Customer Reviews

One Piece, Vol. 1 - King of the Pirates

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is just plain terrible, and is not the real One Piece at all.
To anyone thinking 'some things were changed, but it cant be all bad', that is simply not the case, this is by far the worst thing 4kids has pulled yet, and probably the most edited of all their licenses.
Frankly, it's insulting. The original One Piece was actually a masterpiece of wit and storytelling, there was suspense and drama, it was great.
This version lacks all of that because it has been dumbed down for very young children, all the weapons have been ridiculously edited and the dialogue super-lame-afied. There is no suspense-How can there be when people are threatening others with super soakers, toy/cork guns, plungers and they're FINGERS, for crying out loud?
I'll say it again, it's an insult to everyone who has grown to love the original One Piece. Not only was all the violence cut, but also anything 4kids saw as 'not crucial to the main plot'. The main plot being to them, going to suchandsuch an island and defeating suchandsuch an enemy. Any of the 'cute' scenes showing the character interaction, their development and personal quirks, one of the things that made this series so charming in the first place, has been snipped, thus turning the show into a boring, repetitive droning of 'defeat him. Now him. Now him. Then him.'

Of course there are going to be people who say, "One Piece was intended for children in Japan, so what is wrong with intending it for children in the US?' The answer is simple. The charm of One Piece was that although it could be easily enjoyed by children in japan, it's appeal lies on so many levels it can also be enjoyed by anyone else, regardless of age; it has an ageless charm to it.
This version, however has been made so that only 10 year olds and under can 'enjoy' it, with none of the appeal for older viewers. I say 'enjoy' in inverted comas because frankly it suprises me that even the under 10s could find it interesting anymore.

This item gets a -5000 out of 5. I am not exaggerating.

4kids Entertainment is universally known throughout anime fandom for butchering all anime that they license.

To the 3 people who reviewed these DVDs, disregard what you have seen, because it is not the real thing. If you know anyone who is into the original One Piece, do not hesitate to watch the original. You will grow to hate the dub as soon as you see the original. I promise that.

You are watching a highly censored version of anime that originally had blood, violence, and guns (not super-soakers) in it. However, that is all absent on this DVD (and will be absent on all future edited 4kids DVDs of One Piece). For example, in the original anime, Helmeppo put a gun to Coby's head, not that stupid hammer gun that Cartoon Network and 4kids showed. Also, Captain Morgan shot luffy with real bullets in the original, but this was also cut out of the 4kids version. In all of Zoro's fights, he bleeds a lot. That is also cut out of the original. If you buy future episodes of One Piece from 4kids Entertainment, you can expect the same mindless edits and cuts to happen.

(By the way, Lolonoa Zolo's name is Roronoa Zoro, with an r. Please do not call him Zolo, because this is incorrect. Everyone in the original version of One Piece calls him Zoro.)

Do not buy 4kids DVDs to finance more artistic murder of anime! They licensed an anime that is not for children, but is in fact geared toward teenagers.

Please do not misunderstand me. I love One Piece, but the material on this DVD is NOT One Piece. This is an affront and and an insult to Oda Eiichiro, the creator of One Piece, and Toei Animation, the people who spent many hours animating the original masterpiece, that is One Piece.

If you intend to buy this or any other edited DVDs of One Piece from 4kids Entertainment, you are going to get ripped off. You are not seeing the real story.

In short, do not buy this dvd!

Ok people, I'm just going to get the point and get through this quickly. This English edited version of One Piece, SUCKS. I'll just go down a list of how:

1. most good action has been cut out.
2. many of the scenes considered unnecessary (whic is actually good for plot and chgaracter development as well as comedy) have been cut out.
3. the dialogue has been edited so it sounds stupid.

4. it just looks wrong. (how are you going to threaten a guy with your finger instead of a gun?)

My advice? Do not get this dvd. If you want to watch the good One Piece, watch the japanese version.

I like one piece, but when i saw the Japanese version, it made the english version look like [...]! I mean sure the show is OK, but its waayyy to cheesy. Like when someone gets shot, it just leaves a big hole in thier shirt. In the Japanese version its bloody, they swear ALOT, and the affects are much better. The English version was dubbed to much. If you liked the manga, then dont get this DVD. Its a waist of money and you'll be dissapointed how crappy it is.

