Mediocrity is HARD to Critique: One Piece Review
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- čas přidán 14. 06. 2024
- Mediocrity is HARD to Critique: One Piece Live Action Review. This Netflix series is the greatest masterpiece ever made and a testament to the human spirit that will endure for decades... or it's a fun but flawed watch with a lot of issues that is currently basking in the glory of low expectations, you decide. A large trend I've noticed in the review space as of late, is that the mass audience leads the internet discussion much more than in the past. It used to be you would go to internet critics for interesting and risky thoughts, but now all film/tv critique has devolved into a game of parsing though trending media and finding ways to tie it back into popular political/social topics that you are either for or against.
Critics and broadcasters are free to do what they want, but I personally am bored of this approach, but it seems like an inexhaustible source of discussion for most people. I bring this up, because I've noticed this environment has created a very interesting phenomenon, where a typical mediocre show, like One Piece: Netflix Edition, suddenly takes on this massive significance because it's some kind of cultural bellwether or whatever. This is what media critique has become and lost in this endless food fight is the part of the review where people seriously analyze and compare the compositional elements of a show, which in time is much more important because social trends come and go, but the performance actually captured is what endures. On top of that, as a critic it is much easier and quicker to simply pick through media and then parrot back analysis that you know the audience will agree with. Tell the people what they want to hear.
So, annoyed by all this, I have decided to do my own review of One Piece Netflix to discuss the elements of the show that I think are important to talk about: the writing, the pacing, the production, the adaptation from source material, the Mugen-level costume design, the lifeless camerawork, the awkward blocking, the terrible child acting, and the stilted but potentially promising main cast. I also think it's important to remind viewers that just because I find something mediocre, doesn't mean I want it immediately cancelled and all of the people involved thrown in prison.
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00:00 Why It's Hard to do "Mid" Reviews
04:35 The Character Introductions are Needlessly Confusing
08:40 You Don't Need to ALWAYS Use Cold Opens
10:10 Don't Forget to Establish the Characters
12:00 The Production is MUGEN
13:30 Visual TONE MATTERS! It Ties Together the Story
15:20 Don't Just JUMP in Tone, Set it Up.
17:20 Actor Review: Luffy
18:20 Actor Review: Zoro
19:50 Actor Review: Sanji (Best Actor)
20:50 Actor Review: Nami (2nd Best)
21:46 Supporting Cast Review
23:45 Actor Blocking is a Problem, Grabby D. Luffy
25:20 The Camera Man is On Special-K
27:16 Anime RELIES on Visuals to Tell Story
28:45 Overall Thoughts
#onepiece, #onepieceliveaction, #Wednesdaydance - Krátké a kreslené filmy
Nice review! Touched on some things others don't mention. My two cents:
Honestly, the show was quite the achievement. It took one of the hardest anime you could possibly choose to adapt and it succeeded. All while staying somewhat coherent with only 8 episodes. I didn't like how much time was spent on Kuro when it didn't adapt the (IMO) fun parts of that arc, and I didn't like the whole Garp plotline they added. Completely unneeded and made the World Government seem like a smaller presence. The fights in general - and Arlong's especially - also missed a lot of funny gags, and the twists and turns that made them fun. I also hated Luffy's acting, you hit the nail on the head. He was all over the place, like his voice, actions, face and mannerisms are all mismatched. Very uncanny.
On the other hand, it was still a very fun show. The humor was there, the adventure was exciting and it managed to get me hooked. Since it adapted so faithfully, it still retained a lot of the strong points of the original One Piece. Regarding acting, to me, Nami did the best job (although I also liked how natural Sanji felt). You point out how she's more subdued at first, but wasn't that intentional? She starts off as reserved, but her emotions open up on the last arc of the show. She starts considering the rest of the crew as friends and that allows her to loosen up and show how she's feeling. We see a similar development with Zoro, in fact.
If I were to give it a number, it'd be a solid 6.5/10. It's flawed, but good. I'd have a hard time recommending it to non-One Piece fans, but apparently everyone I know enjoyed the show regardless, and I do think that's a bit impressive.
Oh, and don't expect a much bigger budget if they go for another season. This one cost over $140 million already
Oh this is a fantastic comment! The funny thing is that I would rate it the exact same as you ha 6.5. But I m more picky with the term good than perhaps most people would be. As good is something that stands out above the field (an 8 or higher), whereas mediocre is average to somewhat below average. Also yes it s actually crazy how much screen time garp B story gets. I didn't notice it until doing the editing and scrolling through all the EPS over and over, but it s insane how much time the show spends on garp just hanging out on the boat. Which hardly needs so much setup for the rather mild payoff at the end. Also on my notes on nami, when I say subdued I don't mean her character in the story, I mean her acting. It s a bit hard to explain but think of Jenna Ortega in Wednesday. Her character is stoic, but her acting is very intense. She is so heavily committed to the role that she stands completely rigid all the time (which is demanding funny enough) and never blinks. So I would never call ortega subdued acting wise, i d describe it as quietly intense. Nami, on the other hand, is actually subdued in her acting in that she finds a neutral state of presenting herself on camera and doesn't shift her tone or presence much till the later episodes. She could actually play a conflicted mistrusting character much more actively in the earlier EPS. Like she could speak in more short fast bursts and scan her surroundings every time she entered a room, or whatever. Making more distinct character choices basically :-)
The only Netflix original content I've watched and liked is I Am Mother with Hillary Swank and a young Danish actress who acted so well for her age. So I'm not in the target demo for this live action even though I enjoyed the East Blue Saga in the anime tremendously.
They didn't really "add" the Garp 'plotline'. They pretty much just took the scene from the anime, (I think it was right after Enie's Lobby) and moved it up in the timeline, with changes of course, but I found that really odd and confusing in the live action for them to introduce him so early when he doesn't really have any plot relevancy any time soon, idk why we needed to see Garp this soon. I was confused when watching, like "he's not supposed to be here. I don't remember this scene" lol. But hell, maybe Netflix does have something planned for Garp later? Oda's involved and all. But it makes me think what other events and characters are they going to move around.
The main issue today is that the fandom won't accept that something is OK/average, and get appalled/pissed when things are valued accordingly by true critique - like the Super Mario Bros movie. So it's easier to go for this "I connected to this" fuzzy value and valu everything as 9/10 or "true masterpiece" because the fandom wants nothing less to confirm their values. Which is a pity, becase it's not a problem if you like playing a 6/10 game, the issue is making it a sin to value a 6/10 game accordingly.
Exactly jogo!!! Nailed it. Right the super Mario's bro movie absolutely is the same way where it s a mediocre show but because everyone has dropped the standard, now it s somehow a masterpiece ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground and the weirdest thing is that while I know that the Super Mario movie is not a great and has a shallow plot, it still manages to check all the boxes to make a fan of the game series have a great time and there's nothing wrong in having mindless fun with something that's just average. Still, most fans won't be happy unless it's a 10/10 true masterpiece assessment. Weird times we live in.
It's when you're dealing with the target demo for this genre I guess. Like I really liked Thor 1 and hated Ragnarok. Still, I wouldn't call Thor 1 a masterpiece. It's just an entertaining and well-done movie overall with good acting. But for the target demo of the One Piece live action genre, when they enjoy watching it they go around and say loud and clear it's great or a masterpiece.
A masterpiece to me would be something like Westworld season 1 because it's so intriguing and very well-produced and well-acted by true seasoned professionals. Makes One Piece live action look like child's play. Unfortunately Westworld has elements not appropriate for young teens. But even if young teens watch that, they may still say One Piece live action is better anyway. Lol.
👉 Social engineering. All or nothing. Black or white. 1s and ∅s.
Used to be good enough wasn't good enough... now if they don't outright ruin the source material its "GREAT' haha.
exactly my dude ha!
One piece fans in general have low standards
I think it's fine, but honestly the only reason it's getting as much praise as it gets is because stuff like Netflix Bebop were so awful that having something that at least follows the characters and plot is a godsend. I've only watched the first two episodes so far and all I can say is that it feels like a dullfied version of the original. You can't have big over the top acting and cartoony expressions in a live-action show without it feeling cringe so you end up with something much more muted and serious, even the bgm is a lot more dull and generic. It's especially apparent in One Piece because the tooniness is a big part of its identity and it's like trying to make a live-action Tom and Jerry with a photo-realistic cat and mouse.
Yeah exactly and I think the live action is in basically a nasty middle ground tone wise. Because it's treading towards darker moodier vibes (like the Joker Clown and the horror house), but then emergency brakes back into cartoony stuff with Luffy and Usopp, so the viewer gets some whiplash lol. I'm not particularly insistent that the show needs to be moody or cartoony, but it should decide on something consistent at least ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground The mix between darker mood and cartoonish is an absolute trademark of One Piece - so as soon as you get rid of it you should simply cancel the series. This is exactly why it's so hard to find the right mix here.
@@TheElectricUnderground you don't understand one piece
@@KhadijoMuse He's judging it as a live-action show - not a manga. Sharp tonal turns tend to work much better in anime and manga, but also, Buggy's not a sadistic Joker clown in the anime - he's not lit the same, his makeup doesn't feel as grungy, he doesn't keep people chained up. When the manga goes REALLY dark (like say, fishman island flashback stuff) it doesn't layer it between goofiness.
