At this point it’s kind of cliché to even review this anime due to the massive number of reviews written so far but in reality I feel that one piece STILL does not get the standing ovation it deserves.
And maybe the ridiculous and continued FAILED Americanisation attempts of it is to blame……well anywayz it still beats ALL anime-series to date.
Animation
In its early days it was drawn in a lets say a “misleading” comical sense that can present the series as slapstick, well the animation complements the idea of a simple comedy - which is so far from the whole picture.
Intense battle scenes can make you think your watching the most serious and brutal of anime, combined with very distinctive facial expressions of laughter, anger, disgust, misery and every other colour of the rainbow - its actually refreshing to see this basic style of animation depict such a range of emotions.
Over the years you can see more detail has been put into the simple animation design without any artistic compromise…a fantastic and unique feat in my humble opinion.
*A Special shout out goes to all the Fan-subbing groups for adding fantastic graphical text for character special moves (Kaizoku fansubs, Vegapunk etc)*
Sound
Well..well
Firstly…let’s start by just saying the original Japanese audio is flawless in every way Openings, Closings, Background & all voice actors PERFECT.
Secondly & Sadly
4Kids entertainment have forever stained and ruined the one piece experience for countless westerners who sadly watched the horrific English dub and got a totally unreal one piece experience and although Funimation entertainment has taken over and re-dubbed it, its not only too late but still not up to scratch again. This just proves the fact that some anime just cannot be applied correctly to other regions without losing the spirit of the anime!
Sorry for the mini-rant but the true one piece fans are just fed up!
Japanese audio is perfect and English dub should be avoided like the swine flu!
Story
Again at first glance One Piece can appear to look like a slapstick pirate comedy but it’s so much more. Every character has a story in one piece and there are probably 100+ stories that could be told but the anime focuses on the ever growing Straw Hat Crew and each character of the crew. These stories usually involve a traumatizing childhood, a pivotal character related death and a goal for that character to achieve (told beautifully I might add).
These stories are just brilliant and I must say out of all the long running anime series I’ve seen Dragonball, Pokemon, stupid Naruto and Bleach etc - One Piece just feels like there’s hardly any filler as all the episodes just seem to contribute to the straw hat pirates adventure!
With exception to the historical special arcs found more recently which are mildly comical but not like 130 eps (STUPID-ASS NARUTO!!!) ahem.
Characters
As I said before One Piece has a HUGE number of characters From Crewmates, Marines, Civilians and SUPERVILLANS. Yep One thing One Piece does well is VILLANS these villans are the definition of pirates where killing attacking manipulating and even beating women & children is all fair play.
The characters in one piece just tend to bring out the emotions in its audience Luffy will have you laughing and rooting for victory, Nami will have you wondering do all women love money this much and Zoro will have you saying should’nt this sword guy be in samurai champloo? Lol.
Enjoyment
One piece is easily the anime I have had the most pleasure enjoying in my anime career and I tend to use it as a pick me up emotionally, as most fans will tell you one piece has a very therapeutic quality to it..yep that’s a weird thing to say but if you agree with me chances are you hit the helpful button below this review.
If I had anything bad to say about One Piece it is around the 300 Ep point I started to feel that the storyline would go in a repetitive routine that was starting to become a little bit too predictable – and just after I started feeling that way around the 400’s the entire series changes gears and shakes things up big time……so much for predictability!
Value
In my opinion one piece has something for everyone Action, Adventure, Comedy and trust me even though people don’t mention it this anime can actually bring ya to tears of sadness and most definitely tears of joy.
Sadly I’ve noticed the sheer number of episodes steer many newcomers away thinking its too much of a commitment.
This is one of the few anime I say makes me proud to be an anime fan its just One in a Million which NEVER fails to entertain! i would just warn people to not be fooled by its slapstick appearance and STAY AWAY FROM ANY AND ALL ENGLISH DUBBED VERSIONS OF ONE PIECE IT’S THE EQUVIALENT TO WATCHING POKEMON…actually that’s insulting Pokemon…sorry Ash!
Planet Tyro Rating: Hall of Fame / First Class (depending it's finale)
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