Ep. 002: One Piece

MAHQ's general podcast for nerdy things, which ran from 2011-2017.
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Ep. 002: One Piece

Chaos Theater Ep. 002 - "One Piece"
- Download Now: 64 kbps - 100 mins, 25 sec. (1:40:25) 45.9 MB

Special Guest Host: Cristian Alvernaz (One Piece)

Segment Breakdown for this Episode:

01. Intro: "What We've Been Up To"
Runtime: 0:00:01 - 0:09:12

02. Discussion: "One Piece"
Runtime: 0:09:34 - 1:10:01

03. Outro: "Chaos Theater Mailbag" and "Internet whoring"
Runtime: 1:10:26 - 1:39:53

You'll probably notice that this episode is not what we promised last time. Due to some issues, we were forced to push back Fairy Tail to a later episode. Instead, we take an in-depth look at Eiichiro Oda's shonen masterpiece, One Piece. Our guest is Cristian Alvernaz, a longtime One Piece fan who you might have heard pop up in past live Gundamn! episodes. Also, apologies in advance for some of the sound, as we had some issues with a headset. Our audio issues will be sorted out by the next episode. Next time, we tackle Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson's epic fantasy saga, The Wheel of Time.

Music Featured in this Episode:
"Boing Zoom DAKOTA!" from Rock Candy 1 by Shadow
BRAND NEW WORLD from One Piece by D-51
We Are! from One Piece by Hitoshi Kitadani
Binks' Sake from One Piece by The Strawhats

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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Ok I don't have anything to offer up on One Piece haven't watched it, not really keen to jump in to it.

FF 7, was my first, I do get what Chris says and it's one of my favs but not my ultimate fav.

Aquarion, I agree with you on that and even then also adding Sirius too, I'm surprised I ended up finishing it in the end.

Dragonaut, I intend to avoid that show even Destiny Gundam calls it horrid, I so shall avoid it for good reason.

That is all I have for responses on that stuff.
Last edited by Mu La Flaga on Thu Feb 10, 2011 7:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I wanted to clarify the difference between "hard" and "soft" science fiction, hard sci-fi grounds itself in practical scientific concepts in other words, what is possible with our current understanding of science and none of the more speculative, traditional science fiction tropes, FTL travel, lightsabers, rayguns, aliens, time travel, etc. What you described is more of the difference between "grimdark" storytelling vs more optimistic storytelling with your Warhammer 40k example (which is a debate in and of itself), but the point still stands.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I understand the difference, but a lot of fans seem to think that hard SF = grimdark space marines in dirty power armor and nothing more. These people tend to gloss over the works of people like Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. It's especially true with anime fans, where series like Planetes are commonly ignored.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Well then I stand corrected, and you're right about Clarke and Asimov, sad really.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Thanks for answering my question! Not surprised I was wrong about the launch year of the PS1, apparently I was five when it came out, I shoud've done my research. You do know that comparing that Final Fantasy 7 to Evangelion is going to make people think you hate it right? Joke joke! Please don't ban me!

Now, I have wanted to get into One Piece for a long time, but I honestly don't know why I never decided to watch it besides the thought of "if this is longer than Naruto and Bleach, this has to have more filler, right?" So my question is, would it be easier to be get into the manga, or should I just jump into the anime?
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I don't care if fanboys think I hate FF7. They can bring it! As for One Piece, the anime and manga are both equally good. Generally, when it comes to a shonen action series I prefer to watch the anime, unless it's loaded down with lots of filler.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

After listening to this discussion of One Piece, I just might have to check it out again. I saw the 1st couple of episodes of the 4kids dub when it aired a few years ago and needless to say I was turned off instantly.

Oh and I couldn't agree with Chris more. FFVII is ridiculously overhyped! To the point where Squeenix kept pumping out mediocre games and a movie to appease these fanboys. Having not played FFVII as a child, I went back and played the 1st disc a few months ago and it was quite intriguing but there's a lot of crappy dull moments in the game. I much prefer FFVIII.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Shinigam_Newtype wrote:After listening to this discussion of One Piece, I just might have to check it out again. I saw the 1st couple of episodes of the 4kids dub when it aired a few years ago and needless to say I was turned off instantly.
Please don't judge One Piece via the 4kids dub. That was one of the worst massacres ever in the history of American anime editing. As I said in the show, if you live in the U.S. you can watch it from the start for free on Hulu.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Chris wrote:
Shinigam_Newtype wrote:After listening to this discussion of One Piece, I just might have to check it out again. I saw the 1st couple of episodes of the 4kids dub when it aired a few years ago and needless to say I was turned off instantly.
Please don't judge One Piece via the 4kids dub. That was one of the worst massacres ever in the history of American anime editing. As I said in the show, if you live in the U.S. you can watch it from the start for free on Hulu.
Unfortunately I live in the UK, so I'll have to acquire the episodes by other means...

Also, you briefly touched upon the matter in the episode, but I was hoping you guys would talks little about the 4Kids meddling with the franchise, seeing as it's a huge focal point of One Piece at times. Otherwise another great episode and cannot wait for more.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I try to pretend that the 4kids version never happened. Besides, it's been so long since the license passed into FUNimation's hands that it's not even worth discussing anymore what 4kids did.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

In all fairness Chris I think a little 4Kids bashing would have been warranted as much as it was the overhype rant on FF7 :P
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Chris wrote:I try to pretend that the 4kids version never happened. Besides, it's been so long since the license passed into FUNimation's hands that it's not even worth discussing anymore what 4kids did.
But there was a point where you mentioned 4kids, only to the cut yourself off and say you'll talk more about them later in the episode. So it was definitely on your mind.


