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Reviews
One Piece (2023)
From the Perspective of a LONG time One Piece fan
Welp, I climbed aboard with all my hopes and dreams andddd the Netflix live adaptation of One Piece is a mixed bag if you're a fan of the series looking for a faithful adaptation of the manga. I wasn't expecting it to be perfect by any means. Even the anime takes significant creative liberty with the source material. I have read the manga week to week since the beginning of the Alabasta arc, which amounts to about twenty years or so. I've read the chapter the moment it drops every week. I have all the volumes. I've participated in online discussion everywhere from ArlongPark forums to reddit for years. I have more merch than any one person should have. Therefore I'm going to be inherently more particular about a series that has been such a big part of my life and anyone should take the following with a grain of salt, especially if you're new to One Piece. It's entirely possible if this is your first time consuming One Piece in any way, you'll have a great time since even a skewed version of One Piece is still great because the story itself is incredible. So, how is it?
I'll start with the positives. The backgrounds are way better than I expected. Most of them, with a few exceptions, look fantastic. It's surreal seeing East Blue come to life. The actors are clearly trying their best and if anyone followed the production updates, they did a lot to prepare for their roles. Some of the live action characters nailed their looks too, especially random characters like Genzo. They also made sure to include and emphasize a lot of the fan favorite moments like the "Help me" scene and "the walk." The biggest positive is still the story. The base characters and plot of One Piece are its biggest strengths and it only gets better from after where this adaptation leaves off.
Unfortunately, for me, there's a lot more noticeable negatives. The CGI is pretty horrid. They were tasked with a tough ask with animating a live action, rubber boy, but it's pretty jarring and could have been better. The acting and/or dialogue is just very off and doesn't quite capture the feel of One Piece. As I said, the actors clearly gave it their all, but it feels very strange having Luffy and Zoro make Marvel-esque quips to each other. I'm not sure if they felt like Western audiences wouldn't like the regular One Piece humor, but that's part of what makes the series special and it's just ruined here. Luffy is also FAR too self-aware. I know the "I'm sensing some tension" line from the trailer was memed a lot in pre-release and there's a lot of that here. There's a lot of Luffy lines that take away from his unique character and turn him more or less into a standard protagonist. Although a lot of characters look great. Some....do not. Arlong looks very bizarre. Again, a tough ask to bring him to life, but he looks sort of ridiculous. Nami's wig is... interesting. Another problem is a lot of parts from the plot are just cut entirely. I know they only have eight episodes and wanted to cover a lot of the series, but there's quite a lot of important-ish moments just missing.
I don't want to rag on the show too much, because unlike many other anime adaptations (cough Death Note, Dragonball, etc.), an effort was clearly made here. It certainly isn't unwatchable or horrible by any means. Some of it is One Piece is just next to impossible to adapt to live action. Some of it is some things were just cut to fit the time or budget allotted. Some of it was probably the studio forcing them to include Marvel type humor and other things that would have mainstream appeal. I can't pretend like the show is garbage, but I also can't pretend like it's perfect. I have literally no idea how this will be received by fans or newcomers to the series. As I mentioned earlier, I can see people who are not existing fans having a really good time with this since they don't know anything else when it comes to the series. It's possible it finds a new audience and does pretty well. It's also possible some existing fans enjoy it even though it's a watered down version just because it's a different medium. I'm not here to knock anyone who enjoyed it. I'm sure people will be mad at the average review who are invested in it.
However, if I'm giving it an honest review, this is really hard to rate. I feel like there's more bad than good, but given the low bar of live action anime adaptations, I'm just going to split the difference and call it 5/10. The effort is there, but a lot about it just doesn't work to capture the magic of the series. My sincerest advice for anyone that watched this or is interested in watching this is to read the manga. You can get a Shonen Jump subscription for dirt cheap and read it all. I've converted many people to read the series and every person gets hooked. The story has some of the best characters, world-building, etc. Of any series out there and I'd highly, highly recommend it. Just know this adaptation may not elicit the same excitement and emotions that the manga does. If you're an existing fan regardless of if you share my opinion, an even more negative one, or loved this adaptation, try to remember we're all nakama and want the best for the series even if we don't see eye to eye exactly on every aspect of the live action version.
Star Wars: Visions: Aau's Song (2023)
Do I like this?
I'm honestly conflicted on this one. Every other episode in this season, I have a pretty confident, strong opinion about whether I like it or not. This one, I'm pretty torn. For example, the animation style. I adore the backdrops, but am not sure I like the characters. I enjoy Studio Ghibli and I feel like this may have been somewhat inspired by that type of thing. The characters aren't necessarily designed badly either. It's more the disconcerting way they move with the animation style. Then there's the plot; not much is really going on here, but it is somewhat interesting and unique (up until the end where pretty much the same thing happens as most of these episodes). I like that a jedi manifested in a way other than some combat situation. After some thought, decided I like this one more than I disliked it and can't really pinpoint any specific flaws besides preferential problems. It's a pretty good end to the season, but definitely not the season's highlight.
Star Wars: Visions: The Pit (2023)
Second most entertaining Pit on television behind Parks and Rec
Not since Andy fell into the pit have televisions pits been this relevant. However, this one's less goofy and more emotional. The protagonist does a pretty good job of inspiring the voiceless masses of background characters to do something about their fate. They also do a lot with not many settings. Most of the episode takes place in the pit. I like the use of the pangolin inspired creature to actually impact the plot in a creative way. This one also continues the trend in this season of being pretty dark given the direction of the plot and even the premise itself. My only complaint would be that there is little to no specific character development. It's entirely focused on a group of nameless people getting inspired to better their situation.
