One Piece: Episode of Nami - Koukaishi no Namida to Nakama no Kizuna

"Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Nakama" is the 5th One Piece special and the 3rd recap of a saga in general.

First of all, I really enjoyed watching the "Arlong Park" arc all over again.
I like nami background story the most and seeing old characters like Genzo and Nojiko was really nice. Also, seeing it now had a great rewatch value (which I will talk about later).

Before saying more about the rewatch value, I want to talk about the changes they did from the original arc. (keep in mind that episode of nami is a special, while episode of chopper/alabasta ... were movies)

Thankfully, they didn't change anything major(like adding a second antagonist in episode of chopper). The most critical change was making sanji break the stone trap that Luffy had in his fight against Arlong, before getting thrown into the water(only to be later saved by Nojiko).
Apart from that, nothing that bothered me.

The special starts off with a wink to the Fishmen-Human conflict, a short and awkward introduction of the crew and how Luffy met each one.
Besides that, they did a great job with Nami's past. Nothing was rushed out or skipped.

The art was great, as expected. Nami was as beautiful as ever and the whole art direction was great. However, they did make it a bit more mature.
Scenes like Bell-mère death or Nami stabbing her shoulder were much more graphic and detailed. It was a bit harsh in some point, but no complaints.

Now for my favorite part of watching a recap, the rewatch value.
Seeing Episode of Nami after "Fishman Island" and even "Post-War" arc gave it a great rewatch value.
The most important one, is knowing about the racism along with Arlong past. (Unlike in the manga, Arlong mentioned Fisher Tiger and his death).

I mentioned Post-War arc because it ends with luffy setting out to sea which prepares the ground for episode 1 and everything that happens afterwards which made me want to watch One Piece all over again.
With all of that, you get a second perspective for the story which is a really nice thing.

In the end of the special, you get to hear the original "We Are!" with moments from the special in the background and it was SO much fun and nostalgic for me I nearly exploded.

All in all, if you don't like to watch recaps don't even bother.
If you do, I think it's the best recap yet and you get to re-live awesome moments like the walk to arlong park.

I recommend it with pleasure :)

I’ve heard many times before that people not sure about one piece have been told to get up to and finishing the Arlong park arc before they drop the show… but as if anyone would drop one piece… anyway the reason is that it’s simply such a great arc. One of the most emotionally driven arcs in one piece and a good one to explore the characters while showing their thoughts and views, especially Nami of course. Arlong is a great villain, being the first “none human” villain in the series and demonstrating his power really gives the sense of helplessness the people around him ... have.

This special is a recreation of that arc, completely re-animated. And ‘Oh My’ was it enjoyable. Unlike the Alabasta remake witch was released around 5 years ago, this was made much better. Alabasta was good but it was a much longer arc to start with and the final result was a movie that actually ran shorter than this special. Of course there were still cuts in this special as well but they didn’t weaken the story at all, mainly we missed out on the whole Luffy being thrown into the sea and drowning but hey, I’m fine with that and it made the whole special move so smoothly. A couple of the fights where a bit shorter but of course we still got the great scene of “USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER” arr classic Usopp, just had to mention that scene. Also I enjoyed how the little lead in while not showing you every detail, the opening few minutes gave you enough to be able to remember everything that happened in the original series or give sufficient details for someone new to just jump into it. I’d recommend someone who never got into one piece or gave up on it quite soon to watch this special.

Ok too the Art/Animation, WOW this is where the story and art come together to create something amazing. In my opinion the character designs look better in this style than in the original series, the animation was also done really well. It gave me the same feeling I had while watching Strong World (Movie 10) it was such a nicely coloured, designed, animated and just a generally well thought out special.

Clap Clap!... now let’s hope the 'Episode of Luffy' special will be just as good!

Luffy's hat is way too big, -10 points. No, but seriously, his hat looks like it's bulging or something instead of resting comfortably on his little dummy head. In fact, you can see it on the cover for this page, Nami could be hiding a sandwich under there.

Anyway, to the review. For some context, I'm currently on episode 208 or so, just beginning the Water 7 arc. I discovered this special when watching an AMV with the first ending song, Memories. I'm sure many agree that the Arlong Arc is when One Piece gets serious and as such I had high expectations for this special. ... To be blunt, it was disappointing.

The story crams about a dozen episode's worth of material into one and a half hour. It wasn't really done well. Of course, shortening it that far means cutting things out, and there's no time to establish tension and stuff. But the special doesn't have much emotional impact at all. It's just a series of events shown one after another. It felt like sitting through a bullet-point slideshow. As a summary, it works; but as a source of entertainment, it's pretty weak.

