One Piece Film: Z

Goda strikes again. I can't express in words of how amazing this movie is. All I have to say is go watch it for yourself.

For this review it will be broken down into four parts: Music, Animation, Characters and Story.

Music:
If you watched the trailers, you know that two tracks of Avril Lavigne would be played in the movie but you won't hear that until the credit rolls. First half was "How You Remind Me" and then "Bad Reputation" played after that. The original soundtrack was brilliant. It was different while at the same time maintaining that One Piece feel we all love; high tension ... to melancholy themes that played throughout different scenes.

Animation:
There was a lot of CGI just like Strong World. The action scenes were animated far better than anything I've ever seen in previous One Piece movies or the anime. The angles and camera movements following every scene was done fluidly.

Characters:
The title of the movie is quite self-explanatory. The movie focused on Z, at times even more than the Straw Hat gang. Character Z, also known as Zephyr had such deep story to him and if you love backstories of various characters in One Piece, you'll definitely love Z's. As for our lovable characters, the Straw Hats each got their turns to shine in this movie, however the stronger and prominent fighters such as the Monster Trio(Luffy, Zoro and Sanji) had their own individual opponent to fight. Franky was the next in line after the Monster Trio. Usopp also had good action scenes, but not quite on the same level. Nami and Robin at times were used for fan-service until the climactic battle at the end. Chopper was funnier than ever before, but not entirely important to the story. Brook didn't do a lot in terms of getting into battles, but he had his comedic moments just like Chopper.

Story:
This movie as an entirety was built around the Marine lore and back story. This will have it's drawbacks for some though. The story had lots of explanation regarding the principle themes of the Marines and some characters were basically used strictly just for the sole purpose of providing exposition. To fit the plot in a movie length time span, it was surprisingly well done. This was one huge gripes that I had with Oda's previous project, Strong World was a bit of a let down. With Film Z, I feel that he understood what it took to make a movie that retains the breathtaking aura of One Piece series, and he delivered it.

I would love to talk about just about every scenes in the movie but I want to keep it spoiler-free. If this movie doesn't win major awards in Japan, I will be very surprised. It surely deserves to be nominated in Japanese Academy Awards and win Best Animated Japanese Film Awards or even Best Picture of the Year Awards.

This was probably the best one piece movie (I haven't seen them all though I stopped after movie 6). But even though it was really good in comparison with it's uninteresting predecessors it still had some flows. The story was interesting as a plot but it had some minor problems with the development (some scenes could been cut off like the second batle between Luffy and Z). The good thing is that it had some points of the original anime that we are not seeing now and I at least had miss like the appearance of the admirals especially Kizaru's or the sea ... train. The animation was good old Toei and the fights especially the last one were animated pretty good, The sound well the ending is consisted of two demos from Avrile Lavigne who to tell the truth I'm not a big fan of her. Still I believe they could have just keep the first one as a whole and skip the second because it was out of the anime's atmosphere. The OST's were pretty good but the one who really stood out was the song that Z sings right when the movie starts. Later on Daisuke Ono (the voice actor of Kizaru) also sings it and the result is a real eargasm. Really one of the reasons that I would recommend you to see this movie is only to hear his version of the song XD.The voice actors were almost all pretty good but I didn't like a lot those who were voicing Z's underlings. The new important characters that this movie introduces us is Z and his two underlings. Z was a very well built character I sympathized with him a lot but I can't say the same for his two companions who had very little screen time unfortunately. As for the enjoyment I pretty much enjoyed this film it was way better from the previews one piece films but I believe that if the writers tried a little bit more the movie would be even more awesome. Overall it was a really nice try. I would recommend you to watch this movie in your spare time if you like one piece. It's not something extremely wow but it's not something really bad either.

"I'll give you guys your final training"

So here we go, One Piece Film Z, the newest offering in the One Piece cinematic line. I'll admit One Piece Strong World was kind of underwhelming to me as it didn't contain that many interesting themes in the story. Though, this is not to say it was a bad film, I just felt like more could've been done with it. I've gone on record and said that my favorite of the One Piece movies was movie 6, Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, which ironically is considered the most polarizing of the One Piece movies with it's unique ... art style and surprisingly dark tone plus the fact that it was under the direction of Mamoru Hosoda, the director of Summer Wars and Wolf Children Ame & Yuki. Anyway now we have One Piece Film Z, is it the best One Piece film to date?