Star Wars: Visions: The Bandits of Golak (2023)
An entertaining, Indian inspired Jedi tale
The influences wear their heart on their sleeve with this one. It is kind of jarring to basically see "India, but Star Wars!" on display as it doesn't really feel like they made too much of an effort to differentiate it from real life, especially in the first part of the episode. The younger sibling is also pretty annoying as they refuse to listen and cause a lot of problems. Other than that, there's not much to complain about here. It's fun. The comedy attempted is somewhat successful. The sibling bond is believable. The jedi they use for the fight scene feels unique and powerful. I think they did a pretty good job with this one.
Star Wars: Visions: The Spy Dancer (2023)
Heavy French influence with a semi-interesting twist
I went into this one thinking this is not for me, and to some degree, it isn't. I'm not big on the stage show type entertainment depicted here and thought the premise would bore me. However, I'm glad I didn't skip it as there's some very unique action here that proves to be very entertaining. There's sort of a 2 vs. 2 going on that makes the episode feel more dynamic. For once, the supporting character being told to leave the main character behind for their own safety and ignoring it doesn't feel annoying. There's also a pretty interesting twist. It becomes apparently midway through the episode before they officially reveal it, but it's still fairly engaging.
Star Wars: Visions: Journey to the Dark Head (2023)
Probably the most "anime" episode of the season
This one will likely either be well liked or divisive. I'm not really sure which. I think a lot of people were against the idea of "anime" merging with Star Wars and while most of this series experiments with a lot of styles that stray far from traditional anime, this feels very much like modern anime. You have a style that looks a lot like something such as Solo Leveling. You have a male and female lead with different abilities that cooperate well in battle, but bicker non-stop out of battle. You have crazy combat with multiple types of weapons. If you're a fan of any shonen series, you'll probably like this one. If anime annoys you, this may not be for you.
I happened to like this one a lot and it ties for my favorite in the season. This is also the episode that feels the most "Star Wars" as it delves into the struggle between the dark side and light that we've seen time and time again in the movies and shows in the past.
Star Wars: Visions: In the Stars (2023)
You've seen a version of this before, but it still feels somewhat fresh
Bad people came and polluted our home. We've seen this with Avatar and countless other films and shows. It's not reinventing the wheel. However, there's a lot to like here. This is another dark episode that shockingly delves into actual genocide. (I believe it implies even the two sisters die at the end and turn into stars?) The way they explain what happened on the planet through their unique rock paintings is a very cool touch. The music is good. The infiltration of the factory to get water makes for a pretty good way to drive the plot. It makes the macro problem of pollution feel more focused. Sadly to achieve this plot they have to make the younger sister act in a very annoying way where she ignores the advice of the elder sister repeatedly. Since they only have 15 minutes to tell the story and need to create conflict somehow, I just decided to look past it, but will probably annoy some.
Star Wars: Visions: Screecher's Reach (2023)
I'm not sure who okayed this at Disney, but kudos to you!
This is probably the darkest Star Wars related piece of media you can watch. It's creepy. It's not your traditional happy ending. It's unexpected and intriguing. I especially like how they continually sort of tease the audience with whether or not what we are seeing is reality or an illusion/inner battle.
The ending of sort of forsaking their friends to get out or an average situation to pursue bigger things feels very out of place for Disney, but in a good way. Not every story needs to be some selfless, heroic tale. I also like the supporting character and their dialogue prior to the cave. They don't act betrayed. They understand that people want different things and sometimes paths diverge. They are content even if their life isn't glamorous or amazing, but they recognize that their friend isn't content with that. There's a lot of character development packed into a very short amount of time. This is probably the best episode of the season.
Star Wars: Visions: Sith (2022)
A solid season opener with a pleasant/colorful animation style.
This isn't the best of the season, but it's not the worst. The main character is likable enough. Her droid is extremely likable and probably the best part of the episode. The action is decent. The use of color and music is well thought out and unique. There's enough here to make you curious about the main character's past. The way I judge a lot of these since they are essentially experimental styles and plots is "Would I like to see more of this?" and the answer for this one is yes. How much more, I'm not sure, but there's enough here to keep the audience engaged and curious. It also sets the tone for the rest of the season pretty well.
Star Wars: Visions: I Am Your Mother (2023)
If you like annoying voice actors and Wallace and Gromit, this episode is for you.
In a season ranging from mostly 7/10 to 10/10 episodes, this is the standout for the worst one. I will never understand why people enjoy this animation style, but I will chalk that up to preference.
Sadly, the problems don't end with preferences. The voice acting is atrocious. The "mom is embarrassing, but wait she knows she is, but she's also, like super cool" plotline has been done to death and feels very out of place even in a series experimenting with unique ideas. It's also jarring following the extremely dark tones of the first three episodes. It's nice to have a levity break sometimes, but the levity falls extremely short. It tries to be funny, but fails. It tries to be heart warming, but fails.
Every other episode in the season is worth watching, but this is an easy skip. Not missing out on any entertainment or lore. Don't subject yourself to this one.