One Piece Collection No. 10   Starring: (voice): Akemi Okamura, Hiroaki Hirata, Ikue Ohtani and Kappei Yamaguchi Distributor: Manga Entertainment RRP: £34.99 MANG6036 Certificate: 12 Release Date: 15 June 2015

Luffy has no chance of becoming king of the pirates now that his ship has been condemned as unseaworthy. The Straw Hats crew make harbour in the city of Water 7, only to find that the ship is in a worse state than was originally thought. While becalmed in port the crew start to fall apart.

One Piece: Collection No. 10 (eps 230 – 252, 575 mins) is another release from the show from production team Toei. It continues to be a massive success in Japan topping five hundred shows and still going strong. Based on the original manga by Eiichiro Oda, the amine has matched the original for amusing storylines and wacky characters.

This set sees the start of a new arc. Things do not go well for the crew. No sooner have they made port than the nefarious Franky family succeed in robbing the Straw Hat crew of all the treasure they had previously acquired in Skypia. The ship is kaput, which sparks a fight between Usopp and Luffy and to top all this off Nico Robin goes walkabout. Although the crew lose their old ship, they do gain another as well as a new crew member, in the form of Franky, a very handy cyborg.

The show looks even better in its spanking new anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.78:1, giving the show some of its most crisp and vibrant artwork. Audio is a well balanced English 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound, as well as the original Japanese 2.0. For extras you get three audio commentaries as well as the textless title sequences and trailer.

The show continues to balance its elements well, whether it be the drama, character development or wacky comedy. It is easy to see why the show has lasted so long.

8

Charles Packer