The Good:
This story is the first to take place in the New World with the Straw hats continuing their pursuit to fulfill their goals in life. While cruising the vast sea, Luffy and the crew come across a castaway simply named Z, a former marine who's mission in life is to eliminate all the world's Pirates. Here's one of the things I liked about the movie already. Z is a person who's seen a lot in his life and is experienced in what he does. He's a very interesting villain where the more you learn about him, the more you understand why he has so much rage in him. He's a man gone mad and represents the abuse of power in the story here. He doesn't let anything stand in his why and does try to get what he wants. In a way, he's quite an interesting villain. As for other characters, the Strawhats are the same as they normally are, so nothing of note here. I like how this movie reflects more on the villain than the our lead protagonist because honestly at this point I think we know quite enough about the Strawhats. Not to mention, the animation is great as always especially since this is a movie budget we are dealing with here and the sound is pretty nice even if Avril Lavigne's cover of a Nickelback song is the ending credits.

The Bad:
Although, while I do like that the villain is more of the focus here, it sort of create a smaller role for the Straw hats. This is not to say that the Straw hats don't get their screen time, but it feels like that Luffy and the crew could have much more interaction between each other. I'll won't spoil it, but let's just say that something happens to a few of the characters and I would've liked it if they explored more of this conflict as oppose to quickly finding a way to resolve it. Another problem with the film is also the fact that this is for One Piece fans only. One of the things I liked about Movie 6 and Strong World is the fact that there is not many pre-requisites for the both of those films as they stand alone assuming that some people who watch the films might not know much about One Piece. Where with Film Z, there are numerous cameos and characters from the series that make appearances. So if you don't know One Piece then you are going to be lost with the backgrounds of a lot of these characters.

Overall:
One Piece Film Z is a great entry in the film canon. This is what I expected more from Strong World, a One Piece film that covers a lot of themes and parallels. If anything, it creates discussion for a franchise that been all about shounen action. What makes One Piece great in general is the fact that while it is an action shounen, it still has a lot of themes going for it that makes it relatable and that's why I've enjoyed it for so long. I highly recommend One Piece Film Z if you're a fan of the franchise. For everyone else...well, you got a lot of catching up to do. Now if only Hosoda would direct another movie.

One Piece (Movie 12) Film: Z Review


Story (9/10) Great

Film Z's story was great as it is the first movie set in the Shinsekai and it bring a good original story. Due to the similarities shared with One Piece Film: Strong World, this film's canonicity was often subject of discussion. However, Eiichiro Oda himself and, later, Chapter 700 of the manga confirmed that it is not canon. With that being said this can be looked at as the highest tier of non-canon.


Art and Animation (9/10) Great

Some scene were a little iffy and I do think that Strong World is probably still the best ... looking One Piece movie to be animated but this is definitely second. Movie quality is definitely shown during the final fight scenes that Luffy, Zoro and Sanji have.


Sound (10/10) Outstanding

The music and voice acting (English Dub) were both outstanding. But the one thing that stood out the most to me were the sound effects going off during high combat scenes especially the sound that Zed's arm makes right before he hits something with it. It all sounded outstanding to me.


Characters (10/10) Masterpiece

The straw hat is lively and authentic in this movie. It's funny how the first scene with Nami goes straight to her tits and then they make it giggle for you then they introduce Nami. I thought "oh great year another movie where they throw Nami's tits in our face". I was actually surprised and glad when Nami got turned into a young child because she's less annoying in that form and the only fan service they have left is the girl we barely get to see it from Robin! Anyway I also like the fact that we get to see the post-time skipped Straw Hat Crew (at least some of them) show case some of the new stuff they've learnt over the time skip like Franky and his huge robot going in, Chopper in one of his new forms the tiny chubby one, Sanji pulling off his fire move set and so on.


Enjoyment (8/10) Very Good

The movie kept my interest and enjoyment for the most part but I do think that with Luffy and Zed basically having 3 battles (Luffy loosing the first 2) that when the third and final battle happened I would get to see something climatic as fuck (Kind of like the Giant Foot in the Thunder Cloud ending that I got for Movie 10) but I was just a little disappointed that with a post time skipped Luffy with armament haki, I would get to see any Elephant Gun move or Red Hawk the least. Instead we just get armament and a boring fist fight I felt it was a bit anticlimactic. I felt both Strong World and even 3DY2 had more of a satisfying ending to their fights but overall I still enjoyed myself even though I didn't get the ending I wanted.


