece at the beginning of just about any given arc and at least understand and enjoy that general arc itself, individually. Though, I do think that OP also best succeeds and interconnecting those stories into one grander plot, all of which kind of culminates into the Marineford arc which ends the first half of the series before the standard major time-skip that is common of long-running shounen series.
Personally, though, if I were to recommend a volume to start at, it'd probably be whichever volume starts the Water Seven arc which also leads directly into the Enies Lobby arc. Those are both entertaining and I do think that beginners could follow and enjoy them quite well.
Still, you could essentially start out OP at other points, so yeah, its worth a shot, including starting at volume 50, but just keep in mind that by that point you probably won't enjoy the arcs as much as you would if you were more familiar with a fair deal more knowledge of the world of One Piece and its major characters.
Part of it is I also wanna read/watch the series legitimately. So I'm buying small numbers of volumes at a time despite wanting more. Dunno where I'm gonna put 50 volumes of manga though...
But this thread's getting me in the mood to start it up again, so maybe I'll just cave and promise to buy the books/DVD's later.
I'd love to buy the DVDs, but aside from having no money right now, I'm also hoping that FUNimation will eventually take the opportunity to organize all of the releases into major season releases. So far One Piece has been released in 13 episode sets, splitting up each major season into multiple parts. I'd rather just buy a season set with the 60+ episodes that it'll probably contain. to me that'd end up being more bang for my buck. Still, I can't really complain too much about how FUNi has handled the releases. I mean, it could've been worse, like having the entire series released in the form of single sets with only a few episodes each. Now that'd be a pain in the ass. :P
If that show was released in big chunks like that (30+ episodes) I would consider biting. It's just too much of an investment for me right now, especially considering that there is still other stuff I'm interested in.
I'm not sure if its restricted in Canada or not, but FUNimation has been streaming both the English dub and sub of One Piece for a long time now, and I think that you can find every episode that FUNimation has dubbed (so far) available for streaming on www.onepieceofficial.com, from what I can tell.
Although, having been reading the earlier parts of the story in the manga for the first time, I'd probably recommend the manga over the anime, personally. While the great voice acting in both the dub and the sub (and I never really praise the voice acting for a sub as being so much above average unless there is a certain quality about its voice acting that sticks out to me) as well as the terrific soundtrack and musical scores can make the anime a worthwhile experience, it can often-times have horrible pacing which really hurts and drags down its quality. The manga doesn't really have those pacing problems, from what I've gotten to read of both the early and the latest parts of it.
Funi hasn't really packed in much extras for the boxsets, just approx. one commentary, and the usual original openings/closings.
Oh wow. Thanks Ensatsu, this is a great source for One Piece episodes.
No problem. I though I'd mention it since I go their weekly to watch the new episode releases (since FUNi also subs brand new episodes that have just aired in Japan). ;)
http://www.japanator.com/funimation-suing-1337-people-over-one-piece-481-18346.phtml (http://www.japanator.com/funimation-suing-1337-people-over-one-piece-481-18346.phtml)
lol
Well, I mean, the episodes are available for streaming in high quality on FUNimation's official One Piece website, so I kind of fail to see the point of downloading an episode that is already "legally" being streamed in the first place. Anyways, the real reason for why FUNi is cracking down hard like this is probably because if they didn't act on it and Toei found out, they'd get pissed again and refuse to let FUNi have the right to legally stream One Piece episodes in the U.S. (again).
Quote from: Ensatsu-ken on January 25, 2011, 04:16:35 PM
Well, I mean, the episodes are available for streaming in high quality on FUNimation's official One Piece website, so I kind of fail to see the point of downloading an episode that is already "legally" being streamed in the first place.
Yup, thus my "lol." :)
Still, I'm surprised that FUNi is going so all-out hardcore on this dude. Oh well, its not me, so I suppose I can just sit back and "lol" at this news, myself. :sly:
That's true, although they don't stream all the dubs for the show, and Hulu doesn't extend over to Asia.
I find this (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2011-02-09/nhk/9/10ths-of-one-piece-manga-buyers-are-adults) bit of information to be rather interesting.
