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Review

by Sam Leach,

One Piece Episode of Sabo

BD+DVD

Synopsis:
One Piece Episode of Sabo BD+DVD
After his disappearance as a child, leaving his sworn brothers Ace and Luffy to believe he is dead, Sabo has found himself to be the second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army. Now an adult, his job has taken him all over the world investigating a black market weapons trade that leads him to Donquixote Doflamingo's home turf of Dressrosa. It's here that he is fated to cross-paths with his long-lost brother Luffy, and together they will fight to protect the Flame-Flame Fruit, the ultimate prize in Doflamingo's tournament and the last ember of ‘Fire Fist’ Ace's legacy.
Review:

The “One Piece: Episode of ______” series, which currently spans both TV specials and theatrical films, can be a frustrating endeavor at times. I can't say with any confidence that these movies are actually for anybody. Theoretically, they're recounts of individual One Piece arcs, now at a more digestible pace and featuring more impressive production values, but there's always too much missing from them for me to ever recommend them to somebody who isn't already familiar with the material. Two hours is rarely enough time to put an audience through a proper One Piece-level emotional rollercoaster, and more often than not I find myself missing a lot of the old animation and directorial choices that made these stories memorable in the first place. Even if we're just looking at getting the general story beats out there for a more casual audience, the TV series is already slammed with clip shows and recaps as it is.

That said, Episode of Sabo is easily the best looking One Piece special to date. Dressrosa is a fairly recent arc, so there isn't really any old art that I'm mourning, and just about everything here is a visual improvement on the TV version. I love the amount of detail that can be seen on every individual character, and the actions scenes are outstanding. Luffy vs. Don Chin Jao is a particularly strong highlight and it boasts a notable stylistic in its slightly muted color scheme, frequently evoking an overcast sky.

Story-wise, this is a weird arc to give the TV movie treatment. It's the first half of Dressrosa, focusing on Luffy's battles in Doflamingo's colosseum. The main difference being that we're witnessing parts of the story from Sabo's perspective, who's appearance in the colosseum was a surprise twist in the original. Since this is Sabo's episode, we're frequently cutting back to flashbacks of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo's childhood, so this special also doubles as a remake of their particular backstory. The “three brothers” flashback is already well-trodden ground—I doubt there are any fans who aren't intimately familiar with it already—and it doesn't pair well with Dressrosa's extremely busy plot, most of which doesn't have anything to do with the titular character. It's like two movies stitched together, neither of which culminate in a particularly satisfying climax given that this is only half a story.

From there, one of the biggest draws of this release is its English dub, which is adapting material far past Funimation's release of the TV series. A staggering number of important new characters have been cast in order to bring this localization to life. I'm really pleased with the mixture of talent from both inside and outside of Texas, allowing us to hear fan favorites like Christina Vee and Christine Cabanos in the roles of Violet and Rebecca respectively. However, for those specific characters—natives to Dressrosa—the dub aims for faux Spanish accents, which goes about as well as you could expect regarding consistency.

Of the new additions to the cast, Tyson Rinehart's Bartolomeo leaves the biggest impression. He's a ton of fun, though I'm reminded of the dub's dearth of naturally deep male voices. We're scratching so many of these actors' throats as it is! The copious amounts of fake gravel make all these side characters difficult to tell apart sometimes. I'd also be remiss not to mention Jerry Jewell as Caesar Clown (one of my favorite characters), who only has a single line but he sounds like a perfect fit so far. I'm excited to eventually hear him in the show itself.

Episode of Sabo, like most TV specials, is something that will likely find itself in any hardcore fan's collection, but I don't expect it's something people will come back to again and again. It's a great looking movie, but its most compelling selling point is the dub and the fact that there isn't a lot of One Piece coming out from Funimation beyond these specials. The blu-ray itself is completely barebones in terms of features, with nothing more than the special and the usual batch of trailers. This movie was created to fill a time slot first and foremost, so the quality of the product exists independent of any other depth or value.