Overall (9/10) Great
More Specifically (9.20/10) Great

I thought I would be one of those people that would side that Film Z is the best One Piece movie to be made but I'm surprised to say that I on the Team Strong World and understand why it's rated just a little bit higher than Film Z. I have my own reasons one why I feel Strong World is just a bit better but I do wonder why other people think that also, hopefully it's not because Oda wrote it and that's why hopefully there's more than that. But yeah Film Z is still a great movie nonetheless

Oda has BESTOWED A MASTERPIECE ONCE AGAIN!

Characters:
Well mainly the story is based on "Z" Mainly and Of course your friendly neighborhood Mugiwara Crew! The character development in the movie is absolutely brilliant, where they show you the deep ambition of what "Z" is trying to achieve. Also you will get to see how the marines developed after the two year time skip.

Story:
The story plays a major part in this movie where everything is tied together brilliantly and in perfect form, SASUGA ODA-SAN! It mainly focuses on the marine lore which plays a major role in the movie, the sequences of the events that occur in ... the movie are perfectly put together compared to Strong world.

Animation:
The animation in the movie is simply amazing! The fight scenes were something that are out of this world compared to the previous movies and the anime itself, it is very well animated with *cough* FANSERVICU FANSERVICU!

Overall:
I highly recommend this movie to every MUGIWARA FAN! Especially if you loved strong world, because Film Z is without a doubt a better movie with a great story that will keep you hooked!

Thanks for reading my review, hope you enjoyed it! Feedbacks are always welcome :3 PS. NAMI IS MOE!

Once again, another One Piece film finds a way to entertain us all through a simple and intriguing story along with fun and believable characters to enjoy.

The straw hats, as always, are still fun to watch through their actions and interactions with each other, along with their close bonds and goals in life. The writer, Osamu Suzuki, stays true to the characters and story elements that Eiichiro Oda uses in his manga to please all One Piece fans without having to change much.

The antagonist, Z, is a fascinating villain who's backstory is so tragic, that his goals are made believable through his actions ... to help cleanse the New World of all pirates and treachery, which had fell upon him. You can feel sorry for what he's been through and can even relate to his character.

What caught my attention when watching this film was the opening action sequence animated by Toei Animation. While watching it, it felt like I was watching an actual war film with intense action sequences and stunning visuals. After that however, Toei does seem to revert back to its current style of animation it uses in the current One Piece T.V series.

Although while I did enjoy this film, I still had a few issues with it.

When watching it, I felt like the main focus of the story should've been more between the Marines and former admiral Z.

I felt like this was the main conflict of the story and not the Strawhats.

Although the film does try to make the Strawhats want revenge against Z and his crew, it felt too forced in my opinion, and that their conflict could've been resolved in one fight, not two. If they had focused on the original conflict more instead of the Strawhats, I would've liked it more. Not to say that I don't dislike watching the Strawhats, but I felt like they could've taken a break from this story.

Overall, I enjoyed One Piece Film Z. The setting, characters, and story are enjoyable to watch, and the ending is so memorable, you might even shed a tear over it.

The story is still somewhat the same as there’s still the typical “defeated at the beginning then have a comeback at the end” kind of storyline. However, that kind of storyline never gets old and still very effective particularly in action shounen series. But the drama this time is cleaner and more authentic.

Among the long list of the series films, I believe this one has the Navy more involved more than ever so some of the Navy characters are explored particularly Aokiji who’s one of the most popular Navy characters which I personally like. I believe the villain this time can be considered as ... the strongest character who opposes the Great Pirate Age and of course, the Straw Hat Pirates as he’s the one who trained some of the strongest Navy Marines. As a result, more than ever Luffy’s resolve is even more tested. That being said, Luffy is not the type of shounen hero who would save the world for some cliché idealism. He’s the type who would shake the world for the most personal reason of getting back his hat which makes him one of the most admirable shounen protagonists of all time.

What’s always amazing in One Piece’s movies are the leveled –up animation in every film; fights scenes, background, and most particularly the main characters’ designs and outfits which I personally always look forward to every new movie. Luffy’s haki is amazingly animated here.