"This is an affront and and an insult to Oda Eiichiro, the creator of One Piece, and Toei Animation, the people who spent many hours animating the original masterpiece, that is One Piece."

another hatchet job by an american company taking a fantastic series and dumbing it down for american children...why does sanji sound like a moron? and the rapsong for the opening...forget this crap go find the original one piece which i consider the greatest anime series of all time!

In 1997 Eiichiro Oda created a wonderful manga series known as One Piece. The manga was so well liked it was adapted into an anime two years after the manga's release. One Piece was brought to America.... by the world's most hated dubbing company, 4Kids. The same 4Kids that brought Sonic X and Yu-Gi-Oh! to America. While Yu-Gi-Oh! was at least decent, they violently butchered the show to the point where it didn't bear even slight resemblence to its amazing Japanese counterpart. They remove all blood, change guns to super soakers or capguns, and remove almost all instances of death.

You think it's bad now? It gets worse. They had to choose the most terrible voice actors the world has ever known to voice the characters. Erica Schroeder is nothing but a speck of dust in the shadow of the superior Japanese voice actor that does Luffy, Mayumi Tanaka. While I do have to give them 1 extra star for at least getting the voices of Zoro (Zolo) Smoker (Chaser) and Ace (Trace) right, they ruined the voices more then they got them. And, there's the addition of terrible puns. Even when a character is on the brink of death or in the toughest fight of their life, they must be a comedian and use lines which 4Kids think is wit and humor. It's just plain terrible.

The only reason I gave this an extra star is becuase they got the occasional voice right. But anyways, if you want to watch One Piece, download a subbed Japanese version or something and watch that instead. This isn't One Piece. It's called Badness.

Ordered this for my son and he was thrilled. Delivery was fast and the DVD was in good condition.

One Piece is definatly one of my favorite anime.
Highly addictive and just plain fun to watch, it tells the story of Monkey D. Luffy and his quest to become the King of the Pirates and find the lengendary treasure, left behind by the previous pirate king Gold Roger: One Piece.

Luffy: Luffy is the captain of the ship "Going Merry" and is special: he ate the Gomu Gomu fruit, which gives him the ability to stretch, like rubber. Unfotunately for him (and anyone else who eats the Devil's Fruits) he no longer has the ability to swim. He wears a straw hat which is his greatest treasure. It was given to him by the pirate Red-haired Shanks when he was a small boy. He promised Shanks that he would return it to him when he became a pirate.

Luffy picks up a mis-fit crew along the way:

Roronoa Zoro: the pirate hunter who wishes to become the greatest swordsman. His fighting style consists of using three swords.

Nami: the cartographer. Nami makes the best maps and is also quite good when it comes to robbing pirates. Her story is very sad (won't spoil it here ;)). Her wish is to make a map of the world. Her fighting style consists of a long stick which she can use to excellent results.

Usopp: A very capable liar, Usopp wishes to become the bravest man on the seas. His father is a member of Red-haired Shanks crew. His fighting style consists of a slingshot with various ammo ranging from eggs to explosive bombs.

Sanji: The ladies' man, Sanji used to work in the famous restaurant, Baratie. He joins Luffy's crew in the hopes that he'd find the lengendary ocean: the All Blue, where fish from North Blue, South Blue, East Blue and West Blue come together. His fighting style consists of heavy punches and kicks (mostly kicks) which he learned from the head chef of Baratie: Zeff.

Chopper*: Some sort of reindeer that can talk and is the doctor of the ship.

*I don't know much about this one yet, as I haven't reached that part of the series. There also seems to be some black-haired woman who joins them later on.

The original version (in other words, the Japanese version) is 1 million times better than the crappy English version now playing in North America.
Fan-subs will ALWAYS be better than english dubs. One Piece is horrible in english. They totaly ruined the music, which is absolutely unique and wonderful to listen to in the original.
Plus, Sanji's voice in English makes me frickin' angry to listen to.

All in all:

Character design: Completely unique. 8/10
Music: 9/10
Story: 10/10

My son (4 years old) and the whole family loves it. Maybe it's not like the original, but maybe I don't want my kids to see blood, violence and guns!
We only wish more disc were available past 11.