Review for One Piece Movie Collection 3

Introduction

With this collection we come to the last of Manga Entertainment’s One Piece movie releases, their final chance to trump the rest of the English speaking world by getting movies seven and nine out before anyone else. Movie 8 has been released by Funimation and Madman, which is why it is the sole film out of all 9 released so far in these collections to have an English dub. You might recall at last October’s MCM Comicon when these films were announced, that Manga said that Movie 8 would also get a standalone Blu-ray release at this time. It now seems as though that we will have to wait until next year, and until then, the DVD in this collection is the only way that UK fans will be able to buy it.


Movie 8 is the one reason I have been dreading this collection. There are three types of spin-off movie from long running anime shows, there’s the filler movie, which creates a new story within that universe which is pure entertainment, but has no lasting impact on the story universe. That’s the sort of One Piece movie we have seen to this point, the six original films, and of course Strong World. There’s also the re-versioning movie, which gives a whole new spin to an established story, along the lines of which The Revolutionary Girl Utena did for the Adolescence of Utena series, and which it seems movie 9 does for One Piece to a degree. The third way is the way that I’m most wary of, the digest movie, a film edited together from the episodes of an existing arc within the show, the way that the Gintama movie did, and which One Piece Movie 8 does here. It all boils down to how much the animation can be improved to make it theatrical quality, and how well the material can be edited, as what works well as a 20 minute episode might not work as part of a 2 hour movie. That said, Movie 8 does adapt the best arc so far in the show, the Alabasta arc.

Introduction: One Piece Movie 7- Mega Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle

Salvaging a treasure chest from a wrecked ship certainly sparks the excitement for imminent wealth, especially for Nami, but what’s inside the box is actually an old woman. That would put a damper on things, but she promises that if the crew of the Going Merry take her home to her island, they will be rewarded with real treasure, the Golden Crown of the King of the Seas. That’s temptation enough for someone who wants to be the king of the pirates.


But they don’t get a warm welcome from Sir Ratchet, ruler of the island, and someone who isn’t best pleased to see his mother ‘prisoner’ of nefarious pirates. And on top of that, the promised treasure turns out to be just rumoured treasure. But clues to that treasure, which Sir Ratchet is also after, are hidden within the lyrics of a local folk song, and when the crew of the Merry turn out to be adept at deciphering those clues, Ratchet begins to reconsider his animosity to the new arrivals.

Conclusion: One Piece Movie 7- Mega Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Castle

It was all going so well with the One Piece movies. From the first to the sixth saw a gradual increase in quality, depth, and originality, and while movie 6 was a radical departure from the One Piece universe, it’s still my favourite of the lot. But movie 7, Mega Mecha Soldier of Karakuri Island is purely disposable nonsense, just ninety minutes of fun with the One Piece cast, with nothing threatening character development or even narrative. It’s pure filler. Rumours of treasure lead our heroes to an island where they have to face a powerful foe, resulting in a significant battle sequence at the film’s climax, followed by a return to the status quo and a happily ever after till the next movie. It’s fun to watch sure enough, but it makes the disappointing choice of taking the characters at their most basic mission statement. Luffy’s a bone-headed idiot who wins regardless, Nami’s after money, Robin’s inscrutable, Sanji’s lusting after anything in a skirt, Zoro’s getting lost, and Chopper’s scared. There’s nothing in their characters beyond these mission statements, and it makes it fun, but uninteresting.


The first half of the movie is pure One Piece goofiness, and I would have discounted the film completely were it not for the reveal in the second half, which pays more than a little homage to Terry Pratchett. That alone bucked it up above average, but threatening to buck it back down again was the introduction of anime boob physics for this movie, complete with comedy kettle drum noise. The animators have a new toy to play with, and Nami’s tits jiggle without warning in this film, bouncing away when there isn’t even any force applied, shattering Newtonian laws in the process. Manga’s subtitling hurts it too, beyond the usual technical problems. The clues in the songs rely a whole lot on puns and wordplay in their solution, but whoever has translated it hasn’t given the slightest thought to making it work in English. Two similar words in Japanese get translated to two completely different words in English, and then the characters groan about the song having a cheesy pun, which patently doesn’t exist for us. Still, this film is just above average, watchable at most.