Also, regardless of how long ago it was, the 4kids dub was an introduction to many westerners of the One Piece franchise, which would later coerce their opinions of the rest of the show(like myself). So I have to disagree and say a discussion on this would have been very necessary.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I never intended to discuss it in detail, and by the time the segment wrapped up it had gone on long enough. It's not as important as you think it is now that it's been in FUNi's hands for years. If you really want to hear more about it, there are plenty of places where people have criticized it and documented the edits.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I was laughing really hard when you guys were describing so zealously how people alternate between hating and jizzing on ff7. It sounded like a comically horrible case of emotional and sexual abuse.

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To be honest, my only exposure to One Piece had been the 4kids airing, and I was completely turned off by the fact that every single one of the lines were shouted at my face. Fuck that.

Was there ever a different dub recorded for One Piece, or do you guys just watch the subs?

Also, what do you think of the music in the show? I worry because music in long-running shonen shows usually gets old really fast and is rarely that enjoyable.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

FUNimation recorded a new dub from scratch with completely different actors, and it's leagues beyond the original 4Kids dub. If you're in the US, you can watch the first 100 episodes dubbed on Hulu. Since I started watching the show subtitled, that's what I'll always stick to, although FUNi's dub is certainly enjoyable if you like dubs. The soundtrack in One Piece is pretty varied, whether it's comical scenes, battle scenes or dramatic scenes. They use a lot of the same music from 1999, but it still works, and most of the major arcs feature some new music.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

Well, I can say you guys have succeeded in making me give One Piece a fair chance in spite of not caring about its particular genre for a number of years.

See, I actually used to enjoy Dragon Ball Z, Saint Seiya and similar shows back in the day but ended up feeling rather disillusioned in retrospect because they simply weren't willing to take risks...or if they did, those didn't last long enough to make a difference. This is going to be a bit of a generalization, yes, but in short...after a while, I didn't feel the main characters were growing or changing in particularly interesting ways. There are good moments in all those shows, no doubt, but something was lacking in the end.

It sounds like One Piece, while still following the usual formula at its core (and I'm not asking for too radical of a departure here), is at least trying to go for more variety and bringing additional character development to the table. If I am ever going to get back into the genre, I might as well check out what seems to be its best contemporary exponent. While it's easy to criticize One Piece's ridiculous length on a basic level, I would say that's not an issue for me if there are clear signs of progress along the way.

As a side note...it was a nice surprise to find out Chris (and Pedro) liked Final Fantasy 4 so much. Honestly, I'd say that was the single most influential RPG during my childhood. Taking off the nostalgia glasses, the story suffered from overusing a couple of plot devices that prevented its writing from being stellar...but the overall experience holds up pretty well in some respects. The scope of the adventure was and remains huge, the characters were memorable and a few had surprisingly compelling stories (you have what amounts to a redemption arc for Cecil and, to an extent, Kain too). And then there's the soundtrack.

I would admit Final Fantasy 6 was a better game, technically speaking, but 4 is still my personal favorite. Granted, Square-Enix is really trying to milk it a little too much these days, what with all the different ports and remakes. In fact, I haven't checked out the sequel myself and don't know if it lives up to the original.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

I was one of those kids who did see the 4Kids version of One Piece...pretty terrible. :lol: Though, it did have a lot of unintenional hilarity like the rap music and the badly written lines. Still, at least it wasn't as bad as the Fox Kids version of Escaflowne. THAT was sooooo bad.

I haven't watched many shounen shows in awhile, but I think I'll be giving One Piece a second chance. I shouldn't look down on a genre because of it's length and considering I read superhero comics, it really shouldn't be a problem for me. Another shounen I'd like to watch again is Case Closed. I enjoyed watching that show back when I used to watch Adult Swim.

One question I do have is Chris calling Activison the evil empire. Why are they the evil empire and why isn't EA it anymore?
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

A good ep, that raised One Piece on my list of shows to watch. I had a feeling that I would like it, but your overview of the series just confirms it for me, seeing that I'm a fan of Dragonball.

As for Final Fantasy, 7 was my first and therefore my favorite, and even though I defended it to the hilt in the past, I just can't bring myself to do it now. As Chris said things have moved on in terms of games both graphically and technologically, and today 7 just doesn't stand up as well as it for a game over a decade old. That being said, its the only one I enjoy playing alongside Tactics, 6, 10 and 12 (I've played all except 13.) I know I'll play 13 at some point, but I'm actually starting to give western rpgs like Dragon Age Origins a shot.
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Re: Episode 002: One Piece

TheGoose wrote:One question I do have is Chris calling Activison the evil empire. Why are they the evil empire and why isn't EA it anymore?
Back in the early 2000s, EA was the favored developer to hate, but with good reason. They did things like signing a long-term deal with the NFL for exclusivity that locked out anyone else from making a license football game, they put out mediocre licensed titles, they put out almost nothing but yearly franchise titles, and as I mentioned in the episode, they ruined NFS.

But then things changed in the later part of the decade. They started experimenting with new IPs like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. They bought BioWare and have lifted up their titles to multiplatform status. They let Criterion reinvent NFS with Hot Pursuit. They eased back on some yearly games like Burnout and haven't released one in three years, on top of allowing Criterion to support Paradise with tons of free DLC before they started charging.

On the other hand, Activision has gladly stepped in to take the mantra of the monolithic evil empire. There's the fiasco with Infinity Ward, the lawsuit business a few years back over Brutal Legend, the endless spamming of yearly franchises that killed both Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero. Activision is doing the opposite of what EA does now - instead of taking risks, they're hunkering down and focusing only on franchises, even though doing that killed the two franchises I mentioned.
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