As a manga reader I really liked this episode, but I had a feeling that Koby wasn't there with Usopp in the manga. I noticed some changes so far, but I felt this is a big one. So I skimmed through the adapted chapters to see if I was right and.. I've made a huge mistake. My opinion on the show went from very positive to negative.
The showrunners have cut so much stuff and there are a lot of great and iconic moments missing. Or they've changed some things and made the show weaker. Example, Luffy stopping a bullet with his body. In the show he does it in front of Alvida, and it looks nice and it is a fun scene. But in the manga he jumps in front of Zoro and Koby to save them in the last possible second, leaving everyone dumbfounded when they witness his power. Peoples reactions to Luffy's power are one of the best things of early One Piece. They are really rushing the plot.
Now, I've enjoyed every episode so far with a fuzzy memory of the manga, meaning that people experiencing the show for the first time are enjoying it too (at least I hope so). Plus, this is the first season of an anime/manga adaptation, so I am willing to forgive them a lot of things and put aside my negativity.
But! I have one big criticism so far (well.. two) that I am not willing to forgive and that's Nami's and Zoro's behaviour. Every time I see a scene with Nami in it my immediate thought is 'Please, smile and laugh!'. She should be 10x more cheerier and cheekier, that's the Nami everyone likes. In Zoro's case, I saw some people say 'He is just edgy, that's not him!'. No, he is just free-spirited and goofily stoic like in the first chapters, but the actor is making the lines sound edgier, and Zoro is missing some of his annoyed tone and is not yelling at all. We will see what will happen when (if) Sanji shows up.
The actors are not to blame though, they were told to act like that, and they are doing good work so far. I hope Nami and Zoro will be more ''energetic'' in the next episodes.
(576-word review) I can already imagine many viewers disliking this episode, both those who have read the manga (or watched the anime) and those who are new to this universe. Some may even go so far as to call it terrible, complaining about specific aspects, such as the camera angles (which I consider a knee-jerk reaction) because the fact that camerawork can be done in different ways and not the usual way must be so shocking, immediately chalking it up to poor directing/cinematography ('different' is good, even if you aren't always onboard with it; that's fine – but don't get overly exasperated about it), and so on. The camera work of the scene with Luffy and Zoro near the wanted posters was most certainly the worst offender; interestingly enough, that stood out to me in the opposite fashion – I thought it was great.
While this was the weakest episode, that is not to suggest it wasn't good or a noticeable drop compared to the first two episodes, as some have expressed. If your main complaint, or one of them, was that it was boring, it's because it was the first episode of a two-parter. And, 90% of the time, the first half in these scenarios is the weakest. That said, an adequate job was done in making it enjoyable, even though this section in the manga has been stated to be poor overall.
99% of the help with that was probably given through the character moments – that appeared to be the most dominant focus here, and it was a success. All of the interactions involving the "Not a crew" crew were fantastic, as they should be, from the dinner scene (Iñaki Godoy was Luffy to the fullest there, outdoing himself) to Nami and Kaya's conversation/the kitchen scene with Usopp (in addition to his involvement in others), particularly the smaller snippets between Luffy, Zoro, and Nami.
Buggy's interaction with Arlong was also beneficial and the best part of this episode. That was an important scene for two reasons: (one.) it changed the playing field established previously, where Buggy is seemingly a top-dog figure, only for the subtlety of that to crumble down so quickly due to Arlong's introduction, and (two.) through that alone, rearranged the board or interfered with the process of its establishment as the season is merely three episodes in, effectively updating the stage and getting the point across that he's a threat, plus the score cue was good, as were the score cues during the ship reveal and after Kuro killed Merry.
Additionally, Jacob Gibson has already embodied the character of Usopp, who, despite not being as charismatic as Luffy, whether true to the characters or not, you can tell Jacob must be in real life, not to mention charming, since that subtle impression also adds to the portrayal/performance. The only issue I have is the ineffectiveness of the end of the backstory/flashback plot thread, mainly because the kid-version actor wasn't good, and Usopp's mother died too abruptly, adding a comedic tone.
