One Piece: Season Five – Voyage Five (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

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“One Piece: Season Five – Voyage Five” is an upbeat, fun DVD volume and for fans who have been watching this arc very closely, will be thrilled to see the two new members joining the Straw Hat Pirates!  Recommended!

Image courtesy of © 1999 Toei Animation Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: One Piece: Season Five, Voyage Five

DURATION: Episodes 313-324 (Duration: 320 Minutes, 2 DVD’s)

DVD INFORMATION: 4:3, English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, English and Japanese stereo

COMPANY: FUNimation

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: January 14, 2014

Originally created by Eiichiro Oda

Directed by Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Munehisa Sakai

Series Composition by Hirohiko Uesaka

Script by Hirohiko Uesaka, Hiroshi Hashimoto, Junki Takegami, Michiru Shimada, Naoki Koga, Ryota Yamaguchi, Suminori Takegami, Yoshiyuki Suga

Music by Kouhei Tanaka, Shiroh Hamaguchi

Character Design by Kazuya Hisada, Noboru Koizumi

Animation Production by Toei Animation

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mayumi Tanaka/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Monkey D. Luffy

Akemi Okamura/Luci Christian as Nami

Hiroaki Hirata/Eric Vale as Sanji

Ikue Ohtani/Brina Palencia as Tony Tony Chopper

Kappei Yamaguchi/Sonny Strait as Usopp

Yuriko Yamaguchi/Stephanie Young as Nico Robin

Kazuki Yao/Patrick Seitz as Franky

Izo Oikawa/Philip Weber as Iceburg

Takahiro Yoshimizu/David Wald as Paulie

Bin Shimada/Jonathan Brooks as Foxy the Pirate

Tomokazu Seki/Jason Liebricht as Rob Lucci

Masaya Onosaka/Christopher Corey Smith as Spandam

Kumiko Watanabe/Alexis Tipton as Fukuro

Naomi Shindo/Shelley Calene-Black as Kalifa

Hiroaki Yoshida/Andrew Love as Kumadori

Ryotaro Okiayu/Alex Organ as Kaku

Masaya Takatsuka/Phil Parsons as Jabura

Luffy and his mates emerged victorious from the battle at Enies Lobby, but after bidding a fiery farewell to the Going Merry, these pirates won’t be going anywhere! There’s a hefty new bounty of each of their heads, and their only hope for escape rests on the cyborg shoulders of Franky. The blue-haired, speedo-sporting shipwright offers to build the Straw Hats a new vessel, but time is of the essence. Some very familiar marines are breathing down their necks, and the crew can’t set sail without a boat – or their stubborn sniper.

A bombastic barrage of cannonballs inches closer and closer as the Straw Hats wait to see whether Franky will join the family, Usopp can swallow his pride, and if an angry face from Luffy’s past will sink their new ship!

Two members join the Straw Hat Pirates, who is Vice-Admiral Garp and will the Straw Hat Pirates find a new ship?

Find out in “One Piece: Season Five – Voyage Five”, available now from FUNimation!

What is “One Piece”?

“ONE PIECE” is a popular anime series based on the popular manga series serialized in Shonen Jump by Eiichiro Oda. Suffice to say, “ONE PIECE” is the highest selling manga for Weekly Shonen Jump and its popularity has extended to various anime (via the TV series, OVA and films) and video games in America and also worldwide.

The series is so popular, the episode count currently in Japan is in its 16th season and a total of 629 episodes have been aired in Japan.

Despite receiving a heavily edited version in North America via 4Kids Entertainment earlier on, FUNimation began releasing the original, uncut versions since May of 2008 and here we are now with the DVD release of “One Piece: Season Four, Voyage Five” (Episodes 313-324), available now, courtesy of FUNimation.

“ONE PIECE” is an adventure anime about a 17-year-old boy named Monkey D. Luffy who gained enormous strength (and stretching abilities) after eating a magical demon fruit. He eventually teams up with a group of pirates and have the name “The Straw Hats”. Luffy’s driven to one day obtain the most sought out treasure known as “One Piece” and eventually become the King of the Pirates.

So far, in “One Piece”, the aftermath with the battle against CP9.

As the group are back in the water, the Straw Hat Pirates are approached by a group of Marines led by Vice-Admiral Garp, but instead of being arrested, Luffy sees two familiar faces and learns more about his father, Monkey D. Dragon.

As the group arrives on land, fans will be treated with episodes of Luffy and Chopper helping a girl named Abi find her Yagara bull, Zoro gaining a family, Sanji encountering a drunken old man who may be a talented chef and as Franky, Iceburg and the Galley-La foreman work to build a new ship for the Straw Hat Pirates, Franky makes a major decision.

Meanwhile, the Straw Hat Pirates adds two members to their group.

The Straw Hat Pirates consists of:

Monkey D. Luffy – A 17-year-old guy who is the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates and dreams to be a pirate king by getting his hands on the “ONE PIECE” artifact. When he was young, he accidentally ate a devil fruit which made his body rubbery and can stretch and blow up. An airhead of sorts, loves to eat but always believes and fights for his friends.

Roronoa Zoro – A 19-year-old skilled swordsman. A skilled and very strong fighter. Wants to be the greatest swordsman in the world.

Nami – The navigator of the group. The main female crew member and really good at weapons.

Usopp – A 17-year-old marksman. A talented inventor and artistic. Known by his long nose, his marksmanship with slingshots and weapons are great.  He quit the Straw Hat Pirates and took on a new identity.

Sanji – The chef of the crew. A skilled fighter that uses only kicks in battle and is passionate towards Nami.

Tony Tony Chopper – A reindeer with a blue nose. Ate a devil fruit known as human-human fruit which makes him human in someways but keeping his reindeer look. Able to speak to humans, walk upright and also able to have transformations to become a huge beast. But his talent is his medical skills as he was trained by the Doctrine to become a doctor. Has very low self-confidence because he had been treated badly not only by his kind but also by humans and has not really had a friend but the Doctor and Doctrine.

Nico Robin – The former Vice President of Baroque Works who has become the newest member of the Straw Hat Pirates despite some of the crew not trusting her since she was a former enemy. Has the ability to use her body parts and project them elsewhere and other mysterious abilities not yet known.

Franky (aka Cutty Flam) – A cyborg who can rebuild his body using pieces of metal and his dream is to build a ship and become its shipwright and sail to the end of the world.

VIDEO :

For most television series, because they are created nearly before they are aired on television, unlike film and OVA’s, there typically is not much detail involved in a Japanese animated television series. “ONE PIECE” is probably one of those rare exceptions in that it has really cool character designs and very detailed artistic backgrounds. Of course, since it is on DVD, you will see some artifacting, combing and edge enhancement but it’s not so noticeable unless you are really looking for it.

The anime series is presented in standard 4:3 definition but for a television series, “ONE PIECE” sports cool and unique character designs and beautifully painted artistic backgrounds. Definitely one of the better looking anime series that has remained consistent and has not downgraded since it first aired on television. Character designer Kazuya Hisada (who worked on the “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball GT” series) and Noboru Koizumi (who worked on “Giant Robo”, “Dragon Ball GT” and “Tenchi Universe”) have been very good of capturing “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda’s unique style.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the audio, “One Piece” is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, English Stereo and Japanese Stereo. Of course, the English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound is the better audio choice to listen to, although one who has a receiver that can set their audio to all channels can definitely enjoy the Japanese stereo track as well. But both audio tracks are done very well and I have to admit that “ONE PIECE” has one of the most solid English dub tracks for an anime TV series. Very well done on both audio tracks but again, have been very impressed by the voice talent for the series thus far.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“One Piece: Season Five, Voyage Five” comes with the following special features:

DISC 1:

  • EPISODE 317 Audio Commentary – Audio commentary by Jerry Jewell (ADR Director) and voice actress Apphia Yu (Adi).
  • EPISODE 319 Audio Commentary – Audio commentary by Jerry Jewell (ADR Director) and voice actor Charlie Campbell (drunk cook).

DISC 2:

  • One Piece in the Booth: With Colleen Clinkenbeard – (22:10) Featuring an interview between Mike McFarland (ADR Director/Line Producer) and Colleen Clinkenbeard (Monkey D. Luffy) and a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of Colleen doing Luffy’s voice at the studio.
  • Textless Opening – Textless opening song for “Crazy Rainbow”
  • Trailers – Trailers for upcoming FUNimation releases.

With the end of a riveting emotional Enies Lobby arc, as with most action-packed arc’s in “One Piece”, things tend to become more uplifting and giving the audience some breather room before  breaking out into another action-packed storyline.

In “One Piece: Season Five – Voyage Five” (which episodes 313-324 are part of season nine in Japan), we see a few familiar faces from “One Piece” past make a return but we also see someone from Luffy’s family also make an appearance in the series.

And as we get to see the group split up for a few fun adventures, the main storyline revolves around two members joining the Straw Hat Pirates but also the unveiling of their new ship.

And that’s all I can mention without spoiling the episodes but for the most part, “One Piece” fans will definitely enjoy each and every episode in this latest DVD volume!

As for the DVD, picture quality is very good on DVD, audio is also crystal clear with both voice acting soundtracks are well done, as “One Piece” is one of the best cast anime series, everyone is right for their role and considering that Toei was strict on the casting for the English dub, FUNimation did a fine job in their cast selection and I was pleased with both Japanese and English dub soundtracks.

As for special features, you get two audio commentaries and also the latest “One Piece in the Booth” featuring Colleen Clinkenbeard (voice of Luffy) and love how they show the behind-the-scenes recording of Colleen doing the voice of Luffy behind-the-scenes.

Overall, “One Piece: Season Five – Voyage Five” is an upbeat, fun DVD volume and for fans who have been watching this arc very closely, will be thrilled to see the two new members joining the Straw Hat Pirates!

Recommended!