I saw the introduction as we were seeing it from the perspective of the bird at first but we didn't know it yet until the camera showed the bird. It introduced how silly Luffy is and it worked for me.
exactly my thought, thing is we never know what creators do. sometimes just use the hype to grow the channel and amass a few followers with click baits. use the word mediocrity and people will watch.
The issue with that though is that if the bird is not present in the screen until halfway through, so best case scenario is Luffy is monologue to birds flying around in the air ha. Even if the bird is present all the way through the scene, I still think it is a strange introduction because it implies that Luffy is a bit nuts and will spout out his thoughts to random animals ha.
@TheElectricUnderground it implies a character has his character traits what shit character introduction. You're actually mentally stunted aren't you
Which he does a lot
@@TheElectricUnderground but err, that he absolutely is? Wasn’t that the point? To prove how nuts this guys really is?
I never thought about ppl mistaking Zoro as the villian. Dmn thats concerning
ha yeah and I think it's an easy blindspot in the writing if you know the source material before the show starts. i think the writers of the live action fell into this type of blind spot a few times, where they just assume the audience knows what's going on since it's an already established story, but an adaptation should always be able to stand on its own I think.
@@TheElectricUnderground what??
Ti's giy is just stupid
I haven't seen the show, and I'm not a One Piece fan in general (only read about 80 chapters of the manga, and watched less than the equivalent of the anime), but I have some close buddies that are huge fans of the anime/manga who have given me their thoughts. I think the reason people actually seem to like this show more than many other live-action adaptations is that in this case, it sticks a lot closer to the source material than previous works have. The overall tone of the show stays lighthearted and goofy, the characters reflect their original counterparts well, and there are a number of little details that made it in that the fans can appreciate.
This goes to show that even a show with flaws, such as those you describe here, can be well liked and enjoyed by its audience if it stays faithful to the major elements that made its source material so popular. Cowboy Bebop failed to do that, and while I'd say its general production quality is higher than One Piece, it certainly wasn't as respectful to the source material or audience as One Piece seems to be.
I can only hope that other show runners learn from this in future projects. (Then again, I personally don't see the need for live-action adaptations anyway. Just enjoy the medium that the work was made for in the first place.)
I agree with a lot of this, but I think there is also a really strong low bar of expectation going on ha. Because in all of these elements, like being lighthearted, or staying close to the source material, basically the show is *trying* it's best to keep up with the source material, but there's still so much more room for improvement when it comes to the actual execution of the overall show. I think a lot of this is a case of, it's the thought that counts lol.
@@TheElectricUnderground I totally agree that half its success is due to low expectations. I remember when the trailer first came out and everyone thought it looked terrible and was going to be lousy. Now all of a sudden it's not as bad as people expected it to be. (And I wonder how much of the fan response was due to behind the scenes manipulative astroturfing and fake social media response. [/TINFOILHAT])
Hopefully this results in the takeaway being that a show can have good production quality AND stick to the source, not just one or the other.
No way you think cowboy bebop higher quality cinematography(Dutch angle every scene) cgi (space battle were horrible)costumes (jets metals was the fakes thing ever) fights ( the cut heavy over choreographed fights where league under the absolute master class in fighting shown in op)
@@KhadijoMuse I've seen neither, so I can't accurately judge, but from the trailers (and from the critique videos I've seen like those here on EU), I get the impression that Cowboy Bebop had higher production values. (But not by a large amount.) But if you prefer, I could compare it to Dragonball Evolution...
Your words at the beginning in regards to the value a critic brings are well said. This is why we don’t see a lot of improvement in media these days, people are discouraged from offering substantive criticism
6:20 to be fair here in the manga that the anime is based on Luffys introduction is actually his whole backstory with Shanks and then we see him in the dingy talking to himself about wanting at least 10 crew members and yelling at the world that he will become pirate king. This was changed in the anime.
28:54
Saying people should skip the first 2 episodes completely discredits your opinion on the show.
Anyone can be overly critical of a series, it's easy.
People actually complain about the anime being a slow burn till episode 30+.
But for you to say complete skip the first 2 episodes of the live action makes your opinion sound so dumb & exposes you as a bitter anime fan who hates One piece.
Im all for being critical as long as it's fair criticism.
There have been alot of bitter anime fans who don't watch One piece who are annoyed at One piece for its success.
Being a contrarian for the sake of it is pretty lame.
It's a fun show, that's it.
One piece by design is goofy show. The tone was never this serious show which often bothers alot of One piece haters & used to discredit the show.
If you watch One piece looking for a serious show that isn't goofy, your setting yourself up.
There's always that annoyed person that feels a certain type of way seeing people have fun & enjoying things.
Some of your opinions comparing the live action to the anime, using it as a yard stick is very flawed.
The anime made bad changes compared to the manga.
The Live action is closed to the manga in that opening Luffy scene & more accurate in the Shanks opening scene.
Luffy stabbing himself was removed from the anime, so you wouldn't have known that it was from the manga.
The manga he's on his boat which had a barrell.
The anime completely removed that.
The Zoro introduction is actually new content from the source material the anime & even the manga didn't show.
Zoro v Mr 7 was an incident that was mentioned but never shown in the manga that did occur before the shows timeline.
The live action showed that fight which is a canon event that is understood by One piece fans. Also it sets up the Baroque Works as future villains which are shown in Grandline.
Also you complaining about Nami introduction in the anime.
The manga & anime Nami introduction is different.
The anime shows Nami before Luffy. Which is nothing like the manga or Live action.
Why ha? I think you want my opinion to be disregarded is what you meant to type ha. The first two episodes of the show are painfully drawn out and are plagued with terrible production issues and acting issues from the supporting cast (and the main cast to some degree). These first two eps are gonna filter out a lot of casual viewers who aren't going to be willing to put up with these problems. I think it's much more enjoyable to watch the first 4 eps of the anime to get all the establishing stuff taken care of, and then hop into ep 3 of the show, where it starts to improve ha.
@@TheElectricUndergroundMost of your review is great. However, saying that you should skip the first two episodes is probably the dumbest thing I've heard in a while.
To understand most things, like who the characters are, you must watch the first two episodes. Even if they seem to be drawn out, it is essential that you watch the first two episodes of any TV show.
This is so true. This guy is a hater and and is a wanabee expert.
Nah, being so aghast at the prospect of skipping the first two episodes and going so far as to call his opinion dumb because of this is massive projection. If you cannot understand any tv show because you skipped the first two episodes, you're probably not one to try belittling anyone's intelligence.
Lmao the Luffy impersonations are fantastic
Also, we do want more of this 6:05
Ha glad you enjoyed my over-acting lol, it's actually fun to do ironically. On the pov, Oh i know people want me to pov, I just am not a fan of doing direct pov to the camera all the time, it makes me feel like my vids are either news reports or adult films. I like at least a little bit of separation from the camera lol. At some point I'll probably invent some silly diagetic reason why I'm not doing direct address pov, like show insert shots of me talking to a toy or something.
Really cool to hear your thoughts outside your normal genre. Bringing up Anna Kurenina and stage plays helps make you more than "the SHMUP guy".
ha yes I have this whole other side of me that's really into classic literature and film, but there aren't many opportunities to discuss it on the channel and anything classical is sort of just doomed content on youtube lol. so i basically just need to work those elements into my channel when I can ha.
I never knew you are pretty good at movie too. But your view on mediocrity was interesting and something that I think new reviewers lost. You can see like in the whole RE4 discussion when Crowbcat made a video about how the old one lacked some sort of soul or silliness compared to the video and he was just blasted with criticism all over the stuff for being a negative nancy. There is only two responses nowadays, overly good or overly bad, which is just boring. Like as an audience I would be confused as to why you are just explaining your experience because it's bad and it's good, if I want that I would have monologued to myself when experiencing that media.
Anyway, great vid as always! Keep it up!
oh yes such an insightful comment. Exactly. It's either you are full on championing something as a masterpiece (just look at how everything is a masterpiece now) or something is completely awful and should be wiped from existence ... there's no in between anymore ha. And I've found myself on both sides of this as a reviewer where I felt poor Wanted Dead and Gungrave GORE were thrown into the bad pile unfairly, and then how Bayo 3 and Resi4remake were held as masterpieces, even though I felt they lack the merit. Also every flavor of the month game cannot be a masterpiece ha. That's literally what you'll see now. Every game that comes out every month, if it's at all good, is a masterpiece.
I know what you mean about sharp and strong tonal shifts in the OPLA, but it isnt necessarily a trait of only One Piece, but most of popular japanese media in general, which dates back all the way to traditional japanese theaters. What makes One Piece stand out in that regard is the fact that even among its peers its tonal shifts are known to be the most sharp as it was primarily meant by the author to be a fun, goofy pirate adventure for kids ages 9-13. But also due to more vague age ratings for media in Japan the said goofy pirate manga can include some graphic violence and covered (or slightly censored) nudity.
So, in short, the team behind the live-action show tried their best to capture the spirit of the original at the odds of losing some of potential audience. Because One Piece is not One Piece without its tonal shifts.
