AAAAAHHHHHHHH THE LIVE ACTION WAS SO GOOD AAAAAAAHHH
Luffy was so perfect, they all were, but as my favourite character he had a lot to live up to and he was AMAZING
My favourite aspects/moments:
- Luffy was so tactile and physically affectionate. I'm glad they weren't afraid of having him be touchy feely with his crew and friends. Plopping his head down on top of Nami's head when she's cracking the safe, literally draping himself overtop of Zoro and hugging him when he wakes up after the Mihawk fight, clinging to Usopp when their ship gets attacked by Garp as they leave Syrup village, hugging Coby when they say goodbye the second time, even just the small moments like when he puts his hands on Kaya's shoulders while giving her his speech about his dream and the Merry during the dinner, he is so affectionate with everyone and loves his friends so much I'm gonna cry.
- him walking on the table in Kaya's house during the dinner while giving his speech then handing his glass to Kuro gkdgkdhj that scene was so funny and was such a Luffy thing to do, and everyone's reactions plus Kuro's apoplectic rage in response had me dying
- Luffy's anxiety when he's worried about Zoro after the fight with Mihawk, like all his fidgeting and not wanting to eat and talking erratically, it really reminded me of his anxiety when Nami gets sick after Little Garden, as well as when he refuses to eat for a while after Marineford. It's just a nice touch because the one thing that can get him to lose his appetite is the thought of losing someone close to him, and one of the few things that can make him openly anxious is when he's not sure if one of his friends will be okay and there's nothing he can do to help. His anxiety in that scene is portrayed so well.
- Sanji trying to get him to eat and suggesting a bunch of different foods he can make because he's trying to help Luffy feel better was also so cute and such a Sanji thing to do 🥺🥺🥺
- Sanji and Zeff's dynamic was done soooooo well, the actors had so much chemistry and the dialogue was so good between them. Also I love how much of a spitfire baby Sanji was, and his and Zeff's first meeting was actually amazing with Sanji being like "I'D RATHER DIE THAN LET YOU SEASON MY FOOD" fhkxgjzgkxgj
- so much swearing, I loved it lol. In Japanese they swear a lot but a lot of subtitles don't really translate the extent of it, and the official manga translation definitely tones it down, as does the dub, at least compared to the original Japanese. Sanji even said "shitty restaurant"! He said the line!!
- idk if this an unpopular opinion or not, but I actually like the changes they made to the Syrup Village arc. That arc in the manga/anime is probably the narmiest, and as fond as I am of earlier arcs, that one would probably not translate well to the style and pacing the live action had going for it. They adjusted quite a few of the fights to fit a live action series as opposed to a serialized shounen. But One Piece has never really been about the fights, so as long as the essence is there I'm fine with it. And tbh, turning Kuro into a slasher villain stalking Kaya through the house actually worked surprisingly well. It made for a fun deviation from what fans would be used to, and played around with the genre without sacrificing the essential plot elements or character dynamics. Also using Kaya's house instead of a random beach actually made for a nice setting and environment that I think felt more fitting to the One Piece vibe, ngl.
- I like what they did with Koby's story. Having his character development lead up to him standing up to Garp rather than Alvida actually worked pretty well, and felt really natural as his story progressed in Parallel with Luffy's. And having his story involve him confronting his ideal of what a marine should be vs the reality of what marines are fit the story really well. I love the scene where he and Luffy tell each other to become a good marine and a good pirate.
- I was shocked that they revealed Garp's relationship with Luffy so soon, but honestly, it works better than I expected. I think they actually did a really good job integrating him into the earlier arcs, and it provided a good glimpse into some of the world building that will come into play later, like the relationship between the warlords and the marines/government, while also providing a more significant marine threat early on. I am a bit sad we don't get Luffy's canon reaction where as soon as he even hears his grandpa being mentioned he gets like ptsd flashbacks lmao. But I'll admit, the "talk" Nami gets Zoro to have with him after everyone finds out is hilarious. Zoro not giving a shit about who Luffy's grandpa is and being like "ughhhhhhh fine I'll talk to him" when Nami pressures him into it, then giving the barest minimum effort and Luffy is just like being Luffy and fiddling with his hat and answering the questions so non-chalantly, then Zoro is like "good talk" and bails, they were really on that shared idiot wavelength lmfaoooooo.
