One Piece

[Nel_Annette]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

They still put out the collections. In fact, the 10th one is coming out in October, same time as the first two voyage releases for season 6.

[Nel_Annette]

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).

[Spark Of Spirit]

How about a YYH and Dragonball full series set? 

[LumRanmaYasha]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

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.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

It's been a long time coming, but Crunchyroll is now finally streaming pretty much every episode of One Piece. 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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

New film coming next summer.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

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.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Oda's involved with the new movie. So, it should ideally be around the same caliber as Strong World and Film Z.