The first season of the One Piece anime television series aired on Fuji Television from October 20, 1999, through March 7, 2001, totaling 61 episodes. Produced by Toei Animation and directed by Kounosuke Uda, it adapts the first twelve volumes of the manga by Eiichiro Oda. The first season depicts the exploits of the pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy as he gathers his crew at the East Blue and prepares to head to the Grand Line, all while defeating dangerous local captain pirates at the East Blue in their path as Luffy gains his infamy as "Straw Hat" Luffy. The last 8 episodes, set on Warship Island, are the first anime-original filler material in the series.
In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment licensed the series for a heavily edited English dubbed broadcast. 4Kids edited the episodes for content, merged one episode and left out 18 episodes, thus reducing the season's episode count to a total of 53 episodes. The series made its U.S. premiere on September 18, 2004, on Fox as part of its FoxBox TV programming block, lasting until July 30, 2005. Funimation Entertainment later licensed the series and released the first season in four unedited and uncut, bilingual-language compilations; the first was released on May 27, 2008, and the last was released on March 31, 2009.
The season uses four pieces of theme music: two opening themes and two ending themes. The first opening theme is the award-winning title , performed by Hiroshi Kitadani in Japanese and Vic Mignogna in English (Funimation dub; Russell Velazquez initially performed the English version for the 4Kids dub before replacing it with the "Pirate Rap") for the first 47 episodes. The second opening, which was used for the rest of the season, is "Believe" by Folder5 in Japanese and Meredith McCoy in English. The first ending theme, titled "Memories" for the first 30 episodes, and was performed by Maki Otsuki in Japanese and Brina Palencia in English, who also performed the second ending theme song, titled "Run! Run! Run!" in Japanese, for the rest of the season. Caitlin Glass performed the English version of the second ending theme. 4Kids used original music in their adaptation, while Funimation opted for English-language versions of the theme music pieces. __TOC__
Episodes
Critical reception The season's uncut home video release generally received positive reviews from critics due to its humor, fight sequences, characters and music. The Arlong Park storyline has been highlighted as the strongest of the season, although David Brook less favorably described these episodes as "melodramatic" for Blueprint Review. Commenting on the animation, several critics applauded the series' accuracy to the manga's art style, but noted that moments of limited animation betrayed the low budget of the series.
Both John Sinnott and Neil Lumbard rated the season "Highly Recommended" when writing for DVD Talk, with Lumbard describing Luffy as "easily one of the most endearing, comical, and fun characters in anime history". Writing for Anime News Network, Carl Kimlinger awarded the first 26 episodes "B" ratings, but found the "emotional core" of the Captain Buggy episodes to be underwhelming and commented that the early episodes of the series did not match the standard that would be set by later episodes. Writing for Starburst, Julian White claimed that the series was "likely to give you one helluva migraine" and awarded 6/10 to the first 26 episodes. IGN's David F. Smith awarded the first 13 episodes 7/10, also commenting on the slow pace of the episodes but conceding that "you might just call it a convention of the genre".
Nefarious Reviews rated the season "Medium" saying that "the early episodes don't give a good first impression, but once the longer story begins, One Piece stretches it's creativity to give a good opening season with promises of so much more adventure". David F. Smith writing for IGN gave the uncut home video release a 7/10 saying that "One Piece is a pretty good time. It's a colorful, funny, action-packed kids' adventure show, and Funimation's wrapped it up in a well-produced package at a price that can't be beat."
Home media release Japanese VHS + Toei Video/Avex Mode (Japan, VHS) Volume Episodes Release date Ref. VHS ONE PIECE piece1 1–4 February 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.1" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece2 5–8 February 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.2" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece3 9–12 March 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.3" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece4 13–16 April 18, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.4" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece5 17–20 May 23, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.5" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece6 21–24 June 20, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.6" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece7 25–28 July 18, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.7" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece8 29–32 August 22, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.8" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece9 33–36 September 19, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.9" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece10 37–40 October 24, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.10" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece11 41–44 November 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.11" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece12 45–48 December 19, 2001 "ONE PIECE piece.12" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece13 49–52 January 17, 2002 "ONE PIECE piece.13" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece14 53–56 February 14, 2002 "ONE PIECE piece.14" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece15 57–61 March 20, 2002 "ONE PIECE piece.15" (in Japanese). Amazon.com. Retrieved on June 11, 2009.
