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Enjoyable, Emotional, Engaging and the type of movie where you can't help but smile while watching.


It is narratively quite unique in comparison to other one piece films but it showcased the ability to highlight the character of Uta and the magical world of film red to a perfect level while also being able to combine many elements of what we love about one piece such as the same enjoyable cast as usual, occasional nice comedic bits, great fight scenes, scenes that are hype , scenes that are emotional and a nice setting and moments which make you grateful to be a fan of ... the series.

A pretty significant direction style that can be noticed is the large amount of music present in the movie and how "music-based" it is. In many cases, it can be a fair point that an incredibly large amount of seven songs is too much but the way Film Red is directed and presented, this would be far from the truth because the music is not only a key part of Uta but the movie as a whole. Everything was paced to a good level and there were never those moments where you are awkwardly staring at the screen wondering "what is even going on?". Due to the fact that it is connected to a full anime series, It is also naturally done in a way for one piece fans to enjoy it. It is a one piece movie after all so it makes sense for the target audience to be big fans of this series.

When it came to the peaks and the ending moments, Film Red knew how to do it.



In terms of Art and Animation, it can be a extremely fair statement to say it is the best one piece movie when it comes to it. There is some CGI in some bits here and there but that's about the most that can be criticized because almost everything is perfect visually. Every fight scene looks incredible, the art style and top tier animation is not only beautiful but consistent throughout the movie and it undoubtedly is one very strong point out of many strong points that Film Red has to offer.


Music Wise, It is one of the easiest 10/10's I will ever give. Maybe even the easiest ever. Like said earlier, Music is a crucial part of the story and Film Red does this perfectly. There are seven songs in the movie all sung by the fantastic Ado. Once again.. SEVEN songs. Which is a pretty large amount when it comes to songs used in a movie. With that said, it might be assumed there would be one song that's not so good. This is not the case because although music is subjective, each song was quite perfect for the scene they played in, the role it had in the movie and how it contributed. I am actually a big fan of Ado and her music, so music-wise it was as perfect as it could possibly get. There was even an interview where it stated there was supposed to be an audition for the singing voice of Uta but when Ado showed up, the audition was ended because everyone quickly knew Ado would be the one. And they were right. Because it couldn't have been better.

Even outside of Ado's fantastic vocals, many great artists and producers were also part of the music and it's a list that includes names such as Yasutaka Nakata, Mrs. Green Apple , Vaundy, Fake Type., Yuta Orisaka, Motohiro Hata and the great Hiroyuki Sawano.
The people working on Film Red understood the significance of music in the movie perfectly and it showed.


Character Wise, Uta and Shanks would of course be the main talking points and Uta specifically was a great presence in the movie. She was likable, intriguing backstory, her voice actor and the singing voice were perfect, has a great character design and has links to a classic beloved character. She had lots of focus in the movie and her character arc from start to finish was handled quite well. Shanks is obviously the poster boy of the movie and thankfully, getting to see Shanks with more than 1 minute of screen time was a joy. When I first saw promotional posters and character images, I was initially afraid there would be too many characters and too many that do nothing and add nothing and don't get that much screen time compared to what we may have expected. To be completely honest, there are actually characters that may fall under that definition but it is nothing major enough to be considered a big flaw or anything that kills off enjoyment. More importantly, the major characters that had significance in the movie all shined and had their memorable moments.


Ultimately, it is a film that can be enjoyed by many and shows quality in many forms whether it be the visuals, it's premise, the songs and the fact that it is a one piece movie like no other and although advertised and is pretty much non-canon, it does have links and large hints to canon information for the future. A memorable experience and a whole lot of fun to watch from start to finish.

I decided to check out and read all the translated chapters for the Ex-Arm manga shortly after watching the first episode of the brand new, yet already infamous anime adaptation and to put it shortly, I was pleasantly surprised with how my experience with it turned out.

The story is pretty simple and easy to keep up with as it mainly follows the 3 main characters (Akira, Minami and Alma) through a continuous well-paced story which without a doubt, made it a lot more enjoyable. It does have a substantial quantity of ecchi/fanservice which could make it a difficult task for people to want to get ... into but subjectively, it didn't hinder or heavily subside any enjoyment towards the actual content presented. The use and pacing of the character introductions and plot points were one aspect of the story which I believe they nailed. Some series I've experienced in the past are guilty of introducing a daunting plethora of characters and plot points in a short-period of time which obviously isn't bad at times but it's something in literature that can come back and bite if it's not executed properly. With the possible exception of the first few chapters it usually doesn't go overboard when it comes to introducing characters and plot points, allowing the dialogue and introductions to have a natural feeling and pace to it. The entirety of the story as a whole was done quite well from a subjective standpoint and I never found myself getting bored or tired of what I was reading.

The Art is actually one of the biggest standouts in the manga and if not, it IS the main standout. The art was wonderful and when reading it there were never panels that conveyed a feeling of un-intentional confusion as in "wait what is going on??" or "yikes... this looks bad." every panel was well done and I strongly believe that the art is a perfect fit for the type of story presented and it really does an impressive job giving off the futuristic feeling that the narrative is trying to achieve. Character designs and action scenes are completely brought to life and the art does the best job possible to convey that. The one possible qualm with the art would be that in the earlier chapters it does rely on plain white backgrounds a little bit more than necessary but it improves immensely at a fast rate as the manga goes on.

The main characters in Ex-Arm may appear flat or uninteresting upon first appearance but as the story moves forward the three of them do get more likable. Rather than feeling flat they end up feeling like characters that actually have personalities and are quite entertaining to experience. I've only read all the translated chapters (17) so I'm unable to speak strongly about the side-characters but from what I've seen they do have lots of room to grow but thankfully I'm quite confident that they will. From what I've seen, antagonists are unfortunately lacking heavily in comparison to the main characters and possibly even the side characters in terms of almost everything from character design, dynamics with other individuals and memorability but I don't view them as poorly written or objectively bad by any means. The character designs are possibly my number one favorite aspect of the series because although there are a few exceptions such as some side-antagonists and even Akira, The main two female characters (Minami and Alma) have incredible and memorable character designs and the art style that the manga has allows the designs to pop out and shine in the most ideal way possible. Character dynamics and character interactions are another aspect that I believe was done quite well, especially among the main trio. As the story goes on it's presented quite clearly that the characters are growing as the story moves forward and it's also clear that HiRock (the author) has taken lots of time when it comes to making Ex-Arm's main trio get significantly more likable over time.

Enjoyment is usually always dependent on the individual, thus making it a very subjective topic especially with a series like Ex-arm where the manga is sometimes avoided due to the poor quality of it's more popular adaptation but personally, I would still recommend this manga even if you have a negative opinion prior to reading it because it could end up being a really surprising experience like it was for me.