6/10

Introduction: One Piece Movie 8: The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert

The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert, after a short recap, catches up to Princess Vivi and the crew of the Going Merry after they have arrived back at her home kingdom of Alabasta, only to find that the rains have stopped, the people are revolting, and the king is being made to look like an unfeeling monster. Someone is fomenting this revolution for his own dark purposes, and time’s running out for Vivi, Luffy and the others to stop it. That someone is Crocodile, and he possesses a devil fruit power that stymies even Luffy. When Vivi and the crew get to the capital of Alubarna, they find that the civil war has already started.

Conclusion: One Piece Movie 8: The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert

Onwards to One Piece Movie 8: The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert, according to the menu, or The Desert Princess and the Pirates – Adventures in Alabasta, according to the movie title, or One Piece: Episode of Alabasta: The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert according to the subtitle translation of the English language title on screen. Whatever you might want to call it, this is the eighth One Piece movie, and fans of the TV series have already seen it. This film retells the story of the Alabasta Arc, arguably the best story arc of One Piece, a story that stretched from episode 61 all the way to episode 130. A lot of other things happened on the way, but what’s pertinent is how the crew of the Going Merry encountered the Baroque Works criminal group, and Princess Vivi, who had infiltrated them in order to save her home. You may wonder just how you can fit 70 odd episodes into a two hour movie, and quite frankly you can’t.


This doesn’t work as a standalone movie. The Alabasta arc is the best arc in One Piece, but it takes its time in developing, and there is a whole lot of narrative and plot development to take in. This movie can’t do that, especially at just 90 minutes in length. We get half an hour of hasty preliminaries, leaving out most of the juicy plot, and replacing it with a wodge of exposition setting the story, and a fast forward to Alubarna, before devoting an hour to the climactic action sequence. Worse, the brilliant fights in the series between the Going Merry crew and the members of Baroque Works gets cut down to a highlights package, with the film relying on freeze frame harmonies every few minutes to accentuate the action sequences. It boils down to a load of emotionally weighted scenes without the emotional context.


Where the film does impress is the visuals. This is no simple re-edit of the series, cropped for widescreen presentation. They actually re-animated the whole thing from scratch, and you can’t deny the film gains in terms of epic scope. When Koza’s rebel army attacks Alubarna, it looks like something out of the Lord of the Rings... with sand. Also the action sequences are fantastic to watch, Luffy’s fight against Crocodile is awesome, but it’s a shame that the only audio we get here is stereo, as opposed to 5.1 Surround on the other English language releases, as it just doesn’t do the film justice. The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert may not work by itself as a movie, but as a companion piece to the series, it offers a grander interpretation of the highlights of the story.

5/10

Introduction: One Piece Movie 9: Episode of Chopper + The Miracle Winter Cherry Blossom

Nami’s suddenly come down sick. It coincides with a change of weather, and more difficult conditions, but for the crew of the Thousand Sunny, their navigator’s health is of primary importance. They make it to Drum Island, a snow covered kingdom where pirates are hardly welcome, but they are desperate for help. Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Robin head inland for help, while Zoro and Franky stay with the ship. But the problem is that there is only one, reclusive, cranky, and tight-fisted doctor on the whole island. Actually the real problem is that the reason there’s only one doctor, the former king of Drum Island Wapol, has chosen this moment to return to claim his throne, and he’s brought his noxious brother Mushurru with him. The solution might just lie in the hideous monster rumoured to haunt the snow covered mountains, an ominous beast named Tony Tony Chopper.