DVD + Avex Mode (Japan, Region 2 DVD) Volume Episodes Release date Ref. ONE PIECE ワンピース piece.01 1–4 February 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.01" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.02 5–8 February 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.02" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.03 9–12 March 22, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.03" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.04 13–16 April 18, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.04" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.05 17–20 May 23, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.05" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.06 21–24 June 20, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.06" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.07 25–28 July 18, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.07" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.08 29–32 August 22, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.08" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.09 33–36 September 19, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.09" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.10 37–40 October 24, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.10" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.11 41–44 November 21, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.11" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.12 45–48 December 19, 2001 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.12" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.13 49–52 January 17, 2002 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.13" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.14 53–56 February 14, 2002 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.14" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. piece.15 57–61 March 20, 2002 "ONE PIECE ワンピースpiece.15" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on June 11, 2009. ONE PIECE Log Collection "EAST BLUE" 1–17 July 23, 2010 "ONE PIECE Log Collection “EAST BLUE”" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on March 20, 2010. "SANJI" 18–30 July 23, 2010 "ONE PIECE Log Collection “SANJI”" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on March 20, 2010. "NAMI" 31–44 August 27, 2010 "ONE PIECE Log Collection “NAMI”" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on March 20, 2010. "LOGUE TOWN" 45–61 August 27, 2010 "ONE PIECE Log Collection “LOGUE TOWN”" (in Japanese). Toei Animation. Retrieved on March 20, 2010.
Blu-ray The Eternal Log contains 16:9 versions of the episodes in standard definition Blu-ray format. + Avex Pictures (Japan, Region A BD) Volume Episodes Release date Ref. ONE PIECE Eternal Log EAST BLUE 1–61 January 22, 2021
English 4Kids +4Kids Entertainment Edited TV Version: Viz Media (USA, Region 1 DVD), Madman Entertainment (Australia, Region 4) Volume Episodes Release date ISBN Ref.USAAustralia 1King of the Pirates 1–3 February 28, 2006May 17, 2006"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 1 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 2The Circus Comes to Town 4–6 April 25, 2006July 26, 2006"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 2 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 3The Teller of Tales 7–11 June 27, 2006September 6, 2006"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 3 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 4The Cat's Ninth Life 12–16 August 29, 2006November 8, 2006"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 4 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 5King of the Busboys 17–21 October 24, 2006January 24, 2007"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 5 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 6The Better Swordsman 22–26 December 26, 2006March 14, 2007"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 6 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 7New Crew 27–31 February 27, 2007May 2, 2007"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 7 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 8Belle Of The Brawl 32–36 April 24, 2007July 18, 2007. Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 9Rogue Town 37–41 June 26, 2007September 12, 2007"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 9 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009. 10Baroque Works 42–46 August 28, 2007November 7, 2007"One Piece (Edited), Vol. 10 (DVD)". Viz Media. Retrieved on June 13, 2009.1-3Starter Pack1-11N/AMarch 14, 2007ISBN N/A
Uncut In North America, the final episodes of this season were recategorized as the opening of "Season Two" for their DVD release by Funimation Entertainment. The Australian Season sets were renamed Collection 1 through 5. +Uncut English & Japanese versions: Funimation Entertainment (USA, Region 1), Manga Entertainment (UK, Region 2), Madman Entertainment (Australia, Region 4) Volume Episodes Release date ISBN Ref.USAUKAustralia Season One First Voyage 1–13 May 27, 2008N/ASeptember 1, 2010"One Piece Season 1 DVD Part 1 (Hyb) Uncut". Right Stuf. Second Voyage 14–26 September 16, 2008October 13, 2010"One Piece Season 1 DVD Part 2 (Hyb) Uncut". Right Stuf. Third Voyage 27–39 January 20, 2009November 3, 2010"One Piece Season 1 DVD Part 3 (Hyb) Uncut". Right Stuf. Fourth Voyage 40–53 March 31, 2009December 15, 2010"One Piece Season 1 DVD Part 4 (Hyb) Uncut". Right Stuf. Season Two First Voyage 54–66 June 30, 2009January 12, 2011"One Piece Season 2 DVD Part 1 (Hyb) Uncut" . Right Stuf. Collections Collection 1 1–26 July 26, 2011May 27, 2013N/A. Right Stuf. Collection 2 27–53 September 27, 2011July 1, 2013. Right Stuf. Collection 3 54–78 November 29, 2011September 23, 2013. Right Stuf.Treasure Chest CollectionOne1–103N/AOctober 24, 2012ISBN N/AVoyage Collection1–53September 6, 2017ISBN N/A
Notes
References