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Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
After an extremely long story arc, the Straw Hat gang have finally succeeded in fulfilling their current quest, bringing the princess Vivi back to her kingdom of Alabasta. However things are never that easy for the gang and there are still a number of fights to have before the gang can move on... One Piece: Collection No. 5 (2002) concludes season four of the show with episodes one hundred and four to one hundred and thirty. The show was directed by Konosuke Uda and based on the original manga by Eiichiro Oda and concludes the Alabasta story arc. The show is presented on a four disc DVD set Monkey D. Luffy wants to be a pirate, but not just any pirate; he wants to be the best pirate in the world and in order to do this he has to find the legendary one piece treasure, which will empower him to become the Pirate king. With his Straw Hat gang he sails the sea, encountering adventure along the way. Having eaten the gum-gum fruit he has acquired the ability to absurdly stretch his body, always useful in a fight. Vivi may well have made it home, but she and the gang find a kingdom divided, the lack of rain has bred discontent and a rebel faction, instigated by the Crocodile pirate are trying to remove the king. With the close of the fourth series the Crocodile pirate’s plans come to fruition, with only Luffy and the gang standing in his way. One Piece has always been about disposable anarchic fun, especially the sort of fun which involves over-elaborate fight sequences, as the team go head to head with some of Baroque Work’s strongest allies the show ranks up to provide some of the most satisfying fight sequences of the series. To balance things up the story has become better as it went along its very lengthy sixty-six episode arc. The animation has changed little. Many shows start with good production values, which oscillate through their run, One Piece has always been a little cheap and cheerful. That said, the 4:3 picture is clear and sharp. It’s not the best transfer and at points there are minor problems evident. The audio track remains the same as the previous sets, with options for either English DD 5.1 surround or the original Japanese stereo, with subtitles. The English track tends to be cheesier, but as an action show it remains the preferred choice. The set has a number of extras which kick in on disc two with a full length commentary for episode 114, with director Jason Grundy and voice actors Wendy Powell and Sonny Strait, these things are never deep with a bunch of people mucking around and having fun, perfectly in tune with the show. You also get the textless opening and closing sequences. Disc three has a commentary track for episode 119, much the same as the previous one. Disc four concludes the extras with another, different, set of opening and closing sequences. It’s a silly show, but a lot of fun. 7 Charles Packer Buy this item online
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