Derectum

One Piece: STRONG WORLD.

For some reason, I honestly expected to see something like a metaphor for the world and the setting, or something. Instead, I got flying islands where animals are... strong. It's a Strong...Strong "World". Geddit?

I got it, and could not appreciate it. Alas, there was a limit to the complexity I could expect from a One Piece movie (altough the series has some pretty deep/interesting moments). The main villain has a very interesting backstory, for example, one that in the end amounts to just a few yellings and poor, albeit creative design choice. It could have been very interesting to see a banter between Shiki, who knew and fought the former Pirate King, and Luffy, who we all know wants to become one. They could have delved some more into that, maybe putting in some lessons for Luffy, for example the importance of sacrifice (since there is something like that in the plot, which makes little sense and amounts to nothing in the end).

The animation? Beautiful. The characters are all drawn with great accuracy and care, and I could not have been more satisfied. One thing bothered me: their costumes. Not to say they are ugly or not-cool, on the contrary, they are great. But I just felt like that was a very important part of the brief that the art team got before making the movie. Something along the lines of: "Guys make some really cool costumes for the crew. We'll think about the plot later. Who wants noodles??" They stood out. A lot. And it would have been fine, if the movie offered something a bit more to enjoy, but it did not. Not for me.

All in all, I wanted to see one of the "supposedly" famous between all the movies, and so I had high expectations. I was really dissappointed. It's a joy to the eye to see such great anime-animations, but unfortunately the story falls short, there are many plot points that make no sense or are just silly, and the villain is a missed opportunity.

Better luck next time maybe? Or I'll just stick with the series.