“One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage Three” is another action-packed but also a more serious and darker volume that explores the Fishman Pirates and the division between Hordy, Arlong and Tiger and how this hatred towards humans manifested to where it is today plus a death of a character. If you are a One Piece fan, definitely watch this story arc and check out this latest volume of “One Piece” on DVD!
Image courtesy of © 1999 Toei Animation Co., Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage Three
DURATION: Episodes 541-552 (Duration: 300 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: October 10, 2017
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
Kazuya Nakai/Christopher Sabat as Roronoa Zoro
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
Ian Sinclair as Brook
Travis Willingham as Portgas D. Ace
Edward Newgate as Whitebeard
Fish are not friends when they’re violent pirates!
Gathered in the tranquil Sea Forest, Luffy and his crew learn the history of Fish-men and their struggle against oppression. Back then, the queen of Fish-man Island called for peaceful talks with surface-dwellers while others sought vengeance for years of slavery at the hands of cruel humans. But with every step of progress, an unforeseen tragedy deepened the cycle of hatred. Now, ignited by the flames of the past, the New Fish-man Pirates continue their crusade and threaten anyone who dares to ally with humans. Swallowing a mouthful of steroid drugs, their bloodthirsty captain, Hordy Jones, becomes an unstoppable force ready to decimate the royal guard. Determined to save the island and his crew, Luffy makes a decision that could turn a good friend into foe.
Tiger has attacked Mariejois and Hordy and Arlong go to kill humans, despite Tiger’s objections.  As Arlong kills a marine, this puts him at odds with Tiger.
Tiger tells his Sun Pirates to not seek vengeance against humans and that violence begets violence but Arlong is not willing to listen and when a group of Marines led by Strawberry tragically wounds Tiger, this leads to Arlong vowing to return to Foulshoot Island to kill all humans. Meanwhile Jimbei becomes a warlord. And Hordy sends out a message that he will kill all fishman who is affiliated with humans.
All this and more in “One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage Three”!
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 19th season and a total of 809 episodes have been aired in Japan.
“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.
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 – 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.
Brook – A pirate from before the time of Roger, he was killed but because of the Paramecia-type-Revive-Revive Fruit, he rose again as a skeleton. An excellent musician, he becomes a member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
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 Nine, Voyage Three” comes with the following special features:
DISC 1:
- EPISODE 541 Audio Commentary – Audio commentary featuring Joel McDonald (ADR Director), Amanda Lee (voice Queen Otohime) and Gabe Kunda (voice of Tiger)
- EPISODE 543 Audio Commentary – Audio commentary featuring Joel McDonald (ADR Director), Chris Raeger (voice of Arlong).
DISC 2:
- EPISODE 552 Video Commentary – Video Commentary featuring Joel McDonald (ADR Director), Jim Foronda (voice Vander Decken) and Larry Brantley (voice of Hordy)
- Textless Opening Song
With the release of “One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage Three”, the episodes continue the Fishman Island arc (featuring episodes 541-552). Note: In Japan, this arc of episodes is season 15.
In this latest volume, the episodes featured are less about the Straw Hat Pirates but about the history involving Hordy, Tiger and Arlong. How the war between the Fishman pirates versus the pirates took place and the division within the pirates about the murdering of humans.
And as Hordy issues this declaration, he plans to execute King Neptune, killing the Straw Hat Pirates including Luffy for defying Arlong’s ambitions and meanwhile, a joyful Princess Otohime has collected signed petitions from the Celestial Dragons supporting her cause and as she tries to get the island to sign the petition. But tragedy strikes and a character is killed.
While I don’t want to spoil anything else, I will say that Hordy uses the character’s death to use on the citizens for his own agenda. While Luffy is intent on rescuing his crew, this will set a precedence in which Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates on a collision course with the Fishman Pirates.
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 a video commentary.
Overall, “One Piece: Season Nine, Voyage Three” is another action-packed but also a more serious and darker volume that explores the Fishman Pirates and the division between Hordy, Arlong and Tiger and how this hatred towards humans manifested to where it is today plus a death of a character. If you are a One Piece fan, definitely watch this story arc and check out this latest volume of “One Piece” on DVD!