Of course, it would make sense that the 19-29 year old demographic makes up the biggest percentage of One Piece readers in Japan, seeing as how most people of that age probably would have grown up reading the series as they would have been the age of kids and young teens way back when the series first started out. However, I'm pretty shocked to see how much more popular One Piece seems to be with adults than with kids. But, that also makes some sense, since I always get the impression that most kids today are spoiled by generic crappy stuff like Bleach that has no substance to it, and probably shun One Piece for being too different from the norm (at least as far as appearances go). Either way, though, to know that approximately 88% of OP readers in Japan are either my age or much, much older (we're talking 50+ years old, here), it pretty shocking to find out, even for me.
Oh well, at least now that means that I don't have to consider OP a guilty pleasure series anymore. :sly:
Just finished the Alabasta arc yesterday. It's pretty cool they used classical music for the final battle. But what's up with these side characters surviving fatal wounds? Gonna miss Vivi, too, except for her screaming; feel sorry for her VAs for having to go through that.
Zoro: Stop it. What's with the pathetic groans?
Crew: I miss her!
Zoro: That's enough whining. If you wanted her to join that bad, then you shouldn't have let her leave.
Tony: Ah! You savage!
Nami: Blockhead!
Sanji: Idiot.
Luffy: Three-Sword Style.
Usopp: Saying "Three-Sword Style" isn't an insult, Luffy.
Luffy: Four-Sword Style.
Usopp: It's not the number that's the problem!
As for the demographic, I'm glad it's reaching a wide age range of audiences, no wonder they have the One Piece Bus in Hawaii; it's not like teens have the funds to vacation there on a regular basis, and if they did, they wouldn't go to that part of Hawaii.
So, this is kind of old news, but not too long ago FUNimation's last One Piece DVD release had them catch up to all of the episodes that they had currently licensed (well, I'm not sure if the simulcast episodes count or not, but those are way later on in the series, anyways), and I don't believe it has been confirmed (as far as I know) whether they will purchase the rights to distribute to rest of the series from where they stopped (which was somewhere after episode 200, I believe).
I'm just curious to know if they will be getting it or not. I'm not sure what the sales figures were like for the One Piece DVDs, but my guess is that if they were good enough than FUNi will work to be able to get the next set of episodes that the can get as soon as possible, but if they weren't good enough then FUNi may not see it as being worth it to get the rest of the series and dub it. My guess is that sales were pretty decent though, and about as good as anime DVD sales can possibly get here in the states, which isn't too bad considering its not really all that mainstream of a thing here, or anything.
At any rate, it'll be a while before we see any newly dubbed episodes if we do get them (and we probably will), but I'm curious to see how people feel about FUNi's work on the English dub for OP so far, up until this current point.
Personally, while I am more used the Japanese voice actors, I love the dub for OP. I think if it were to get aired on Nicktoons network like DBZKai or other series then it could get some decent popularity. Unfortunately OP kind of missed its opportunity to get decent exposure to a lot of people on TV with Toonami (yeah, I know that they started airing it, but it happened way too late when Toonami was no longer running on the weekdays, and it was mosty the crappy 4Kids dub until FUNimation got rights to Toonami later on, not too long before Toonami completely ended its run altogether). It'd be pretty nice of OP got another chance or opportunity to air on a mainstream channel on TV sometime in the future, but its unlikely that it will ever happen (or at least not anytime soon), from what I can tell.
As long as they don't suspend distributing the series like they did with Kodocha.
Well, I'll be damned, Toei actually did a really nice job with this week's episode, starting off the short flash-back arc of how Luffy met Ace. Its also a pretty self-contained flash-back so just about anybody would be able to watch it without having seen much of the rest of the series, though to be honest its far from the series at its best, but its a really nice little story, IMO (that, and also the beginning of the episode lets out a huge spoiler for the few people who don't know it yet).
Overall, though, I'm really just wondering if Toei will end up dragging out the anime with filler once again after this mini-arc. To be fair, they may kind of have to considering how close they are to the manga when you really stop to consider it, but then again they may just stick with the whole covering 1-chapter per episode thing, but if that's the case I'd honestly rather then add in some filler and then come back and maybe cover 1.5 chapters per episode or something of that sort. Either that, or do what YYH did and actually add in good filler material to extend a chapter's worth of material out into a full episode rather than just dragging the whole damn episode out as a whole. At any rate, I really enjoyed the pacing of this week's episode, so I hope Toei continues in this route for the rest of this flash-back arc (at the very least).
