Crappy thread name alert!

I know this isn’t the best of titles but hopefully it gets my point across as to what I do which is to essentially review One Piece, from the very first episode to the most recent. By no means am I a new fan, in fact I’ve seen the anime up to and including Enies Lobby and the manga up to a time skip (why hasn’t Luffy got facial hair Oda? I demand to know because facial hair is epic) but I haven’t really expressed my opinions on this most wonderful of shows.

I know some of you might not care what I have to say but I like to think there are people who do. I hope I can entertain you with my reviews and perhaps ignite some debate and discussion. I know there’s been a lot of One Piece review related threads recently but this is a new forum so consider it a new start. I don’t want to come across as a mod but can we please try and keep the discussion civil in here and keep it fun. Not that I’ve experienced a thread where everything goes berserk but just in case.

So to clarify I’ll be watching the dub for as far as I can. Why? Well I enjoy it and it’s more or less the Japanese version in English bar the voices. There won’t be reviews every day mind because I do have a life (and that life = reviewing Naruto and Dragon Ball) but this will be near enough to most days a weak. So what there’s almost 500 episodes and what better way to get started than by reviewing 2 of them.

Episode 1: I’m Luffy! The Man Whose Gonna be King of the Pirates!

Wow that’s a bit pretentious of Luffy isn’t it? Not that it comes as a surprise, after all almost every anime character with a dream has to proclaim he will achieve it, (eg: My name’s Ash Ketchum and I’m gonna be Pokemon Master even though I haven’t even won any major competitions in canon).

Luffy is hands down one of my favourite fictional characters ever because his enthusiasm is just so god-dam infectious. Not only that but he’s passionate, strong and he’s the only man who could pull off wearing a straw hat (well until Shanks comes along anyways) - undoubtedly Luffy is my favourite character in One Piece. Well at-least until Usopp turns up. And then Sanji. Followed by Crocodile and oh dear god there’s too many epic characters to choose from.

- Is Coby actually checking out Luffy's behind in this picture?!

One character I’m less than enthusiastic about however is Coby who is like the whiniest bitch ever. Seriously what was Oda thinking of when he created this guy? Probably ‘most annoying character ever’. Yeah he’ll develop into a brave young man but at this point my god he’s the worst thing ever. I don’t particularly like Alvida either - she’s just one big, fat, mean beefcake with a club. A great big club.

After bursting out of a barrel (which was the coolest thing ever seen in an anime ever) Luffy proceeds to tell Coby that he’s gonna be king of the pirates. Pretentious it may be but Luffy really sells it to me, I believe in this guy and what he can do.

- The name's Bond. Nami Bond.

I should probably start addressing these characters based on their vocal performances. I swear had it not been for the miracle (or curse, depending on the programme) of credits I would never in a million years would have been able to tell that Luffy was voiced by a woman. Seriously Colleen has so much range, from adorable little kid who beats the shit out of space tyrants to wannabe treasure hunter that woman’s got it all.

Arguably Leah Clark does a solid job because the voice she gives the most bitchiest of characters is, that’s right, a whiny voice though this does grate the ears after a while. Laurie Steel’s awesome as Alvida though so it’s not all bad; one thing that ‘confuses’ me though is Laurie voiced Krillin in Dragon Ball which aka is when he was a spoilt bastard who was whinging all the time so I would have thought she might have been a good choice for the role of Coby.

- Luffy's response to the fact that he's supposedly a rip-off of Goku.

I’m sure I wasn’t the first who thought Mr Fantastic rip-off when I saw what Luffy could do and I’m sure I won’t be the last. Now I’ve only seen the F4 movies so I don’t know if they were accurate but he and for use of a better phrase, sucked Babadi dick in those films - Luffy is the outright winner for sure. Alvida’s exit (sadly not a permanent one) was priceless and oh my I feel so much sympathy for the man she landed on.

- Surprise!!!

I’m trying to avoid straying too much into the music side of things as I have absolutely no idea what the tracks are called but c’mon who doesn’t love We Are and Memories. Well I suppose someone who hates the words we, are and memories but there can’t be very many of them. The visuals had a simplistic nature for the opening and endings though I felt this benefited the opening more than the ending.

Luffy sets sail once more and Coby joins him as the sun sets on the first episode. What are my final thoughts? It’s not a brilliant first outing but it does make me want to watch more. And gee who is that guy all tied up? Whoever he is I’m 99.9% confident that he won’t go on to fight fishmen, gods and a man made of steel.

Score: 7/10

Episode 2: Enter the Great Swordsman! Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro!

As the episode title explains this episode features the introduction of the pirate hunter Zoro and what a debut to make! Tied up against wood, ‘terribly exciting’, but how did he get there? Has he placed there by shippers? Or maybe he’s been captured by a tyrannical brute called Captain Morgan? I’m guessing the last one though as a outrageously camp prick struts up I’m not so sure.

- Face Palm - You're Doing it Wrong.

I like Zoro, Zoro’s cool and it’s one of my favourite voices that Chris Sabat does. Sure I can’t help but think Piccolo when I hear him (the hair doesn’t help - that’s right I can hear hair :D) but truly the man is a legend. Speaking of Chris Sabat hasn’t anyone considered making him into a teddy bear? I mean you could have all these voices when you pull a string, one minute Piccolo, the next Vegeta - and that my friends is the definition of a bad idea.

- One Woman tests out the life-size Chris Sabat doll. Pull his cord (location N/A) and he'll speak like Vegeta!

Speaking of bad ideas they’re out in full force this episode as Luffy tries to free Zoro and get him to join his crew. Any other man wouldn’t stand a chance but Luffy, yeah he’s gonna do it. This episode really highlights why Luffy is my favourite character, passionate when standing up to Helmeppo, funny when searching for Zoro’s swords and downright cool throughout.

The other main character who debuts is Captain Morgan and wow great villain. He’s brutal, brutal again and brutal some more - my kind of antagonist. Though what’s up with his fetish for his erected statue that Luffy eventually blows down? And for the record that was the dirtiest sentence I should ever hope to type.

- I asked for the latest volume of Bleach not Naruto!

Coby was actually bearable in this episode. And that for the record was the most shocking sentence I’ve ever typed. No really he was, he’s wanted to be a marine his whole life and to see them being horrible bastards really spurs him into action was commendable. Helmeppo, oh my gosh, he’s the biggest dick ever. Nope that wasn’t a compliment - he really is. I hate him, go burn in the fires of hell. Why do I hate him? I just do, he’s a complete and utter git.

As for the ending - it, like Chuck Norris, never gets old. The look on everyone’s faces as Luffy takes the bullets and bounces them back is priceless. It’s only episode 2 but wow One Piece is shaping up to be an epic. Though what’s up with the mysterious girl in the restaurant, she was in the last episode too, I wonder who she could possibly be…

Score: 9/10