- Zoro's bickering with Sanji was great. I particularly like how prickly he gets about Sanji acting so familiar towards Nami and Luffy despite only just joining, because Zoro would totally be peeved by that, like excuse u simp waiter those were my friends first and I called dibs lmao
- Zoro's goofy moments like trying to sit down with the swords and when Luffy was manhandling him after his injury lmfao, I'm glad they didn't have him be serious all the time and let him be an idiot occasionally. He was so hardheaded and proud and cocky and sassy in all the right ways. Also loved when Nami was trying on clothes and Zoro is like "I'm gonna wear black so you can't wear black" like a diva LMAO
- uh, they did NOT have to go so fucking hard with Buggy, but they did and I am grateful for it. His actor is so fucking funny, and his lines are so good, they fit Buggy so well. And Luffy constantly getting his name wrong made me laugh every single time lmfao. Also when he gets mad at Luffy thinking he said "nose" and squishes his face, and Luffy's like "well now that you mention it wtf IS up with your nose?" LMAO did I mention yet how much I loved Luffy?
- having Buggy trap Luffy in a glass box filling with water worked so well for the circus aesthetic because it's really similar to those acts where people escape from a box filling with water. It also made sense for Buggy to use that against Luffy with the sea water. Also the effects for his fruit powers looked so good and creepy.
- they didn't shy away from gore! The manga is actually super violent, even relatively early on, but I got so used to the reduced version in the anime I actually was surprised at how graphic some parts were. They straight up had Zoro slice a guy in half and did not shy away from showing his sliced meaty bits. Also Zoro casually bringing Mr. 7's torso to the marines with the hair sticking out was badass ngl.
- the main cast were all sooooo good, I can't even pick one out as being better than any of the others, they were just all perfect. They really felt like the characters. Obviously Luffy stands out to me as my favourite character, but I loved them all so much. Sanji, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, they all were portrayed so well too. Absolutely perfect casting. Whoever was in charge of casting is the absolute GOAT
- Zoro and Nami bickering like siblings the whole time was great, especially how they were only unified in their exasperation over Luffy's antics lmfao.
- "Think he has brain damage?" "I think that every day" EGHSKSCHLACHSK
- the villains were all the perfect amount of hammy, hats off to their actors they all looked like they were having so much fun and they did so well as each character. And Arlong's actor managed to include Arlong's SHA HA HA HA laugh and actually make it sound pretty natural so fucking kudos dude that's awesome.
- when Sanji fishes Luffy out of the water at Baratie and they tell him Nami is gone, he looks so sad and pathetic just laying there wet on the dock I wanted to hug him so bad 🥺 he was already anxious about Zoro and then they lost Nami too and he was so worried about his friends.
- Sanji's simping was so funny. The scene were he's like "NAMI!" with his arms open as she comes out of the collapsing building in Arlong's Park and she runs right past him to hug Zoro and Usopp instead WGHOVSHOD it was so in character. dude is mega down bad fr and they portrayed it in such a funny way.
- I was kinda shocked at how well the outfits and costumes translated to live action. Like the show was extremely faithful when it came to character designs and outfits but it managed to make them feel very natural to the setting. It was honestly so cool. Like when Gin stumbled into the kitchen and you can instantly recognize him from his outfit, but it looks so natural like they made the outfits feel like something real people would wear. And the Strawhats had some absolute fucking DRIP yo, implementing a bunch of their colour spread outfits in the different episodes was fucking inspired, and they looked so goddamn good. Oda is a fucking fashion savant I swear like the clothes he designed look so damn good in real life.
- Luffy still had his asexual vibes in full force which I'm so happy about. Like when Nami is getting dressed for their dinner with Kaya, and asks how it looks while posing, and Luffy is like "... you look like Nami", that was SUCH a Luffy line lmao.
- when Usopp and Zoro were teasing Nami about Sanji's flirting (Zoro's rapid fire "madam"s lmfao) and everybody was joking around together while Luffy watches them with the most fond look on his face it was so cute ugh my heart
- Having Zeff help to treat Zoro using fish skin grafting was a really cool addition and a great way to show his expertise as a former pirate.
- omg when Luffy gets all defensive of Sanji after only knowing him for like a day (because he's Luffy), and he tells Zeff about Sanji feeding Gin thinking he'll be all mad but instead Zeff looks proud and says "what a good kid" OMG MY HEART that was so cute 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 Zeff's dad vibes we're off the fucking charts. And they kept the "li'l eggplant" nickname, Zeff was so good goddamn like he was honestly one of my favourite parts. How the fuck they managed to make his mustache work so well and look so natural I will never know but god damn I was so impressed.
