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The Series:
A blue nosed reindeer, a 139 year old doctor with a bared
midriff and navel ring, and a king who can eat anything (even himself). You'll find all these oddball characters and
more in One Piece Season Two Voyage Three. The straw hats are on the Grand Line and
they're getting into just as much trouble as ever.
In this set Nami becomes deathly ill they
head to the nearest island only to find that the ruler has exiled all
of the
physicians. That's not going to stop
Luffy though. Still going strong, this series is full of wacky fun and
excitement.
Series background:
When Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates was executed, he
used his last words to tell the world that he had hidden all of his
treasure:
"You want it, you can have it. Find it! I left everything the world has
to
offer there!" This started the Great Pirate Era: the seas are filled
with
men looking for adventure, riches, and most of all Gold Roger's
treasure: the
One Piece.
Of the many looking for the One Piece, few are as unlikely
to find it as Monkey D. Luffy. This young boy has vowed to become King
of the
Pirates, but he doesn't have a ship, or even a crew. He sets off to sea
in a
barrel, and it is only by luck that he's taken aboard a pirate ship.
While Luffy may have none of the skills that a pirate would
need, like how to navigate on water (or dry land for that matter) he
does have
a powerful advantage: he's eaten a Gum-Gum Devil Fruit. This magical
object has
turned his body to rubber. Not only does this make him invulnerable to
bullets
and most physical attacks, but he can stretch his arms great lengths
and use
his first as powerful weapons or turn himself into a human slingshot
and launch
his body through the air. Along with his unwavering resolve to succeed,
this
makes him a formidable opponent.
In the first season Luffy set off from his home in an old
barrel and started to gather his crew.
He now has a real ship and the people to man it:
Zoro (translated as Zolo in the manga) a
pirate-hunter who wants to become known as the best swordsman in the
world,
Nami, an attractive thief who acts as navigator and dreams of mapping
all of
the oceans of the world, Sanji, a cook and master kick-boxer who's
greatest
desire is to find the All Blue a sea that contains every type of fish
in the
world, and Usopp, a youth who's good with a slingshot (and telling tall
tales)
who has dreams of becoming a great pirate also.
Together they head to the Grand Line, the most dangerous place
on the
planet, because that's where the One Piece is hidden!
This set:
The Straw Hat crew are still helping Nefeltari Vivi, the
crowned princess of Alabasta, to get back to her father's kingdom. Time is of the essence since she's discovered
that the criminal organization Baroque Works are starting a rebellion
and plan
to take over the country. When Nami
becomes sick with a high fever however, the crew are forced to detour
and find
their navigator some medical help.
The land on a winter island, a place where it snows year
round, that doesn't have a name. The whole
country was recently devastated by a pirate gang so Luffy and company
aren't
exactly welcome. They manage to overcome
the natives' reluctance to let them land only to find that there are no
doctors! The ruler, King Wapol, exiled
all of the physicians save for the top 20 practitioners who became his
private
group, the 20 MDs. If anyone needed any
medical care they'd have to come to him and he could extort any amount
and only
treat those who were loyal to him.
The plan was working until the pirates landed and Wapol fled
along with most of the army and the 20 MDs.
The only person who was able to treat medical conditions was an
old
witch who lives on top of a snow covered mountain with her assistant
Tony Tony
Chopper, a talking reindeer. With Nami's
life at stake, Luffy and Sanji carry the girl up the mountain fighting
giant
carnivorous bunny rabbits and dealing with avalanches along the way.
Meanwhile King Wapol returns to the island to reclaim his
throne, but the villagers aren't that happy to see him, especially one
of his
ex-lieutenants, Dalton. Dalton
organizes the populace and prepares them to fight, but the old army is
just too
much for them. That's about when Usopp,
Vivi, and Zoro arrive.
This is another fun collection. The story
moves rather quickly, which is
good, and the characters are just as creative and bizarre as always. One of the things that I like about the
show
is the way they break up the main plot with side stories that fill in
character
backgrounds or bring the secondary character's tales up to date. This time around we get to find out about
Chomper, how he became half human, where he learned medicine, and just
why he
hates everyone. It was a touching story
the offset the larger fight episodes quite well.
It should also be noted that this is the uncut version of
the show. Though it is aimed at kids, there is some swearing. People
called
"ass" and "son of a bitch", but nothing worse than that.
People do get killed too, and when blood is spilled it's red. The show
isn't very
bloody though, and I had no problems letting my 6th grader watch it.
The DVD:
This set contains the next 12 episodes (79-91) on two DVDs,
each in its own thinpak case. The two
cases are held in a nice slipcase.
Audio:
This set offers the original Japanese track in stereo as
well as an English dub in either stereo or 5.1. While the 5.1 dub was
nice
during the battle scenes, I preferred the original language track. The
voices
just seemed to fit characters better and made for a more enjoyable
viewing experience.
The English voice actors did do a good job however and people who like
watching
in English shouldn't be disappointed.
Video:
The full frame video looked pretty good overall. The colors
were bright and solid and the blacks were nice and inky. The image was
generally sharp too. The only real problem was a more than average
amount of
aliasing. Diagonal lines are often jagged and when the camera pans
across a
scene, fine lines tend to shimmer a bit. There's also a bit of cross
colorization, but it wasn't distracting.
Extras:
Like the other volumes in this series, I was a little
disappointed that the bonus items were so meager. There's a "Marathon
Play" option, which lets you watch the show without the opening and
closing credits, which is really cool. I wish more anime would offer
something
like this. Unfortunately the only other
bonus item commentary on one episode by the English crew that was about
average
for an anime commentary track.
Final Thoughts:
This is my favorite anime show that currently being
released. The action is exciting and the
characters are well developed, but most of all this show is hilarious
at times
and has a great sense of fun. If you're
looking for something that's a bit different but still entertaining,
don't look
any further. Highly Recommended. |
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