7:43 tbf the anime made that point as well, Zorro was made out to be a demon and untrustworthy criminal, but strong. Luffy was interested in his strength and wanted to see if Zorro was good or not. He figured that out when Zorro was talking to the girl and eating her food. In the live action you as the uninitiated audience had the same bad impression and open question then learned about Zorros noble character in pretty much the same way by watching him defend a girl.
He is stupid he wont get this, or his focus was to find something wrong and ends up being wrong on finding things that are wrong
haha, surprised you'd cover this!
being a huge OP fan (up to date on manga chapters, watched the anime last year), I gotta say you actually mostly nailed it as far as I'm concerned👍 (I'm sure you'd enjoy the storyline too, it's way deeper than meets the eye, it gets super dark thematicly but stays light hearted, I hear about "One Pace", that recuts the anime a bit, haven't watched it myself though)
Yeah I was surprised I ended up covering it, I had no intentions to but after I watched it I felt like it would be interesting to discuss, especially in the current critical landscape where no one actually talks about the compositional elements of the show.
@@TheElectricUnderground thank you👍
I just really felt it didn't "land"/earn a lot of moments, general acting felt stiff.
Hated that poor soundtrack.
I did give it a rewatch with the japanese anime dub cast, the jp script is closer actually closer to the subbed anime that way. OPNF adapted the american Viz version of the anime/manga.
to my surprise I mostly liked what they did with Sanji and Usopp (child actors were difficult to watch admittedly)
I though Garp-Koby was a nice touch, given chapters as of late, it clearly was Oda's wish to include that like that, I think.
(the random blond kid in the intro is the guy in the ending with the cigar? btw...not that it matters a lot)
I love One Piece and am currently caught up on the manga. Before the Netflix show released I thought it had no chance of being anything other than a trainwreck, so I'm pleasantly surprised and kind of thrilled that it turned out to be just be okay. I think the biggest strength of this show is that it actually endeared me to this different version of the Straw Hats and made me interested in their adventure. It's going to be interesting going forward, because it's only going to get harder to adapt future material
yes great points. I am really really really curious how season 2 will turn out because on one hand the production and acting started to improve at the end of season 1, but at the same time future source material might be even harder to adapt, so it could go either way at this point lol.
Live actions based off of anime like this are just cringe by default, i can't get passed that.
yes the aesthetic is so important and cannot just be waived away as good enough (as I'm seeing a lot of comments are ha). The main appeal of anime after all is how it looks visually, so if you are going to do a live action adaptation, you will need to really hone in on a consistent and engaging visual style, otherwise it looks very cringe. A good example of an adaptation would be sin city, which I think a lot of anime fans seem to have forgotten about ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground Yea i thought sin city was an american graphic novel tho. I don't consider adaptations like that as bad. Anime like one piece is super exaggerated and cartoony, not to mention the lack of reference to japanese culture and things that also gets lost. Ghost in the shell isn't as bad either (although its still not good) the art is generally more realistic and clean. It lends itself a lot more to live action by comparison. I don't love any of it though.
As a Manga reader it's going to be hard for me to see things as "confusing", so I do have a different perspective on these things that being said -
You keep going back to the anime to make comparisons to the source material, but the anime is also an adaptation (and not even that great of an adaptation...? imo). In the manga Luffy isn't introduced in the barrel, he's introduced as a kid stabbing himself in the eye (which was actually entirely cut from the anime, they just kept the scar).Nami was only introduced after Zoro was already with Luffy, but her introduction is identical to the live action, the anime was the one that was changed.
I thought Luffy's introduction was pretty great here tbh. Yes it looks like wall break for 3 seconds but it immediately revealed he was talking to a bird. The camera was from the bird's perspective, that's why he was looking at the camera... Right? I don't understand why that's confusing you. Luffy talking to a bird on a thinking boat in the middle of the ocean, resorting to drift in a barrel while being so positive about it immediately tells you what kind of character he is. I thought it was pretty great.
Zoro's introduction foreshadows later events. You see Garp mentioning Baroque Works too later in the episode. So I think after watching season 2 you'd appreciate it a lot more. In fact, it's canon to both Manga and Anime, it just happened of screen before he meets Luffy. Of course that doesn't make it better in the present, but honestly you're the only person I've seen so far who disliked it. Honestly, I like it way more than the introduction in the manga and anime.
I think Sanji was also my favorite, either him or Luffy. Interestingly he's the one that's most different from his manga or anime version. He just feels the most natural to me, especially when he's with Zeff.
I thought Sanji's kid actor was also really great for a kid actor, not sure why you picked Nami over him, though I guess she was.. Alright too. Luffy's kid actor was rough in some scenes but also pretty great in others, so I dunno.
The accent stands out to me, also he Grandpa is... Irish? And the actor they already cast for his (spoilers from the anime I guess) - dad is black... I don't know how that's supposed to make sense lol. I somewhat hope when Luffy meets his foster parents (that happens after Shanks) they have a Spanish accent.
"Skip the first 2 episodes". Episode 1 is second favorite after 5, and most people seem to think 3 and 4 are the weakest. Overall I think you are fairly unique in a lot of those opinions tbh.
I do hope they get a larger budget, they really gonna need it. This season covers the part of the manga that is BY FAR the most realistic and down to earth part and it still looked like they could have used more (despite the huge budget they supposedly had).
I think you are misunderstanding the nature of my critique though, being a hardcore fan of the manga yourself. I am not criticizing the live action on the basis of faithfulness to the source material at all, that s not the issue. The critique is on the clarity and effectiveness of the live action versions writing, from a new viewers perspective. So yes both the anime and live action are adaptations, but the anime version, in itself, has much clearer writing with how the characters are introduced, the writing itself is more condensed and clear. Vs the live action where to a new viewer, Luffy is introduced as a crazy guy ranting to try sky on a boat, Zoro comes off as a villain, and nami you have no idea how or why she is stranded on that lifeboat ha. It s just not clear writing and directing no matter what the source material is up to. Also as a hardcore fan, it s important to remember that your mind is filling in these gaps in the writing, because you know who that characters are supposed to be. But when it comes to any adaptation, the adaptation needs to stand on its own merit and writing.
@@TheElectricUnderground your the ONLY new comer iv seen cry about not being able to understand stuff and such, says more about your intelligence to be honest
@@imalittletoxicjustalittle There's a big difference between understanding something in hindsight and understanding it immediately. I'm pretty sure most people tend to watch something, reflect on the conclusions they made after the episode and then say, 'yeah dude, I got it.' Let's be real, here. Luffy IS a guy ranting on a boat. Zoro IS a guy who has confusing motivations and cuts a dude in half. If you take those things for what they are, then his arguments have merit. It's okay to be critical of this show. It's actually a much better adaptation than it is a stand-alone show.
Mark you really testing my patience. We need the part 3 of beat em up vid!
Lol hang tight, that's a bit down the line because I have another beat em up vid you'll really enjoy coming out first.
Honestly you make good points. I am a huge one piece fan and so long as it wasn't a huge trainwreck I was willing to call it a success. One thing I strongly agree with you is regarding the acting by Inaki and Mackenyu. They definitely need to step it up. Even if the production quality is low the show can still succeed if people can fall in love with the characters. At the moment only Taz and Jacob acting brings the love for the characters that I had watching the anime to life.
Yes for sure, there is a lot of potential for season 2 if the production and actors step their game up a bit. Thanks for the awesome comment :-)
@@TheElectricUndergroundOverall a decent video. Most of your points were small nitpicks though.
As someone who has read the manga since childhood and enjoyed the live action, I totally get where you're coming from. The fact that Zoro in the first episode can be misconstrued as a villain is eye-opening but relatable since I think LA Luffy is also a bit too touchy and overconfident in the beginning. If it weren't for the scenes later on that grounded him, I could easily see Inaki's Luffy as a cult leader-like figure who could get away with anything with his charisma. Skipping the first 2 episodes may be a bit too far though, it established many crucial rules for the world that may leave some heads scratching if omitted. Plus other things like the expensive sets or action sequences can make some scenes worth watching, if not for popcorn flick value.
I think some of the decisions in the LA makes sense when you see it as a response to LA Cowboy Bebop, the studio's harshly-reviewed last work. They ended up swinging hard the other way, making sure One Piece is a show that fans love first and foremost, meanwhile first time watchers may feel like a secondary audiences at times. That's why, like you said, some of the story beats feel like you're supposed to know more of the context. If you know the source material, you unconsciously fill in the blanks. If you don't, it becomes a road bump to your enjoyment. One other example of this you may not realize is the rivalry between Zoro and Sanji. It's a fan-favorite dynamic within the fandom but the actual rivalry itself builds up over time. Here in the LA they had a bone to pick with each other since the beginning, for no reason at all, and it's unnatural. The banter ended up being fun but it's fanservice for fanservice sake.
On another note, the massive scale and length of the original work is one of the biggest reasons why people refuse to watch/read it. While it doesn't defend the quality of the LA itself, I find that this adaptation serves as a very good advertisement and jumping point for people who are still in the fence. If in a meta way it could get more people in the fandom, I guess it could be a good thing. I am worried about the budget for the next LA season, though. The Grand Line is home to many MANY characters that absolutely need CGI, they'll need every dollar possible to make it work.
