Jakurz's Blog

Anime Relations: One Piece

Alright, since I had fun last time, I've decided to make a part two that catalogs my thoughts on the next six cover stories, which concludes all pre-time skip cover stories.

6. Ace's Great Blackbeard Search

I'm gonna be honest, this one was super disappointing. When I first heard that there was an Ace Cover Story, I was actually super excited, as a I thought that it may give further context to the Ace Vs Blackbeard conflict. Unfortunately, it turned out to just be a series of sort of funny gags. It is worth noting how similar the G-2 stuff is to the G-8 filler arc, which is regarded as one of the greatest anime filler arcs of all time. Due to the timing, I don't find it too difficult to believe that Toei may have been "inspired" by this Cover Story. That being said, the ending was nice, and it's kind of neat that we later see Moda during the Reverie Arc.

5/10

7. Gedatsu's Accidental Blue-Sea Life

This one's another mixed bag. The three-fourths are super lame and boring, essentially just being repeats of the same two jokes. The last fourth is actually really cool, showing us what the Alabasta characters are up to. The gags also become a lot funnier near the end, especially when Gedatsu makes the Eneru face after finding out that he's become the "Banto" (meaning clerk) instead of the "Bancho" (meaning boss). While this wasn't adapted to the anime, Gedatsu and Goro make small cameo appearances in One Piece: Stampede, which I'm sure confused some anime-onlys out there.

4/10

8. Miss Goldenweek's "Operation: Meet Baroque Works"

This one was just amazing, not only reintroducing a ton of old characters, but also perfectly setting up the events of Impel Down. Seriously, it would have been so cool if this got animated. I don't even have anymore to say, this one's just perfect.

10/10

9. Eneru's Great Space Operations

This is definitely the Cover Story that gets talked about the most, and for good reason. Eneru's Great Space Operations' strikes a great balance between giving a fan-favorite character new material and opening up the world of One Piece by introducing full on ALIENS. It also features the first mention of Karkuri Island, which would end up being the place where Franky spends his two years during the time-skip. Overall, a great tease at what the future may hold for Eneru, although it doesn't have quite enough fanservice to fully satisfy me.

9/10

10. CP9's Independent Report

Full disclaimer, I am a little biased towards this particular Cover Story due to the fact that CP9 are some of my favorite One Piece villains. That being said, I absolutely love this one. While it is a bit lacking in meaningfully impacting the One Piece world, the hilarious situations that CP9 find themselves in more than makes up for it, at least in my opinion. Seriously, I can not over state how funny this Cover Story is, I found my self laughing my butt off on almost every single page.

9/10

11. Straw Hat's Separation Serial

While it is nice to see the Straw Hats again after their long absence from the story, this Cover Story kind of blows. Don't get me wrong, it's easily one of the most important, as it shows what the Straw Hats will be doing for the next 2 years, but it just feels to quick and disjointed for me to really enjoy it.

4/10

Anime Relations: One Piece

Since there's currently no way to review the One Piece Cover Stories on MAL, I've decided to catalog my thoughts here. I'm sure no one really cares, but I thought it would be fun.

1. Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles

Pretty good beginning for the Cover Stories. Technically speaking this is my second time experiencing this story, as it's one of the two (Maybe 3 if you count Wapol's being featured during the Reverie) Cover Stories that were actually animated. For the story itself, it's just alright, with a good balance of humor and action, as well as some pretty nice tie-ins to the upcoming Loguetown Arc. Seeing Buggy's crew and Alvida again was nice, as well as the unexpected but very welcome return of Gaimon. Not a bad start.

6/10

2. Diary of Koby-Meppo

While this Cover Story does drag a bit in the first half, the second half more than makes up for it by introducing us to Monkey D. Garp, who is probably the most important character to ever be introduced through a Cover Story. It was also kind of cool to see more of Captain Morgan, although he's never really seen again besides a brief cameo in the anime and in Jango's Cover Story. Definitely an improvement over the first Cover Story. It's also worth mentioning that this was the second Cover Story to be animated, which was a smart move, as elements that it introduces are extremely important later on.

7/10

3. Jango's Dance Paradise

This was fantastic and I am so mad it didn't get animated. Not only did Jango's Dance Paradise make me actually care about Jango and Fullbody, it also expanded the One Piece world by introducing us to Mirrorball Island and Captain Hina. There was also some connections to the previous Cover Story, as Koby, Helmeppo, and even Captain Morgan made brief cameos. Easily my favorite out of these really early ones.

9/10

4. Hatchan's Sea-Floor Stroll

This is probably one of the most important Cover Stories, which makes the fact that Toei neglected it even worse. Seriously, almost every single character introduced makes a return in some form (Camie, Papagu, Octopako and the Macro Pirates in the Anime/Manga, Goldfish Princess in a PS1 game, and Mash in that weird 3D special). That being said, the Cover Story itself is super fun, telling a pretty interesting story that perfectly utilizes Hatchan's character.

8/10

5. Wapol's Omnivorous Hurrah

So this one was kind of adapted, although way later than it was originally published. It's fine enough, as it introduces some semi-relevant characters and leads into Wapol having a role later in the series. My favorite part of the whole series were Wapol's ridiculously depressed facial expressions during his time in poverty.

7/10