Also, I must admit that I kind of enjoy the new opening, but honestly its more for the brilliant way the visuals and scenes are presented as opposed to the actual music, which is honestly pretty average on its own.
So, after an overall very disappointing adaptation of a great arc from the manga, Toei is actually coming out with episodes for his flashback mini-arc that is actually (IMO) superior to what the manga did. Huh? Now that's quite surprising. Actually, I feel that Toei actually does a great job adapting these character-based/themed segments of the show as opposed to the action-packed portions of it which they just drag on for far too long.
Anyways, one thing that I really find nice about many of Oda's flashbacks in One Piece is that they are usually fleshed out enough to actually be looked at as their on, miniature self-contained stories. I especially like this arc, which happens to be Luffy's first "real" flashback (being that the first flashback he had in the anime doesn't count since it was really just the first chapter in the manga), for its very Mark Twain-esque style, as it really makes me think of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin, what with the whole theme of the mischievous group of boys. But overall its still mostly its own thing.
Anyways, I do hope the rest of this arc gets adapted with a quality consistent of these previous 2 episodes. I may write up something for it later when its done.
Just thought of this question randomly, but I was wondering:
Who here who hasn't watched the series or doesn't care for it based on the relative amount of material that they viewed would give the series another chance if it were to air on a mainstream channel like CN or Nicktoons with FUNi's dub and minimal edits (basically just taking out minor curse words and removing some blood and stuff)?
To be honest, there isn't really any point to this question except for me asking it out of plain curiosity, as of course this scenario will obviously never happen.
As for a question directed as people who do watch and at least relatively enjoy the series for what it is:
What is one major thing about One Piece that you feel is a genuinely good quality that other shonen shows or action or adventure shows in general could take some positive influence from? Also, what's one annoyance that you personally have with the series (even if its just a minor one)?
I watched the fucking 4Kids hackjob because I liked the basic premise, and enjoyed the slight bit when they played Funi's superior dub before removing it from TV forever.
If they would put it back on TV from the beginning with the real dub, I would watch it. The show is just way too hard to get into otherwise.
The show was quite fun when you got used to all the weird eccentricities of it.
I'll both agree and admit that it is indeed hard to get into if you have to force yourself to watch it, as opposed to casually checking it out if its airing on TV on a daily basis (I'd say weekly, but it wouldn't be worth it if you only saw 1 episode of this series per week, to be honest, if you know how most shonen series work ;) ). To be honest I had been watching it on and off with subtitles myself, for a few years, and only managed to get about 40+ episodes done in that time, not because it was bad but because it didn't seem that it was so good that it was worth the large investment in its huge episode count. Then I got to the Alabasta arc and from there I just suddenly got hooked and ended up doing an entire marathon through the rest of the series up to where it was currently at during that time. Also, being that this is a series that doesn't forget its roots in the least, now I actually find the beginning episodes a lot more interesting than I used to seeing as how the events that happen in them actually significantly come back into play in how they effect much later events in the series.
Overall, I think its safe to call this series and acquired taste of sorts.
That said, I think the real reason it finally did get me hooked is because somewhere along the lines, Eichiro Oda improved his skills as a writer and came up with much more intriguing villains and plot-lines, which were still standard shonen-fare but were executed surprisingly well. Also, when you watch a show for that long you inevitably start becoming invested in the characters, and unlike other shonen series the characters do actually start becoming much more famous (or in this case notorious) within their world and you just can't help but feel a great deal of satisfaction at seeing Luffy become a world-famous criminal as his bounty grows (along with his crew's bounties), and as he takes on tougher foes and enemies in more dangerous situations. The series is definitely a slow-starter, so I certainly couldn't recommend to everyone, but it honestly does pay-off quite well for those who stick with it (IMO, at least). I'm still not a big fan of it, per say, if only because I think Oda still isn't above some serious pacing problems, but even so he can consistently deliver enough quality into the series by this point to still keep me interested in seeing what happens next and how future events play out.