And yes, I totally agree with you that the contemporary sentiment of "mid = hate" is ridiculous, toxic, and unproductive to any discussion. 6/10 is not a bad score! Some of the emotional beats of the LA fell flat due to the restrictions of the medium, the budget, or the reality that they need to squeeze hundreds of chapters worth of source material. That can't be helped and it's not the viewers' fault that they don't resonate with it (and neither it is the actors or directors or anyone else involved!). I myself had found difficulty explaining to other fandoms that just because I find what they're passionate about as unremarkable, doesn't mean I hate it with my guts. If I actually despise a product, I won't waste my time thinking about how to make it better for me.
And lastly, it's rare to find content creators who engage with every single comment. I respect you for your insanity. You may not want to respond to everything though, there may be some trolls among them hahaha
I came across this because I was trying to find critical reviews of this show (they are almost impossible to find because they get disliked into oblivion by rabid fans....), and I'm glad I did! I like the anime a lot, but I feel like I am the only one on earth who dislikes this show. I really appreciated all of your well thought out points and perspective :)
Also I love your Inuyasha shirt!
What are your thoughts on Usopp in the live action?
Let’s be honest it’s ok. It’s not bad but it’s also not the next big hit show. Overall it’s a fun little watch if you’re a OP fan.
Yes exactly, and I think that is a more proper time for the reviews of this show, rather than it s great and some kind of masterpiece ha
Your opening is pretty much spot on. People emphasize how good or bad a piece of media is way too much and struggle with nuance. I don't think Netflix One Piece is as flawed as you describe it, but I do think it is a little overrated, to be honest. Season 1 was about a 7.5 for me, good to very good, but far from the best thing I've seen and not as good as the anime, as you say. That being said, I do think it improves on specific areas of the anime here and there. Not everything's a downgrade in my opinion.
All I needed was to see a massive trinitron laying on its side to know that this is a man of discerning taste 👌
Hell yes!!! That CRT is my baby, I actually saved it from being destroyed from a college dorm that was throwing it away. so me and my friend had to sneak it out of the dorms and load it into my truck LOL.
East blue(season 1) is just a prolouge to the main story. Things get realy crazy once they are in the grandline. I also think tv shows are so bad nowdays that one piece ive action feels realy refreshing even if its mid.
ha yeah I'm really curious how the show will continue moving forward because it gets better at the end of the season, but that progress could absolutely be lost in season 2, it's hard to tell at this point ha. And yes I agree that compared to something like the marvel garbage, one piece is refreshing (it says a lot that i actually sat through the whole thing), but I think it's important not to let the current low quality work drop standards too much, because compare this to something like Sin City, and there is still a LONG way to go ha.
After seeing ur opinion of the flaws of intro in the LA, i realised i liked the intro in the LA better than the anime, its just felt like classic one piece that is completely unpredictable and u have no idea wat is going on or how things get tied together in the end, like the dragon intro in loguetown
the barrel is so good because it adds information like that he can't swim
Absolutely! Visual story telling is not to be underestimated.
As a casual watcher it has some parts moments that like the villains and choregraphie of fights but the emotional and voice acting ruind a lot of moments still bit enjoyeble tho
I think one peice shows the power of animation. The ridiculous elements like character designs or exaggerated actions can work in animation since its focus on style. Kinda like porco roso wouldn't work really as much in reality but in animated movie you can get away with a guy that looks like a pig. Thats the beauty of animation.
Though i think these live action remakes are attempting to change the subject matter they want to film. Alot of current big films are just trying to be really focus in vfx and cgi with selfaware meta writing.
Maybe these live action remakes are trying to push that film doesn't have to be realistic. For example, the matrix and old school movies like robert william's hook. Those worlds are being protrayed in reality but with their own world rules. I respect that and i hope one peice is a nice suggestion for a different direction in filmmaking.
yeah animation really allows a style of visual expression that is extremely hard to recapture in live action. I think the show that has done the best job of that is Sin City, I love that movie. Now there is an example of a great adaptation ha. And when you compare this series to Sin City, they are clearly in separate leagues in terms of quality.
@TheElectricUnderground yeah. It's just recently remakes and adaptations have become original stories with the source material as an afterthought and hook for the audience. I hope this changes. I'm not somebody who is against change. I actually like some reimaginings such as trigun 98 and fma 2001 with their own original stories or deviations. I think the main thing is they brought unique ideas while keeping the essence of original in their minds. I never felt like I was watching fanfics with those but rather an alternate timeline if that makes sense.
Your intro made me think about Videogame Dunkey's last video.
Oh really! I don't watch dunkey too often, but I think some of the things we say seem to overlap at times (based on what people report to me in the comments ha). He does like ZeroRanger after all, so there is def some taste going on there.
@@TheElectricUnderground in his video, "How to be a good game reviewer", he shows reviews and comments about the reviews. Any score that's below 8/10 is received with criticism. No room for "the game is good, not great" reviews. Of course, he is trying to be funny, he is sampling the comments to fit his video. But the comments are real and angry people tend to be more vocal, which probably influences reviews.
I'm honestly unsure why I agree with all your vids😂. Really great content as always.
You're one of the best channels at the moment for me on CZcams.
Definitely agree to most points in your take, however this is Netflix which people would disagree and argue that this is an adaptation, this is BS because the Anime has already created Storyboards idk why cant they just simply follow the sequences and how the portrayal of the dialogue
I didn't watch the whole video yet, but I can appreciate critiquing decently good things because they could've been better. One Piece LA to me definitely had big flaws... But at the same time, not too long ago, I started watching the first episode wondering if I would even want to watch the first episode all the way through. To me just two weeks ago, half-decent anime adaptation was just fantastical fairytale in of itself.
Hoping for a good anime adaptation was just laughably silly just a bit ago, and now I'm genuinely thinking how this adaptation could've been awesome with relatively little tweaks, that future seasons might use. So it's really hard to be particularly harsh here. This season 1 gave me hope I had lost so long ago.
But yeah, at the same time, should discuss the big flaws so they can be fixed.
there was this crazy guy on a site i used that would say every adapatation of comics on netflix are all better than the comics they're based on(most of those adaptations arent very faithful to the original)
I'm a 20-year OP fan, and I like the manga and anime more but the live action was not bad.
Considering that they had to fit a lot of lore and characters in just 8 episodes I'll give this show an 7,5 out of 10.
What I noticed while watching CZcams is that the people new to One Piece give the show higher ratings and praise than the fans and a lot of them said they would see the original.
And that should be the goal of a live-action, to make the world of the anime known to more people (who are not really anime fans) and make them want to check the original.
Mann it was great. If it had 8 seasons I would’ve finished it in a week
I'd trend more towards a 6.5, because of all the issues with the production, directing, pacing, and definitely the supporting acting. The main cast are pretty solid, but I think the Luffy actor has a way to go before he can solidly carry a show. I think everything started to trend better near the end though, so I imagine season 2 should be a step up.
the source material is the manga. The anime is just an adaptation. Just like Netflix, they allowed themselves liberties. But overall the universe, the characters and the story are respected. in fact there is even a whole season of filler episodes.
there are crossovers with Toriko and Dragon Ball Z.
an example of freedom: the meeting with Alvida
In the manga (Source) the barrel in which Luffy is drifted to the base of Alvida
In the anime the barrel drifted onto a cruise ship about to be attacked by Alvida
In the Netflix series the barrel arrives in the middle of a fight
excuse-me, I don't speak english, this is google traduction.
But you're missing the point of my critique entirely. I am not critiquing the live action on the basis to how well it adheres to source material. I never make this complaint in my review. What I am critiquing is how the live action *presents* the material of the story. So yes I am aware that the anime is a adaptation of the manga, but I am comparing the anime to the live action, not too see which is more faithful to the manga, but which is better at presenting the story. The anime has better pacing, better writing, better framing (since animation doesn't have a camera), better music, and a much more consistent visual tone. Don't you agree? Or are you making the argument that the live action is actually better than the anime? Your bringing up a more selective concern about which is more faithful to the manga, but forgetting the basics of which is better at telling the story of the source material.
This comment section is full of people that didn't even bother to watch the video, and it shows...
Finally, some good fucking food.
this video was a BEAST ha, and I think it's one of the best I've made so I hope people tune in :-)
I just thought it was so strange that no one was criticizing it. I'm glad you stepped up to plate.@@TheElectricUnderground
Sorry didn't watch the whole thing but for the Luffy introduction I feel the live adaptation was better than the anime, I just can't seriously imagine random LA luffy popping out of a barrel and punching some randos, it's too.. anime-esque. And the way LA did it.. honestly worked for me, so yeah idk tastes maybe. As for Zoro, I get that you could think he's a villain in his introduction w/ the baroque works but right after he's showing care for the little girl, eating the crushed chocolate rice balls which were probably terrible for her, idk it felt pretty obvious to me he wasn't the villain at this point. I've watched a bunch of non one-piece fans who had no problem with these but as you said I can understand the fact it's easier to grab views by saying the show is great etc. so maybe they're faking to understand (?) can't say for sure.
