One Piece Episode 004: The Passing of the Hat! Enter Red Haired Shanks!

This episode of One Piece shines some light on the origins of Monkey D. Luffy. His childhood idol is a pirate named Red Haired Shanks (Akagami no Shanks) is a powerful pirate that, like Luffy, doesn't take life seriously until life gets serious. Another awesome character... Shanks' first "serious" lines in the episode comes when he's speaking to a gang of bandits.

Ok, here's the setup: The bandits have already humiliated Shanks and a young, hot-headed Luffy has gone to defend his honor and is now captive to the bandits. Of course, Shanks comes to the rescue... It's a great exchange:

Bandit Leader: [speaking to Shanks] If you come any closer I'll blow your head off, you coward. 

Bandit Flunky: [steps up and points a gun at Shanks' head with a smirk] He said not to come any closer.

Shanks: With that pistol, you risk your life. This is not some child's game...

Bandit Flunky: Eh? What are you talking about?

[Click, Blam!] [Shanks' crew member blows the flunky away with a shot to the head]

Bandit Chatter: You... You killed him! What unfair bastards...

Shanks and his Crew: Unfair? Don't be naive. You're not fighting against holy men. The ones before you are pirates!

Shanks: I can have food or drinks spilled on me, or even be spit at and I'll laugh about it. However, if for any reason you hurt a friend of mine, then I will never forgive you!!

That's a pretty solid philosophy in my book.

The bandit leader escapes and Shanks ends up rescuing a very regretful and sobbing Luffy at the cost of his left arm to a giant sea creature. When calming down Luffy, another great line from... Shanks: Don't cry, you're a man... It's just one arm, it isn't worth much.

Luffy swears to become the Pirate King (Kaizoku-o ni) and Shanks passes on the straw hat (mugiwara)to Luffy knowing that one day he will return it to him.

Haramaki D.

One Piece Episode 003: Morgan vs. Luffy!

This episode houses the defeat of Captain "Axe Hand" Morgan of the Marines! Given the current situation in Libya, one cannot help but compare Captain Morgan's tyrannical approach with Muammar Gaddafi. Check this line out:

Marines [beaten and retreating]: We're no match for him! He's too strong and he has Zoro on his side!

Captain Morgan [ordering his troops]: Those who are complaining... Shoot yourselves in the head!

Needless to say, the troops don't do it, but I could totally see Captain Morgan tying them up and setting them ablaze if he were to win the battle. Luckily for them, Luffy and Zoro defeat him with some ease now that they are unfettered and in full swing.

A huge moment and over-arching theme in the entire series is when Luffy leaves himself wide open to Capt. Morgan to save Coby. Zoro steps in with a Demon Slice (Oni giri) and deals the killing blow to Capt Morgan. "What's the theme?" You ask. A real captain and his crew are a single unit and can rely upon each other with ultimate confidence when it matters the most.

Coby stays behind and joins up with the Marines. I like Zoro's parting line as Luffy and his new comrade (nakama) depart from the harbor:

Coby [saluting to Luffy]: Luffy! Thank you for everything! This Marine will never forget you!

Zoro: I've never heard of a Marine saluting a pirate before.

Luffy: Hahahaha! We'll meet again, Coby!

Spoiler alert... They meet again, and so shall we.

Haramaki D.

One Piece Episode 002: The Great Swordsman Appears!

Alright, I don't mean to geek out on you here... but... I mean... you know... This episode introduces the man with the master plan, Kaizoku-Gari (Pirate Hunter), Roronoa Zoro!

I love when Coby first spots him in the Marine courtyard and does the classic, wide-eyed, japanese surprise take.

Coby: Eh!? [inner dialogue] black hood... waistband... That is Roronoa Zoro!

Eiichiro Oda knew that he had a winner on his hands with this one. I know people may disagree, but I'm going to go ahead and say that he's officially the lieutenant of the Strawhat Pirates. A classic strong, silent type, in many ways, Zoro is a caricature of a samurai who follows the way of bushido. His simple, concise, deadpan lines are classic and they provide a lot of his bad-assitude. He is very zen and focused when it comes to his swordsman abilities... That being said, he is full of flaws. He takes everything too seriously and is constantly teased by his crewmates... Oh yeah, that and he has the absolute worst sense of direction. So a terse, powerful and skilled samurai that has absolutely no idea where he's going. My kinda character.

Zoro's very first lines in the entire series are a fucking haiku! I love this show.

[speaking to Luffy and Coby who are plotting nearby]

Hey, you guys...
You're bothering me.
Get lost.

(Sorry for butchering the Japanese)
Oi, omae-ra
Meiza wanida
Ussei-ro

You should try that one out at your next social gathering.

Oh yeah, the rest of the episode? Some stuff happens.

Haramaki D.

One Piece Episode 001: I'm Gonna be King of the Pirates!

I watched episode 1 today and really enjoyed it. I like the introduction of Luffy (basically, he sucks at sailing) and his interaction with Coby; who basically is just a yellow-bellied, comedic foil for Luffy to play off of.

Best Lines (translated into English of course):

Coby: You can't fight against her!!! [Cowering behind Luffy, and speaking of Capt. Alvida]

Luffy: Why not?

I enjoyed the foreshadow laden cameo of Nami... (Nice nut shot!) and of course, the allusions to Roronoa Zoro and the teaser at the end of the episode. They need to bring more high powered electric guitar into the mix.

I'm thinking about posting links to the episodes but I haven't done much research into a watchable and reliable source yet. Stay tuned!

-Haramaki D.