I strongly believe that the greatest edge of One Piece from its other “two” rivalry is its amazing films which always surpass the greatness of the previous one which are lacking from the other two. This time almost every element is greater than before; characters, drama, animation, fight scenes, and most particularly the story. It always feels like watching a Hollywood film. I just can’t wait for the coming films in the future.

Story(9/10): The story is classical bad guy trying to destroy the world. As a one piece fan myself i really like that they give so much background to the story and why the bad guy is doing what he does.

Sound(9/10): The sound is really good i don't have anything bad to say about it.

Characters(10/10): Characters have (imo) always been the strong side of One Piece they all have such good personality and powers and if u choose to watch this movie u will meet a few new devil fruits and a couple new cool pirates.

Enjoyment(9/10): I really like this movie as i love everything that ... has with one piece to do, but i feel in this movie i missed abit in the fights all the fights were over very quickly and i would've loved to see longer fights (especially at the ending). However this is only a minor "bad" thing and it only pulls it down to a 9/10 overall.

Actually I didn't have any big expectations for this one after watching Strong World. And I was pleasantly surprised, because everything in this movie, starting from intro (minimalistic but very, very enjoyable whatsoever), is great!

- starting with animation, it is very, very decent. Probably the best animated One Piece thing I have seen so far. Up for Zoro, he looks rly rly handsome. Other characters look awesome too (I can even forgive weird shots of Nami's bikini)

- the plot and character development. What surprised me the most here was really well handled anti-hero, Zephyr. Also, we rarely get to see stronger Marines in action ... (e.g. Kizaru) not to mention their development. In this one we could see the story from different points of view, it wasn't just a thing concerning Strawhats. In such moments I see how awesomely detailed One Piece is. Thanks for that, Oda-dono. You brought back my faith which was rather fading away with the extending Dressrosa arc.
Also I can't forget about Aokiji. I wanted to know more about this guy since I first saw him in the series, but, unfortunately, he just had episodes (admittedly, very good ones). He somehow balanced the amount of Luffy's importance in this movie and thus made the movie even more enjoyable (well, I have nothing against Luffy, but him being in the center of attention all the time sometimes gets boring).

- the music. Kouhei Tanaka, ladies and gentlemen. I played the opening sequence for like hundred times hehe (still don't have enough)

To sum up: great thing. I expect no less from the upcoming film GOLD.

Despite being hyped up as one of the best One-piece films, I could only say that Film z was just above average. I always go into movies with tempered expectations, as I have yet to see one that was truly amazing. However, I let my and get ahead itself when I was expecting the best One-Piece movie. I wouldn’t say it was the best movie, as Film Gold was slightly better, and Stampede was even better, but it was a pretty decent film that wasn’t bad as so much it was disappointing.

Probably the best thing Film Z has going for it is its organic ... and great plot for a movie. Starting with an incredible action scene starring Z, Kizaru, and thousands of CG marines engaged in an all-out battle, your first thought is wow, closely followed by, this is our antagonist? Z proceeds to blow up a volcano and use that to escape the island, where he is picked up by the Staw Hats (who found him floating in the sea, after presumably a few days) and heal him, unaware of what he did. When he wakes up, they even build up Z as a good person; overall, as he has this conversation with Luffy about freedom and good people before Luffy lets it spill that they are pirates. Z switches immediately and beats up all the Straw Hats in rage before calling his fleet to bombard the Thousand Sunny and leave them dead.  And while all of this is happening, they turn Nami, Robin, and brook into children, Franky performing a coup de burst last second and saving the crew from annihilation. We then find out that his name is Z, a character who is rupturing three seismic points that would trigger an explosion that would destroy the whole of the New-World, and hates pirates and marines. And then, the show hits the 20 minute mark. It felt like One Piece with the fast-moving plot, interesting buildup, and multiple pieces moving plat the same time. In 20 minutes, it set up a reason why the Navy was involved, a motive for the Straw Hats, and a World threat, and an Interesting Antagonist, amazingly done for such a low budget movie (more on that later).

