This special is a recreation of that arc, completely re-animated. And ‘Oh My’ was it enjoyable. Unlike the Alabasta remake witch was released around 5 years ago, this was made much better. Alabasta was good but it was a much longer arc to start with and the final result was a movie that actually ran shorter than this special. Of course there were still cuts in this special as well but they didn’t weaken the story at all, mainly we missed out on the whole Luffy being thrown into the sea and drowning but hey, I’m fine with that and it made the whole special move so smoothly. A couple of the fights where a bit shorter but of course we still got the great scene of “USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER, USOPP HAMMER” arr classic Usopp, just had to mention that scene. Also I enjoyed how the little lead in while not showing you every detail, the opening few minutes gave you enough to be able to remember everything that happened in the original series or give sufficient details for someone new to just jump into it. I’d recommend someone who never got into one piece or gave up on it quite soon to watch this special.
Ok too the Art/Animation, WOW this is where the story and art come together to create something amazing. In my opinion the character designs look better in this style than in the original series, the animation was also done really well. It gave me the same feeling I had while watching Strong World (Movie 10) it was such a nicely coloured, designed, animated and just a generally well thought out special.
Clap Clap!... now let’s hope the 'Episode of Luffy' special will be just as good!