Arlong Park is when the series took off in most people's opinions, and I agree. Before that it was a pretty typical shonen with some cool character moments, but starting at Arlong Oda finally nailed down the style and made it fun to watch. It feels more like a grand adventure with a wide world of characters when up to that point previously that's what it wanted to be, but couldn't quite reach.
But seriously, did you watch the 4Kids dub, EK? I mean, wow. That has to be the worst butchering of a franchise since Warriors Of The Wind or Cardcaptors.
Quote from: Desensitized on April 29, 2011, 09:40:28 PM
Arlong Park is when the series took off in most people's opinions, and I agree. Before that it was a pretty typical shonen with some cool character moments, but starting at Arlong Oda finally nailed down the style and made it fun to watch. It feels more like a grand adventure with a wide world of characters when up to that point previously that's what it wanted to be, but couldn't quite reach.
Heh, the funny thing about you mentioning the Arlong arc is that its the perfect example of an early arc having big recurring effects later on. In this case, the current arc in the manga makes heavy references to the Arlong arc, which is a pretty awesome thing to see as it puts even more importance on the early events of the series, making them feel far more significance than they once did.
But, yeah, I think the thing about the Arlong arc that made it the turning poing of the series for most people is because it was the first time that Luffy truly got a chance to prove his merit as a character. Up until then he didn't face extremely threatening villains (they weren't necessarily all a joke at the time, but they didn't pose so much of a challenge that you would actually doubt for a moment that Luffy could beat the crap out of them after a few episodes), and it would be easy to chalk him up to being one of thoe annoying "all-talk" shonen main characters. However, with the Arlong arc he was also faced with the dilemma of getting Nami to join his crew for good, which wasn't an easy task seeing as how she had hated pirates all her life. So basically he really had to display the fact that he was more than what she initially thought. Of course this came in addition to taking down Arlong, but of course by doing one he pretty much managed to accomplish the other, but you could see the more serious side of his character much more clearl in this arc, and it made for a nice balance with all of the goffiness he had been known for beforehand (to be specific, we saw him get serious at times, but not entirely to the capacity that he showed in this particular arc). Also, the overall executiong was done much better, from Nami's past to Arlong's attitude as a villain (for once you didn't have a completely generic villain). Also, it was the first time that you got to see some real corruption among some of the marines since Axe Hand Morgan.
QuoteBut seriously, did you watch the 4Kids dub, EK? I mean, wow. That has to be the worst butchering of a franchise since Warriors Of The Wind or Cardcaptors.
I watched a few episodes of it back when it used to air on Kids WB. I have to admit that back then I despised the series because of it, and didn't give the sub a fair shake until a couple of years later.
So, Toei once again has done a really good job with this episode, proving that they may just be much better at the story-based aspects of One Piece as opposed to the big epic "action-packed" arcs.
I've really grown to like the idea of having the traditional flashback happen AFTER the end of the major arc its associated with. Its a nice little spin on things, since doing a flashback during the arc and or even at the beginning just feels like its an annoying interruption and people will want to get back to the action as quickly as possible, and you never want impatient readers/viewers. However, after a big arc most people usually want something a bit calmer and more light-hearted yet still with some feeling of significance, and this flashback of Luffy and Ace's past does a good job of serving that role, especially since there is no other way you could have any "happy" or light-hearted moments in the present story after the way that the previous arc ended (which you could argue is as triumphant as it is tragic in some senses, but people will mostly remember the tragic part of its ending).
Overall, though, I don't mind if Toei takes there time at this point, because I'd rather them let the manga get much further ahead again so that they can pace their episodes out a little bit better than they have been doing in the past few years.
I may be getting a chance to borrow the first 26-episode DVD set one of these days, so if I do I think I'll write up a little review on it, and if not I may just give my thoughts on the series in general since its been too long since I last did a review or feature. I figure its a good idea to catch the interest of a few TZ members, anyways, since OP is a popular show over there.
