Ranked #598

One Piece: Dead End no Bouken

Well this is the 4th One Piece move that was made and IMO it is still the best.

story: The story follows the straw hats pirates while they are on a Island and in need of money, they soon find out that there is a great pirate race. That alone should be good enough to catch anyones interest. The whole movie is amazing and the enemy is one you can hate.

Art: The only reason that I didnt give this a 10 is because One Piece is art style is a little differnt to other animes but it is true to itself and is even better.

Characters: Great characters, if you follow the series I dont need to say anymore, if you dont then all I have to say is you will never see better characters than this group.

Enjoyment: I love this movie, it is the best out there and I have seen it many times and each time it still makes me smile.

Overall: Best anime movie I have ever seen. read more

STORY: As you probably are expecting since it's a One Piece movie, the story is original and whacky, revolving around a Pirate Race where everything goes. Besides all the issues you could expect from a movie story such as rushed presentation and such, the story does look interesting and even has a nice twist.

ART: It's One Piece with all it's might. On the other hand, it's One Piece with all it's might, which might not make you happy due to it's particular, peculiar and bizarre art style and design. Nontheless, the art is very refreshing and original, you can't deny that. It also features enhanced animation in comparison to the anime, although it's not that great. One thing I could mention is the backgrounds and the sea, as well as the ship movements, all that is awesome.

SOUND: The sound qaulity itself it's nice, with a couple of nice new battle tunes and as always the brilliant voice acting of really great seyiuus like Mayumi Tanaka, Kazuya Nakai and Kappei Yamaguchi.

CHARACTER: Though non-canon the movie provides some insight in the world of One Piece showing two more Giants, an old rival of Arlong and some other nice new characters. The two main movie-only characters would probably Shuraiya and Gasparde, the main villain. The first sport an awesome look, and the villain just looks like a couple more of other villains in One Piece: thinks dreams are for the weak and the crewmembers are just underlings. Though it has a pretty nice background and look.

ENJOYMENT: I only gave this 7, yeah. The first reason is that probably most people don't get the motivation they need to watch the movie since it's non-canon. So that pretty much lowers the enjoyment level of a movie, particularly, a non-canon anime movie. Secondly, although the three major fights in the movie are really good (Shurayia and Luffy vs Gasparde's crew, Needles vs Shurayia and Luffy vs Gasparde), there's not much importace to the rest of the Straw Hats, the simply don't have a final fight, which I think is also bad.

OVERALL: Although I have only watched the first 4 movies of One Piece, I think this is by far the best, with some pretty nice story, characters and all that you expect from One Piece. You should definitly watch it if you're a One Piece fan. read more

This is the third One Piece movie. It is set right before the Skypiea Arc, so if you know One Piece, you know the character's current levels and which characters to expect.

The art was good, your usual One Piece 2003 animation, except that it had a lot of CGI for the backgrounds, especially in the beginning, which didn't look that good.

There are One Piece movies/specials that deal with friendship and friends/nakama, there are some that deal with dreams, and then there are some that deal with being a man and a pirate. This one was about being a man and a pirate.
In this movie the Straw Hats join a competition because, as always, they're low on cash.

All the One Piece characters are pretty great in this movie, they are not lame and under powered or over powered like in some movies/specials. They are just like they are in the anime.

This was a really great movie. I think it's a must watch for One Piece fans. read more

This is the fourth One Piece movie, theoretically taking place after the Navarone arc and before they go to Water 7. Just like all movies, it is a filler mission with a good budget and a simplistic plot. But unlike the previous ones, this is quite darker and more violent. It also has some nasty backstabbing going on, as well as interesting cameos from all over the main series to further give you a feeling of familiarity.

The story is just about the Strawhat Pirates taking part in a race of pirate crews. The first to reach the goal at an unknown island will receive a huge amount of money. Although the premise seems simple and unimpressive, along the way it becomes a lot more complicating thanks to some cool plot twists. Amongst the strongest competitors is Gasparte, an ex marine with a huge bounty who has a bounty hunter after him, because he killed his family many years ago. These two turn the tables to the point the race becomes a death trap and you literally feel like people are actually dying in here. And this is what I liked about the whole thing; the premise ends up being smokescreen for far more sinister plans.