Grade:
Overall (dub) : B
Overall (sub) : B
Story : B-
Animation : A
Art : A
Music : B

+ Great animation, fun to hear the new additions to the English cast
Not a stand-alone movie, redundant for long-time fans and impenetrable for new fans

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Production Info:
Series Director:
Toshinori Fukazawa
Satoshi Itō
Aya Komaki
Yasunori Koyama
Kōhei Kureta
Hiroaki Miyamoto
Tatsuya Nagamine
Munehisa Sakai
Junji Shimizu
Kōnosuke Uda
Director:
Toshinori Fukazawa
Satoshi Itō
Gō Koga
Aya Komaki
Yasunori Koyama
Kōhei Kureta
Hiroaki Miyamoto
Tatsuya Nagamine
Munehisa Sakai
Junji Shimizu
Kōnosuke Uda
Series Composition:
Junki Takegami
Hirohiko Uesaka
Shoji Yonemura
Script:
Shinzō Fujita
Hiroshi Hashimoto
Akiko Inoue
Naoki Koga
Takuya Masumoto
Kisa Miura
Isao Murayama
Tomohiro Nakayama
Tsuyoshi Sakurai
Michiru Shimada
Yoshiyuki Suga
Yōichi Takahashi
Junki Takegami
Suminori Takegami
Jin Tanaka
Atsuhiro Tomioka
Hirohiko Uesaka
Ryota Yamaguchi
Ryō Yamazaki
Shoji Yonemura
Storyboard:
Honehone
Masatoshi Chioka
Akitarō Daichi
Tetsuya Endō
Akiko Fujisawa
Junichi Fujise
Kentarō Fujita
Toshinori Fukazawa
Hiroshi Hara
Morio Hatano
Jong Heo
Ayako Hiraike
Mamoru Hosoda
Masahiro Hosoda
Takahiro Imamura
Eisaku Inoue
Shō Inuzuka
Megumi Ishitani
Katsumi Ishizuka
Satoshi Itō
Naoyuki Itou
Bahi JD
Hidehiko Kadota
Yukio Kaizawa
Gō Koga
Aya Komaki
Ken Koyama
Yasunori Koyama
Kōhei Kureta
Takeshi Maenami
Tetsuaki Matsuda
Shō Matsui
Wataru Matsumi
Nanami Michibata
Hiroaki Miyamoto
Yoshio Mukainakano
Tatsuya Nagamine
Yutaka Nakajima
Ryōta Nakamura
Tetsuji Nakamura
Yukihiko Nakao
Yutaka Nakashima
Masayoshi Nishida
Daisuke Nishio
Seiji Okuda
Hazuki Omoya
Makiko Orimoto
Takashi Otsuka
Munehisa Sakai
Toshihiko Sano
Hiroyuki Satō
Naotoshi Shida
Tasuku Shimaya
Junji Shimizu
Nozomu Shishido
Makoto Sonoda
Yoshiyuki Suga
Yūsuke Suzuki
Kenichi Takeshita
Yasuhiro Tanabe
Ryōsuke Tanaka
Takayuki Tanaka
Henry Thurlow
Katsumi Tokoro
Yûji Tokuno
Yong Ce Tu
Kōnosuke Uda
Yoshihiro Ueda
Ryota Yamaguchi
Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Kenji Yokoyama
Episode Director:
Tetsuya Endō
Yuji Endō
Junichi Fujise
Kentarō Fujita
Toshinori Fukazawa
Morio Hatano
Ayako Hiraike
Hideki Hiroshima
Mamoru Hosoda
Masahiro Hosoda
Eri Hyun
Yōko Ikeda
Takahiro Imamura
Shō Inuzuka
Megumi Ishitani
Takaaki Ishiyama
Satoshi Itō
Naoyuki Itou
Hidehiko Kadota
Yukio Kaizawa
Hiroyuki Kakudō
Gō Koga
Aya Komaki
Harume Kosaka
Ken Koyama
Yasunori Koyama
Chihiro Kumano
Kōhei Kureta
Toshihiro Maeya
Shō Matsui
Wataru Matsumi
Nanami Michibata
Hiroaki Miyamoto
Kazutoshi Mori
Yoshio Mukainakano
Tatsuya Nagamine
Daisuke Nakajima
Yutaka Nakajima
Ryōta Nakamura
Tetsuji Nakamura
Yukihiko Nakao
Yutaka Nakashima
Kōdai Nakatsuka
Daisuke Nishio
Hazuki Omoya
Keisuke Ōnishi
Takashi Otsuka