Also, I have to say, while the manga has been in a bit of a slump in terms of pacing and story lately (nothing terrible, but its been dreadfully boring for a little while, IMO), the anime has ironically taken an upturn. Its ironic how they did such a bland and lackluster job, overall (with a few exceptions in some key episodes) with a big and epic arc like the Marineford arc, but then with a much smaller and more self-contained arc like Luffy's flash-back of his childhood with his 2 brothers, they really managed to step up the quality and make an arc that was honestly kind of boring in the manga turn out to be really well-done and entertaining. Its like they botch all of the great parts in the manga but improve all of the lower quality stuff. Its a bit weird, but the important thing is that the anime has had some serious quality writing and directing lately. I really wish that it could keep up this quality through the entire series. Its because of stuff like how they handled the Marineford arc that I just couldn't justify it being on a list like this (they also really botched the Enies Lobby arc in terms of both pacing and drama, despite the fact that fans seem to love it in the anime; I honestly just think its bland compared to the manga with the exception of the brilliant use of the soundtrack in the climax episodes of that arc).
Oh, BTW, if FUNimation starts streaming the dubbed episodes that they skipped posting one One Piece Official later on at some point in time, then nobody will have an excuse to not at least give this show a chance with a fresh start. It really does deserve a second chance for people to let it grow on them. I never liked the show initially, myself (and I watched the sub), but when I tried to get back into it a second time it just really clicked with me. Its worth the investment in viewing time, to say the least.
Almost bought a One Piece movie but it was the Alabasta Princess one; that's supposedly just a recap of the Alabasta arc? Or is there something new or special about it?
No, its just a cheap and shameless recap movie released by Toei animation. Its inferior to the real Alabasta arc in just about every way (because, after all, cramming a 30-episode arc into just 90 minutes is fucking ridiculous). The movie would make no coherent sense to anyone who hasn't already watched the Alabasta arc, and would just feel downright inferior to anyone who has already seen it in either the manga or the anime. Overall, its better to just be avoided. It adds nothing to the arc from what was in the manga and anime and in fact takes away a lot from it. So, yeah, it pretty much sucks.
So, Toei has specifically timed their episode releases so that the first episode of One Piece during the post time-skip airs on October 2nd, which is pretty much the official start of the Fall anime season. I wonder if that would count as a "new" season. I guess not since its still airing under the same title and its episode count is still in line with the current one (rather than starting as episode 1 of a new series), so it seems like Toei isn't going the "DBZ" route with this series, which is definitely a good thing.
Anyways, I think I will still write something about it during the seasonal clusterfuck articles if I can since it is still a big landmark moment for the series in terms of how far it has come over a full decade and then some.
And thus officially ends the first era of One Piece (both in the manga and the anime, now). It was a great episode before the big time-skip, and it had a really nice little montage at the end playing to the series's signature theme song.
I think I will do a write-up for the premiere of the new episode next week. Even though its technically not a new series, it was timed so that it would begin precisely at the beginning of the new season, and its basically the start of the 2nd era of One Piece's story-line, so I figure its important enough to warrant a short write-up from me. Of course I'll only be doing this after tackling the other premieres that I'm responsible for seeing and writing about. I have plenty of exams to study for, though, so don't expect any of my write-ups to come right away. I'll have to do some of them in my spare time.
So, today FUNimation officially confirmed that they have gotten the rights to episodes 206-263, basically covering the entire Water Seven arc.
I'll be curious to hear what Franky's dub voice sounds like. I know that FUNimation had a voice done for him in one of the OP games, but its very possible that he'll have a different voice actor for the actual anime dub.
At any rate, this is really good news, as I really like FUNi's OP dub and would like to see them continue through the series with it.
Odd, I'd thought theyd've already dubbed long past Franky's debut arc by now.
Here's hoping to having Patrick Seitz reprise the role.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDalB3mNlzo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDalB3mNlzo)
YOHOHOHOHOHO! ;D
Brook's dub voice is pretty good :)
Come to think of it, being that I haven't been keeping up with FUNimation's One Piece dub, this is the first time what I've heard Franky's English voice as well. ;D
Also, I didn't even know that FUNimation was dubbing Strong World (or if I did, I clearly forgot about it). I'm glad to see them do that one, though. That was a surprisingly above average and fun movie. Definitely better than the standard-fare stuff that you get from most shounen movies based off of long-running manga series.