I think the main issue with Luffy s intro in the LA is not the concept of him being all hyped and talking about his dreams on the boat, but rather the execution of it. First off, just do not have your character monologue to nothing, that s just sort of amature writing. I think the idea was that having him talk to a bird (that they forgot to show in the establishment shot) is kinda funny, but then if you think about it, what does this say about the character if he s talking to birds all day long, it makes him seem crazy ha. So I think they could have done a lot better job with giving him a more legit reason to be monologuing at the start.
@TheElectricUnderground As a counterpoint to that, Luffy literally tries to recruit a f_cking tree in the manga. Also, Luffy *is* insane, so trying to recruit a bird by making a whole speech to it is characterization for Luffy.
why are you trying to justify so much my man, you're wrong with that part. It did work for plenty of us, maybe except you @@TheElectricUnderground
btw it is amateur* , and luffy is exactly the kinda guy who makes conversation with animals and even understands their feelings because of his fruit which is spoiler.
@@TheElectricUndergroundthat's litteraly Luffy tho. Luffy is doing a lot of monologue to nothing in the manga and in the anime.
? What are you on about. Because of his fruit he makes conversations with animals?? I think OP makes very good points, and most of the issue I think is exacerbated due to piss poor acting from Inaki. I could barely watch episode one due to cringe interactions between Shanks/kid luffy and luffy and koby. @@halfmightu2103
I would love to see Vampire Hunter D and Fist of the Northstar adapted to live action. I know there's a FOTNS live action western-made film but that one is pretty old and not made in a time like today where anime is mainstream on a worldwide scale. There was no real anticipation for that movie.
There was a fist of the North Star live action adaptation in the 90’s and it’s hilariously bad.
Hmmm, who would play D?
I was thinking Timothée Chalamet. He could pull off the sort of effeminate handsomeness that D has.
OMG I love Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, possibly my favorite anime ever. So I agree I'd love to see that show done in live action, but man they would need to NAIL the visuals to make that work, otherwise you can guarantee I'll be very cranky about it ha.
@TheElectricUnderground recently i got into the Vampire Hunter D audio books. They are extremely well done . So far ive listened to the first 3 which include the first and second movies. I personally love the first movie.
No, no more...
Just curious , do you read One piece or watch the anime ?
Im 1000% sure he havent
I did! I mentioned it in the review where I watched the live action and the anime back to back to compare them
@@TheElectricUnderground so no manga
@@TheElectricUnderground only fools would take that, and say that the live action is no where near the anime. Hahahaha
This is probably a dumb idea, but wouldn't a live action One Piece that "works" just be Gilligan's Island? Like there is no way to have a live actor use his cartoony rubber arms to punch a guy and have it not look doofy as hell. You would basically have to take out all the the stuff that only works in an animated or illustrated media and turn it into a sitcom or a generic pirate action movie.
Ha yeah it s a smart question because it gets to the heart of the issue of adapting across mediums. If you make a live action show that is solid, unique, and tones down the cartoon elements of the anime, is that even an adaptation anymore? And maybe the best adaptations are just total rewrites of the source material (like the shining) for that reason.
This is pretty much exactly my main criticism. This just isn't a good idea to begin with so it is probably impressive that they even managed to have it be mediocre instead of outright terrible.
@@PM-xc8ooY u copin
@@PM-xc8oo the mihawk ship cut was straight up anime style in live action and worked well.
The cartoon is dark. The entire Arlong ark is from the original. I think the pacing issues are due to Netflix obviously trying to get up to the Alabasta saga as fast as possible, which is when One Piece first cemented itself as a masterpiece. The live action1st season already did nearly the whole East Blue saga which took much longer in the original. I don't mind, because I just want to see Robin lol. I doubt that they'll actually hire a 6'2 sexy Russian female model though. Even though the rest of the main cast are pretty accurate to how Oda envisioned them.
I think you are saying it's dark in a sense of subject matter, and sure it has these elements for sure. But the actual tone of the anime is not dark at all, it's light and bouncy both in terms of actual color choice (lots of bright blues) but also in tone. Think of it this way, there's that song semi-charmed life that is about a dark subject matter (drug addiction) but the actual tone of the song is bright and bouncy (it was a radio hit lol). So I think you are getting what I meant about the anime being bright mixed up. Don't confuse tone of presentation with tone of subject matter.
I completly agree, this anime has never caught my interest. The main character is a dumbed down Goku reference (dumber than Goku super). And to see this ridiculosness in live action was a pain... pain bigger than DB Super or Boruto...
Could you explain what you mean by a confusing introduction?? the show is so simple to understand for normies wtf, and in the manga and anime One Piece switches from funny to serious very quickly
yes sure no problem. So when you are presenting a story, whether anime or live action, every time you establish a scene you need to orient the viewer as to what is going on right? That's what makes a story compelling and easy to follow. In the anime (and it's not just a one piece specific thing, older writing tends to do this better than 2023 writing) breaks and changes in scenes are setup in the scene prior. So in the anime, Nami and luffy are on the same boat (luffy is picked up in a barrel) and then that boat is attacked and the two characters go their seperate ways. So that, when you see nami on the lifeboat later, you know who she is and how she got there. You don't have to re-establish the character, the character was established at the same time as luffy -- this is elegant writing. Condensing down all the establishment material so that we can get into the story faster. The live action writing does not understand this concept. So what the live action does is literally establish every character one at a time. Cold open after cold open. So that the entire first episode of the show (1 whole hour) is just spent establishing the characters. Imagine a movie that had to spend the first hour establishing everything ha. Whereas in the anime, the establishment of characters are written into the story as it progresses. So rather than just cold cutting to zoro randomly fighting a guy, the anime has luffy and kobi talk about zoro, show a little insert of him, and then have the audience prepped for when he appears on screen. In the Live action, because they spent so much time establishing everyone, they had to cut the scene of nami and luffy meeting in the street from the anime. So instead the live action just throws the two together and forces them to act like they have some kind of established history on the spot. It feels artificial. Good writing keeps the hand of the writer under the surface, whereas in the live action it needs to show up from time to time and push events into place ha.
I had a lot of the same opinions watching the show (and it made me feel insane.) I had the same critiques with regards to Luffy and Zoro's acting, too. Personally, I think it might have been interesting and maybe a little more appropriate (for live action) to play Luffy as a little more savvy but spacy - maybe more subtle, who smiles less, but quick to smile regardless. He could have been the type of guy where you never quite know what he's thinking or planning, and instead of coming across as a TOTAL schmuck, people are wondering if he's as dumb as they think. What we get instead is a cast where Nami and Sanji feel like they're playing things very natural, and everybody else is kind of just doing their own thing.
I used to describe it as a 6/10 show but an 8/10 adaptation (because of how low the bar for adaptations are but also how much effort and love was put into remaining faithful to the source material.) I think people tend to turn the show into something better than it is, because of hype or brand loyalty, but I've been current with One Piece since 2006. Relative to other manga, the One Piece manga is kind of a miracle. Relative to other live action shows, One Piece Live Action just feels like a somewhat limp Netflix show with the edges sanded off.
es
7/10 as an anime/one piece fan
9/10 as overall own show
8/10 for me ...
I thought Luffy's child actor was the best actor in the show, maybe losing to Nami. He had a lot more energy and emotion than the main cast imo. I agree with a lot of your points in the beginning, tho confusing setups, changed introductions, inconsistent or hasty dialogue ("we do make a great team when they just met"). Despite agreeing though, I still really liked the live action. I love the costumes and makeup for Buggy❤, Mihawk, Kuro, etc everybody looked great. I thought the locations were interesting to look at, the comedy was still there. My biggest gripes are Zoro's introduction and how Nami's Arlong situation was handled, which I thought was stupid. It did inspire me to start watching One Piece again. Haven't seen it since it was first on Toonami after 4kids lost the license.
You're a one piece youtuber now
Ha I'll have a one piece review every 2 years lol! I'll see you all for season 2, when it comes out in 2025.
Just found you. I like your vibes!
I mean for anime to live-action adaptation standard its pretty good. Can't really think is there more decent examples
Yes but I think that bar is too low generally. For example, why not include Sin City into this conversation. Sin city is a graphic novel series with many many overlaps with anime right. And look at how well the film Sin City adapts the material in a both faithful manner, but also in its own individually cool way too. So I would hope that, taking a step back from this whole anime is special conversation, we can all see that Sin City is significantly better than one piece live action ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground
Totally agree bar is low for anime to live action but at least its something to right direction tho of course it doesn't mean "we" shouldn't criticize it and i do agree with your points (not sure about Nami being #2)
Even Japanese have hard time adapting anime to live action(from what i seen) and Sin City is still a comics book. Tho its prob just question of time and right anime in right hands (Alita was pretty decent also i guess)
7:50 you do kind of leave out him standing up for the little girl in the bar and Luffys interaction with him in the yard later. I do agree the anime does this better, but the live action does establish him as a pirate hunter and does showcase his kindness in the bar.
So people who don't agree with your opinion are blind, and in denial?
What gives you the critical authority?
Thank you. I'm a huge fan of One Piece and have been following it for 21 years. The live action is painfully bad.
I thought it wasn’t half bad there’s not a chance the CGI for the Logia type devil fruits for like Crocodile (can turn into literal sand) and Smoker (turns into smoke) next season will look good at all, Netflix can’t possibly throw enough money at the CGI for that.