Conclusion: One Piece Movie 9: Episode of Chopper + The Miracle Winter Cherry Blossom

If I didn’t like the previous movie, I really shouldn’t have liked this one, after all, and contrary to my previous expectations, this is a barely altered retelling of Chopper’s introduction to the series. I expected it to be wholly re-imagined as a new story, but it’s the same story as before, pushed back in the One Piece chronology past the point where Nico Robin and Franky have joined the crew, and they’ve upgraded to a bigger ship. The Drum Island story that originally introduced Chopper and the ship’s doctor actually took place during the Alabasta story, and Princess Vivi was originally the one who tagged along with Sanji, Luffy and Usopp as they took Nami inland to find the doctor. This time it’s Robin. But the differences are small, the new crewmembers and the new ship, as well as the presence of Wapol’s brother as an added threat. But in every meaningful respect, the story is exactly the same.


I loved this movie though. As I may have previously stated, Tony Tony Chopper is my favourite character in the show, and his origin story, the tale of how he joined Luffy’s crew, is by turns entertaining, and heart-wrenching. I’d defy anyone not to well up at the tragic tale of Chopper and his first mentor Dr Hiruluk. Where this film succeeds is that it’s adapting just 14 episodes, while it gets a more generous two hours to tell its story, so it never feels rushed. And just like the previous film, it’s wholly animated anew.

9/10

Picture

There’s a greater consistency across all three discs, so I’ll look at the technical qualities and issues altogether. The three films all get 1.85:1 anamorphic transfers in native PAL format. The image is clear, sharp and colourful for all three films, and the animation is brought across without significant issue. The character designs may not be quite what you are used to from the TV series, especially movie 7, while as mentioned movie 8 suffers a little too much from freeze-frame harmonies as emotional emphasis. Fortunately the animators lay off the booby-bounce button after movie 7.

Sound

All three movies get DD 2.0 Stereo Japanese with translated English subtitles, while movie 8 also gets DD 2.0 Stereo English (there is no signs only track for this disc though). The sound is disappointing on all three discs, as once again, we have a case of music and sound effects overpowering dialogue to the point of burying it completely. You might think that as it’s all subtitled anyway it doesn’t matter, but the imbalance is still distracting. The first two discs also get egregious layer change pauses in just the wrong places.


Manga’s subtitling is still weak, with some things left un-translated which really should have been. The devil fruits remain Japanese, while Luffy exclaims ‘GOMU GOMU NO’ before attacking. Movie 7 is especially confusing with a tendency to put two people’s dialogue on one line of subtitles if they are speaking in short sentences. Everyone should get their own subtitle caption! This is basic stuff, not rocket science! The theme song to movie 7 isn’t subtitled as there are on screen captions to translate (Manga can’t do subtitles and screen captions simultaneously), but then the disc doesn’t bother translating the final two captions. There are the odd typos in the subtitles, and I might have scratched my head at a couple of translations. It’s all par for the course from Manga Entertainment these days.

In Summary

We come to the end of Manga Entertainment’s coup, the release of the majority of the One Piece movies ahead of the rest of the English speaking world, and this final collection goes out on a spectacular high, with a wonderful, heartfelt story. That it simply retells the Drum Island arc in movie form is no matter. For me, while the Alabasta arc is the best arc in One Piece that I have seen, for pure emotional storytelling The Drum Island arc is my favourite. But that final film’s excellence masks two very mediocre efforts in movies 7 & 8.


It seems pointless complaining about Manga Entertainment’s treatment of the films when there is no other game in town. Since the films switched to native PAL in the last collection, visually they’ve been excellent, but the audio is weak, with the dialogue overpowered, and the subtitling is questionable, and inconsistent with Funimation treatment of the series. Hell, it’s even inconsistent through all nine films that Manga released on their own discs. You don’t have to put up with that for movie 8 though. The Pirates and the Princess of the Desert is the one film that has seen a US and Australian release, hence the existence of an English dub. The US Blu-ray is locked to region A, but both it, and the Region 1 and Region 4 DVDs have 5.1 Surround English and Japanese, and subtitles that are consistent with Funimation’s series releases.


Personally I wouldn’t want that particular film, but I’ve already made a mental note of which films to double dip on, as soon as Funimation get around to dubbing and releasing them in the US.