One Piece 3D2Y: Ace no shi wo Koete! Luffy Nakama Tono Chikai

One Piece 3D2Y: Overcome Ace's Death! Luffy's Vow to his Friends is not about what the title suggests it is, but the side story presented is engaging (at least on some level) to any fan of One Piece.

There is a lot of re-animation of previous events in the show, especially in the beginning of the special in which the Marineford Arc is condensed to a few minutes in an almost comedic manner. Though it is cool to see older scenes in the alternative animation style of the special, all of the rehashing was unnecessary in terms of plot and good storytelling. Besides that, the plot ... itself is fairly straightforward.

Byrnndi World and his small crew are not the most threatening villains despite World’s lofty goal to destroy the World Government, but that is intentional and they are more than serviceable for this special. World himself is unlikeable and overly ambitious; however, he and his crew get a decent backstory so the audience at least understands why. His shift in dreams is easy to empathize with, and out of all the One Piece movie villains excluding Strong World and Film Z, Byrnndi World and his crew especially may be tied with the sixth movie’s Baron Omatsuri for the title of most complex.

On a character standpoint, Luffy is as endearing as ever and his writing feels natural though all of the material is non canon. Other than Luffy, canon characters appearing in 3D2Y include Hancock and her sisters, Rayleigh, Mihawk, Perona, Buggy. Disregarding the fanservice, Hancock is a strong character and the amount of screentime she gets is justified. Rayleigh is as cool as ever, though his role in the plot is minimal. Mihawk appears briefly along with Perona, but despite his power and more significant role in the series, he doesn’t do anything that warrants him being in the special. Finally, Buggy. The jokes about him accidentally making his newfound fandom think he’s awesome and powerful even though he’s not got old long ago, and are equally old here. Other than that, he is actually entertaining.

The animation is deviates from One Piece’s usual style, but not nearly as much as the sixth movie. It tends to favor thick linework and sharp angles, with character expressions animated in the same manner. Though different, the animation is quite nice to look at and makes the fight scenes more dynamic. Luffy’s fights are amazing as usual and there is a lot of haki usage which makes them that much better. Unfortunately, fights involving Boa Hancock focus more on fanservice rather than showing off her prowess and skill. It’s easy to brush off a random and unwarranted jiggle or two, but the fanservice in this special reduced my enjoyment of the story.

One Piece 3D2Y: Overcome Ace's Death! Luffy's Vow to his Friends is deliciously long and features great characters, surprisingly good villains, and some decent fights in a unique and watchable animation style. However, the hefty fanservice and inclusion of pointless scenes and characters detract from its integrity.

Following the events of Marineford, Luffy is in the midst of training with Rayleigh when a pirate by the name of Burndy World arises after escaping from Impel Down. With the intent of kidnapping one of the seven warlords, World ends up taking Boa Hancock's sisters as hostage. Luffy and Hancock team up to take down Burndy World and save Hancock's sisters.

Story: 8
From the original synopsis, I was under the impression that this would be a movie depicting Boa as a damsel in distress for Luffy to come and rescue from the hands of an evil pirate. I was so pleased that this was ... not the case. In fact, quite contrarily, Luffy and Boa made a great team going up against the bad guys.
If I am completely honest, the beginning of this movie did not sit well with me. The first fifteen minutes are almost entirely of flashbacks, and while I understand that it is necessary to show the events that occurred prior to this film, it was both rushed and simultaneously felt too slow. Going through Ace's death felt like I was fast-fowarding through a tape, because it was very quick scene after scene with not much transition between them. Then we go through a sequence of showing each of the Straw Hat Pirates that ultimately took up more time than I would have liked.
Following this, the build up to the actual events felt slow and altogether boring to me. I was thinking that this was going to be a flop of a movie, but about midway through the plot begans to pick up. And WOW did it pick up. The entire film went from being so-so to straight up amazing.
It's better that I don't talk about the plot any more so as not to give away spoilers. There is a lot that happens and it's well worth watching for yourself.