The art is more fancy than the original. Which means they actually have shading, and more smooth and lively animation (stuff like moving their heads and jaws instead of simply flapping their mouths). Of course, the character design is slightly different as well. It's been updated to be more smooth and crisp with more shading again, but it's not as cute. Whether or not this is a good thing is up to the viewer. Personally, I enjoyed the more simple and cartoony feel of the original series. Perhaps it's also because of the weak story that this art seems like wasted effort.

The sound wasn't noteworthy, at all. Again, it's a summary of a dozen episodes so of course things will be cut out. There isn't any of the jolly soundtrack to accompany the funny moments, some of which have also been cut or truncated. In fact, if I recall the music was even mismatched in places and didn't fit the mood. Moments that were funny had no music, moments that were serious had funny music.

The characterization fits hand-in-hand with the story. Not much can be said. This is a Nami-centered story so most of the focus is on her. But everyone, including Nami, is given the bullet-point treatment, one event happening after another. Certain side-plots were also cut off, plots like Zoro getting captured or Luffy drowning, which again contributed to a rather dull straightforward presentation of events one after another. Everything just moved along smoothly in this monotonous pace.

Overall, it was an adequate summary of the Arlong Arc, but it wasn't enjoyable. It didn't have the same impact as the original episodes. As a standalone, it wouldn't be enjoyable at all. In fact, I'm rewatching the original episodes just to wash myself of this special.

*Minor spoilers ahead*

A nice if uninspired update of a classic One Piece Arc.

As most One Piece fans will attest, the Arlong/Nami back story arc was when the show first entered the world of greatness.

I was very excited to see an update with new Animation. The original was comprised of year 2000 tv animation, so while it still had a sumptuous art style its more basic animation could have really used a modern update. In addition the arc itself was not long, so a edited down definitive version was def possible.

So was this update a success? Unfortunately not really

... First good points.

The story retains its power, what Nami had to suffer was monstrous and to see all that suffering come to boil and then to a head with Arlong still feels transient.There is a story change that improves the story slightly, dropping the contrived method to keep Luffy incapacitated used in the show to drag out the fight a bit. The characters are the usual top notch cast you have come to expect.

However there are some significant down sides compared to the original arc.

While the animation is technically improved, it loses a lot of its sumptuous art style, become bland to look at. For that reason the animation is far more enjoyable in the original.

The editing severely damages certain parts of the story. Trying to rush through and not having time to dwell on all the emotional and epic upheaval going on, it feels like watching a summary of the original arc rather then a definitive version. As soon as an important event occurs we are rushed onto the next one.

The flaw wouldn't be so bad if not for its biggest critical flaw. The voice acting.

In the modern day part of the story it is not as bad. While not as well acted as the original (possibly because they are rushing through it) it stands up to anime's high standard ok.

However the voice acting in flashback parts is quite bad. The children are voiced by their adult versions putting on kid voices and their mother says her lines without much feeling. This is in contrast to the original in which they had diff actors for the kids and performed their horror and sorrow beautifully. The mother had feeling in the original and the pivotal scene was well better directed in the original. This version in essence destroys the pivotal scenes of the arc.

Ultimately, while an enjoyable throwback to old school One Piece, this is a shadow of the real Nami arc. People new to One Piece should not watch this version they should watch the proper version in the tv show.

Bottom line the Nami arc is one of the best One piece arcs but this version of it does NOT do it justice.

OK so Oda decided to do a anime special focusing on Nami's back-story.It basically shows us how this specific arc would look if it was released today and this special benefits greatly from it as well. So if you are up to date with the One Piece anime and/or Manga then you already know exactly what happens in this special.

But for those of you that have watched it already you would (you should) of noticed that they changed a certain part of the story to compensate for time.The whole special is about 1 hour and 50 min so it is quite long.

What they changed ... was when Luffy gets stuck in the ground after doing the gomu-gomu no kazaguruma (pinwheel). In the anime and manga Arlong throws Luffy in the ocean with his still stuck in a large boulder, but in the special Sanji breaks the boulder before Arlong has a chance to do so. Also the fight with Zoro and Hachi was shortened.

But i have to admit that the way they transitioned everything after changing it was EXTREMELY well done and it makes up for leaving certain parts out.

The whole purpose of this special was to tell the tale of the Navigator Nami and how she has changed from meeting Luffy and to where she is now with the rest of the crew.

Nami's back-story still has a lot of emotional power and can maybe get you to shed a tear.Everything in her back-story just makes you want to beat the shit out of Arlong all over again.

