unamused-kookaburra · 1 year ago
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I can't remember the last time I spent a whole day glued to the tv watching a show all the way through but opla is that bitch.
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saba-ody · 1 year ago
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i watched the first episode of OPLA! and i really enjoyed it!! this is gonna be a long post and there will be SPOILERS for just the first episode of netflix's one piece.
here's what i thought:
-really love the core cast. inaki is a GREAT luffy. he really captures how luffy is both childish and rude and he SELLS it.
-mackenyu is fantastic as Zoro. he has some of the best fight choreography from what ive seen so far.
-i am in love with emily rudd as nami. she is fucjing perfect and i love that they gave her some badass shit to do in the first episode
-koby was great!! i thought he was fun and likable and i sure as fuck hope this show goes on long enough for his return in post-enias lobby.
-fucking HELMEPPO stole the show. he was funny and entertaining to watch and he had some of the sillier bits of the episode. i like that they chose to make him have long hair that gets cut by zoro. also his whole booty cheeks were out while flexing in the mirror with zoro's swords and i thought that was funny.
-they managed to make axe-hand morgan fun! i think he's one of the less entertaining early OP villains but I thought they did a good job with him!!
-i really liked shanks' appearance in this episode. the scenes with him and young luffy hit exactly like they were supposed to!!
-alvida was really fun to watch too!! i'm excited to see how they adapt her later appearances.
-okok i gotta talk about the fight choreography again. this shit was GOOD. i mean actually good. i feel like in a lot of shows in the recent past, fight choreo has gotten.. lazy? what i mean is that in this show the hits FEEL like they're hitting. and that is a compliment of the highest regard. luffy's fighting style is well adapted (and i will GET to his devil fruit in a moment) zoro's 3 sword style was both well choreographed and utilized within the scenes it was needed. i love how they play with it a little bit, not having him use all three until the climax of the episode. NAMI has some fantastic shit with her staff and i'm genuinely so glad they dont have her basically sidelined until alabasta like they do in the manga. alvida and morgan both have their weapons have true weight that you can feel to them and i'm so glad. this was the thing i was the most concerned for and its safe to say i'm happy with it.
-luffy's gum gum fruit and the cgi used for it was surprisingly good!! going into live action with a main character made of rubber is one of the most difficult things CG artists have to deal with and i hope they know how fucking good rhey did. body stretching hasn't ever looked this good.
-i liked garps inclusion and i really hope they don't reveal that he's related to luffy until way later. i get the feeling they might since he's there and i think he's going to still be important throughout the season.
-i LOVE. and i mean LOVEEEEEEEEEE that they are already setting up for season 2 mentioning baroque works so much. that shit is fucking AWESOME and i couldn't be happier that they're going ahead and foreshadowing shit for later that is amazing and i'm so damn happy.
-the setwork and costume design are FANTASTIC. the atmosphere becomes amazing because of these two things in conjunction and its fucking great. you absolutely are pulled into the world and its amazingly believeable. everything feels real. the locals, the outfits, really theres some great shit in here so far and i am DAMN excited to see more. they truly went all out and it feels fantastic.
-this show is really funny. not exactly in the way that the anime is, but in a way that works a lot better for this medium. zoro, especially, i thought they really nailed on the head. he's funny!! and luffy is too!! so is nami!! they're all really funny and entertaining to watch and i just cant believe this show exists at all.
-buggy showed up and i'm so excited to see more of him. what a god of a man. he is. kinda bad asf too.
i have one or two critiques too!!
-i liked the original way of making it known that koby wasnt working with luffy and i think its a bit lame the rest of the marines aren't shown to be glad that morgan's gone.
-theres some camera work in this show that just seems,... off? theres these closeups with a shitton of gaussian blur and it just looks. unprofessional to say the least. luckily, its not completely like this (which is kinda what i thought the show would look like at first, which had a bit of apprehension in me.)
-i just realized they didnt show shanks' arm being cut off by the sea monster. i'm sure they will but they didnt here. i sure hope they do that shits an iconic scene.