Art: 8
It's not uncommon for One Piece movies to try different art styles. This one reminded me a bit of the 6th One Piece “Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island” movie, but not quite as flat. In this, there was great detail when needed, and even dabbled a bit with 3D and computer looking effects. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the new style, but once I became familiar with it I was able to sit back and enjoy it for what it was.
The movement in this movie was phenomenal. It always felt like there was something going on, even when characters were merely talking to each other. Anywhere from hair to clothes to their bodies in mid-fight, it was great to see the effort put into making the simple lines on a screen come to life.

Sound: 7
All of the voice actors did a great job and played their roles perfectly. As always, I can count on the cast to act their hearts out and bring powerful emotion to the characters. And in this movie, which actually dealt quite a bit with deeper emotions, the voice actors really impressed me.
The reason why I give sound a 7, however, is because the music used within the movie was not new and did not give much to the scene in the ways that I would want. The music, especially during a final battle, should not just be background noise, it should amplify and add a whole new layer to the scene. The music sort of faded into the background, and, I noticed, was just the same music that we have heard a hundred times in the show before. I would have loved to hear entire new compositions made for this movie, but sadly I was not given that.

Character: 10
Here's where the movie truly did an outstanding job.
We all know Luffy's character; we know he is a goof and sometimes an idiot, but we also know that he is loyal to his friends and he cares about others. In the show, we never did see the events that took place right after Ace's death or see how that might affect him. This film touched on that aspect in several instances, and it's evident that Ace's death is a burden that still weighs him down. I liked seeing that because it is not something we often see in his character. It is a main impact in Luffy's life to know that despite his efforts he was unable to save his brother. However, we don't really see that impact upon him because the show skipped over 2 years entirely, during which we can assume Luffy was given the time to accept, or at the least come to terms with, his brother's passing. In this film, Ace's death is still fresh in his mind, and Luffy is struggling with it periodically for the duration of the movie, especially when it is brought up by others. This point of the plot didn't overtake the rest of the events, but I really enjoyed seeing how it was an addition to the story and an addition to Luffy's character.
Boa Hancock is as wonderful as ever. She practically has a split personality, just like in the show, where she is either the pirate empress who uses her beauty and strength to kill her foes, or she is a lovesick puppy who is obsessed with Luffy. She was an enjoyable addition to the movie and I loved seeing her.
Those were the two main characters of the movie, but we had a myriad of others, and surprisingly all of whom I really enjoyed.
The main villains of this movie were Burndy World and his companions. I never thought I would be so invested in the back-stories of these villains, but I truly was. Their history was compelling and interesting and the character development seen between them is fascinating. I cared more about the villains than I ever thought I would. Of all the bad guys we've seen throughout the One Piece movies, I would say these are the most interesting ones, or at the very least, the ones I cared the most about.

Enjoyment: 9
There was so much to love about this movie. So many characters showed up that added new layers to an already well written film. The fighting was exciting, I was on the edge of my seat for the duration of each battle. There was a great build up to each fight, a great build up with each character, and much more.
There were flaws of course, no movie is perfect. And like I mentioned before, the first half was a bit of a let down for me, but the second half made up for it and practically made me forget any doubts I had to begin with.

Overall: 8
Next to Strong World, I would say this is one of the best One Piece movies we've had. Absolutely worth watching. If you enjoyed the Marineford arc, watch this movie. And if you didn't enjoy the Marineford arc, you would probably still like this movie if nothing else than just to watch Luffy and Boa kick ass and take down some bad guys.

Note: This is my first review..

One of the best special ep.. Its almost like a movie rather than a special..the story talks about friendship "nakama" and the hardship they've been through and brotherhood betrayal.. Fight scenes are EPIC as always .. Those flashbacks brings back the good memories of the times when i watch anime while they are still on grandline.. Boa hancock is as hot as ever. It give me more reason to like her. Luffy's antagonist devil fruit is quite bad ass. And some hilarious and bad ass character are in this special episode too. So overall if you love one piece ... you better watch it guys...

One Piece 3D2Y: Ace no shi wo Koete! Luffy Nakama Tono Chikai Review

Story (9/10) Great

With a story arc that takes place during the time-skip of One Piece where Luffy goes to Amazon Lily Island to learn and train his Haki with the assistance of Rayliegh, I thought this episode special fit in quite well. It doesn't break off and do it's own thing that would hinder the cannon story of One Piece which I don't think this is considered canon but like I said earlier since it happens during the time-skip i wouldn't see why it shouldn't. Execution with the plot that was given was ... simple and great.