Strong World Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzYGKtzZYfE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVi2lI40LetxLBKn-rtWC3A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzYGKtzZYfE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVi2lI40LetxLBKn-rtWC3A)
Quote from: Cartoon X on September 16, 2013, 01:47:34 PMStrong World Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzYGKtzZYfE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVi2lI40LetxLBKn-rtWC3A (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzYGKtzZYfE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUVi2lI40LetxLBKn-rtWC3A)
:swoon:
That trailer is awesome!!!!!! TAKE MY MONEY FUNIMATION!!!!!!!!!
SO HYPED!
This was my first time hearing Shiki and Dr. Indigo's voice in English and I got to say that I like Scott McNeil as Shiki and Sean Schemmel as Indigo. I already heard Brook in English from that video they posted earlier and I liked who they got to voice him.
Looks like FUNimation has licensed One Piece: Film Z for a Fall 2014 release. (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-04-07/funimation-to-release-one-piece-film/z-on-home-video) I suppose that's confirmation as any that Strong World sold well for them, and should probably pave the way for more of the movies being licensed in the future (movie 6 will likely be next after this). While I still wouldn't say I think it's as amazing as a lot of OP fans do, I did personally enjoy Film Z more than Strong World, and am glad to see it'll get a stateside release shortly.
Film Z trailer! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV6bxCDKz-w)
The movie will be released September 30th, btw. It is easily the best OP film so far and I can't wait to watch it dubbed. ;D
FUNi is releasing 100+ episode (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQ2X7UU) mega sets of the series. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MQ2XBB0)
Damn. I remember when the Voyages cost like $40 bucks, and now they are selling these 100 episode sets for only $70. I do still like the pre-Water 7 episodes of the anime, so I might hit this up sometime if I have the dough.
I remember back on TZ when I said that I'd wait for them to come out with huge 50+ episode sets because I wasn't interested in buying 13-episodes at a time, and they all said that I was crazy and it would never happen. Well, who's laughing now, bitches? :>
Of course I probably won't get these right away because I don't have the funds, but I could see myself caving in for these sets after I finally get a job. Hell, I'd even probably cave in for sets that covered the CP9 arc, even though that's when Toei started getting REALLY cheap with the show, and also royally fucking up the pacing. I still kind of liked it at that point. However, it's how they handled the Marineford arc that I can't forgive them for.
This is the kind of stuff I wanted. For a series as long as OP, save me some damn shelf space. Hoping they won't stop with these though, like they seemed to do with the collections.
They still put out the collections. In fact, the 10th one is coming out in October, (http://www.rightstuf.com/rssite/action/store/item/Item?ItemName=fun09225) same time as the first two voyage releases for season 6.
Ah. I thought they just straight up stopped at 9, because of the fifth season release.
But still, this is the kind of stuff that made me straight up stop buying these dvd releases. I own the first two seasons (eleven 13-episode sets, I believe). Too much money for too few episodes, too much shelf space taken up. Nowadays I just wait for these super sets for the longer shows and complete seasons/series for the shorter ones. It's part of the reason why I just haven't indulged in anime in years now (along with the lack of interest and fans constantly hyping up shit that isn't good at all).
How about a YYH and Dragonball full series set? :)
Hey, you never know. Since FUNi's willing to put out 100+ episode collections now I wouldn't rule out seeing ones for those sometime.
Perhaps if these OP sets sell well, they will consider releasing other series in this format.
I probably wouldn't buy a YYH one since I already own the whole series on DVD from those 28-episode sets, but I would certainly buy one for Dragon Ball if they could fit all 153 (I think it was around that number) into a complete series set for under $100, which would be amazing.
So, I've been thinking about when exactly the anime adaptation of One Piece mostly became utter crap. Honestly, I thought that it was a legitimately good adaptation for a while. Personally, I'd say that the proper answer is that then anime started to lose steam as soon as the big pacing problems kicked in, and that's at the same time that it went HD.
