One Piece: Episode of East Blue - Luffy to 4-nin no Nakama no Daibouken

Plot: B *NOTE this episode is NOT recommended for newcomers to watch. This is for people who either A)watched the first approximately 61 episodes of the anime or B)read the first 60ish chapters of the manga summarized into one 100 minute movie. I fell into the latter category and felt that the movie did a pretty good job of hitting on most of the important plot points without making me go "they really should have included that" too often. This picks off from the very beginning of One Piece and recounts the main adventures that Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji had in East Blue ... right before they attempt to cross the Grand Line. The main stories include Luffy getting his Straw Hat from Shanks, Zoro getting freed from execution and his backstory on why he wants to be the greatest swordsmen, why Nami steals from pirates and how she became such a great navigator, how Usopp went from the "boy who cried wolf" to the unknown savior of his village, and how Sanji stood tall when Baratie was under siege and why he wants to find the "All Blue".

Visuals: C *I've never found the artwork of One Piece to be that appealing. My brother is OBSESSED with One Piece and has been begging me to watch it for years even though I have an entire section called cringeworthy anime moments which in most cases is devoted to Shonen anime tropes. And One Piece has a lot of them. One of which is the ridiculously goofy fight sequences that both take forever and are even more exaggerated in the show/movie than they are in the manga. But on top of the fight scenes being long and drawn-out (pun fully intended!), the mouths of the characters like Luffy, the waistline of females like Nami, and the nose of Usopp all are really unappealing to look at. I feel like in the manga's artwork doesn't exaggerate these character traits as much in its artwork and it didn't bother me as much as the art in the show/movie does. (Although, I will say that Usopp's nose was always drawn huge likely a reference to Pinocchio since Usopp is a renown liar) Still, the art doesn't take away from what the show does. It is a mostly faithful adaptation of the manga with fight scenes to make any Shonen fanboy wet themselves with excitement.

Voice Acting: C *I can't stand the sub. I can't stand it! The dub is not much better, but it is tolerable. I watched the first few episodes of One Piece with my brother and I hated every moment of Koby. I am so glad he didn't make it into this movie. Luffy has quite a few moments of pure cringe with his obnoxious laugh and the inopportune times he chooses to scream, (more on that below) and Usopp has a super annoying voice that matches his ugly drawn face. I had no problems with Nami, Zoro, or Sanj's voices. And I found it super humorous that all three of them were in the 2019 Fruits Basket remake. Eric Vale (Sanji) voiced Yuki Soma. Christopher Sabat (Zoro) voiced Ayame of all people! And then Luci Christian (Nami) voiced Hiro Sohma. The anime community is a small world sometimes. (Oh and Colleen who plays Lufi was Akito in Fruits Basket as well. I much prefer her nasally voice as a creepy antagonist over a meant to be a plucky hero) And it's really funny how different their voices are in that show in comparison to this one.

Film Score/Soundtrack: B- *One of the stronger aspects of the movie and why I'll almost always prefer anime to a manga. Music can make scenes more emotional than they already were. The music was fun and inviting and during Nami's arc with the Arlong pirates, it was sad and elevated the epicness of the sequence.

***My favorite track: N/A

Characters: B- *I've been reading One Piece for a bit now and thus far, the only character I've gotten really attached to was Nami. You can probably already guess what my thoughts are on Usopp who is easily my least favorite member of the Straw Pirate crew. Zoro is cool and I find it humorous that he fights with a sword in his mouth but his quest to become the best swordsmen is the most Shonen thing ever. And outside of his distinct fighting style, he is a pretty generic character. Sanji I know the least about. He has an interesting backstory and it was fun that he refused to fight with his hands, but I am looking forward to seeing him open up more as the shore goes on. Luffy I find goofy and super annoying that he always has to shout GUM-GUM before his attacks. He is also super obnoxious and a real simpleton which can make moments in the show that are meant to be serious not. (More on that below) In comes Nami, who is introduced as a navigator that likes to steal treasure from pirates. She uses her charm and wit to outsmart those she works with and always seems to make a clever get-away whenever the going gets tough. But then you find out that even though she seems like a thief amongst thieves and not one to be trusted, they delve into her backstory with the Arlong pirates holding her village captive, executing her adoptive mother, and making a bargain with her, and you've got a complex character with a dark past that fits the perfect description of not judging a book by its cover. I just hate that in this movie that she is drawn with her hips being so small and oddly shaped. Thankfully, her boobs aren't ginormous like I know they are going to get in the later chapters/episodes of the show. Her character has a much cuter design in the manga, I don't get why they had to sex her up as they did. But I digress, the movie does a good job of getting most of the characterization of each of the crewmates in a limited amount of time. So bravo to the scriptwriters for being able to pull that off.

Cringeworthy Anime Moments: There is a moment in this movie that made me almost forgive One Piece for all of its prior cringe and to allow myself to become a fan. It was during Nami's arc right after she went up to the Arlong Pirates. Her money was stolen and she realized that she had been betrayed and that her life's work was for nothing. She was broken. Despite claiming to the village elders that she would get the money again no matter how long it took she and the villagers knew that it would be impossible and they didn't want Nami to continue living her life for the,. So to free Nami from the guilt that she felt over her imprisoned villagers, they were literally going to suicide charge knowing that there was no chance of victory and Nami could do nothing to stop them. Everything seemed lost and Nami had been a failure. And that was when Luffy showed up. He doesn't understand what is going on, but he can tell that Nami was hurt and despite trying to do things on her own for all of her life, she was now finally willing to accept help from a friend. So in a really powerful moment, Luffy took off his hat and gave it to Nami as this beautiful emotional music plays. Everything about this moment was perfect until Luffy ends up screaming, "BECAUSE YOU'RE MY FRIEEEEEEEEEEEEND!!!!!!!!" in the most obnoxious way and then it proceeded to become a super cheesy, over-the-top, totally Shonen goober fight full of Gum-Gums. How did a moment go from perfection to cringe so fast?

Opening Titles: N/A

Final Verdict: 6/10 *The movie does an admirable job summarizing 60ish episodes and chapters of the One Piece East Blue saga. However, despite my brother's love for the story, it is going to be some time before I can say that I am a fan of the series. There are some arcs that I have enjoyed, and I'm looking forward to the Straw Hat Pirates becoming less one-dimensional as characters as their backstories get revealed and they start to get character growth, but up to this point in the story, there is very little of that outside of Nami who sadly is only going to continue to grow. And grow some more. Sigh... I hope her character doesn't get ruined and she doesn't just become a sex symbol for horny teenagers to jerk off to.

Story: 6/10
Not much to say. I think. This whole show does a good job at highlighting much of the big moments for these characters. For someone who has seen it, it does an ok job. However, for ppl new to One piece, lots of moments do not transition well. Additionally, the story is the beginning for when we see the characters so nothing too spectacular. It is only good to reminisce about the characters without watching 60 some episodes.
Art 8/10:
I think the art is quite well. It has really improved after like 2 decades. The animations are better and the designs ... are more in line with modern day. It is crazy to compare zoros fight from the original and see it in this version.
Character: 6/10:
At this point, character development is really thrown out cause you should hopefully now the characters already. And if not, this just gives an idea of what to expect from characters and why they join the crew. Some characters had cool designs or motivations like zoro or sanji but the others stories like nami and usopp were kinda meh. The movie is like the staging ground for the characters and for me, i was not fully captured by them when i first watched the show and same thing for the movie.
Sound: 5/10
Not really much to say. Like, there is voice actors and music in certain areas. But, not really expecting much from a recap. I think the only change is the song We Are where they seem to add more background vocals but thats it.
Enjoyment & Overall: 6/10
Honestly, it is just a recap with updated animation and art. It was nice to see zoros small fight again and remember what namis original goal was. If for some reason you need to remember the beginning of One piece or quickly introduce someone to One Piece, this movie does its job at the sacrifice of pacing.