Like my other One Piece reviews, I always mention the worldbuilding in either its glory or lack thereof, and in this movie, I could only say that it was disappointing. Not to say that the worldbuilding was bad, but it was the average movie setting you would expect. It did nothing to strengthen or build the world (something that a movie doesn’t need to do, but one I expect from One Piece movies), and the only pieces were just plot convenience, as the seismic points were never mentioned in the canon of the story. The islands they went to weren’t super inspired either, just regular towns, filled with mostly regular inventions, no transponder snails, or other One-Piece inventions present. However, it really was the people involved rather than the physical worldbuilding that was present in this movie. Right out of the blue, we meet Aokiji and see that he lost a leg and arm. The marines are more present in the film as they have a personal connection to the villain that doesn’t boil down too, “He big bad. Let’s embarrass ourselves and the Navy.” There was some nice information on the Navy (actually cannon) in the backstory of Z, and we had screen time for some marines that we hadn’t seen In awhile.  While Oda did not confirm the movie as cannon, it was a nice way of spinning worldbuilding and creating some amazing bonds, the backstory with Z being One Piece of cannon. (Spoilers in the next paragraph.)

Z, or later revealed to be Zephyr, was a decent antagonist but nowhere near the movie's saving grace. His backstory boils down to him being a noble person and joining the Marines, but after seeing one of the warlords kill his wife and be let off the hook, he quit the marines and formed his own justice unit. However, this was not before becoming an admiral and training most of the Admirals, Vice Admirals, and captains of the Marines. Now I guess the biggest problem with his character arc was that it wasn’t given adequate time to develop in a believable way. And I understand that it was a movie, but there are plenty of other movies that can develop it in a perfectly acceptable way. It just felt rushed. When he and the Straw Hats first interact, we do see that he is a good person and believes in absolute justice, turning on the Straw Hats in seconds when he finds out who they are. And throughout the movie, we are peppered with hints and bonds he has with marines, making him out to be a good antagonist, the buildup of his character, and his loyal subordinates making perfect sense. However, his ending was completely rushed and messed up the things he had going for him.  Despite being all about absolute justice, he gets talk no jutsu’d by Luffy literally fighting for selfish reasons. He fights with Luffy for a bit, and after realizing and accepting way too fast that Luffy is a good pirate, he immediately stops fighting and chooses to sacrifice himself. The movie literally speeds through the last and most important part of his character arc, ignoring all the buildup before. I understand that he wanted to be beaten as he knew he was wrong, and I understood why he would react that way after fighting Luffy, but there needed to be more time from him literally hating all pirates as the spawn of the devil to instantly thinking that they are all fine, and even some worth DYING for.  His lackeys were also weird. The Ninja didn’t even have a personality, failing the one thing that each side villain should at least have, but he was honestly better than the other lackey, who was a complete waste of potential. One, she had a cool devil fruit that is a copy of Jewelry Bonne’s and was only used once (in a masterful way). Second, she was a swordswoman, allowing her to fight Zoro in the most anticlimactic fight ever. While the Ninja had no personality, the number of times foreshadowed that something was “holding her back” or “not allowing her to fight at full power” was ridiculous, as she was beaten without it even being revealed. We never learned what her burden was, and it was literally such a big movie plot point.  But enough of my rant.

The other characters were fine in the movie providing the interactions we needed and enjoyed, especially the Marines. For the majority of the movies, the Marines are done dirty, acting dumber than and shooting with less accuracy than the Stormtroopers in Star Wars. But with the Marines an Integral part of Z’s past and storyline in the movie, they represented the Marines that they were. Instead of just being all-powerful, Kizaru felt more of a character in his fights and conversations with Z. Although Aokiji has had a lot of development, we get more from him, as he also has some conversations with the marines. And playing their role like in all the movies, Garp and Sengoku hype up the main villain, this time with an actual personal connection that feels real, and not just talking about them to make the villain out to be powerful. The side characters were fine in One Piece standards, and quite good characters standalone, each affecting the story in their own way. However, if there was one thing to complain about and say was the worst part of the movie, it would be the animation. It was fine for the most part, providing some nice fight scenes and showcasing each different Haki. Nami looked even more amazing than usual, and the outfits the Straw hats had in the final sequence were quite inspired and cool. They even managed to give good choreography to the giant steel arm that Zephyr had, hard as that might be. But the sheer amount of CG in the movie was terrible. With over half the marines involved made of CG, it made the movie feel cheap and low production, as 2dcharacters would sometimes clash with 3d characters. However, that wasn’t the worst part, only one small part of the issue. The main issue, which many movies have been doing recently, is mixing CG when it isn’t even needed. During fights and once or twice normally, they did this, causing the characters to switchback and forth from 2d to 3d 3 times within 10 seconds. It makes the dimensions of the show feel off and ruins the fights as they blatantly change from animation to CG and pretend that it wasn’t obvious. It doesn’t seem like good CG, as they never portray it at the front of the scene, always hidden or in faraway shots. The CG kept showing up in the worst parts possible and ruined the so highly praised fights, and it confuses me when people say that the animation of the movie was amazing.  It was probably the movie's biggest downfall, despite having solid scenes and animation for the rest of the movie.