By the time we got to Water Seven, we were starting to see the seeds of Toei's trademark cheapness and corner cutting beginning to grow. Still, I'd argue that they did a good enough job adapting the Water Seven and Enies Lobby arcs mostly thanks to good music and not downright terrible animation. It was definitely inferior to the manga, but I could still tolerate it. Then we got to Thriller Bark, which I actually thought was a slight improvement from the previous anime arcs, if only because I loved the Burton-esque style of that src, and it was nice to see the manga's version of the arc realized in full color, which it really benefited from. THEN we got to the whole Whitebeard/Ace saga stuff with Sabaody Archipelago, Amazon Lily, Impel Down, and Marineford. To me, this is where the anime started to suck. The animation quality took a very noticeable nosedive in most episodes, the pacing finally we to mostly just a chapter per episode, and many of the key fights and really emotional scenes were badly ruined thanks to poor execution from the episode directors. It really pissed me off since I absolutely loved that story-line from the manga (and Impel Down was the arc that was currently running when I first caught up to the manga 5 years ago). If I were ever to re-watch the anime, I think I'd stop by the end of Thriller Bark, myself.
Yeah, after re-watching episodes of the show on Toonami time to time, I really do think once the series switched to HD the quality of the production gradually but surely declined. While it was never particularly well-animated, it made good use of what it had and good direction and pacing in the early episodes, and I still find those first 206 episodes of the series, and even the first few HD episodes, enjoyable. When those 100-ep dvd episode collections start coming out next year, I'll buy the first two, but I won't get any past those.
How far has FUNimation's dub gotten, anyways. I know that they at least managed to finish Enies Lobby, since I was watching episodes pretty far into that arc on Toonami rather recently. Honestly, I'd probably buy the first 300 episodes (if I actually had the funds). I feel that there is still enough good stuff up to that point to justify the re-watch. Once we get past that, though,the quality becomes questionable. I mean, I still like Thrikker Bark, but there is way too much filler in the mix, as well. At any rate, once it goes past 400 episodes, that's when I find a majority of the anime to be full-on crap.
The dub is currently half-way into Thriller Bark. The set that will finish off the arc will probably be released next February or March.
It's been a long time coming, but Crunchyroll is now finally streaming pretty much every episode of One Piece. (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/daily-briefs/2014-12-08/crunchyroll-streams-almost-all-one-piece-episodes/.81939) This includes the first two One Piece X Toriko crossover specials. The episode that's still absent is episode 590, which is the Dragon Ball Z and Toriko crossover episode, but all the crossover episodes suck anyway so who cares. At any rate, it's neat that all One Piece episodes are finally available on a legal streaming platform in the west.
New film coming next summer. (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-08-22/one-piece-gets-new-anime-film-in-summer-2016/.92002)
Films based on currently airing shonen anime are rarely any good, but Strong World and Film Z were fairly decent and surprisingly entertaining for what they were. So, maybe I'll give this one a shot.
On the subject, though, while never officially stated, it's obvious that these movies take place in a different Universe/continuity from the main series, given the different attire of the characters and general fact that there'd be no way any of these events could fit into the main timeline of the series.
I just wish that the writers and directors of these movies would actually be allowed to take advantage of these features creatively, and add things like stakes and lore. It'd still be the same characters, but of an alternate timeline, and there'd actually be some lasting effects and weight to these movies. Instead, all we'll ever get are entertaining little curiosities that play it way too safe to be anything more, at best.
While it's questionable whether Strong World itself is canon to the series (though it could be, since there is a gap of time between the end of Thriller Bark and beginning of Sabody in the manga), the character of Shiki and his backstory (chapter 0) actually is, and he's been mentioned in the manga itself once or twice. None of the other movies have anything canon to the manga, however.
Oda's involved with the new movie. (http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2015/08/27/one-piece-creator-onboard-for-next-anime-movie) So, it should ideally be around the same caliber as Strong World and Film Z.
Then again, current Oda is pretty hit or miss with his writing. :humhumhum:
In all seriousness, though, I'd say that Strong World and Film Z were both entertaining, above average movies by the standards of movies based on long-running shonen anime. In that regard, I'd put them on the same level as BOG: very fan-service heavy, but entertaining if you are a fan.