Oh yeah I m really curious what is going to happen with the show s production in season 2. It s hard to predict but I m interested to see
I suspect Logia powers will look better than you think. They won't have to reinvent the wheel for CGI of natural disaster type fx.
Stick with the alphabetical grading system C being Cool, B maybe Bodaceous, and A is Awesome and that is plussable ad-infinitum (e.g. A+++)
.... D can be Dubious, E then is Experimental, and the F is Foolhardy.... some respectful terms for negatives there?!?
Ive rewatched OPLA this month and just saw ur review and commentary on the show. Thou I get ur criticisms I feel its nitpicking and overanalyzation of the show. It was fun, fast paced, and easy to follow with a heart and respect to the source material. It can never be the anime nor the manga as u know, there is the thing called "budget constraints" The show is not aiming for any awards, it just wanted to show the story of One Piece and be fun...
comparing the luffy actor to david koresh lmao you are a national treasure man
Ha finally an opportunity to compare something on the channel to a cult leader LOL. I really do get those vibes from the way the character is acted though, it's a thin line between shonin hero and outright religious lunatic, that's for sure XD I really am curious what the notes from the director were, because mine would have been, let's take it down a notch Luffy. Your face should match the words.
@@TheElectricUnderground apt observation, funnily enough later on the anime plays with this idea as we see characters who have never met Luffy and what they expect him to be like based on what they've heard (basically a psychopath, logically), pretty much shows how thin this line actually is and how careful a director needs to be while adapting this kind of character to live action
Agree with some of your points, but couldn't finish the video because its so hard to watch. Your write-up in the description is far more engaging than the video itself. Yes, critiquing is nearly dead and nowhere near the art it once was, but this video isn't it either. Terrible lighting, sound, abrupt cuts to random gameplay, its so jarring. A Roger Ebert review was art in itself. He could be shitting on a movie you never watched, but its so well constructed and written, you couldn't stop reading. That's art. Aim for that.
Surprised to hear the Pirate Warriors music. I hopePW5 would combined some of the best mechanics from 3 (reverse combos, dodge offset, the R1 abilities) and PW4 (jumping, customizable skills, and aerial combos.)
With that said, I feel like the One Piece live action was a fun watch with my family, but I'd imagine that one could find a lot of flaws with it if they were to view it more objectively. The youtubers calling it masterpiece are getting too carried away. Maybe it's hype. Maybe they're not too familiar with the source material. Maybe it's surreal to see that a One Piece adaptation was handled better than Cowboy Bebop and Death Note, which should have been the easiest series to adapt. But it's not a master piece. Even when watching it casually, i noticed certain things that were definitely worse than the original. The way Ussop and Sanji were handled was worse than the original. Ussop barely did anything against Kuro. No impressive feat of bravey to make the audience think "despite his flaws, he deserves to be a Straw Hat." All he did was fire his sling shot. And Sanji suffers from similar issues as well. There was barely any build-up to Sanji joining.
The live action felt like the Luffy, Zoro and Nami show. Also, Luffy felt kinda weak in the live action. In the original, Luffy dominated his East Blue fights, and it truly felt that he was outright stronger than all of his opponents in that arc. While one could say that it's good that there's more stakes to Luffy's earlier fights, the original did a good job at establishing how much weaker the East Blue is compared to every other ocean, and it helped with the story in the long run.
Luffy was a big fish in a small pond, and it's only until he stepped outside of the East Blue that he started getting some meaningful losses. Like, Luffy losing and nearly dying to Crocodile multiple times won't feel as impactful because Arlong already stomped Luffy and threw him into the ocean. The audience is already used to seeing Luffy lose and nearly die. Luffy's losses to Crocodile helped establish the strength of the Warlords. But if the audience is already treating Luffy as a jobber, then Crocodile's feats won't be seen as impressive. Luffy's failures as a captain was a theme in Water 7. During Water 7, he lost his ship and two crew members. That caused him to doubt his abilities as a captain and that motivated him to become stronger not for his dream but for the sake of his crew. However, the Live Action covered that plot too early while Zoro was in his coma. So if the Live Action does get to Water 7, it'll feel repetitive because Luffy has already gone through the crisis of "am I a good captain."
There were some things that the Live Action did better though. Like it developed the Garp/Koby/Helmeppo dynamic in lieu of giving screentime to characters like Johnny and Yosaku. One of One Piece's biggest flaws is that it has too many characters, so cutting irrelevant characters in favor of developing more relevant ones at an earlier point of the story was a good call.
Fantastic comment my friend. Yes exactly people are getting carried away by the hype and are misunderstanding a low bar of expectation for actual quality ha. And like I talked about at the start of the vid, our current review ecosystem incentives reviews to push more positive and for reviewers to try to find ways to say things that fans of the show want to hear. Vs if fans didn't have bare minimum expectations, they would be more vocal about the issues of the show.
so I am @5:40 and I am trying to understand what you are saying. character introduction was of course made to show as if he was breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience. he is literally just recapping the logue town episode and saying he wants to be become the king of the pirates. there's critique and there's opinion, critiquing is done after you research and understand the tone, not just say what you feel.
Maybe the rest of the review is good, but your opening is so bad here that I can't continue lol
And what tone is that half? My critique is that the show is struggling to find a consistent tone. The show opens with him monologuing to nothing, setting up that perhaps he is doing a direct address to the camera (emphasized by him looking directly into the camera), but then the scene cuts to show a bird that s on the boat, but they forgot to include the bird in the establishing shot. So you can only conclude that either they forgot the bird in the opening shot (very likely) or he is monologuing to no one, just talking out loud to himself on his boat, and the bird suddenly shows up halfway through the monologue. Either way it s a strange scene, especially compared to the alternative of the anime which shows him heroically bursting out of a Barrell.
Based for using pirate warriors ost
YES nice touch right! I have no idea how good the game itself is, but the OST goes hard, that's for sure.
I agree that it's not perfect so every time people call it a masterpiece I just chuckle. I don't think it is mediocre either, though, because if you compare this with other series that are out now, it is way above them in terms of pacing, story, production, music, and even direction. The acting is subpar, I must admit, but what do you expect from a bunch of newcomers? But how can you call the sets, the musical score, and the action choreography mediocre? As for the wardrobe, they are all taken from the manga. Take that up with Oda because those are his designs, don't blame it on the costume designers. I feel that the majority of your critiques stem from your lack of knowledge of the source material and your own biases and preferences. One Piece is weird and it only gets weirder as the story progresses, so you either get used to it or not. If you can't, then it's not for you.
I'm a One Piece fan of 13 years and a manga reader, so there are some things in this show that I just can't get behind. But even though I have some nitpicks here and there, I think the live action's positive aspects outweigh its negative aspects. I don't think it's because of low expectations because in Asia where I'm from, live action adaptations of manga/anime are common. Most Japanese shows and movies are based on manga/anime/light novels and I've seen both better and worse adaptations than One Piece. In fact, expectations were high in Japan because Oda was basically micro-managing the whole process. It's only in the west that people immediately assume a live action adaptation of an anime would be straight up trash. But then again, most western folks immediately think of Dragon Ball Evolution, Death Note, and Cowboy Bebop when live action adaptations are mentioned. They don't think about the Rurouni Kenshin movies, the original Death Note films, or The Great Teacher Onizuka and Gokusen dramas of the early 2000s. They even fail to realize that Alice in Borderland and Erased, which are very well-done Netflix shows, are based on manga/anime. Then there are movies like Orange and Re-Life which are great anime adaptations as well.
So, no, I don't think One Piece is mediocre. It is actually one of the best in its genre and considering how goofy and zany One Piece is and probably the hardest IP to adapt in live action, yet they actually managed to stay true to the wackiness of that world and retain most of the heart of the source material as well as draw in new fans that started watching the anime or reading the manga after watching the live action, I can't deny them praise for that. But yes, I expect things to be better in the succeeding seasons. I want them to learn from their mistakes and improve upon the stuff that obviously didn't work. One Piece live action is not perfect and could be better, but it's not mid imho.
I would say that compared to what I would consider strong series out right now, like Wednesday, it is a step beneath good. Also if you compare it to what I think is a really good adaptation, like sin city, it still falls very short. Like I said in the vid, the term mediocre fits one piece netflix perfectly, but because scores have become so inflated, that being mediocre = bad, but it is actually meant to mean average to slightly below average, which I think describes this show. Also being of average quality these days is sort of an accomplishment lol, since things out right now are generally streaming shovel ware.
@@TheElectricUnderground This was WAY more enjoyable than Wednesday, which I also liked. Your issue, not one you can fix, is you seem like it just takes WAY more to please you than most people.
The consequence of this is more personal to you than the rest of us. We can walk outside and see a bright sunny day, and you will focus in on the lack of clarity due to some very mild smog. Every taste, smell, nugget of enjoyment in life itself, is more dimmed and degraded for you. It will make it harder to be satisfied in life. It's a terrible curse of nature which I'm grateful I was spared.
