Review of One Piece - Strong World

With this movie making 4.5 Million Dollars on its FIRST DAY I thought I should write a quick review on how I felt about it. Before I start my review though, I want to make myself clear. I'm not the type that goes to anime movies that often, and I'm not completely sure I would have gone to this movie if it weren't for the bonus volume zero that you get out of it. But after the movie was over, I was glad I went.

Things that stand out from this movie are the outfits. I'm probably not the only one that thought so, seeing as Luffy is on the front cover of a men's fashion magazine in Japan. But, really, they did a great job with the characters and giving them a great look. My personal favorite was Chopper's look, and the way Robin looked (I'm a sucker for a girl in glasses - and man, Robin looks great o.o). Other honorable mentions are Brook with his 70s hippy look as well as Nami with her VERY short shorts and bathing suit <33333. You Nami fans are going to be VERY happy :).

You can really tell that Oda-sensei had his hand in this film. From the way the characters acted to the overall way it was presented, just really, top class work. The art looked great (as expected from a film), the fighting scenes were intense - though there was one part I found kinda laughable: Luffy jumps goes into Gear Second and it looks EXACTLY like Goku when he's doing his Kaioken power up. I really felt the "Shonen Jump" vibe on that scene. There were also a few other fighting scenes that I really liked, one reminded me a lot of the scene when Luffy punches the Tenryūbito in ep 396 - I just loved the way that was presented and a certain attack carried that kind of emotion in this movie as well. But my favorite is the scene when they all confront Shiki for the second time, in his own quarters. Everyone is pimped out in mafia-style clothing and they really do make a kickass entry.

I found myself laughing out loud the most because of Sanji. He really was on fire in this movie, but the other characters did play out their parts really well. Though, after watching it twice it felt like Robin and Franky didn't have as much screen time as everyone else. So if you're going in for them, don't expect too much. One thing it missed out on though is the "touching" moments you normally get from OP. The movie was 42% laughing, 43% action, and 15% everything else (which kind of has some soft parts but not much). Shiki and his henchmen are also a treat - with the way the three are introduced and their various "Slapstick" comedy routines - I'm sure you'll enjoy them.

This film really was done very, very well -- I managed to sit through two screenings and not fall asleep (I'm not the kind to watch a movie twice unless I really REALLY liked it.) So kudos to the entire crew working on it. At this point in time, who knows when we'll see it on DVD, but rest assured, they produced a film that really is for the fans. So look forward to its release - whenever that is!

Also I wrote up some facts about the movie and tried not to spoil it too much, you can find it here: