When the live action was first announced, it was set to be ten episodes and cover the story through Loguetown. This was cut down to eight during the middle of production due to a lack of time and money, and while we don't know exactly when the decision was made, Episode 7 has four credited writers while every other episode only has one or two, and Episode 8 is a full ten minutes shorter than almost every other episode in the season.
As a result, Arlong Park--the crowning jewel of the East Blue in the manga--never had a chance to meet its full potential. So let's talk about it.
First things first, I need to complain about something that is a Netflix problem and has nothing to do with opla. I had the subtitles on at the start of the episode and noticed some glaring mistakes pretty early on, such as missing the first instance of Sanji calling Zoro mosshead
This is a well-known and common issue with Netflix shows, but a multibillion dollar company should not have these sorts of issues, and people who rely on subtitles deserve better.
That out of the way, I want to say right off the bat that I don't think Episode 7 is bad. I've seen enough reactions from both manga readers and live action onlys to know it is emotionally effecting. But I do find it to be the most disappointing. A fun fact about myself is that while I never cry while reading I am extremely prone to tearing up to visual media. I wanted, expected, and hoped to cry during this arc's biggest scenes, and the fact that I didn't personally knocks how I feel about it down a peg or two.
There are also some issues about story structure that I think are a result of rewrites, but I think if opla had been able to really nail things like Bellmere's death it would be easier to overlook these more technical issues.
This is also the arc where I have the biggest problems with the characterization and story changes from the manga. Luffy listening to Nami's backstory is a fundamental misunderstanding of his character and the larger themes of One Piece, and having Nojiko and the other villagers not know about Nami's deal robs the arc of its strongest side characters.
So far throughout the live action there has been at least one really strong side character per arc who isn't a Straw Hat. Baratie had Zeff's relationship with Sanji, during Syrup Village Kaya arguably got more development than Usopp, and in Episode One Coby was a full on secondary protagonist. Episode Two is the exception, but Buggy's ridiculous charisma fills the void left by cut characters such as Chouchou.
Arlong Park doesn't have that, when in the manga it has some of the strongest secondary cast in the East Blue saga. In an effort to streamline the story opla robbed its audience much of what made the original so beloved in the first place.
This problem bleeds into every aspect of the story. Throughout the live action the writing team has done its best to include iconic manga moments, even if has to drastically change how they're utilized in the show. Sometimes this works really well, but here in AP it doesn't.
For example, in the last episode we got the line of Luffy asking who Arlong was. For people who have only watched the live action this is a perfectly normal line given the circumstances, but in the manga Luffy not even knowing who Arlong is until the fighting starts at the back end of the arc carries weight. The same is true during Nami and Luffy's scene when she stabs her arm. In the manga, when Luffy says he doesn't know what's going on he really doesn't know what's going on. To include the iconic line but remove the context which makes it iconic lessens the moment.
Another example is the scene of Arlong flipping a house upside down during his initial raid of Coco village. In the manga this is used to show off Arlong's fatal flaw--his berserker rage. When calm, manga!Arlong knew how to take full advantage of his monetary assets. This will be important later on in the episode, but for now just keep it in mind.
And I can understand why the live action didn't want to have the entire village know about Nami's deal with Arlong. Because of Episode 8’s truncated runtime and whole ass second climax with Garp, as well as the end of season epilogue stuff, the arc has a ridiculously short runtime for the amount of material it has to cover. In the manga, Baratie and Arlong Park run for the same number of chapters, and if the live action had to cut Baratie's main villain in order to fit into two episodes I can't imagine the stress of having to fit all of Arlong Park into one and a quarter. But at the very least Nojiiko should have known. This is a hill I'm willing to die on.
After how fantastic the flashback scene for Baratie was, Arlong Park's is a bit of a letdown. The writing removes a lot of Bellemere's more spunky, charismatic moments in favor of more generic sad dead mom memories, and in what moments she did get, I don't think the actress sold what makes Bellmere such a beloved character in the manga.
But my biggest issue here is once again the writing. I've said multiple times that One Piece almost always has emotional truth trump logic, as per tradition in Romantic stories. In the manga Bellmere gives herself up and uses her money to pay for Nami and Nojiko unprompted. Her emotional truth is that those two are her daughters, whether or not they're related by blood, and she can't not claim to be their mom. It is, strictly speaking, a stupid thing to do, but the weight of her conviction is one of the reason why she remains one of the fandom's favorite side characters over twenty years after her introduction.
The live action muddies this by not only having Arlong know there are other people in the house, but by having Nami and Nojiko pop out of their hiding spot before Bellmere uses the last of her money on them. It's more logical, yes, but it defeats the point of the message. There are a thousand dead fictional mothers who would have acted in the same way opla!Bellmere did. That weight of conviction is just...gone.