Overall, Film Z is an overhyped One-Piece Film that suffers from a bad ending, small worldbuilding, and a low budget. Comparing it to regular One Piece, I would rate it below every single arc excluding Syrup village, as Syrup village didn’t have the villain that Film Z did. And not to say that the film was bad, but that it isn’t the amazing film it’s been hyped up to be, ranking only as a “good” movie. I would recommend you watch it but come in with tempered expectations. 

Story 7/10
Art 5/10
Sound 7/10
Character 6/10
Enjoyment 6/10
Overall 6/10 

Man, this got really heavy and emotional towards the end. Z does a lot of things very well, but it fumbles a lot of other stuff along the way. Ultimately I think it's very good, even if it drags and sinks in some areas. The full experience is definitely worth it. Just a shame none of these movies are in any way canon because it does some very interesting things with the main story.

I love its focus on Aokiji, who I think is a super underrated and fascinating character. Every Straw Hat gets their moment, even Nico Robin (more than I can say for Stampede)! ... Franky is underutilized for most of it but makes up for it and more by the end. However, the fights just aren't that exciting save for the end, and that's an issue since this is one of the more action heavy One Piece movies. There's this gag with Nami, Chopper, and Brook that just goes on for so long and doesn't really do anything it was stupid (though it leads to a very funny scene with Brook but it's still inconsequential). Always hate seeing the Straw Hat girls shafted (yeah you think I would be used to ti by now). The MacGuffin of the Dynastones is also extremely lazy and dumb. They act like these along with the three volcanos are some huge deal that even Nami knew about as a kid, but it all just comes out of left field. Having all the volcanos so close to each other was a massive missed opportunity. They show the Sea Train and I thought we'd go back to Water 7 but nope. Not interesting at all on the exploration level.

What really carries this is the villain, Zephyr. His power is simple, but still interesting, and it's refreshing to have a villain with no Devil Fruit. His arm is made of Sea Prism Stone and is meant to be the ultimate Devil Fruit User counter. It's a cool concept, but it's deflated a bit by a certain thing that happens towards the end. I won't spoil it, but it just made no sense and was a bit too much "rule of cool" for me to buy given how tight logic tends to be in One Piece.

But besides his power, Z has a super interesting dynamic with the rest of the cast, leading a corrupted version of the Marines called the Neo-Marines and even if not canon, it's still really cool seeing how he ties into the story of so many characters. One aspect of his backstory raises some seriously high questions and assumptions which are very fun to speculate even if it's ultimately meaningless. I respect how firmly Z believed in his cause and he stands out from many One Piece villains who are simply power-hungry. There's definitely shades of Ozymandias in him, that same type of radicalized self-assured savior of people who he ends up doing more harm to than good. The final battle with him and Luffy was refreshing because it's largely without gimmick, ultimately boiling down to a brutal and weighty fistfight. Everything about this climax just hit a raw emotional note I wasn't really prepared for, but it never goes as dark or hard-hitting as Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island which is still my favorite One Piece film. Overall it's a good time. Looks and sounds good as you'd expect from One Piece. I especially love the fashion in this film. Not much else to say, it's definitely worth watching as a One Piece fan with a unique and compelling villain.

