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One Piece Being Re-Broadcast In Japan

Kamui_Takahashi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:57:00 CST

With the series firmly in the 500 episode range, it's definitely showing its overall appeal in Japan. But if you're getting into the series, it can be difficult unless you've got a lot of the episodes available locally for rental or someone you know has a lot of it. Well, let the broadcasters help out as the series is getting shown again on TV with some mild remastering going on to help clean up the elements which are a bit rough and raw when you get down to it compared to the newer episodes. The series was shot on film originally so it definitely had its share of visual defects.

To be clear, it doesn't look like it's getting a Dragon Ball Z Kai kind of remaster where they're re-editing it and re-animating parts of it. It's simply being cleaned up and shown again. This new broadcast gives older fans a chance to re-experience the early episodes again and to hopefully draw in new viewers.

One Piece Episode #538 Review

Kamui_Takahashi — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:48:00 CST

Dark tides underwater begin to rise, but there's still some room for fun and silliness.

What They Say:
Most of King Neptune's army is able to flee the palace safely, but Zoro, Neptune and the other Straw Hats are in deeper trouble than they realized; meanwhile, the other Straw Hats begin assembling at the Sea Forest and meet Jimbei - who has a startling secret to share!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One Piece has been slowly but surely bringing the various elements together since coming to the Fishe-men island and the undersea realm, but it's taken its time in really becoming engaging. The new attack by Hordy, after sending in the humans to soften things up against Ryugu Palace, has now brought us to a decent fight as we get to see Zoro going up against Hordy. We got a nice tease of it before but it just made you want even more. And now, with the fish-men getting all buffed out in order to deal with the royal army, the scale of the battle builds up well. But there's such an intensity and madness about those involved that it feels like things are being manipulated in a bigger way.

The battle takes some surprising turns early on, but it wants to keep its focus squarely on the fight between Neptune and Hordy. While Hordy may be a pint sized guy in terms of actual size, there are some things that Hordy has up his sleeve that lets him put a slowdown on Neptune's escape, which was also needed in order to save the couple of Straw Hats that are still with him. The scale of the fight has been clear for a bit now once we saw Decken getting in line with Hordy and the way they made their initial push against the palace, but now things are becoming even more deadly and problematic. You expected things to go poorly and not be resolved quickly, but Hordy is making a very strong and confident push in dealing with his foes.

While there is a lot of big action here within the palace, the show also goes for some quieter material as well as Luffy makes it to the ship with the group he's with now and discovers that Jimbei is there as well. And you really have to feel bad for Jimbei when he realizes that Luffy's come with the princess no less. His eyes bug out so big it's positively hysterical. It's a welcome bit of levity overall, including even Sanji being all enamored of the princess, which still feels more over the top than it has in seasons past. It's not all levity though as it starts to hit some of what's going on in general in the area, but for the most part it's just fun to see how out of the loop Jimbei suddenly feels even as events start to get out of control.

In Summary:
This episode does a pretty good job of keeping a mix of things happening, from the bigger action at the palace to the drama involving Zoro and the other Straw Hats there with Neptune. But it also makes sure to give us some levity and fun times back at the Sunny with what Luffy comes across and how he once again completely throws Jimbei for a loop. There's some serious material here as well as it makes things a bit clearer with what's to come next, but it's a very much needed bit of fun and lightness in the midst of so many darker things happening, especially as Zoro is having a lot of trouble coping with the situation he finds himself in now. While One Piece hasn't won me over with this arc at all really, it's enjoyable and fun and it has me curious to see where it will go.

Grade: B

One Piece Episode #537 Review

Kamui_Takahashi — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 08:50:00 CST

Decken's true motivations are revealed, much to the surprise of the citieznry.