One nice thing I do like is the addition of the tangerine pinwheels. Since the live action cut most of Genzo's role (he doesn't wear a pinwheel hat in the present day, though it's there in the flashback) they needed something to replace it. I liked the foreshadowing of Nami and Nojiko painting their future tattoo designs on one another in the first flashback sequence, even if this doesn't make much sense for Nojiko in this universe to have tattoos
Many of these changes were done in an effort to streamline the arc to its most important players: Nami and the other Straw Hats. But the live action then has the audacity to remove much of the focus the other Straw Hats do get, particularly Usopp. In the manga he gets a whole arc that climaxes with his fight with Chu that's removed entirely for the live action, which I find pretty unforgivable given how poorly he was utilized in Syrup Village.
As always, I haaaate Luffy's line of, "I know Nami's good. She needs to know it too." That being said, I do like that Zoro acts as a sort of balancing force to Luffy's unrelenting optimism. If opla is going to explicitly have Zoro be the first mate, I expect more of those sorts of scenes going forward.
Switching over to the villain side of things, there's a lot of foreshadowing for future manga content to the slight detriment of Arlong's characterization this arc. I think more emphasis could be placed on Arlong's relationship with money and how that compares to Nami's. There's a deliberate parallel between the two of them that makes them compelling foils for one another, but the focus is more on the fishman racism plot line. Even though Arlong ends up stealing Nami’s money in every universe, the manga makes it clearer that he typically does honor his word when cash is involved.
I do actually like Arlong's performance. I can't give enough kudos to all the actors who had to wear all those prosthetics and then try to emote. Arlong's villain speech at the end of the arc was a particular highlight for me, showing hints of that berserker rage mentioned earlier, while showing Arlong to be a charismatic leader and captain in his own right. He's also the only character I'm aware of who keeps his signature manga/anime laugh, which I will always appreciate.
I understand why many were upset Hatchi was cut from the live action. There were plans to include him originally, and even the early ideas for a sick sounding fight scene with Zoro. His absence is understandable, and honestly I think he could be replaced by a character who is not an octopus in order to save money, on the one in a million chance the live action makes it to Sabaody. I would even be okay if his role was switched with Kuroobi, but at the end of the day that's a problem for the future.
As far as sets go, changing Arlong Park into an actual amusement park is great. I however do not like the change to Nami's navigation room. The cramped, claustrophobic space of the orignal evoked how much of a prison it truly was for Nami while allowing Luffy to easily do things like kick desks out the window. Here it looks like a boss fight arena, and a lot of its character is lost.
The scenes with Nemuzi were good. Despite how accurate all of the designs have been so far, I was pleasantly surprised they kept Nezumi's whiskers and rat ears. The cinematography during their big scene together was good. They start out standing as equals
Then after Nezumi runs his mouth there's a nice zoom in on Arlong from a low angle making him appear much taller
while Nezumi is shot from above and looks increasingly small
I don't know, it's pretty simple, but it feels like something Oda would have done in the manga. Kudos to the director.
The end of the episode is where things really start to get messy. Emily Rudd acted the hell out of the whole "help me" scene. This I have no problem with.
However, it's never established why Arlong is going after Coco Village. I think what the implication is supposed to be is that the village was short on their payment, so Arlong and co., are going out to ransack it as punishment, but this is not conveyed well in the slightest.
Nami has been Arlong's subordinate for eight years because of the hope she has of buying back her village. Arlong steals Nami's money as he does in the manga, but then destroys the one thing keeping her tethered to him...because reasons? I also feel like there's a missing scene between Nezumi stealing Nami's money and her stabbing herself in the arm. In the manga she runs all the way to Arlong Park and confronts Arlong, but here she starts running and just stops in the middle of nowhere. It's not shown until after the stabbing scene/walk to Arlong Park that the village is on fire, making her actions very confusing in the moment.
And then there's the continuity. The end of the episode takes place in the middle of the night. Luffy and the boys are within walking distance of the village and can clearly see it on fire while Arlong and his crew attack. Then at the beginning of Episode 8 it's fully daylight and the Straw Hats stumble upon the aftermath of the raid and the village is burnt to cinders. It's very jarring if you happen to go directly from one episode to the next, and where you can most easily see the strain of rewrites and cut time.
To best sum up my thoughts for the episode as a whole: I'm not mad, just disappointed.
Some final thoughts:
-Buggy's shanty is hilarious, but I feel how Zoro holds his head over the railing of the ship by his bandana would cause him to drop into the sea
-The actor they got for Genzo is such a dead ringer for the manga, it truly is sad that his role got cut down so much. Based on the stuff out on social media, he seems like a nice guy who was really enthusiastic about the project
-Inaki has a good angry Luffy face. He's able to pull of Luffy's serious moments as well as his funny ones, though I personally would have cut out the last, yelled, "Of course I will" at the end of the Nami stabbing scene
-the old man yaoi dinner scene was...fine. It at least served a purpose in being the first direct comparison between Luffy and Roger as well as the upcoming new generation, though I could have done without the closeups of Garp eating
-However, I still hate that everyone and their dog knows Luffy and Garp are related
-I appreciate that they've kept Luffy's habit of nicknaming people. The casual, "Hey, Scar Guy" about took me out