Art and Animation (8/10) Very Good
More Specifically (8.75/10) Very Good+

The Art stood out in the episode special the most looking quite different than your average One Piece art style. Not enough for you to say "this looks weird!" or "this doesn't look like One Piece!" but it is enough for a person who's watched everything that has came out before this episode special to say "oh this looks a bit different" but not in a bad way as it has more of this westernized cartoon art style to it which makes it's slightly unique different and cool, the animation also is quite well.


Sound (9/10) Great

The sound effects and music are all authentic great One Piece OST that we are used to hearing nothing outstanding but just your usually but great One Piece BGM, sound effects and voice acting that we are used to hearing.


Characters (9/10) Great

The characters in the episode special mainly focus on Luffy, Boa Hancock, Buggy the clown, Buggy's crew and the episode special antagonist and his friend. All are portrayed the way you would think that are nothing outstanding but still great. We do get to see the new time-skipped Straw Hat crew at the end of the episode special which is a nice treat for things to come also.


Enjoyment (7/10) Good

I fairly enjoyed myself through the start and end of the movie. The buggy the clown stuff wasn't that entertaining and the Bao Hancock fight was ok nothing amazing those where really the only two parts of the episode special that I wasn't really that intrigued in. The Luffy vs World fights were very good and we get to see Luffy's progress with mostly Armament Haki with a taste of his new move Gomu Gomu No Red Hawk. Which we can assume was his first time using it since he was surprised when it came out even though he had the name for it right when he did it but I'm not going to think to hard about that, it's just an anime. Anyway I enjoyed it.


Overall (8/10) Very Good
More Specifically (8.75/10) Very Good+

This episode special was very good I would recommend this one also. I'm glad to see that I'm now fairly enjoying almost every episode special and movie after Strong World with this only assisting that statement.

「ONE PIECE 3D2Y エースの死を越えて! ルフィ仲間との誓い」 – THERE’S STILL A GLIMMER OF HOPE FOR THE ONE PIECE ANIME SERIES

〝3D2Y〟 エースの死を越えて！ルフィ仲間との誓い
3D2Y: Overcome Ace’s Death! Luffy’s Vow to his Friends

*SPOILERS ALERT*

The first One Piece TV special, Adventure in the Ocean’s Navel, aired fourteen years ago, but it was only recently with the 2012 premiere of Episode of Nami: Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friends that the series started a new trend. The special before Episode of Nami was The Detective Memoirs of Chief Straw Hat Luffy, which aired five years prior to it; but now we’re effectively seeing a new TV special every year at ... most. What else distinguishes the recent specials are of course their re-tellings of the TV anime series’s previously covered canonical arcs. Besides their time-duration, it is in this sense that the TV specials resemble One Piece‘s movie productions most of all (at this point, between the movies and the TV specials, both are two-for-two for re-adapted character arcs). 3D2Y isn’t the only one of the newer TV specials to break this formula (Episode of Luffy: Adventure on Hand Island), but it does break the established “Episode of” nomenclature. When I first found news of 3D2Y, I was thoroughly disappointed that Toei wasn’t planning onto continuing the pattern of re-adaptations by re-animating the Marineford arc, one that undeniably needed a restoration much more so than the previously re-covered Water 7/Enies Lobby arc.

I found myself going into the episode skeptical of how good, not even great, it could possibly be. The opening sequences that recapped the Marineford Arc were exactly what I wanted to see from the entirety of the episode, so I was ecstatic to be able to revisit the highlights of the war in far greater art and animation quality. Though, it soon became obvious how rushed the episode was to simply use this material as an exposition for the episode’s actual narrative; the part where Luffy makes his heroic and glorious entrance before the three admirals paled in comparison to the original rendition, and the anticipated scene where Ace is finally freed being immediately cut to his death was anticlimactic, upsetting, and somewhat sadistic, to say the least. Nonetheless, albeit short-lasting, some beautiful character portraits that took part in the fast-paced montage of shocked reactions were enough to illustrate a glimpse of raw emotion that should have impacted the original adaptation.

