One of my absolutely favorite movies, with good reason!
I want to immediately get into the animation - It's gorgeous. I am a huge sucker for very bouncy old style drawn movement and this movie is godly at it. Despite my distaste for Belle, I expect nothing less from Mamoru Hosoda, his animation is legendary for very good reason. The backgrounds are so intricately painted and the scenery is astounding. There is so much love and care put into the atmosphere of this movie. And not just the scenery, of course. As I mentioned, there is so much fluid and interesting character movement. It makes me
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highly nostalgic for when One Piece used to be more creative with Luffy being made out of rubber (a body that canonically isn't confined by normal anatomy is a tool of endless possibilities in animation!!) Anyway, I'm getting off track. There are also some 3D portions in this film, and may I remind you, this was made in 2005. A lot of it has aged poorly. Segments like the gold fish and the first person POV uninterrupted walking shot through the 3D rendered jungle are jarring to say the least. There are instances of the 3D working side by side with the animation beautifully, though. The threat at the end of the movie is this giant flower stem, which they chose to use 3D for. Artistically I thought it was fantastic. It was not too overly detailed and only shown black with a slightly highlighted white side. It contrasted in such a way it felt uncanny valley to view. I'm unsure if it was on purpose or if it was just easier on the animators - but the stark contrast between the stem and the background/characters was creepy! It worked! Along with the amazing animation, there is not an uninteresting shot within this movie. There are so many unique angles and camera placements and scenes are set up in a way that just keeps your attention. I think even if the plot of this movie was mediocre 'd still stick around for the animation.
Speaking of Mamoru Hosoda's legacy, his love for silence leaks through tremendously. There are several shots with minimal sound where you are made to soak up the wonderfully drawn animation, dive into the scene and get used to its atmosphere.
The setup to the plot is fairly simple and fast, but in my opinion it did its job. All we needed was them discussing the island and Luffy blindly saying they should go. The first act rushes by lightning speed. The goldfish scene was so quick at first it felt as if I could barely keep up, but the rest of the movie was at a relatively normal pace after that. The slow build of tension is killer, it's something I wish the actual show utilized more. There's a feeling of overarching doom that slowly creeps up on the happy grandeur setting and it's done GREAT. It all congregates into a really terrifying ending. I am such a sucker for Luffy being made to suffer, my bad, but his character is most interesting when we see the answer to the question of "What would happen if Luffy lost?" It's one of my favorite concepts. I wish it could've been more explored throughout Sabody and post Marineford but the plot moved on and that required Luffy to move with it, ugh.
To Discuss the plot, I'd have to discuss the Baron. He is not very complexly written as any One Piece Villain, but he stuck out to me majorly because he is not fueled by revenge nor greed nor blind hatred but by loneliness. A standard throughout One Piece major villains is either a need for revenge or a need for power (and in a lot of instances: both) (with the occasional 'man just doing his job' one here and there). The Baron, as far as motivations go, is interesting because he is fueled by loss. A loss that is no one in particular's fault. There is no group to blame for what happens to him. He loses his loved ones, and the loneliness pushes him to the point of jealous hatred. His goal is to destroy happy, tight-knit pirate crews to fulfill his desire to have others suffer like him. Following this theme of loneliness and family, Luffy's is taken away from him one by one. This is actually worse mentally than Sabaody because Luffy is made to literally WATCH them 'die' in front of his eyes and the toll it takes on him is tremendous. Mayumi Tanaka is a astoundingly talented voice actress, as always, her emotional range is phenomenal. Anyway, at about the 3/4ths mark of this movie, Sanji yells at Luffy that the disappearance of their friends is all Luffy's fault (seeing as he's the one who naively chose to go to the island in the first place), and it really dawns on Luffy that he messed up. I'II repeat, I always love scenes like this for him. Especially when later he's made to believe his friends are DEAD because of his stupid choice. The feather light weight of Luffy's easy going character disappears and in its place a more mature character takes shape. It's apart of Luffy that's fairly ignored because we see it so seldom but it's so integral to understanding him - how he is capable of regret, remorse, able to recognize the weight of his actions and the times Luffy, who can face any challenge too tough for him head on, thinks to himself 'I can't fix this.' It's a highly introspective look into his character! I adore it.
The overall theme of this movie is family, and it's stupid but I think one of my most major critiques is how much this is *hammered* into the plot. One Piece isn't very *well known* for NOT exposition dumping its plot. It just does, but I think it can get absurd at times. Take a shot every time the word nakama is used throughout this movie - you'd have alcohol poisoning by the end. Over and over, oml. At some point I was like, I get it, the theme is FAMILY. Though I can also attribute the repetitiveness to emphasis if I really wanted to.
This movie also had a very good cast of side characters. Admittedly not as quirky as One Piece usually gets. A cowardly pirate man with his three kids and a guy with a mustache and a goat is very normal in comparison to how insane your average One Piece one-off character can be. But the tameness fit the tone more, I feel. This movie is definitely a very different piece of work than Eichirou Oda's One Piece (as the screenplay was written by Masahiro Ito, an art director and prominent creative within the Silent Hill franchise!! (his work as a dramatic camera designer really shows through in this movie too, I feel.)
Though this movie does not feel as though it wears One Piece's skin haphazardly, it takes its likeness and breathes into it a unique life that respects its source. Overall I'd give this movie a 9/10. I can't think of any reason to dislike it. Everyone describes it as the 'dark One Piece movie' and I would agree even though it takes a while of buildup before it gets Evangelion, 0 to 100. It's noncanonical and only the smallest amount of series lore is brought up so if you're interested in the franchise or not - it's still a very good watch! One of those things I'd recommend someone based off animation alone. I'm not excited to watch any other one piece movies after that one ngl but i'll cope.
Mar 21, 2023
One of my absolutely favorite movies, with good reason!
I want to immediately get into the animation - It's gorgeous. I am a huge sucker for very bouncy old style drawn movement and this movie is godly at it. Despite my distaste for Belle, I expect nothing less from Mamoru Hosoda, his animation is legendary for very good reason. The backgrounds are so intricately painted and the scenery is astounding. There is so much love and care put into the atmosphere of this movie. And not just the scenery, of course. As I mentioned, there is so much fluid and interesting character movement. It makes me ... 
Mar 21, 2023
If you have a good 6 hours on your hand to spare, this is a highly recommended read. If you're interested in character analysis and wish you could've gotten more out of Fugo, go at it! Kodano elaborates on Fugo's relationship with the rest of the team members that we don't get to see in detail in the anime. His writing style is immersive and his creativity with the stands for this one-shot novel align perfectly with the bizzarre nature of the rest of the franchise!
(Spoilers below this point, complaints.) While the novel has amazing character elaboration, Kadono's writing can feel corny, at times. There's several ... |