- holy fucking shit, the Baratie looked so fucking good. It was like seeing the manga/anime come to life. I wanted to fucking go there so bad. The little mouth balcony thing, the floors, the roof mural which didn't get any attention but was just casually made to be incredibly detailed and beautiful?!?! The colours and the bg characters, holy shit the set was just fucking amazing.
- The ships looked so good. Luffy choosing Merry 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 I also liked how Usopp was introduced, it fit his character and the adjusted pacing pretty well imo
-I didn't know how to feel about Shanks in the preview images, but in motion he actually works really well. And Yasopp and Lucky Roo were so good. I love how they had Shanks mime cocking a gun and shooting it to signal to his crew to start going ham on the bandits so it looks for a moment like he shoots someone with his finger gun. Also Yasopp's trick shots were awesome, as well as Lucky Roo literally beating people with a chunk of meat lmfao.
- Mihawk was serving absolutely cunt. He was there to slay and slay he did. No notes, A+ performance.
- Zoro and Nami's actors really nailed their big emotional scenes. They captured the expressions and delivery perfectly, especially Nami screaming Arlong's name and stabbing her tattoo, she managed to match the intensity that the original voice actor had in the anime surprisingly well.
- Helmeppo's actor was so funny. His dickish goofy way of laughing worked so well for his character lmao, and having Zoro give him his signature haircut was 🤌🤌🤌 idk WHY they had him naked when he was playing with Wado Ichimonji but it was so funny.
- the scene where he convinces Koby to slack off and have a drink with him, Koby takes several shots, then blurts out that Garp is Luffy's grandfather was great lmfao.
-Zeff's interactions with Garp were great too. I love their talk about there being a new generation coming into its own now and it's getting to be the time where they should step back and let the new kids have their turn. It was a scene I could absolutely see happening in the manga.
- I like how at first Garp seems more reserved and serious than he is in canon, but as more time passes the more it's revealed how unhinged he is and how he absolutely is related to Luffy. Like when he screams after Luffy takes out their main sail, only to start laughing and act proud. Or when he gets pissed off at Mihawk refusing to capture Luffy and just has a tantrum in his office throwing shit around. Or when Zeff convinces him to stay for a meal by mentioning meat and he's like 👀👀👀. Koby saying he should have realised Garp and Luffy were related because of how much they both like meat had me laughing out loud.
- I like how Bogard got a slightly bigger role. He always had a really cool aesthetic, like an old time gangster with a samurai sword is actually really cool, so it was nice to see him a bit more than we get to in the manga/anime.
- They did a great job showing off how terrifyingly strong Garp is. When he's going after Luffy and just demolishing him as well as the environment. His hits felt like they hit hard. Also when he grabbed a canon ball and threw it at the Merry I was like YES!!! I was really hoping they'd show that if they were going to involve him in the live action series earlier than in canon.
- the show really managed to capture that fun swashbuckling vibe that comes with pirates. Also the ships and sets looked so good. And I like how they made reasonable changes to ship designs without going too far or making them too "realistic", they kept the fun aspects of the ship designs. Like Garp's ship looked damn good! Alvida's ship was still pink and covered in hearts!
I could gush for hours about everything I liked. There were like a few tiny nitpicks, some of the child actors weren't the greatest (Usopp and Kuina's being the worst ones), Usopp didn't get as many important scenes in Syrup village (though he did get a nice scene where he refuses to leave Kaya even after she slaps him and accuses him of lying about Klahador/Kuro, and they also kind of made up for not having more big scenes for him by giving Nami some extra development with Kaya in a way that fit with both their characters and storys. It was cute!), they left Hachi out of Arlong's Park which could impact his story later on (if they ever get that far 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞), which kinda sucks because I've always loved his redemption story. But aside from that honestly, I have very few criticisms. This felt like it was made by people who love One Piece and wanted to share it with both fans who have always wanted to see the world and characters they love in real life, as well a new audience that might otherwise have never gotten to see it. What few changes they made were ones that made sense for condensing the story, adjusting for the change in genre and medium, and they all still fit the world and didn't actually sacrifice the important aspects of canon. And they captured the heart and essence of the story, world, and characters so well it almost feels like a dream.
Like, we all got so used to live action adaptations falling short of that, of missing what makes the originals work. But the One Piece live action feels like it gets it, like above everything else the strawhats are a family, and Luffy is the embodyment of joy, and freedom, and the pursuit of dreams, and letting yourself just believe for once in something bigger than yourself even when you're a very small fish in a very big pond. The attention to detail, all the little references and foreshadowing and stuff in the backgrounds. The casting was mind bogglingly good, even minor characters like Sham and Buchi were so good and had so much character and life to them. Even with the characters they mostly had to leave out due to pacing and time constraints, just their designs alone were given so much attention. Like the Mayor of Orange town, or Patty, or Gin, who were only briefly shown in reduced roles, but were still so instantly recognisable. And the wacky designs of the manga were adapted to live action so well I was flabbergasted at how well they worked and how good they looked even though they barely toned down any of their weirdness or goofiness.
