Monstrous: A review of the One Piece Movie

I was lucky. The first time I watched Strong World was years ago and on the big screen during the 2010 Scotland Loves Anime. It was actually my introduction to One Piece.

When I went from the movie to the original show it was quite a change. That’s because the show is so old it had none of the widescreen and high definition of the movie. It looked very different. That said; it was still clearly One Piece. That’s what Strong World brings to the table – the plethora of One Piece characters in a typically strange and dangerous adventure.

The villain of the story is a pirate called Golden Lion Shiki. He’s so tough he cut off his own legs to escape jail and replaced them with swords. Given his gravity powers he’s able to float around and is, frankly, a hard man.

Golden Lion Shiki presents Luffy and the Straw Hats with two problems. The first is that he wants to appoint Nami as his navigator. Should she refuse then he’ll start killing folks. Secondly, he has a diabolical plan for destroying the East Blue.

It’s a strange movie. Of course it’s a strange movie. There’s everything from deadly clowns to electrical ducks – yes, if there was a range of weirdness in One Piece we’d see both monster ducks and dangerous clowns on it. Strange doesn’t mean unsuccessful, Strong World exhibits another One Piece trait by successfully blending humour with rolling combat scenes and explosions.

One Piece fans know what they’re getting into. It’s hard to imagine anyone who’s watched more than a 100 episodes of the long running TV show not enjoy Strong World.

Strong World worked as my introduction to One Piece as well. For me, though, this movie has the wackiness as high as I like it. With a different tone of voice and more restraint I think this would have been a movie I enjoyed more. It wouldn’t have been an One Piece movie though. I think it’s possible if I’d been in a different mood that Strong World could have hit the wrong note.

Here’s the question; what if you’re seen no One Piece – should you watch the movie? I think the answer is: Yes.

Here’s why. Anime fans need to try One Piece at least once. It is a phenomena in Japan. It’s hard to make any sort of defendable claim to being “into anime” if you’ve not in the position to make a first-hand evaluation of One Piece. Starting with episode 1 on the TV show doesn’t give One Piece a fair crack of the whip; the industry as matured. Watch Strong World instead, ride the whirlwind tour of all the characters, risk those spoilers and saturate yourself in the madness.