@@TheElectricUnderground That's the thing, I never found Wednesday a strong series as you would call it. The story and characters are predictable and lackluster to me. But that's a personal preference because I rather enjoyed the 90's films and the sitcom in the 60's more. The series is far too Wednesday-centric and she was never a favorite of mine. Also, this take is far less weird than its predecessors, more likely toned down for "modern audiences", and it was the weirdness that made me a fan. Then there's the fact that this is a Tim Burton creation, of course it would have better camera work! One Piece, on the other hand, hired directors from Dr. Who and The Witcher fame who never worked on any film before. So your comparison is a little bit unfair, don't you think? As for Sin City, that's a totally different beast as it is a big production film directed by Robert Rodriguez, not to mention that it is based on an adult graphic novel by Frank Miller so it has a much darker tone that's completely different from that of a shonen manga like One Piece which is aimed at young adults. The graphic novel is dark, gritty, and violent, and the movie was stylistically shot to match the artwork and vibe of the comics, and it works for the most part because you can tell from the get-go that the scenes are basically panels from the comics. But for some people, it was jarring and off-putting and the scenes looked too dark, dull, and dreary. I know some non-comic book readers who were put off by it. See, this is what I was getting at, it's all about personal preferences, this is just your subjective view because I feel you went into this with a specific tone, look, writing, and direction in mind. Kubrick? Seriously? This is a fantasy show on a streaming platform starring virtually unknown actors, lesser known directors, and showrunners who don't have impressive resumes and you compare it with Kubrick, Burton, and Rodriguez? If you truly want to compare it with something, compare it with the live action adaptations of manga/anime like the ones I mentioned earlier or even just the superhero shows on Disney and CW. If you seriously wanted to critique something, you should've mentioned the positives but you didn't even talk about the other aspects of the show like the sets or musical score and its strong suits. It's like you specifically ignored them and only focused on the things you didn't like. That's not how critiquing works and no, praising one or two actors is not enough to even justify your opinion that it's mediocre because if that's the only thing you liked about it, then the series would be way below mid and closer to terrible for you.
@@erianiviel8871are we comparing results or efforts? Because saying that it looks worse than another series because the director is a worse director doesn’t make it better. That’s like saying it’s unfair to compare The Room with Barry Lyndon because Tommy Wiseau is a way worse director than Kubrick. Well, duh, of course, that’s why The Room is a worse movie.
15:00 that’s the route that they should’ve gone down. It could’ve had a darker and moodier feel, but this actor does such a corny job of playing Luffy, who’s an already cornball character.
1:11 damn you basically explained minimme video on gits ps2 without actually talking about him lol
Insanely off topic but mark I think you should try the game dusk.
I actually have! you know I wasn't that thrilled with it. i like boomer shooters but I don't think it brings the heat enough.
I like the movement mechanics but it needs a sequel for sure.
Uh take a moment back to the intro my guy the intro sets up that this world is full of greedy people willing to step over others for gold. Meaning that there is a gray line being drawn. Each person there with different expectations and outlooks on Gold Roger's words of, wealth Fame and Power. The vice Admiral Garp was not in this part of the anime but it actually inhances that part with his naive sense of justice that he carries all the way up to letting his grandson go. The more you tighten your grip the more they slip through your fingers kinda justice. Oda is a star wars fan through and through.😂
Luffy monologuing talking about his dream is his positive outlook that sets up what he wants. Sure I'll give you on the bird part because you really can't see the news coo seagull from an above shot, until it focuses in on it which it IS there but it's too dark gray to be spotted from an overhead shot.
See as a one piece fan I can spot why they opened up like this. Because Luffy actually did set out in a small rowboat in the anime. The writers threw that part in because they knew the source material and ARE caught up. So you can see their bias seeping into their work when they throw us manga and anime fans a bone. (😂heh inside joke)
Like wise with Zoro's introduction it set up a secret organization offering new hire to a skilled and deadly swordsman with recognition and reputation. Him taking out Mr. 7 means that he has done this before and shows he unaligned himself with anyone up to this point. To add to this Zoro has taken out people before Mr. 7 on his own. Mr 7's dialogue talking about the deserted island Sixis is a reference from a chapter story Oda did in the manga so the island itself is an easter egg. See Oda makes sure that the world of One piece is BIGGER than the characters and most if not all of Oda's characters have a history. In the anime we learn through others of what Zoro did to wind up on that cross well here it's right up front showing his appreciation for food. Both scenes are quite different that's true but both show an appreciation to a little girl showing kindness. Bringing Mr.7's body is physical proof of his bounty and shells town is a marine base city. Do I think he should have turned in his bounty first? Sure, but the scene does more than saying he's a killer. Like I said about the food the first thing he says is he wants a drink, establishing that he's a drinker. Which aligns with his character from the anime and manga.
I'm not sure how this applies to any of the critiques I lay out in my video ha. I very much understood this aspect of the story, it still doesn't excuse all the issues with the writing, production, camerawork, acting, costume design, and directing.
I don’t have time to explain myself but I feel your critique has many valid points but overall I find it pedantic, superficial, and lackluster.
Alrighty ha, so basically you agree with what I say but hate my personality lol. I think you are mostly feeding off the tone of the comments section, where it s open season on attacking me personally.
@@TheElectricUnderground no I’m just trying to not be a dick and give you an olive branch. I agreed that mediocrity is hard to critique. I’m saying you critique is taking things out of context and is not very good, but is understandable because you lack the full context of the show so from your perspective I can see why you have the opinion that you do. I’m saying that you are missing context and you argument is a bad-faith one
@@TheElectricUnderground personally I have nothing against you and you have cool stoic personality which I do like
@@wideeyewanderer1785
out of context lol
3:30 people actually think like that? That’s a despicable waste of time
I read a bunch of the manga like 15 years ago, but all the negative feedback in the comments has me interested...
I'm gonna watch this and see where I stand! I'll come back with my own thoughts in a few weeks.
as a music reviewer, i agree 100%
exactly my dude! This comment section is pretty mad at my vid lol, but I really hope that people out there can realize that there is a substantial difference between art/media that is great and art/media that is just passable or enjoyable. Taking the tunnel vision away from people's automatically low standards, could can fans in all fairness compare the quality of this show to actual great adaptations like the LOTR films or Sin City.
one of the best channel online
Man my taste in gaming is too fucked and I feel bad to say "something is good" idk
Never watched the anime, I enjoyed the show! I think its above average - and thats something rare this days.
Yeah ha, it is sad how true that is. Still I think the series has a lot of room to improve, so I m really curious if season 2 will step things up even more. As season 1 finds its grove mostly during the later EPS, so the season ends on a high note, helping people forget how rough the early eps are ha
This is a problem with most anime watchers only.
It’s just as bad as the endless Japanese live-action adaptations of manga / anime.
What lacked for me the most was the unconvincing or much less convincing performances by the characters. The actors are a step down from the drawings in ways that you really don't want to mess up.
I was never one for live action anime. Cartoons > actors
I think live action can be done well, for example sin city. But since one piece is this big established franchise, it has this nice baked in audience that will tune in, regardless of the quality ha. Fans want to like it, it's their default position. So if the live action has any merit to it, it's gonna get that extra boost from being mid to being amazing ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground I'm definitely a one piece fan. I love it. Both the manga and anime. I wouldn't consider sin city as a live action movie, or live action OVA, original video animation, such as one piece. It is good though. But anime characters typically don't transfer over well to the movie screen with real actors as there's a disconnect between the realism provided by the cartoon compared to the effect these over the top powers are displayed by lacking cgi. I'm not subbed to netflix right now and haven't seen the one piece live action serie yet though so it's all just speculation. It's nice for Oda to get a big paycheck though, a friend told me today it cost more than game of thrones episodes to make these one piece ones.
I do fully agree, that the show heavily benefits from people being fond of One Piece. I certainly can't pretend that I have an objective lense at this production. There is a lot of emotion attached to seeing these characters, knowing where they are going and what they are about. And I do think the live action show relies on that purposfully. Yet to be fair, rewatching the anime it is the same. I am in love with what this will become, but it is not yet there. I'm not sure I could talk to someone who has never touched One Piece and tell them to go watch the first 10 episodes of the anime, it will be a great time. The same with this remake. Because I think at this point it is not there yet. So I am hopeful. Especially since many of your concerns don't resonate with me, and I already witnessed a lot that I want to see developed further.
the first 10 episodes of the anime are way better than the live-action adaptation though. Better context for characters, setup. The live-action version of the same story material is all over the place.
Zoro is the bounty hunter..he kills pirate and bring their body to marine base for bounty.. Thats his bread and butter before joining luffy.. i liked zoro introduction in la more than the manga..this incident also depicted in the manga.
Yes but that doesn't make it well done in the Live action. Just because a scene exists in the manga, doesn't give that scene a blank check to be placed wherever in the live action ha. Scenes are placed in the order that they are for a reason, sequencing and context matters with writing. Imagine dragon ball z just started with a cold cut to goku fighting vegeta as the first episode. An amazing epic fight right, but the reason why that fight is so epic and amazing is because of the season long build up towards it. Going right to action without context is trendy, but it doesn't make the scene compelling or well placed. The anime's method of bringing zoro in is much more effective because you are given context into who he is by the other characters so that when you finally see him on screen tied to the cross, the scene has meaning.
