It's established in the opening credits that before Gold Roger, the "Pirate King" was executed, he said that anyone could have his treasure, but they would have to search the whole world in order to find it. This event marked the beginning of the great era of piracy.A young man named Monkey D. Luffy is on a quest to become the Pirate King. In his youth, he had eaten "the devil's fruit" and became rubbery. While his rubbery body allows him to stretch himself out a great distance, the drawback is that he will never be able to swim.
During the episodes on this disc, Luffy sets out to assemble a pirate crew and go to the Grand Line in order to look for Gold Roger's treasure, which is called the "One Piece." During the course of these 13 episodes, Luffy officially gains two members of his crew: a pirate hunter named Roronoa Zoro and a female thief named Nami. They also meet a young man named Usopp, who is known in his village for telling lies and tall tales.
Before watching the episodes, I had read the first three volumes of the One Piece manga series, and was in the middle of the fourth volume when I watched this set. These episodes cover the events of the first three volumes of the manga, as well as part of the fourth volume. Overall, the anime at this point has been a rather faithful adaptation of its manga source material, with the only major exception being in how Nami was introduced to the audience. For the anime, I thought it worked well for the audience to see Nami as a background character before she becomes involved with Luffy and his quest.
The animation style in One Piece is a bit more on the "unique" side, but it really captures the look that Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka who created One Piece, established in the manga. This feel to the animation also helps make this anime series stand out in comparison to a lot of the anime that is being produced at the time that I'm writing this review.
One Piece tends to be more on the comedic side, although the series also has its serious moments. So far, I like what I've seen of One Piece, and I want to see more. This is a series I would recommend to anime viewers who like pirate stories or to anime viewers who enjoy other "shonen" series such as Naruto and Dragon Ball Z.
As for the DVD set itself, the bonus features only appear on the second disc in the set. There are two options: "Textless Songs" and "Trailers." The opening and closing songs can be found in the "Textless Songs" option, and there are eight trailers available for viewing in the "Trailers" option.
If you're a One Piece fan and want to collect the episodes on DVD, you can purchase this set in order to obtain the first 13 episodes. A more recent DVD collection is packaging 24 episodes per set, and that release would also be worth considering if you want to add One Piece to your home video library.
I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD set that I checked out through the King County Library System.
| I'm Luffy! The Man Who's Gonna be King of the Pirates! Enter the Great Swordsman: Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro! Morgan versus Luffy! Who's the Mysterious Pretty Girl? Luffy's Past! Enter Red-Haired Shanks! A Terrifying Mysterious Power! Captain Buggy, the Clown Pirate! Desperate Situation! Beast Tamer Mohji vs. Luffy! Epic Showdown! Swordsman Zoro vs. Acrobat Cabaji! | Who Is the Victor? Devil Fruit Power Showdown! The Honorable Liar? Captain Usopp! The Weirdest Guy Ever! Jango the Hypnotist! Expose the Plot! Pirate Butler, Captain Kuro! Clash With the Black Cat Pirates! The Great Battle on the Slope! The Terrifying Duo! Meowban Brothers vs. Zoro! Bonus Features |
