One Piece Season 5 Voyage 5
It’s almost time to get underway again, but the Straw Hats need a ship first.
What They Say:
Luffy and his mates emerged victorious from the battle at Enies Lobby, but after bidding a fiery farewell to the Going Merry, these pirates won’t be going anywhere! There’s a hefty new bounty of each of their heads, and their only hope for escape rests on the cyborg shoulders of Franky. The blue-haired, speedo-sporting shipwright offers to build the Straw Hats a new vessel, but time is of the essence. Some very familiar marines are breathing down their necks, and the crew can’t set sail without a boat – or their stubborn sniper.
A bombastic barrage of cannonballs inches closer and closer as the Straw Hats wait to see whether Franky will join the family, Usopp can swallow his pride, and if an angry face from Luffy’s past will sink their new ship!
Contains episodes 313-324.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for One Piece is a solid work though the favoring goes to the English language track. The series comes with its original Japanese mix in stereo which is good and has a solid feeling throughout it, though it never really extends itself all that much as it uses the forward soundstage. The English mix gets the 5.1 bump to it and that adds with the volume being louder in general and some occasional bigger moments thrown to the rear channels. It’s a decent mix to be sure, but it’s working with simple source material so it can only go so far. It makes up for it by being a bit brasher and outgoing. Both mixes work well and are free of problems like dropouts and distortions, leaving us with a pair of clean and clear mixes
Video:
Originally airing in 2007, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. This collection has thirteen episodes to it spread across two discs with seven on the first and five on the second. The series in its widescreen form has a very good look where it takes what we had in full screen and just gives it a new life. The placement, framing and general look of the series comes across as brighter, cleaner and better choreographed both in fight sequences and general humor. The transfer brings through the detail of the animation much better and it just feels like the source material is in better shape as well. Colors are bright, appealing and problem free with only a mild smattering of noise in some of the backgrounds that never really detracts.
Packaging:
One Piece goes bright with its thin slipcover packaging as it has a white background with some colorful black and yellow framing to tie it together. The artwork is kept to the center under the same logo as used before and it stands out well here, even when it’s dark since it’s also colorful and playful in a way that draws you in. The cover for this release gives us some good material as we get Franky standing proud in front of a ship that definitely has a lot of color and Luffy-ness about it. The front cover also lists the episodes so you know what you’re getting. The back cover goes for the same framing and is pretty light and inviting with the artwork as it uses the blue skies and clouds while also focusing on various serious scenes from the episodes. The left has a small summary of what to expect that hits some key points but keeps it simple. The discs features and what it contains is accurate, though it omits the clean openings that are included.
Inside the case we get a pair of clear thinpak cases that hold the two discs. Both covers are done the same in that they have the Straw Hat logo across it with the simple text logo as well which is all done in an old leathery volume kind of way. It has a good look but I almost wish we had more artwork here instead of this to go with the colorful slipcover that we have that holds the cases. The back covers are a bit traditional in that we get a wood deck feeling with the main colorful logo here as well as a breakdown of episodes by title and number. The reverse side has more of the wood feeling with the logo but no additional artwork or anything. No show related inserts are included.
Menu:
The menu design for this release is quite fun and simple as it goes for a white background where part of the upper half is cut out in waves. White dominates it outside of the Straw Hats pirate logo along the left whereas the right has the season listing and the navigation in black and red, making for an easy read. The top portion brings in a bit of character animation artwork from the show that adds some splash of color that’s really nice to see. With a bit of mild instrumental music attached to it that doesn’t dominate, it sets the mood well and hits all the right notes. Submenus load quickly and easily and there were no problems moving around. I do wish they had kept to the menu designs for consistencies sake, but I like what was done here.
Extras:
The extras for this release are pretty good as we get two new English language commentary for a couple of episodes. The second disc also brings us a new “On the Boat” segment, this time with Colleen Clinkenbeard as she gets to talk about her time and role in the series and the fun of it all.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece really did some fun stuff in the previous set as it dealt with the fallout from the Enis Lobby arc and the end of a particular character. While the Going Merry obviously never got quite the same attention as the other characters, the ship definitely was a big part of things throughout and always there for so many big moments as a supporting member. So I definitely appreciated the way that they gave her a good send off with understanding and compassion that really felt honest and real when dealing with her crew and those that watched since they went a bit bigger with it. All in all, it was what was needed to advance things in a way since the Merry worked as a good plot point to provide the growing crew with something new and interesting, which is what a good chunk of this set is about as Franky continues to be a focus that grows stronger as it progresses.