What They Say:
Vander Decken finally catches up with Shirahoshi, but he'll have to deal with Luffy first, before he can get to her! Meanwhile Camie and Nami, having escaped the Ryugu Palace, are on their way to the Sea Forest, where Nami hopes to meet Jimbei - hoping to find some answers!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the various events starting to finally come together in this arc, One Piece has been slowly but steadily gaining momentum as it's gone on here. The arrival of the Fish-men Pirates to the palace definitely got things rolling and having the princess escape and meet up with others now on the outside so she can have a bit of an adventure herself is another good element, especially since it brings Luffy back in hand with most everyone. But it also goes for some good, solid action as we get to see Zoro take on Hordy, underwater no less, and that just has you wanting to see how it will all play out.

And that area is just completely up in the air as the princess being out in the world amongst others from this area has them rallying to her side and seeing Luffy as a threat. But even worse is the sudden arrival of Decken who just wants to marry her, which is comical considering he's "been throwing weapons at her" for ten years as the citizens know. What helps is that the princess gets a good word in here that sets the mood and really gets Luffy fired up to help her, as well as letting the other Straw Hats know what's going on and why they need to back him up. It's fun to see Luffy get into SecondGear mode here and stand firm with something serious as most of what we've seen so far in this arc has been kind of lighthearted and loose on his part, more of an adventure than something serious.

The episode does a lot of moving around with what's going on here and the focus is stronger on Luffy and those around him with the princess, especially as Chopper gets to serve as an observer of sorts for it to know what Luffy is doing and why. But there's also some fun to it as Luffy really gets energized, even if playing it straight and serious, and that helps a lot. The others aren't ignored though as we do get some mild movement with Nami as she makes her way to where she can help next and we also get a little more time between Zoro and Hordy, a section that we really want to see more of. The main focus is on Luffy though and that's not bad as Decken really does deserve a little time to be dealt with first.

In Summary:
One Piece has a decent episode here as it starts to tie things together a little bit, but it hasn't really gone all out at this point. There's a lot of stuff going on but it focuses primarily on that of Luffy and Shirahoshi as they deal with the citizens who think Luffy's kidnapped her and then with the realization that Decken is trying to steal her away. It's a good moment for Luffy to be able to try and position himself as doing the right thing by the princess with the populace, but after what's happened at the palace, it's a hard sell. There's things to like here but it's again one of those episodes that's more about placement and setup than the big moments. It teases, and does it well, but it doesn't provide a knockout episode.

Grade: B

Readers Rating: [ratings]

Streamed By: FUNimation

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70" LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.

One Piece manga chapter #651 \"The Voice from the New World\" is out

emakimeister — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:53:00 CST

One Piece manga chapter #651 "The Voice from the New World" is out

Read it here

Discuss it below...

ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #528

tezukameister — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 11:28:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #528 is out.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #650

emakimeister — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:15:00 CST

One Piece Manga Chapter #650 "The Two Changes You Need to Know About" is out.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANGA

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #527

tezukameister — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 13:40:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #527 is out.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #649

emakimeister — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 07:00:00 CST

One Piece Manga Chapter #649 "Dancing of Breams and Plaices" is out.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANGA

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #526

tezukameister — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 15:35:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #526 is out.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #648

emakimeister — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:03:00 CST

One Piece Manga Chapter #648 "The Path Towards the Sun" is out.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANGA

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #525

tezukameister — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 14:07:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #525 is out.

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #647

emakimeister — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:00 CST

One Piece Manga Chapter #647 "Stop Noah" is out.

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #524

tezukameister — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:59:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #524 is out.

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #646

emakimeister — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:11:00 CST

One Piece Manga Chapter #646 "Frog" is out.

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #523

emakimeister — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 11:43:00 CST

One Piece Anime episode #523 is out.

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #522

tezukameister — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 01:00:00 CDT

One Piece Anime episode #522 is out.

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #645

emakimeister — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:20:00 CDT

One Piece Manga Chapter #645 "Death is Also Revenge" is out.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANGA

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #521

tezukameister — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:13:00 CDT

One Piece Anime episode #521 is out.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE

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ONE PIECE MANGA CHAPTER #644

emakimeister — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 06:18:00 CDT

One Piece Manga Chapter #644 "To Zero" is out.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MANGA

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ONE PIECE: ANIME EPISODE #520

tezukameister — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:43:00 CDT

One Piece Anime episode #520 is out.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE

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