I was initially worried about the main characters saying or doing things that felt out of character, especially my boy Luffy, but there was never a moment where I felt like they weren't their characters. Sure, they weren't exact 1 to 1 copies since a lot of the Japanese dialogue would sound stilted in English without an adjustment, even the typical translated versions are more attuned to the sensibilities of people who are used to reading or hearing translated dialogue, so there were obvious adjustments that had to be made to the way some characters talked and the lines they said, but they made it work and feel right for this version of the story, and the characters still felt like themselves in all the ways that mattered.
Iñaki as Luffy was amazing, I am so happy with his performance. He really embodied the charm and cheer and charisma of Luffy perfectly. I got to fall in love with Luffy's character all over again with him and that is such a gift to get to experience that more than once 😭😭😭😭
God. I'm so emotional. I wanted this to be good so badly. I wanted this, of all series to escape the live action anime curse, because I knew if any could, it would be One Piece. And it was even better than I'd hoped. Was it perfect? Probably not, but I don't care. There wasn't a single moment where I wasn't enjoying myself and having fun, and that was all I wanted was to have fun while watching. It captured that feeling of the east blue arc, the nostalgia, so well.
If I gush any more this post will be way too fucking long. There are obviously more things I could talk about and comment on but I have to stop at some point or else I'll be writing this post forever lmao.
I will be reblogging stuff about the live action obviously, so reminder that my spoiler tag is gonna be "OPLA spoilers"
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH
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Grief was a heavy thing.
It was supposed to be, at least. Tobio had heard it time and time again — how it weighed you down in your bones, sank under your skin, could shatter your heart like glass beneath the overwhelming pressure of it all.
But standing in front of his grandfather’s altar, Tobio didn’t feel heavy. Instead there was a hollowness, wide and aching, thrumming in his veins. His mind was blank; everything around him was white noise. It was all fuzzy and dim, and he probably would have kept standing there forever if Miwa hadn’t tugged on his arm.
“Come on,” she murmured. “It’s getting late. You need to sleep.”
Tobio blinked, tilted his head down at her. Some distant voice inside him noted that he was getting too old and too tall to let Miwa baby him like when they had been kids, but right now he was content to tuck himself against her shoulder as she swept him past people who talked in hushed voices and glanced over at them every so often. Tobio didn’t register any of it, but Miwa’s grip tightened around him.
“Did you see? The parents actually left early. Those poor children . . .”
“I heard the boy was practically raised by Kazuyo, I don’t understand how he can look so cold about this.”
“The girl ran from home as soon as she could, and this is the only time she returns? Completely disgraceful!”
“Such a shameful funeral, honestly, Kazuyo deserves much better than something so improper.”
Down the hall, turn right, out the double doors, past the crumbling stone steps and into a fresh breeze and the night sky. It really was a beautiful temple — the center courtyard was lit by stone lanterns glowing honey-yellow, and the trees and flowers were in bloom. It was one of the smaller ones, which Kazuyo would have liked. Even with all his talent, Tobio’s grandfather had never been one for pomp and circumstance.
“Who cares about tradition?” he had said once, eyes crinkling with a smile. “Just dump me in a ditch and bury me there. Good fertilizer. We can grow bell peppers over my body.”
Tobio’s heart clenched at the memory. He didn’t think bell peppers would ever taste the same again.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
“Nee-san,” he said softly, the first he had spoken the entire day. It sounded alien to him. Like he couldn’t quite comprehend that the words were coming from his own mouth. “What do we do now?”
Anyone else would probably have thought that Tobio was asking a literal question, but Miwa always understood him. She was the only person other than Kazuyo who did.
She squeezed him tight. “We grieve. We heal. We learn what feelings to let go of and what to keep. And we don’t ever, ever forget how much Kazuyo-kun loved us — and how much we loved him.”
Loved, not love. Tobio didn’t know if he could do that. Kazuyo had taught him to love in the here and now, to cherish all the things you held dear and hold them in your heart as you moved forward. He had never taught Tobio how to love in the past tense. He had never taught Tobio how to love somebody who was no longer there.
— excerpt from so long, a character study of kageyama tobio and what his grandfather meant to him
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