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The Series:
The Straw Hat crew arrives in Alabasta in One Piece Season
Two Voyage Four. The show keeps
hitting new heights, with each
collection topping the previous one in terms of story quality, and this
set is
no exception. With some great new
characters and a well structured story this is an excellent set of
shows.
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 arrives in Alabasta along with the
princess of that country, Nefeltari Vivi.
Alabasta is having a hard time however.
It's a desert country filled with a series of oases but they've
been
drying up and there hasn't been a drop of rain in three years. The people have started to blame the
government and Baroque Works is using the unrest to attempt a takeover
of the
country. They're funding a rebel army
which is fighting the government forces.
Vivi has proof that Baroque Works is behind this and needs
to get the information to her father, but first she wants to confront
the rebel
commander, someone that she grew up with.
Luffy and his crew promise to help Vivi in her quest, and
they all set out across the desert, with Luffy frequently getting lost. Along the way they encounter another pirate
who has devil fruit powers, the infamous Fire Fist Ace.
Not only is he a fearsome warrior, but he's
Luffy's older brother too. He joins up
with the Straw Hats for a while, since they're travelling in the same
direction. Ace is looking for a bounty
hunter named Scorpion, someone who may have killed a friend of his.
This set doesn't wrap up the Alabasta storyline, but it's a
great collection none the less. The
travels through the desert are a lot of fun, with Luffy meeting up with
Sand
Pirates, a group of thugs posing as rebel soldiers to get free food,
and even
Captain Smoker.
One of the nice things about these shows is that there's a
lot of time to explore Alabasta's background and history while trekking
through
the desert. Vivi tells stories about her
past, fleshing out her character as well as her father's and the
country's history
too. It's these stories that may seem
like filler that actually give this story arc its depth.
Without them it would be just another series
of pointless fights. Just look at the 8th
One Piece movie that was recently released.
It was based on this story, but they cut out all of the good
parts and
just left in the fights making it pretty lame.
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 (92-103) 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 items are clean animations and a series of trailers.
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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