One Piece Film Z does nothing new with the One Piece Formula and Plot. Z is sort of an interesting character but overall is really generic and has no unique personality which is bad for a movie for one of the Best Shonen and most popular series in Japan. It also recycles the Luffy fights the main bad guy three times, loses the first two times and figures out the big bad guy and beats him at the end after fighting the guy two times which was used in the Alabasta Arc with Luffy V Crocodile one of the most important and most iconic battles ... in One Piece. Overall the movie also wastes alot of time that could of been used to develop Z some more by showing a bunch of fan service shots and the Straw Hat's new outfit. Funimation also rushed this out before the dubbed past the timeskip leading to a ton of confusion for people who've only seen the English Dubbed anime. The Japanese Dub is pretty alright though and makes this move alot better by comparison to the Funimation dub which gave the characters crappy voice actors. The Animation was really good especially with the fan service moments and Luffy's, Zoro's, and Sanji's fight also looked really badass but is subjected to change as the animation becomes outdated in 10 years from now. It was pretty entertaining to watch especially when they flashback to Luffy and Shanks even if that's been in a TON of One Piece Movies over and over just to raise tensions which works but still gets repetive after seeing the same seen over and over and gets edited all the time, (Examples in certain One Piece Movies and OVAs: Shanks using Haki to beat the Sea Serpant rather than just staring him down in the Original Series; Luffy's shirt being changed to white to yellow, the character designs being changed depending on the character designer at the time the OVA or Movie was made while the anime was.)

it's one of the best one piece movies i enjoy a lot
it's a great movie
zoro and sanji fights are great i've never seen an animation like this in one piece
i liked luffy more after this movie
the ending is so good and dramatic and it's so good
the art is so good if all one piece episodes are like this movie it will be a great anime
the sounds are really good
but in the middle of this movie there are a lot of conversation
w didn't see luffy fight with another characters but the fight between him and z is enough
we knew about the endpoints in ... the new worlds
and finally the voice actors did a great job
there are another little bad things but it will not make you
disappointed

for me the movie is good

One piece films 1-9, when not being a recap or directed by Mamoru Hosoda tend to be nothing of interest, with precut stories, awful villains, not great action and nothing memorable in general
But then Strong World came with great involvement from the creator of One Piece Eiichiro Oda, many important characters from the series doing a cameo and a proper villain, one of the strongest in OP universe with a well thought plan, thus an interesting movie plotline. So, despite the unavoidable flaws of a theatrical release, Strong World was a huge leap in anime movies of the shounen genre based on a long-running popular ... show.

And then Film Z came and, following the steps of its predecessor, it managed to be a really enjoyable film, respecting its parent story but also managing to show something more in the quite full one piece world

Story 8/10
A former navy admiral Z around the age of Garp and Sengoku, having suffered great losses from pirates in his whole life, forms the crew of Neo-Navy and decides to eradicate all the pirates from the New World. And what better way to do that than destroying the entire New World itself?! So he begins his quest to destroy three connecting volcanoes acting as key points in the New World in order to sink it into magma. After a fierce battle with admiral Kizaru, he suffers from many wounds and drifts in the sea. Straw hat crew find Z and take care of his wounds but when he realizes that he is into a pirate ship goes all out and nearly breaks Sunny apart, his crew finds him via a vivre card and manages to escape. So Z is being chased by both the navy in order to stop a holocaust with many civilian casualties and by Straw hats in order to get revenge.
Nothing extraordinary or mind-blowing in terms of concept but really well paced and interesting enough storyline to keep the viewer interested throughout the movie. Also the fact that this might be considered canon material makes the whole experience even better.

Characters 9/10
The movie’s strong point. Z manages to be a really well written character with many info given about his throughout the whole movie and not in a 30 minute monologue (thus the good pace). Also the fact that every important marine of the generation after Garp’s is been trained by him makes the whole character much more interesting. But the best move of the movie is that besides a small original cast, nearly all the characters appearing on screen have also appeared on the show, so they are familiar to the viewers and there is no need for time consuming character development, leaving more time for the plot. The only problem is Z’s first mates aka Zoro’s and Sanji’s opponents. Once more in a One Piece film, they are nothing particular and are beaten quite easily. Finally we have a major appearance of a(n already seen in the show) character that is sure to be of importance in the future , thus learning more about his whereabouts and current condition,.

Animation 8/10
Beside what most people claim, I don’t think that Film Z’s animation is the best One Piece franchise has to offer. Strong World seemed to have much better animation and since it’s 3 years older, it says a lot. However the animation still is beautiful with the fights being the films proudest claim. The final fight between Luffy and Z is staggering and something that goes against the shounen rule of loud screams and landscape reducing farts with no further gain (Gigguk ©), being just a blunt fist brawl in the front but hiding a whole clash of ideologies and willpower, carved in the faces of the opponents. And because of the fact that Nami and Robin *this content had to be removed due spoilers*, the ridiculous One Piece fanservice was absent for once. The movie’s animation was so good that it makes sense now why in the summer and fall of 2012 the anime’s animation was so shitty, it seems all the decent animators were involved in the film’s production.