To finish this off let me just say that this special is amazing and is worth watching.You will love it regardless of the few minor changes.

It's obvious that as popular and highly successful One Piece is, it's become a nature to have a new movie or special episode every now and then, some are just amazing, (for once, Episode of Ace, Film Z/Gold/Strong World/Dead End...etc), some are average, in my experience, I haven't seen a terrible one yet, but could this be my first? it feels like I've been gazed by a bullet on this one. So let me rephrase this and make it clear...

- Story (7.0/10):
“One Piece: Episode of Nami - Koukaishi no Namida to Nakama no Kizuna” is a retelling of the event of the Arlong Park arc, ... an arc so legendary with a special aura to it that it's regarded as the gateway into getting into One Piece, but still, the special isn't an excuse to entirely skip that portion of the Anime or Manga and just swallow what you get here. The pacing was very fast, going as far as removing minor to major events to not drag things too much, for instance, Arlong throwing Luffy underwater so that Genzo and Nojiko go for the rescue was like it never happened, but rather was saved by Sanji way before he was thrown underwater in the first place.
I at least give them props on the fighting scenes here, those flashy moves complimented only by the badass quotes they spit as they're hitting the action. Most of the people including myself consider Arlong Park to be one of the most heavily emotional arcs in the series, with such a deep backstory of Nami's and Cocoyashi village in general, in my eyes, this special didn't deliver on that. I rewatch clips from the Anime like all the time that I can't specify an approximate number of the times I've seen snippets from this arc and yet, every time I get my eyes watered up if not cry like a baby, it never got old. This special didn't do it for me as odd as I found it to be, it was all just, meh.

- Art (8.5/10):
The most gorgeous thing about this animation, they did the arc a great deed in this one, especially the fight enhancements.
Zoro's fight with Hacchin was definitely better in this new format, and looked even more powerful, the same about Sanji and Koroobi's.
I don't know how to put it, but the animation was so good that it felt like it had a weight on its own, the blows felt stronger, more impactful.
It certainly felt good seeing a remastered version of Cocoyashi village, it almost looked like a totally new place, in a good way of course.

- Sound (8.0/10):
The voice acting was good, but not as good as I expected it to be, and that was the down for me when it came to emotional moments. The moment when Nami asked Luffy for help on the original was so well voiced it made this one look like a hoax, for real though.
They, of course, reused the soundtracks from the parent series, and nothing is there to complain about, in fact, that was just the right thing to do.

- Character (8.0/10):
Every character in One Piece is hands down a unique one with its own motives and background, and from what I've seen and how this special turned out, it was no different. The villagers acted like they matter, Arlong did a great job at sounding like a real jerk again, and the crew members did what they were supposed to.

- Enjoyment (7.0/10):
Not the best One Piece special out there, I did enjoy the fight scenes and some comedy highlights, but that was about it for me. I am kind of disappointed in this one, expected a better summary to be honest. Maybe it's just me, maybe the Anime did this part just so well it made this one look like a retail potato brick, no hard feelings in this one.

- Overall (7.7/10):
First of all, this does not excuse you from skipping the Arlong Parl from the Anime series, as that one was miles better in every way, trust me, even the old funky art style has its own charm. I wouldn't think too much about this or put it ahead of schedule or have to put off important stuff to watch it. It wasn't as good as a special can get, but it had something to offer, and no, this is not a must watch either, only for the hardcore fans that don't mind seeing how simple things were back then when they had no bounty or attention around them.

It touches most of the important stuff, with some relatively minor exceptions. It carries almost the same weight, at the very least, and takes roughly 3 hour less than the watching the series (this is a rough guess, by the way).

Considering One Piece's fan edit has yet to touch up this arc, if you are rewatching - and I emphasize REWATCHING - it's at least a "75%" decent way to re-experience this arc.

In terms of the "Episode Of ..." series, it's perhaps the best without telling an alternate reality version (see Episode of Chopper for an alternate take on arcs). but in terms of ... a full One Piece experience, you're better off reading the manga or watching the unedited cut of the anime.

It is my third time watching Episode of Nami and for the third time - I cried. This special has done well in reminding the viewers of the anger the fishmen felt earlier in the storyline. It is also my go-to whenever I want to feel emotional.

First, it reaffirms that Eiichiro Oda had planned the events of Fishmen Island since the beginning. Justifying the reason why Arlong hates humans and regard them as "inferior beings". How the author was capable of weaving the events together is simply amazing.

Second, this is my favourite arc in One Piece. Normally we are used to the happy-going crew but ... this arc showed us for the first time that the Straw Hats are not just carefree idiots. It showed us the value of 'nakama' that Luffy believes in as well as the growth of Nami and Usopp (the coward) from their friendship.