The recap of the war ends when Luffy awakens from his nightmare, and we are then graced with an equally emotion-stirring run-through of each of the Straw Hats’ character arcs in which they join the crew. It may not have the same shock value as Ace’s execution, but for me it supersedes in nostalgic value enough to bring about some tears. Proceeding further along the episode, I’m still critical of the screen-time that is lost to filler content, raving about how Rayleigh should just go in Luffy’s stead to end the dispute with episode big bad Byrnndi World by kicking his ass in mere seconds and this and that. However, at some point, whoever was in charge of the episode’s script has secured my attention. (I’m still waiting for credits of the production staff to be published online.) Whoever he or she is, with his (or her) all-around writing, he managed to bring in a handful of fan-favorite characters, such as Mihawk, Perona, and Hancock,; as well as newer character rather unfamiliar to the limelight of the series, such as Akainu (because he’s definitely going to get it later while Luffy’s kicking his ass); as well as arguably the most nostalgic character and first antagonist apart of an actual arc, Buggy; and integrate them into quite the flu id plot, as opposed to teasing us with a slew of cameos which end up lasting no more than a few seconds. The MVP award of course goes to Hancock just for the amount of secured screen-time she gets wherein she is not only showcasing her unique fighting abilities, but also is showing her personality more than ever. It’s been so long since she has been apart of the story; and at the times when she was, I don’t think I ever got over my first impression of her being one shallow-ass broad. But I have forthrightly dropped all such judgment and am even emboldened to say her best performance as a character in the series is in this very arc. Not only am I reminded of the great cast that One Piece has, thanks to Oda’s creative and thorough imagination in conceiving varied characters, through Hancock, but every instance of her fawning over Luffy has become utterly charming enough for me to consider her one of my favorite female characters now. On the cute side of her spectrum: the way she caringly delivers food to Luffy, monologues her concern of Luffy cheating on her, and faints at the thought of Luffy protecting her; and on the femme fatale side of her spectrum: the control she has over men and women alike, the nerving way her voice-actress says lines such as “Pistol Kiss!”, and of course, the unrestrained fan-service that her wardrobe malfunction delivers. While Luffy gets his ass handed to him for the good first half, or maybe even two-thirds, of the episode (that being probably the most out-of-character occurrence in this episode), Hancock is kicking ass and taking names the whole time. She’s awesome, she’s adorable, and she’s beautiful. On the other side of the attractive spectrum is Buggy with his protruding red nose, intimidating face make-up, and constancy towards using others for his own reputation’s gain. Despite all of the above, he is written into the narrative to a degree that I never could have imagined; it even eventually has him facing off against one of the main antagonists with the help of Galdino and the rest of his crew, which of course includes the good ol’ Cabaji and Mohji. They were idling in the background for the most part, but I was eagerly waiting for them to utter at least one line; and then they did, and I was satisfied with just that really (it can definitely be considered a victory over some other episodes’ speechless cameos).

Not only does the writing do well in involving established characters of the series, but the antagonist in Byrnndi World is nearly flawless in execution. Oda is well-known for his un-imitatable characters (in appearance, quirks, laughs, and so much more), no doubt, but the cockamamie quirks of the two antagonists he created for Strong World and Film Z (one of them literally resembling a cock) are out-shined by one Byrnndi World. Frankly speaking, World was the perfect villain for Luffy to encounter in this chronology relative to his inner psychological conflict concerning Ace’s death. Not only did World’s callous personality deliver Luffy a significant defeat in the same vein as his first dramatic loss of the series against Crocodile, but World’s back-story and relationship with his own elder brother, Byojack, served as a sweet conceptual parallel to Luffy’s relationship with Ace. As a part of World’s back-story the writers add an extra touch of ingenuity by drawing from the series’s lore with the Cipher Pol organization. Their presence in the matters of World’s past definitely give his tragedy a darker touch; but he may have not needed it to begin with. In his mad descent, the antagonist expresses rage quite like any other; the death-glares he relentlessly directs at just about every other character in the episode make previous movie villains seem like wimps in comparison. By the end of it all, his character is not only aggressive and terrifying but also quite profound, something perhaps best described by his “last” words to his brother, “I’ve been sleeping in ice this whole time! To me, it was just like yesterday. As if I will ever forget.” (Not to mention what Byojack says to World in the end sounds like it came straight out of the ending to Of Mice and Men and we never really find out what happens to them; knowing Akainu, death would not be unexpecting.) In mentioning the Cipher Pol connection, I can’t help but make even more parallels to the introduction arc of Cipher Pol, Water 7/Enies Lobby, which the legendary Luffy versus Rob Lucci fight occurred, a fight that is widely accepted as one of One Piece‘s best fights, if not the best fight, ever. In Luffy and World’s face-off, I can definitely point my ear confidently and say that at least two of the background music-tracks used for Luffy versus Rob Lucci were re-utilized here. Furthermore, if it wasn’t for the wonderfully done inclusion and clarification of Luffy’s newly ordained Red Hawk attack, World would have very well been defeated by a Gomu Gomu no Gatling in the same vein as Lucci. Bravo.