The twelve episodes of this set is one that’s definitely interesting and has a lot to offer, though a good chunk of it is focused on smaller standalone character stories to pass time a bit. Which isn’t badly done, but you can also gloss over them a bit. With the loss of the Merry and considering what Luffy and the others did when it came to the CP9 and revealing what was in the shipbuilders midst with a few covert agents, it’s no surprise that the Water 7 folks are pulling together to build the Straw Hats a new ship. Because of what Franky has done as a part of it and the kind of support he got from the crew, he’s all about building them the ship of his dreams that he’s wanted to do for so long now, which is definitely a good thing to see considering he’s spent his time doing anything but building ships after the fallout from Tom years ago. This also works to rebuild the relationship with Iceberg since the two, along with a host of others, are really spearheading all of this in order to make sure it can get done before anyne from the Navy shows up.
The construction side of the set takes up a good chunk of it, though a lot of it goes into the background for the first seven or so episodes with most of what we get focusing on the relationship between Franky and those from Water 7 and Galley-la Company directly, which is good. While all of this is going on, that leaves the Straw Hats trying to figure out their own way and what will come next, which has its moments since they’re seeing some interesting things coming up from more of the New World and a real desire to go explore, particularly since their reputation is about to go through the roof now. Because of their attack on one of the real bastions of power for the World Government in Enis Lobby, and that a Buster Call was issued to take them down, their bounties have all gone up significantly and new wanted posters are out there, Poor Chopper though in getting the weakest of bounties, but a bounty none the less. This does in general excite the crew since that means they’re becoming more famous pirates and with Luffy’s goal to become king of the pirates, it’s all good.
The small stories that we get are certainly comical and they have their moments, but they’re also episodes that you can largely skip unless you must consume everything. The three main ones involve Luffy, Zoro and then Sanji. Luffy helps a young girl whose Yasdra has disappeared and likely gone to the special place where they go to die after the Aqua Lunga incident. That has Luffy working with her throughout the city and it has some nice moments that expands what the creatures are like. Zoro’s story is a lot more comedy based as he gets caught up by a couple of kids he wrangled with previously who take him home to Mama, a woman that takes in lots of orphaned kids. She takes in Zoro, even though he keeps refusing, and before you know it he’s doing all sorts of domestic issues. It does make him closer to the wide ranging family overall as it goes on, but it’s all fluff. Same with Sanji as his story starts to roll out and you realize how little impact it will really have.
The set also needs to work through and solve one of the other issues that has cropped up, which is that of Usopp. While he’s managed to work beside them as Sogeking after quitting the Straw Hats, they’re all at a place where it needs to be solved. The guys are all on the same page in that Usopp just needs to honestly apologize because there are issues there with how he left as well as proper respect for a pirate captain. We see through most of the set that Usopp is in the background coming up with a variety of ways to get back with everyone, but an outright apology is not completely on his lips since he doesn’t quite think that way. So it’s fun to watch as they go back and forth and then finally bring it all to a conclusion towards the end of the set in the heat of action and in some comically manly ways.
The final part of the show is a whole lot of fun here as we at first get the Navy showing up, which provides some time with Vice Admiral Garp spending time with his grandson Luffy, though the two are pretty dangerous weird together in a hilarious way that the rest of the Straw Hats have a hard time processing. But at the same time, he can give them only so much time before he has to do his duty and that means some decent action as Franky introduces them to their new ship and gets nearly kidnapped into being the new shipwright for it because of his own issues that go back to what he really wants out of life and with Water 7 itself. The family side hits some good stuff but we also get to see Garp on the attack on the sea itself as he launches cannonballs to great effect. It all serves to get the Straw Hats underway, reinforces their new bounties and propels them forward in an exciting way with a new ship and an expanded crew. It handles it all so smoothly and easily that it’s just surprising in its execution.
In Summary:
One Piece has definitely had some great material with the Water 7 and Enis Lobby arc of the series, but it also struggles at times with some overly drawn out material and some side stories that don’t engage much. But with this set, we get the addition of two new crew members with the Sunny and Franky and the obvious and expected return of Usopp as well. There’s some fun action towards the end that has a great flow to it with the Navy, but mostly the series in this set is about the characters, interactions with each other and cleaning up what had come before that still needed to be resolved. It does it all quite well and in an often fun way while still being respectful of some of the more difficult situations that have to be dealt with. It’s definitely a fun set and puts the crew in a wide open way going forward once more.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Clean Ending, Commentary Tracks, On The Boat
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B+
Released By: FUNimation
Release Date: January 14th, 2014
MSRP: $39.98
Running Time: 300 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.