There will be a time and place for criticism, but now is not that time. Now is a time for celebration. Of the greatest Live Action anime adaption to be created.
There’s gonna be very light spoilers in this, so read on if you’d like.
I think my favorite part of it all is that you can tell just how much care went into this show. This production team was truly made by fans, for fans. The little nods towards things in the future really made me keep my eyes peeled and had me freaking out over the littlest moments. Things like Binks no Sake playing in the bar, and Nami reading Nolan the Liar were my favorite. I’m sure there were hundreds of other moments, but those were the two that had my feet kicking and giggling like a maniac.
Am i blinded by biasness and clouded with my love for One Piece? Yes. I’m aware of that. But I went into this show knowing it was a new, different adventure than the one I was familiar with. It’s not perfect to the manga, and they’ve said from the beginning it wouldn’t be. I think that’s the hardest part for people: not understanding why “pointless” changes were made (there were only two changes that kind of bothered me, but we can talk about those later). Most of the changes that occurred still felt fluid and natural, giving a lot more screen time to beloved characters who we normally don’t see for hundreds of chapters. I liked that aspect. Not everyone will. But keep an open mind.
Just like when I watched the anime, I found myself smiling and laughing the whole time. Joyboy is still very alive and apparent in this live action. As an anime and manga fan, i loved this new aspect of their journey and this new medium to watch. It kept me intrigued, surprised, and so invested in my crew. Just like when I watched the anime, I had a very difficult time picking who was my “favorite”, because they’re all so enjoyable and quirky in their own way.
Are there things to improve? Absolutely. There always is. All I can hope is that it gets enough love and attention that Netflix will renew it for a season 2, and we’ll all get to explore the Grand Line and Alabasta together.
If you’re on the fence, or didn’t like the first episode and decided to drop it, I implore you to keep going. I think it gets better by the episode. And so much happens, I was never really bored. Please watch it, even if you just have it on in the background. This show is so special to so many people, and the next season cant get better if we don’t give it the chance.
Not to be ill about zoro and luffy in wano again, but can we talk about zoro talking to luffy with his captain still positioned between his arms? Not even trying to put his captain down, but just lowkey adjusting his position (cuz he was out of breath)
I keep seeing “zoro lost his smile” tik toks and I love the comments bc a battalion of dudebros are like “he lost it after taking luffy’s pain and knowing what his captain went through when they were separated” but most importantly “luffy makes him smile”
oh, you like the idea of zolu or find the fancontent cute but can't bring yourself to ship it because you HC Luffy to be aroace? (ignoring that asexuality and aromantisism exist on a spectrum. and that QPR's/relationship anarachy are a thing). should we tell everyone??? should we throw a fucking party???
10 pages are currently sketched out and I’ll soon release them for pretty cheap on my kofi!
Im hoping I can get more pages done at this rate but I’ll admit things have been pretty rough for me this past week or so - so productivity on this might slow down a little
Your posts are some of the highlights of my tumblr experience – I've always been focused on Luffy/Zoro but before OP:LA released it seemed kinda? Rare, almost? At least in comparison to other things. But now so many people like it too! And are writing wonderful little essays like yours! I feel understood. Personally they've always been a qpr to me (I hold Luffy's basically-canon aroace status VERY close to my heart) in the most soulmate, ride or die, married without even kissing once, forever and always with their own special kind of love no matter what anybody else thinks, kind of way. I love reading your thoughts because even if may not be in the exact same flavour as me (which I respect) I feel like you get them already. Keep having fun! The world of OP has so much in store for you!