This is where I will tribute some words for the main villain. Gasparte doesn’t really care about winning, as much as being the last man standing. He is extremely powerful and doesn’t seek more power like all the previous bosses did but rather to take out the competition in any means necessary. He is also modelled after Crocodile from the main series in a way, since their looks, powers and even their bounties are almost the same. It must also be noted that originally the movie was only supposed to be dedicated to the latest addition to the crew, Robin (and her voice actress). But guess what, she only ends up being a minor character in the whole film and all the focus is given to the new characters of the film. Something of which I found to be very cool.

Then we have the bounty hunter. Far stronger and macho than the typical useless brat that asks for help and is even fleshed out nicely with the drama in his past and his quest for vengeance. If there is a part I didn’t like much is when he ends up finding another brat … which hasn’t aged at all despite all the years he knew it. Some sort of plot hole I guess. But hey, that kid can fight, and has killed people, and he feels proud about it. Good sidekick.

A thing I liked was the action scenes. You didn’t feel like it was the good guys versus everybody else, since many crews were fighting each other. Plus, the mini-boss of the movie is surprisingly not even dealt by one of the Strawhats. Furthermore the final battle had some strategy in it instead of being Luffy with his unstoppable power just owning everything without thinking. Although the method he used was similar to the one he had for Crocodile, it’s the feeling of tactics that matters; something quite rare in the anime.

Another thing is how there was nothing here for Oda to take ideas from and add it to the canon story later on. In the contrary, this movie was a big tribute to all the major events that have happened so far to the point it felt like the movie was part of the main series.

Oh, they also used some quite impressive 3D effects here, like the introduction scene where the camera zooms through the alleys, as well as creating waves during a storm. Although rather crude after all these years, they were great to give motion and life to the setting of the movie. There is also a lot of darkness in this; a huge contrast to the cheery ones of the previous movies. Helps to build up the necessary tension for such a dark tale.

Although it is mostly a cameo parade as well as a slight alteration of the Arabasta arc, it is one hell of a ride and a movie I openly recommend to the fans of the series.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 10/10
Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 2/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 2/2

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 2/4, Sound Effects 2/3

STORY SECTION: 8/10
Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 2/2, Complexity 2/2, Plausibility 2/2, Conclusion 1/2

CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10
Analysis: Presence 2/2, Personality 2/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 1/2, Catharsis 1/2

VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Analysis: Historical Value 0/3, Rewatchability 1/3, Memorability 3/4

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10
Analysis: Art 1/1, Sound 0/2, Story 3/3, Characters 3/4

VERDICT: 7/10 read more

Story: As far as One Piece movies go before this one, this story is the most fresh and close to cannon as possible. The Straw Hats, short on money due to their captains endless stomach, enter a pirate race in order to earn some fast cash. Only, this race isn't what it's cracked up to be. Unlike the last few movies before this one, which follow pretty much the same design, this movie seems to be different and unique.

Art: The art was great and kept with the original animation, with some enhancements due to being a movie. There was some lazy animation using show flashbacks, but it was to improve and explain the story so I didn't mind them much.

Sound: The sound was really great. Up to this point in the show, sometimes you could tell the voice actors were in a room shouting their lines, in this movie, you couldn't hear that. Also, the themes swelled up at just the right times to create great musicality.

Characters: This was the department where the movie hit it's snag and earned it's no 10 outcome. They had an annoying kid. Every One Piece movies downfall with me has been the tired but true annoying kid character. Nobody likes the annoying kid. They should just leave the annoying kid out, but I don't live in Japan and who knows, the annoying kid could be another annoying kids hero or something. Also, the villain seemed to be a hodgepodge of the different villains prior on the TV show. Other then that, everything else was fine. All of the other characters were left in tact and useful. It was nice to see Robin's power used.

Enjoyment: I got a lot of enjoyment of of the film. It was longer then the other movies previous and a lot to sit through, but it never got boring. I only stopped to go back to a funny part or to read what everyone was saying in the background.

Overall: A great movie. I wasn't expecting much with the previous movies leaving me a tad disappointed, but this one made up for all of them. A great watch and I'm sure I'll be re-watching it in the future. A must watch if you are a fan and want to watch a good One Piece movie. Skip the others before this one and watch this one instead. read more