In the end, I can’t say 3D2Y really delivered what it teased through its title, seeing as it only recounted a couple of days out of the two year period, in which Luffy didn’t really go great lengths in his training at all; but what it gave was something better and something that I feel no movie or special has done before. The feature had traces of nostalgia of the series’s former glory, superb art and animation quality, a great selection of characters, great story-writing, a great integration of said character into the story, entertaining fights and showdowns, hell, it even has its own theme song; and to be honest, it probably only needed half of those to best One Piece‘s TV anime standard nowadays.

The recent OP episodes have been quite dull: bad animation, annoying sound and excruciatingly boring. I did not have high expectations for this special but still I looked forward to it.
This special explains why I used to have high regards for OP. I was just amazing!

Story:
The story was gripping, and just awesome.It has everything everyone loves about OP: action, comedy a bad-ass villain and a light touch of fan service. Most of the time long-time airing anime when making a movie or special do not give much regards to the story, but that was not the case for 3D2Y. I did ... not find any plot holes and the ending gave you a feeling of satisfaction. And that is why I gave it a 9.

Art and Sound:
The animation was not outstanding, but it was quite impressive. For the first time for OP, I actually enjoyed the art, so I gave it a 7.
However, the same cannot be said for the sound. Though it was not as repetitive and irritating as the anime, it was as at some place. But it was bearable, so it gets a 6.

Character:
Most of the characters were same as those of the original anime- except the antagonists.World, the villain for the special was cool,extremely strong and somewhat lovable. I felt that what ever obstacles and bad guys Luffy and his friends faced, they were somewhat helping him in his training. I give it an 8.

Enjoyment:
I enjoyed it very much, nothing more can be said, I'm giving it a 9.

Overall:
This special was nearly a masterpiece for me, so it's a big, solid 9.

Well well well, The last 1.5 hour or so was considered a special but felt like a movie

- Story (8/10):
In a nutshell, an adventure that Luffy endures while training with Rayleigh, it took place between the 2 years gap, we got to see Luffy fight together with Boa, we had some giggles every now and then which is expected from one piece content, Luffy developed well durry this special, as we see him advancing in controlling his Haki abilities, He still showed a very sensitive spot on his brother's incident tho, but he'll overcome it an upcoming point.

- Art (8/10):
The typical One piece art, the ... animation was fluid of course, Luffy's outfit looked so stylish, and the second gear's scenes where animation amazingly.

- Sound (8/10):
Nothing very remarkable, your very usual meal of One Piece soundtrack, the hype, and emotion remain.

- Characters (8/10):
Yet another One Piece spin-off, and of course other new characters, referring to the World's pirates here, they stand out for a good villains, World's backstory was convincing enough to build him up to be the way he's now, having to endure that, and being betrayed by your Nakama, spending 30 years in Impel down is no easy task, The guy just wanted revenge which is, of course, typical in those situations.

- Enjoyment (8/10):
Totally loved what I watched, would I recommend it? Most diffidently, it's such a good watch after you finish the first half of the series.

- Overall (8/10):
I really enjoyed this movie, the event weren' that rushed, It didn't contradict the main, plot that much, so I'm fine with it.


For those who skipped the ending cutscene, go see it, an awesome character 'S' made an appearance, and it was on point too, <3