Also, Alexander Maniatis played Kuro superbly, with the appropriate blend of properness but with that ominous undertone beneath the mask of politeness bleeding through the sheer appearance of his complete decorum, as if he were transferred straight from the manga. Everyone else who partook in bringing him to life and the work they put in, from costume design to hair styling, did an excellent job, and Celeste Loots played her character well.
Despite enjoying this show. I can’t say I was really into this episode.
So... why are we making Koby into a main character, again? My dude is getting more screentime and character development than most of our main characters :skull:
Kaya and Usopp were adorable tho <3
Every arc so far has had many changes. This one removed key characters while adding others, so it was a bit bizarre, lol.
Thought it was good if not a little step down from the first 2 episdes. Usopp seems to be an interesting character.
behold, he appeared, the man, the myth the legend.
the brave warrior of the sea, the one who has a crew of 50 million men.
some call him king others call him god.
They say he's the only one who knows Sogeking's secret identity.
They say it already arrived in One Piece, but that it was put back in its place for Luffy to find.
They say his haki is so absurd that he already finished the manga before Oda even wrote it.
They say he never missed a target in his life.
the only, the illustrious, the great captain Usopp
Can't believe they found a guy with such a weird face to match Usopp's !
It got slower, almost no action, and the only special effect (being Klahadore's moves) is really really cheap.
Why all this Koby ? Who cares about Koby ? After the first arc (= first episode) he has not significant role whatsoever for several hundreds chapters and then is barely more than a background character !
It feels like instead of moving on they'll reuse the same characters. We'll probably get more Baggy and way more Koby than we should.
Usopp is a bit less annoying than the original.
I like the bored Zorro. Not sure it fits the character that much, but the actor's great at it.
Great introduction to Usopp and his initial arc. The color grading feels a little too blown up at times, where some characters can look orangey and sunburned. But there's also some really interesting fish-eye handheld camera work.
Direction felt a bit odd at times with spamming unorthodox camera angles, but the strengths of the show remain. Usopp’s and Kuro’s casting is perfect, and I like how the script not only alters but also adds additional scenes to tie the entire cast together. I just hope that Luffy and Coby won’t meet too early. We’ll see how it will play out. I also am interested to see how Luffy will beat Kuro because I already forgot how he managed that in the anime.
Never watched the anime, but I can definitely say I don't really like Usopp's introduction. His backstory is also really corny and badly directed. Kaya's character is also pretty cringe and I'm not a fan of her actor.
Well, that was surprising addtional detail that Buggy and Arlong have a relationship if you take this OP iteration into the whole saga of the story. (Inlcuding the manga and anime)
I guess that this series will not be one to one adaptation to its source material. From the kids being absent in this LA who are part of supposedly Ussop pirate's crew and the missing big Lion from previous episode. Still the episode is a pretty solid one, I love the scene where Luffy meets Going Merry scene and where he talks about in that dining setting with Kaya about his ambitions and dream inspiring the young girl (that was a true Luffy's moment right there).
Shout by MabBlockedParentSpoilers2023-08-31T17:43:44Z
Oh no.
All of a sudden, everything is so badly shot and directed. What happened? So many odd angles and cuts and lines of dialogue! For example, there's a wide-angle shot that makes Usopp's right shoulder and arm look twice the size of the rest of his body.
Out of nowhere some of the characters are very one-note, you could basically describe the entirety of Zoro's dialogue with "I'm edgy, I need a drink."
Usopp's arc was never my favorite in the manga, but they somehow managed to completely bastardize his story in one episode. He's barely the focus of his own introductory episode, and by the end I am not sold on his character enough to sympathize with him.
There is also way too much unnecessary Marine stuff with little payoff.
Why is Koby the one helping Usopp instead of Luffy???