Well guys it's finally happening, the awesome guys at the Unofficial One Piece Podcast have officially announced via a well marketed podcast special, that Season 4 has been officially licensed by Funimation. For those of you who don't know, Season 4 contains portions of several story arcs. The Davy Back Fight arc pits the Straw Hats in a series of challenges against the Foxy Pirates. the Ocean's Dream arc based on a One Piece videogame in which the Straw Hats lose their memories work together to regain them.
The very popular Water 7 arc largely featured in Season 4 depicts the Straw Hats in some of their worst hours. It practically has some of the most important and darkest moments in the entire history of One Piece in my own personal opinion. But in terms of overall narrative, it introduces the future shipwright of the Straw Hat Pirates, Franky.
I'm absolutely excited about this. Water 7 is one of my favorite arcs and hearing it in dubbed English will be an amazing experience. The prospect of the Funi voice actors speaking these famous lines makes me quiver. By the way, Funimation seemed to have licensed 58 episodes so far, but considering the fact that this arc is so popular, and the fact that apparently unlike the Japanese DVDs, these are in widescreen and HD. That alone is going to pave the road for Season 5. Funimation haven't stated a release date but my guess is going to be the summer of 2012 or possibly the fall.
So now that I've said my piece, what are your thoughts on Funimation finally giving the fans what they want? Please post your comments below and let's just sit back and enjoy, knowing that Patrick Seitz may be voicing Franky like in the Unlimited Adventure game. It will be great.
Written by Neku:
Edited by Dsaftler.
I'm pretty excited about this. I really can't wait to see Franky in the anime in english.
ReplyDeleteIts. About. Damn. Time. Seriously, what's been taking Funimation so long? Toei has been pumping out brand new episodes faster than Funimation has been dubbing them.
ReplyDeleteIf they tell me the reason they have been taking so long is because they've been working real hard to find REAL voice actors to play all the big CP9 agents and not the same 20 guys they use in all their roles, than maybe I'll forgive them. If not, they got some explaining to do.