@@TheElectricUnderground I disagree .Zoro is a bounty hunter..so his introduction should be like a bounty hunter badass..not some punny stuck in a pole to be saved by luffy. manga used back story to back track zoro but live action did in in the face real time.. far better than the manga introduction. Oda himself know it and approved the change.
@@TheElectricUnderground Also zoro paying respect to quina and invited by borouko works organization is such a great for shadow to what to come. live action had many things i don't like but this is one of the welcome change for me.
It is definately between GOOD and VERY GOOD. It has potential to achieve GREAT.
Meh, One Píece was awesome
It s hard for me to go far as to say it was awesome ha, but it did seem to be trending in a better direction by the end at least.
I guess this is why it's been so hard to criticize Tears Of The Kingdom. Claiming it's anything less than a masterpiece is blasphemy, suggesting ways it could be better is "thinking you are better than Nintendo designers", any criticisms fans happen to agree with are meaningless nitpicks, etc.
People don't care for critical analysis, they want rants and validation.
"if Bayonetta 3 is a 10, what is Elden Ring?"
First of all, excellent point, this sentence says a lot
Second, like a friggin 17 dude, Bayo 3 broke my heart. They had so much potential and they squandered 80% of it on the dumb demon mechanic and a half baked character. I like Viola in concept and I hear she's better after a few patches, but she was pretty shit to play when I played the game.
Yes exactly ha, the hype of that game has finally died down and people are finally seeing how much of a lame release bayo 3 was. It fits the mediocre theme perfectly ha.
This is a great and accurate take
Well said, good to see some actual critique instead of of just sucking it off.
I thought it was bad though, not just mediocre
I think a lot of people that like it are people that have seen the anime/manga, and they already have in their brains the information how how or why things are the way they are, and they are to dumb to notice when the live actions leaves out this stuff or does it wrong. Like they are just filling in the blanks for themselves
i think you didn't understand the previous episode where Alvida is looking for the name of Zoro who is a pirate hunter, then his captured pirate said he is in Sixis Island, then when Zoro first appeared mentioned context below "Sixis island."
Right but that's not good writing, that's extremely unclear. Compare that to the anime, which actually has visuals inserted when characters are talking about zoro, so that when they mention him in dialogue you know what he looks like and what to expect. Having characters ramble off a bunch of offhanded lore and then expecting the audience to zero in on it is not a strong way to introduce characters ha. Especially when the scene is basically pointless other than to show off zoro killing a guy. This is the difference between something that is well made and something that is mediocre. Sure it functions, but it's not elegant.
@@TheElectricUnderground yeah but for me as one of the oldest fan it's ok for me as long the storyline of the strawhat crew from the original still intact without changing the whole story, and some new viewers appreciated it and I think Oda approved the script, i just get little disappointed only because they don't cast some characters like hatchi.
Bro one piece is the worst anime i have seen in the entirety of anime ... Even after 300 chapter... Whenever i watch this show i fell asleep immediately... 😢
Worst anime? You are just a hater. There so many animes worse than One Piece. Mostly todays shonen anime are so cliche and isekai are just repeated plot.
I think the child luffy actor was better than the real luffy actor.
I can't stand this shows color grading. Everything has a yellow tint and lacks color
15:19 I disagree with the clothes and visual tone.
One Piece was never a period piece. It is heavily inspired by typical seafaring adventures, but it is also OUT THERE in character appearances, mixing styles wildly. Even in the first few episodes you can see that townfolks look like contemporary japanese small town dwellers like in every other anime, while the pirates and bandits have much more going on. Personally I really had none of your issues with looking at background characters, even your examples confuse me. I guess we expect very different things from this show and I imagine my experience with at least 200 episodes informs me of why these creative decision are in line with the source material.
About the tone , I fully agree, they really lean into the dark, threatening and dangerous elements this adventure always had. Which is a different creative choice then the anima made. But One Piece is not only cheerful, it's always this metaphorical downwards spiral of starting with a blue sky, then clouds on the horizon, rain starting up, turning into a storm, super tense, very high stakes, everyone is on edge and then a liberating passionate punch through the cloud ceiling, dispersing the clouds and we're in the clear again. So seeing everything be grimy, dirty, dark and ugly makes sense to me at least, it's just how things in reality often look.
But the show needs these light hearted moments of sitting on the ship bow, of Luffy acting like everything is well, it's just part of the DNA of One Piece. To me this actually ties everything back together.
I'm reading Inuyasha at the moment 👍
23:00 why is it harder to find child actors these days?
He’s talking to the bird, it doesn’t appear immediately Bessie’s it’s a reveal.
Sorry dude but your takes on this are bad. You just want to be a purist, and your views don’t speak for the fan base. Sorry. You’re just closed minded.
Here's the problem,if u want to compare it go to the manga,the anime chopped up the source material to begin with,this is back in the day when the author don't get no respect yet from toei, don't want to? then stay blind for the review
Please if you want to do a review only do 2,long fans that know in and out,and blind review with no context from source material(i feel like this is more genuine)
Don't just compare it side by side it came out as just nitpicking,thing that got cut mixed or added need context from future content to justify itself
God i kept watching and the nitpicking is crazy,they make alot of the justification in the show itself,alot of the points are invalid
I think you are misunderstanding my critique though. I am not judging the live action s writing based on how faithful it is to the source material of the manga. That s not the point. The point is to compare the quality of the writing and actual performances of the live action to the anime because the anime is an example of a well done version in the same medium. So it is a strong point of comparison. Also your doing the classic fan option select of saying that the live action adaptation has no responsibility to measure up to the original source material, while not acknowledging how much it borrows from and relies on the source material.
@@TheElectricUnderground im still watching and im fine with the later part of the video because you are not comparing it to the anime every time,and yeah you got a point
But that character introduction,theme,wardrobe part are just painful to hear
Zoro and nami introduction are better in live action
Alvida looking for zoro the bounty hunter there's your context for who he is,also show don't tell is better,he's killing mr7 is better than zoro telling luffy what happen with a flashback(that will be jarring)
Nami introduction is also better here, it's more accurate and she showed up when she is relevant not doing random stuff in the background that have no pay off in the anime
Luffy introduction in the manga clears both anime and live action,but him pop out out of barrel with no context is bad tho you said it yourself in zoro part
For theme and wardrobe again you compare it to the anime,the live action already have it itself,but you just can't stop comparing
God it goes back to comparing it to the anime in the camera work,stop it
What a shit show,the first 2 episodes is literally the best section of the show,i bet here is where you stop comparing it to the anime of course it gets better
I cant believe i found a person for the sake of criticism he watch back to back anime and live action of OP 🤔 wow
ha I suffer for art. Actually after I got out of the first few episodes of both shows, the process was pretty fun.
I liked your review! I agree with a lot, but I also disagree with a lot :) That is only natural tho. I know the source material extremely well, and I think you are missing some context there while critiquing it sometimes. Because you are trying to talk about it in relation to the source material a lot. I think this is a bit of a mistake, because you are missing some key elements there. You are on the mark with most of it tho. I like your general approach to reviewing something. It's better than 99% of other people I have seen out there. Big thumbs up
Hey glad you liked my review! and sure we all aren't going to agree on everything :-) that being said, i think a lot of anime fans in the comments are misunderstanding what I'm actually evaluating somewhat. Because like you are saying here about source material. I don't view the anime as "source material" in the same sense that anime fans do. I am not watching the live action and comparing it to the anime from the mindset of, ok I want these to match up 1 to 1. That's not the point. What I am doing is comparing the two pieces of writing and art independently. So when i say the character introductions are worse in the live action, i don't mean this from the mindset of the character introductions in the anime are default better. I am instead looking at the actual writing elements and compositional elements of both works and comparing them. So in a lot of cases the anime is better not because it's more faithful or anything like that, it's simply better because it is more effectively presenting the story. The visual design, the framing of the scenes (since animation doesn't have a camera) the writing, the music, and production quality, all the important things that make a show good the anime does better. But, it doesn't have to be the anime as a source of comparison, I could also compare One Piece live action to another live action show like Wednesday, and that show is also better with these elements than one piece live action. So i do not subscribe to this whole fandom first style of review. In fact I think fandom often blinds legacy viewers and critics to the weaker elements of a show. Like if you ask dragon ball z fans about the saiyan arc, they will mostly say that this arc of the show is perfect. But then you compare that arc to another anime, like ghost in the shell, and can you still say the arc doesn't have issues?
I understand this. But in that same vein. The story of One piece is so long. That you cannot fully understand some of the decisions that the Live action writers make. They are actually based around canon material that happens waaaaaay later in the story. So this is what I meant when I'm saying you are missing some of the context of the decisions they are making in the writing sometimes. It's not all the time off course. But I noticed a few times this happened. The live action will have to be at a crazy pace with the setup of the world. This is one of the limitations. Therefore they do extra world building setup for the future.@@TheElectricUnderground
One piece anime is build of off cold opening that y won't get explained until hundreds of episodes later
Not in these initial batches of episodes. The show starts strong at least ha. Maybe down the line it gets sloppy with the writing, but at least at the start it has a strong narrative thread and maintains it without many breaks. Even the flashback scenes have nice introductory visuals that transition into the memory of the characters, rather than hard cutting.