Munehisa Sakai
Toshihiko Sano
Hiroyuki Satō
Tasuku Shimaya
Akira Shimizu
Junji Shimizu
Nozomu Shishido
Makoto Sonoda
Yūsuke Suzuki
Kenichi Takeshita
Hikaru Takeuchi
Yasuhiro Tanabe
Kōji Tanaka
Ryōsuke Tanaka
Henry Thurlow
Katsumi Tokoro
Yûji Tokuno
Kōnosuke Uda
Yoshihiro Ueda
Sumio Watanabe
Tōru Yamada
Shigeyasu Yamauchi
Unit Director:
Toshinori Fukazawa
Tomohiro Higashi
Eri Hyun
Megumi Ishitani
Satoshi Itō
Aya Komaki
Kōhei Kureta
Nanami Michibata
Tatsuya Nagamine
Takashi Otsuka
Tasuku Shimaya
Music:
Shiroh Hamaguchi
Kōhei Tanaka
Original creator: Eiichiro Oda
Original Manga: Eiichiro Oda
Character Design:
Kazuya Hisada
Keiichi Ichikawa
Noboru Koizumi
Midori Matsuda
Art Director:
Tong Nian Chen
Kunihiro Chida
Jason de la Cruz
Yurino Doi
Momoko Fujikura
Kumiko Fukuzawa
Jun Golez
Eiji Hamano
Yoshiaki Honma
Guo Wei Huang
Toshinori Iino
Eisaku Inoue
Iwamitsu Itō
Michiyo Kawasaki
Shinichi Konno
Toshiaki Marumori
Takafumi Mizuno
Dhavee Morato
Hideto Nakahara
Nagisa Nishida
Minoru Ōnishi
Yū Saitō
Uli Samaniego
Yuri Sanan
Dino Francis Santos
Miyuki Satō
Tadami Shimokawa
Hiromitsu Shiozaki
Miho Shiraishi
Seiichiro Sugiura
Makoto Suwada
Midori Tanaka
Shoji Tokiwa
Natsuko Tosugi
Fumihiro Uchikawa
Keito Watanabe
Tomoko Yoshida
Ryūji Yoshiike
Takashi Yoshiike
Chief Animation Director:
Kazuya Hisada
Keiichi Ichikawa
Takeo Ide
Hisashi Kagawa
Midori Matsuda
Yong Ce Tu
Animation Director:
Honehone
Majiro
Shigefumi Aragaki
Zhen Lei Cheng
Toshio Deguchi
Kentarō Fujita
Masayuki Fujita
Yasuko Fukumoto
Mami Furutoku
Huan Ge
Grand Guerilla
Yūji Hakamada
Eun Mi Han
Zi Wei He
Kazuya Hisada
Feng Cheng Hu
Keiichi Ichikawa
Takeo Ide
Kazuyuki Ikai
Takuya Imakado
Eisaku Inoue
Masahiko Inuzuka
Katsumi Ishizuka
Yūsuke Isōchi
Kimitaka Itō
Shūichi Itō
Nobuyuki Iwai
Atsuko Kawamura
Jun-Oh Kim
Yu Jin Kim
Yuki Kinoshita
Masahiro Kitazaki
Yukari Kobayashi
Noboru Koizumi
Takashi Kojima
Yūji Kondō
Hidemi Kubo
Kazuya Kuta
Ye Sung Lee
Shao Lei Li
Natsuko Makiyo
Hideaki Maniwa
Midori Matsuda
Kenji Matsuoka
Kiyoshi Matsushita
Yūki Minagawa
Keisuke Mori
Naoki Murakami
Kumi Nakajou
Yukiko Nakatani
Asako Narasaki
Tetsurō Nireki
Ryō Ōnishi
Keita Saitō
Sadahiko Sakamaki
Toshihiko Sano
Masahiro Shimanuki
Takanori Shimura
Takayuki Shimura
Shigefumi Shingaki
Kouji Sugimoto
Shū Sugita
Shinichi Suzuki
Masayuki Takagi
Isamu Takara
Kazuo Takigawa
Shigenori Taniguchi
Naoki Tate
Yong Ce Tu
Yosuke Yabumoto
Takumi Yamamoto
Tadayoshi Yamamuro
Megumi Yamashita
Mamoru Yokota
Kenji Yokoyama
Art design: Ryūji Yoshiike
Background Art Director:
Yoshiaki Honma
Guo Wei Huang
Director of Photography:
Hideki Chiba
Tomoya Hosaka
Tomoyoshi Ishizuka
Hirosato Ōnishi
Producer:
Shintarō Hashimoto
Miki Kobayashi
Yoshihiro Suzuki
Satoshi Teramoto
Licensed by: FUNimation Entertainment

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