One Piece: Season 1

Synopsis: Before he was executed, the legendary Pirate King Gold Roger revealed that he had hidden the treasure One Piece somewhere in the Grand Line. Now, many pirates are off looking for this legendary treasure to claim the title Pirate King. One aspiring pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, is a boy who had eaten the Devil Fruit, a fruit that gives the consumer superhuman powers at the expense of losing their ability to swim forever.  The specific Devil Fruit Luffy ate, the Gum Gum Fruit, turned his body into rubber and gave him the ability to stretch, deflect bullets, and do many other amazing things! Now he is off to recruit a worthy crew and find the legendary One Piece, while battling enemies and making new friends along the way.
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Sorry, everyone! I have been putting this review off a bit.

When One Piece was first requested, I was honestly tempted to answer with, "Sorry, but I'm allergic to bad anime."  I could not say that, though, since I had just finished telling that same person that I review anime whether it is good or bad.  That is the point of reviewing.  So, I agreed to review Season 1...reluctantly.  I usually avoid anything that Shonen Jump puts out.  I also am not a pirate enthusiast (maybe it was the craze over Pirates of the Caribbean or something, but I just want to gag when I hear people talking about how awesome pirates are all the time).  Boy, was I surprised!  It sure took its time getting good, but by episode 36, I was hooked like an old lady on a bad soap opera.  That is why I have been putting the review off--I was having so much fun watching it!

Probably the most difficult thing I had to get past when I initially started watching One Piece was the art style.  I could not figure out if I found its simplicity charmingly old-school or repulsively lazy.  Now, I am more used to it, though I usually have a thing for more detailed and pretty art.  Character designs struck me as being rather ridiculous at first, especially villains.  (For example, there is a hypnotist at one point who is a very obvious Michael Jackson clone.  He even does the moonwalk instead of walking forward.)  That having been said, though the art style is not exactly detailed and beautiful, many of the islands are very creative beautiful places that took a lot of imagination to come up with.

The second thing I had to get past was the waiting period.  Shonen Jump is rather notorious for putting out anime that take a long time to pick up and get interesting, but I assure you, after around 23 episodes of bearing with One Piece, it definitely gets better.  A lot better.  By episode 36, the weak character development does a complete 180.  I found myself tearing up over Nami's background story and actually starting to love the characters.  The humor improves, as well.  At first, I thought it was overdone and silly, but once the story started to pick up, the funny moments were a lot more hilarious.  I have actually laughed out loud on numerous occasions (and it is rather difficult to get me to laugh out loud when viewing anime--or any other tv shows...usually I just laugh inwardly).

As far as voice acting is concerned, I initially wrote in my notes that both the Japanese and English dubbed versions were irritating.  Now, I like the English dub better than the Japanese, and I am not quite sure what I found so annoying about the voices.  I suppose pretty much everything about this anime grew on me.

Everything except for the theme songs, that is.  I would advise just skipping them altogether.  I really have not heard a single theme song that did not make me want to sadly shake my head.  The background music, for the most part, is nothing amazing, but it fits the series.  I do love the song Overtaken, though.  Every time I hear it I get a bit excited, knowing that some awesome fight is about to go down.

So there you have it.  A short review (I apologize that my reviews have been so short lately.  I swear I am going to start taking better notes again and stop procrastinating on writing these.), but in my opinion, enough said.  Bottom line, One Piece definitely lives up to all its hype, and I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a fun adventure!  Even if you have a bias against Shonen Jump and pirates like I did, I urge you to give it a chance.  A good long chance, not just the first few episodes--remember, it takes quite a while to get good.  Patience is a virtue, and it will be rewarded with this anime, which definitely makes for addictive viewing.  I might add that Season 1 ends on an interesting cliff hanger! Betcha can't watch just 1!

I will rate One Piece Season 1 an 8 out of 10.  If it had not wasted so many episodes in the beginning and started out as good as it ended, it might have made it to a 9 or 10.


Up next is Air Master!


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