Making their way onto the Grand Line, where the One Piece, fabled treasure of the last King of the Pirates, the Going Merry crew find themselves with an unexpected visitor: A young girl from Warship Island (where everyone seems to wear floppy pope-ish hats, regardless of age or gender). The adventure starts there, with a new side mission to save one of the last millennium dragons from a.) dying far from home, and b.) a greedy pair of cutthroat enemies determined to achieve a rumored elixir of immortality from the bones of a dragon. After this new action, we see our motley crew finally make it onto the Grand Line, only to discover that this sea follows no rules of nature! Plagued by suicidal whales, towns full of murderous bounty hunters, and even rescuing the odd princess, the Straw Hat pirates pack all their trademark wackiness into this box set with an extra helping of action.
This is the box set I’ve been waiting for, where this series finally stops ‘preparing’ for their adventure on the Grand Line and actually hits the dusty road sparkling blue in search of fame and fortune. The characters seem to be a bit more approachable as well, no doubt as a result of all the calamity and misadventure they’ve experienced together thus far. However, two characters really stand out in this collection: Sanji is still a hopeless romantic, but also the remorseless and iron-willed fighter that makes it hard to believe that his most common pastime (besides the obvious chain-smoking) is cooking fish. Zoro also gets a chance to shine in these adventures, bickering with Luffy frequently as well as leading an entire pack of would-be murderers to their doom one sword slice at a time. Still, the entire cast lends a much more familiar feel to their intercommunication, which helps to humanize them in a way you wouldn’t think possible. Luffy’s unwavering confidence is no longer surprising, but rather you come to rely on it to lend a sense of laughing anticipation to otherwise foreboding circumstances, and even Nami and Usopp have ceased their previously self-oriented diatribes to support the group interaction as a whole. All-in-all the groups seems more cohesive in its goals, even though each character has entirely different motives for continuing their quest.
This series is relentless, like an advancing army of unstoppable rubber pirates. Regardless of your opinion at the start, be it insanely excited, nonchalant, or completely apathetic, pop this series into your player and use the “Marathon Play” option to skip the interior opening/closing and you will slowly discover that every range of viewer will find some reason to keep watching. I have given up on figuring out exactly when the mind-control takes over, but this seemingly average show is gradually overtaking my mind. The art style is the same as always, strongly reminiscent of the original manga and the influence of Akira Toriyama’s DBZ art style is easily perceived. The music is cartoon-y at times, but usually appropriate and subtle, lending support and adrenaline to fight scenes.