I’m a relatively dorky anime fan – loving the expected Bleach, Dragon Ball and, even, Pokemon. So this week – let’s take a look at One Piece. Now, I’ve seen a few of these episodes way back when and wasn’t the most devoted viewer, but I think I’ve come around.

Don’t expect fantastic artwork or a gripping story. Essentially this (very long-running) anime is about a ragtag bunch of pirates on a journey to find a great treasure (One Piece), consistently getting sidetracked to help others or fight villains. Where this show really shines is its character development. In this particular collection, The Straw Hats (pirate group) are helping a princess regain her kingdom, which was taken over by Crocodile, a very bad man who can turn into sand. Our “captain” is Monkey D. Luffy, a fairly young kid who always wears a straw hat. In the show, a number of characters (mostly villains) have eaten different types of Devil Fruit, which grants them special abilities. Luffy ate Gum-Gum Fruit, allowing him to have Mr. Fantastic-like stretching properties. Among his crew is Nami, a cute and busty navigator, Zoro, a master swordsman, Sanji, the chef, Usopp, a genius inventor, Nico Robin, a cute and busty (surprise) archaeologist, and Tony Tony Chopper, a morphing reindeer. Outside of the crew we are treated with a bunch of other characters with zany personalities and wacky designs (including more cute and busty females).

Another huge shock is the quality of the dubbing. Normally, when an American voice actor covers an anime, well, the result is less than stellar. In One Piece, the voices are all so unique and fitting. It’s very refreshing to have such quality sound; it makes the show so much better.

At times, the plot can drag a little bit a la the final fight with Frieza on Namek (for anyone who gets the DBZ reference). The episodes are very short though – about 20 minutes each. You can blitz through an entire disc in no time and not realize it. At least, that’s what happened to me.

One Piece has a fair amount of violence and blood despite its comic focus. Normally, dubbed anime gets severely cut and edited, but not One Piece. Enjoy people getting poisoned, stabbed, slashed, choked, and killed. It is grim, but nice to see that everything isn’t always hunky-dory in this world.

Overall, there is not much to complain about. Some people will think the animation is a little basic, but the designs are incredibly creative and off-the-wall and more than make-up for any shortcomings. The voice acting is top-notch (Zoro sounds like Brad Pitt) and all the characters are very entertaining. It’s easy to get hooked in this fantastical world and I definitely fell victim to it.