If the new movie is just as good, I'll certainly check it out. I do wish that they could somehow make these movies stand out on their own, somewhat, as quality movies in and of themselves. Sort of like that second UY movie that CX is always going on about. :D
The new film is called Film Gold. (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-12-03/one-piece-film-gold-movie-opens-in-japan-on-july-23/.96047) Oda is the executive producer, like he was for Film Z. It will be out next July.
Funimation has licensed Film Gold. What's more, it will have theatrical screenings in the U.S. and Canada from January 10th-17th!
Uhhh... (http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/marty-adelstein-tomorrow-studios-one-piece-tv-series-1202510419) :whuh:
Most expensive live action show of all time + 3X failure franchise = Worlds greatest tax laundering scheme.
The trailer for the Wano arc in the anime has been released, (https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2019-06-01/one-piece-anime-previews-wano-kuni-arc-in-video/.147386) and DAMN, that's the Tatsuya Nagamine difference for ya! All the shots in the trailer and the revamped character designs look absolutely gorgeous, and while OP will always have inconsistent quality as a consequence of being a long-running show, it really seems like they're going all-out to make Wano something special. I've been following the anime again since the middle of Whole Cake after seeing how the production values really stepped up, but this looks like a whole new show entirely! This is the most I've looked forward to watching the OP anime in ages.
After a two-year hiatus, the dub finally continues. (https://twitter.com/ToeiAnimation/status/1258458422934036480)
Just watched the most recent episode and WTF was with that movie quality animation? Like, it's legit got presentation value higher than even most contemporary well-produced shows, and it's not even covering any of the battles from the raid on Onigashima yet. While it's unrealistic to expect this to be the standard going forward, it does give me faith that the production staff is taking Wano Act 3 super seriously (to be fair, the production value took a big step up since WCI), and will give the big moments and fights the level of care that they deserve. This is the kind of quality that I desperately wish we had gotten back with the war at Marineford a whole decade ago (still hard to believe that it's been that long since then).
I like to watch One Piece in chunks--I haven't watched the anime since Wano Act 2 ended. I'm already caught up with the manga and am waiting for the adaptation of chapter 1000 so I can enjoy it all in a big batch.
I've been hearing some really good things about the anime since this year started, from its higher-quality animation than usual and material that expands on the story (seemingly even predicting future manga events). Yeah, Toei has really stepped up their game this year.
Wano as a whole has been the best the show has ever looked, but Megumi Ishitani in particular has a knack for making all the episodes she directs look so gorgeously cinematic. The storming of Onigashima stuff in the manga was executed okay but the anime made it all feel like a real event. I really hope they bring her on for more big episodes going forward.
Episode 1000 is out, and there's a good and bad thing about it.
Bad: Due to Toei's awful pacing, it's not even adapting chapter 1000--it's about 10 chapters behind. :imnothappy: Way to fuck up a momentous occasion, Toei.
Good: They've updated the original intro, "We Are!" and it's freakin' sweet! :shakeshakeshake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEcORw_rhks
I'd be disappointed if I didn't already expect something like this. It's a glorified clip show by the final third of the episode, and the rest is just a basic adaptation of the manga with some extra scenes added in.
But, yeah, that redone opening theme really hit that nostalgic sweet spot for me. I'm honestly more excited to see the actual chapter 1,000 of the manga animated. That's easily one of my favorite moments in the entire series.
Chapter 1000 has FINALLY been adapted!
Trailer for the Netflix live-action series. God help us all.
https://twitter.com/newworldartur/status/1641831006519918592
Netflix live-action trailer. (https://twitter.com/onepiecenetflix/status/1670196120100691968) Enjoy!
The live-action series is now up on Netflix. :happytime:
Can't believe that the One Piece Live Action series got confirmed for a second season faster than Netflix cancelled Cowboy Bebop.
Well apparently it's actually good, right?
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/714601907116834868/1185072936126783488/Screenshot_20231214-221444_YouTube.jpg)
Studio Wit is remaking the East Blue Saga. (https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2023-12-17/wit-studio-produces-the-one-piece-anime-series-remake-for-netflix/.205618)
I can't believe we're getting a One Piece Kai/Brotherhood treatment while the current animated series is still going on.