Besides, Kurobi vs Sanji and Hachi vs Zoro are one of the best East Blue fights. I have nothing against Hachi after Sabaody Archipelago but that final damage from Zoro was so satisfying.

Episode of Nami is one of those One Piece movies that don't tell an original story but instead retell an arc from the series with updated visuals and music. Most of these movies aren't that great, since they try to cram way too much content in a single movie (like the Alabasta movie for example).

This movie however is a bit different. The Arlong Park arc wasn't that long, it actually has the perfect length to be adapted into this kind of movie. It's not rushed at all and they are no important scenes missing. 

On top of that it's a fan favorite arc and for many fans ... the turning point of the series (for good reasons). If you've seen One Piece, then you probably already know what this arc is all about: we get to know Nami's past, how the fishmen exploited Nami, and of course Luffy and the gang beating up the fish guys at the end.

The most important part of this arc - Nami's childhood flashback - is still perfectly intact and it's as emotional as ever. The fast pacing is only very noticeable in the fight scenes at the end, especially when Sanji and Zoro fought Arlong's minions and defeated them in about 2 minutes. At least they didn't skip too many scenes, so unlike the Alabasta movie everything still makes sense, it just happens way faster than in the anime.

And before you ask: Yes, the famous walk to the Arlong park is still in this movie. It's only 1 minute long instead of 2 and the music "Overtaken" was replaced with "Luffy's Fierce Attack". But just the fact that they left this scene in (it wasn't even in the manga!), showed how much care Toei put into this (which is something that I can't say about most One Piece related things).

Not only did they improve the overall visual quality, but since this is an OVA it's also much more violent than the TV series. The scenes where Bellemere gets shot or when Enzo is attacked by the fishmen are way more graphic than their TV counterpart. This really makes the fishmen's actions seem much more shocking and overall really adds to the epicness of this OVA. 

This is a must-watch for every One Piece fan. 

Before I begin, I make it clear that I consider this One Piece special to be the best produced to date (01/02/2019).
Before analyzing completely, you need to understand one thing: why the Nami Arc? Why make a special with a single East Blue bow?
The answer to this is simple: Arlong Park was the first bow to change One Piece, it was there, where we saw what One Piece was talking about, the friendship, the sentimental value of something material or not, that was the first really good story crafted from One Piece.
History: As you know, this special deals with the Arlong Park Arc, an arc ... present within the East Blue Saga.
Its history has some twists, and show something a little more human, betrayal, corruption, maternal love, and among other elements. In order to analyze this Special, I need to evaluate how he managed to summarize several episodes in an hour and a half of production. In that case, the note for the story would be 10. Well-adapted story, totally cohesive, and risky to say, that is superior to anime and manga, not totally, but specifically on the part of telling the story and developing it. From beginning to end, it's a production show in script, the narrative is not slow, nor fast, it's perfect.
Art and sound: Perfect, the animation is impeccable, and the soundtrack, has only one defect: take the Overtaken from Caminha to Arlong Park, only that, however, they compensated by changing the OST in Luffy's final blow, anime, and very epic. Of course the animation of Naotoshi Shida collaborated with the production show!
Characters: The bow managed not to take too much of the development of the secondary characters, and ended up leaving each one with its part in the end. Grade 10
Notal final: The special is fun to watch, it has a great production, which turns out to be enjoyable even for anyone who has never watched One Piece. It guarantees epic moments, and moments that where several tears are allowed. A great production of Toei, a complete hit for fans of anime and manga!

Fantastic arc, the special is good but I don’t think it hits nearly as hard as the O.G anime series as the anticipation and emotions were not as strong due to the shorter length of the special vs the anime series. Also the recap at the beginning wasted a bit of time that could have been put more towards the arlong/nami arc. The special is great as a recap/highlight for people who have already viewed the arc in the anime but I don’t think you should watch this special as a first time viewer. On a positive note the animation in the special is amazing ... :)

This is a compact version of Arlong Park Arc from the anime.This one haven't useless scenes,it's the story,the fight and the drama.

The story is about one of the Muggiwara team,the navigator nami,and how he lived before meeting Luffy and Zoro.The story is pretty sad,and i'm cried the two times i watched(in the anime and in this ova),the art,song and characters is the same of the anime.But i liked this one the most because the story is cleaner and faster,so you can enjoy the fights better.

And that's all,i haven't a lot to say about this,its good,and if you haven't the patience to the anime slow progression ... of the fights you can aways watch this instead(well,i can' because it's wrong to me and i'm a little perfectionist).