live action One Piece thoughts
from a guy who watched it all in 1 day and has been following OP since i was 12
tldr: it bangs if you like the anime/manga and NAILS the characters, its a fun zany romp if you havent consumed it before, i would recommend either way but dont expect anything realistic (appreciative). yes im also annoyed by the tumblr clown but dont let that stop you from watching it i swear its good i prommy!!!!!
perfect casting. perfect on so many levels. love the crew, and so much fun to see the east blue gang together.
i liked the changes to the characters to make them more realistic because a 1-1 translation of their characters/dramatic antics wouldnt have made sense with....real live human beings. the tweaks made felt like they cohered (sanji not being deranged about women but only like, flirty in a terrible way; luffy not being as stupid in canon; nami not manipulating men in the same way; etc)
i loved the CANON CONFIRMED little events - usopp and kaya kissed!! zoro is luffy's first mate!!
zoro and nami friendship. my love. they are so bitchy god bless. i rly enjoyed how seeing the live action super cemented that the strawhats are oops! all bitches! (also luffy is there), and also that the strawhats are guys who are friends
sanji and zoro banter was honestly weirdly wholesome? there was even more a sense that sanji likes the name-calling and shit talking than in canon, with a real human being saying stuff, it came across less as pure aggression and more as sanji being like "hahaha i love Saying Shit" whereas for a bit zoro's responses did come across a little like "who is this guy. why is he here. i almost die and then luffy gets a new man?? the fuck??"
usopp's :3 im the captain followed by luffys D: im the captain?? hit every single time, so silly. the addition of usopp as another silly guy was 10/10
building on that, i think the "are these guys even pirates?" throughline was interesting. in the manga/anime it felt more like "pirate" was a class of person and it wasnt ever really in question whether luffy was a pirate, but here it felt more realistic, in that piracy was an action to continually be committed - and here it very much came across that this was the beginning of luffy pulling together his crew and this was the beginning of his pirate adventure.
similarly, the parallel with coby's "im going to be a marine" thing was interesting - much more apparent than in the manga/anime, not that im mad about it but it was an interesting narrative choice to do a narrative parallels thing. i do think it worked in how we come out of the show with the understanding that "both pirates and the marines are corrupt, everyone is making compromises, but what matters is moving forward on your dreams/ideals.
everyone was in love with luffy. as they should be. the sense that luffy is dumb as shit, insane, and charismatic and charming 100% came across. a blunt instrument in a world of snakes! the way that each of the strawhats was won over....chefs kiss.
the garp being luffy's grandpa thing is dropped so mad early. so fucking funny. i hope we get s2 so we get to see ace. my beloved.
im a sanji girlie so i gotta talk about my boy. LOVED HIM SO MUCH. GREAT JOB ON BOY. Taz got the mannerisms so correct, honestly gave me chills watching the fight scenes and even the shit like him lighting a cigarette cause yeah dude. thats sanji. but even more than that, i really loved how the bits of sanjis character that are most important were preserved. like. the dude is, under being kind of a sleazebag sometimes/being sort of bitchy and saying whatever shit he wants, fundamentally kind. this is the sanji that will feed anyone who is hungry. i really loved the scene where zoro's hurt and luffys polishing zoro's sword and sanji is just like. making the crew food. cause "hey otherwise the tuna's gonna go to waste. and you gotta eat, man. i'll make anything you want." like. idk. i just really liked him taking care of people without being asked because thats who he is!!
anyway yeah i really hope this gets a s2 i have more thoughts but for now.....yeah.....
also why was buggy Like That. i liked it. but jesus.
