One Piece Movie 01

Story: This OP movie is pretty basic, its a just a treasure hunt. Its pretty decent but nothing special.

Animation: Its just the basic one piece style.

Sound: Its very good, acoustic music done perfectly.

Character: Luffy, Zoro, Ussop, and Nami. Great characters and every thing that is in the show is in this movie.

Enjoyment: Decent enemeys and a story about pirates, how can this not be good.

Overall: Watch this if you like One Piece and haven\'t seen it yet

I've only recently started One Piece and decided to watch all the movies along with the anime-- as best to the place where they fit in as I can.

This first one was okay. Like, there was nothing about it that was really bad... But there was nothing impressive about it either. I wouldn't say the whole "personal connections/ambitions/whatever else is more valuable than material things" lesson was a bad moral to go with, necessarily. Interesting choice for an anime centered around pirates. But even that isn't super worth analyzing, because 20 episodes is still deep enough in for me to know by now that ... Luffy isn't your average pirate.

I guess my point is, I went through all the Naruto movies as well, and there were certainly some rough patches there. But sometimes, the rest of the movie being extra fun or lighthearted can make up for a weak story, and I'm not sure I'd even describe this one as that sort of standalone anime movie. It probably would have been better off if it was just shortened into a filler episode. I kind of would have expected the very first movie to have some weight behind it, but this really didn't. Makes it a little easier to understand why I had to go wading through pirate sites to even find a place to watch it. (I couldn't believe something One Piece related had never been officially licensed. Like, if One Piece hasn't been successful enough to get the whole sweep, what is?!)

You know what? There was one moment that sticks out in a positive way. I really liked seeing the final fight, where Luffy showcases every single one of his Gum-Gum moves that the anime's shown so far. He's got a bit more fighting versatility than I give him credit for sometimes. So that was neat.

This is the first One Piece movie, theoretically taking place after Usopp joins the crew and before Sanji is introduced. Just like all movies, it is a filler mission with a good budget and a simplistic plot. And indeed, the story is just about the Strawhat Pirates trying to find a great treasure before an evil pirate crew does. Why? Well, the adventure sounds like fun and there is a kid asking for their help, so how can their shounen hearts say no?

As simple as it all sounds though, I must say the premise is quite far fetched for the point in the storyline it ... was thrown in. The treasure is supposed to be around 1/3rd of the world’s riches and the main villain has weird Dragonball super powers. It just doesn’t feel like that sort of grand-scale premise fits into the weakest and calmest of the world’s seas. This is something one would normally expect after the CP9 are introduced. Hell, why is there even a character called El Drago, when the main series already has Dragon? But hey, since when do filler movies try to be consistent? Anyways, a notice must be given to how the real form of the pirate treasure may as well be the real One Piece of the main series. Since Oda takes ideas even from these movies into the canon story later on, I wouldn’t be surprised if it is so. In a way the first movie may be spoiling one of the greatest mysteries of the show.

As epic as it sounds though, the overall plot is as I said quite simple and unimpressive, and has the usual kid asking the heroes to help out fuss. So you will just watch this for the action scenes, which are not bad at all. They are definitely longer and more elaborate than those of the earlier Ganzack OVA and there is even a mini-boss for Zoro to fight and show off his powers properly. If there is something I didn’t like is how final boss El Drago was being defeated constantly with his own power turned against him and he didn’t just stick to using cutting attacks. I also didn’t understand how Luffy could block or deflect energy beams but then again I am overthinking in a shounen filler movie. Let’s just say I didn’t like how Luffy didn’t really use any actual strategy in battle other than having infinite stamina and using the attacks against the bad guy. Cheap!

In all, it is quite the passable movie. The story is too simple and even out of sync with the point it’s supposed to take place, while the action, as flashy as it may be, lacks any real excitement once you realize the protagonist has plot armour.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 8/10
Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 2/2, Backgrounds 1/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 1/2

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

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 1/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 0/2, Conclusion 1/2

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Analysis: Presence 2/2, Personality 2/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 0/2, Catharsis 1/2

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

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

VERDICT: 4.5/10