-uh. that was pretty much it. netflix was being stupid as shit for me so i didnt really get hd quality but i was watching it on netflix party w my girlfriend and it was just so exciting that i didnt really care. but fuck netflix btw.
so, pretty much, you might get the jist that i'm enjoying this show, and i am!! its honestly hitting all the marks i was hoping it would and a lot more. i love that its a show that knows what its doing. it doesnt feel lost. it feels like its confident in itself and its production. i really hope its a hit, and i sure as fuck HOPE netflix doesnt drop it if it doesnf make a gazillion dollars. i'm not religious but i'll pray for that.
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3hams · 1 year ago
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My thoughts on One Piece live action…
PROS
The casting is fantastic. Every actor put their all into it. If I had problems with characters, it was the writing and not the performances.
Favs:
Taz Skylar as Sanji. Very charming. Cooler than his dorky manga counterpoint, but not too much. That smile is killer and the way he approached the womanizing aspect was perfection. Funny but not gross.
Jeff Ward as Buggy. Everyone is right, he killed it. Hard to do an evil(ish) clown and not bring up thoughts of the Joker. He somehow managed it.
Steven John Ward as Mihawk. I confess, I am utterly uninterested in the anime and manga Mihawk, but this guy played him like a more butch Vincent Price with his tits out. It’s the kind of drama and scale I look for in an OP character. Thoroughly enjoyed him.
Emily Rudd as Nami. My absolute favorite by far. She is an incredible Nami and gave the show direction and emotional depth. Loved her dynamic with all of the crew. Her thieving was fun to watch. So so good.
Even some of the minor characters stood out to me. Lucky Roux and Yasopp. Nojiko. Kaya.
The sets are amazing. They really built their own world. Incredibly artistry there. The music was as epic and pirate-y as it needed to be. I loved seeing all kinds of people in the main cast and the extras. Racial diversity but also nationality and body type.
THE FIGHTS. Wow, the choreography was breathtaking. Of course, Mackenyu kills it as Zoro, but they also did a fantastic job on Luffy’s CG rubber moves and Nami’s staff fighting. I had a great time watching every brawl. They may have been my favorite parts of the show which is weird for me.
I was expecting the fish men to be cheesy and not scary, but they looked and sounded great actually.
CONS
Why this pacing? I was bored stiff during the unnecessary marine storyline and then they go and rush other stories meant to build on the camaraderie of our main cast and underline OP’s theme of freedom. The manga and anime regularly make me weep, but I was fairly unmoved by the sappy stuff here. It wasn’t earned.
Usopp got shafted. I get that they had to tone him down, but he disappeared for me. He wasn’t even the starring character in his own arc. He’s my favorite, so I was bummed despite the great acting.
Confused by some of the wig and makeup choices. Stylized and cartoony isn’t a bad approach, but some of these wigs would be mocked for crustiness at a local drag show. You can do a wacky orange but make it look like nice hair. Mihawk’s contacts looked like painted plastic to me. Why did they draw a random line of eyeliner on Sham’s nose?
Some of the camera angles were overdone and made me think of 90s fantasy shows like Xena and Hercules. All the low angles and fish lens.
Shanks and Garp lost most of their charm. Again, not because of the acting, but because they wrote the humor out of them. Shanks is scary because he covers his power with that sardonic goofiness. Garp is a senile doofus to hide his strength and threat to authority. The contrast is where the sweet stuff lies.
Like most shows these days, boy was this show dark. Not metaphorically. I could not see many scenes very well with my mid-thirties eyeballs.
MIXED FEELINGS ZONE
Inaki is so sweet and cute as Luffy. He’s got his enthusiasm and his love for his people down. But he’s more naive than stupid and way more considerate than manga Luffy who never second guesses his decisions. I like them both, but they feel totally different to me. Live action Luffy is gonna be a lovable but slightly more traditional hero than my boy in the manga.
Deadpan Zoro is a lot of fun, but I do wish he were less cool and laughed more. Again, manga and live action Zoro are both great, just different. You can tell one of the show runners is gaga over Zoro. He got a lot of development.
CONCLUSION
I liked it, but didn’t love it. Not much desire to watch it again save for maybe a few scenes.
However, I definitely want it to keep going.
It has so much potential, and they can develop these characters more over time. A first season is often tough. Also, Alabasta is an excellent arc to adapt. It’s self-contained, lots of interesting enemies. Live action Crocodile has the potential to be amazing. And Robin!!
I hope this strike gets settled in favor of the workers and Netflix invests in more of the show. The roots are decent and can grow into something great. Please watch it to help that happen.
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