Sound 7/10
Movie’s ost, while being good, was nothing extraordinary and out of this world like the original One Piece ost. The new tracks were decent but, let’s face it, when walking towards the enemy, giving a speech that doesn’t make sense but in Luffy’s mind is as inspirational as Theoden’s in Pelennor Fields, if overtaken isn’t playing in the background is not one piece. Also the fact that nearly all the characters have appears in the show leave little potential to talk about the voice acting and the two Avril song in the end credits were quite good (especially the Nickelback one)

Enjoyment 8/10
Is film Z a fun watch? Yes. All its aspects are above average with the fights characters and plot development being really really good. All in all is a good movie, not just by One Piece films standards, but as a fantasy action movie as well. Compared to the other one piece movie comes #2 after the amazing movie 6.
So can someone expect the awesome feel they got by marathoning the good arcs of the series? No. And how possibly could they? Many people are annoyed because they judge this film how much close it came to the CP9 saga or the Arlong arc. How could it possibly come close to the best or even relatively good One Piece arcs in only 1h 43min? Those arcs had >24 episodes aka >4 film Z length of content so they were able to build up the proper tension.

All in all film Z was a really enjoyable movie with many great aspects, opening the way to a series of good One Piece films that might hold some significance to the show and not being another way to make money from the always growing fanbase

Admirable message that fits well into the New World, post-timeskip "One Piece" narrative, when the series has firmly become a four-dimensional chess game with a million characters. Had myself a good giggle when the cover of "Remind me of who I really am" by Nickleback was followed by just straight-up "I don't give a damn about my reputation" by Avril Lavigne. So poignant.

The action was good for the most part. There were points when it was trying too hard and the 3D effects made it look ugly, see Zoro's final fight with the woman. But I still liked it.

The gimmick of this movie, aside from ... having an episode or two of the anime lead into it (haven't seen, may one day), is that Nami, Robin, Chopper, and Brook get de-aged. I... They could have just skipped the joke about Sanji wanting to watch Nami grow up because it would be hot. I'm sure there's wholesome joke material in that premise. Maybe Sanji is just a completely stoic of young girls on principle. Maybe he's fair more taken with Robin as an 18-year-old. I dunno. Pedophilia was not it.

Speaking of which, I feel like this is perennial with all the One Piece characters after Alabasta, but they just do not utilize Robin, Frankie, or Brook enough at all. They each get like one laugh line and onr fight scene moment each. I'm less interested in Frankie and Brook, tbh, even though I would appreciate the improved storytelling if their involvement increased. But it's really a crime that Robin rarely has anything to do in these.

Like, they de-aged Robin so they could have her do "sexy" dancing, but she still contributes less than Nami as a child. And can we talk about how obnoxiously horny "One Piece" got after the timeskip? The switch to the busty character designs was one thing—people come in all shapes and sizes. But the boob jiggle and close-up shots of Nami's and Robin's BODIES ballooning up into adulthood. Literal fetish stuff and completely objectifying them, as we don't see their faces.

But I liked Z. I liked how his story incorporated the marines into the plot without falling back on them being a nebulous enemy. All of the marine characters know Z and have an emotional investment in him, and that comes across.

I want to start by saying that I am a huge one piece fan. It is my favorite manga and anime series hands down. I normally don't like filler or movies inspired by series, but this one I was looking forward to. I really liked Strong World, so since Oda was involved in this, I hoped it would be as good as movie 10. Was it? Not really, but it wasn't a horrible movie either. I have to say it was pretty good and worth watching.

Anybody following the manga series knows that they have made some adjustments after the time skip. They put the characters ... in more peril in the anime than they experienced in the manga. The feel is just a little different. This movie feels as different from the anime series as the anime is from the manga. The mood just isn't the same. I really sort of missed the carefree feel you get from the anime series as they explored a little more of a serious tone this movie. It still had some of light hearted humor but I thought it was a bit slow and dry compared to what I have grown to love in the series. The pacing was very slow until the end, and it was missing a lot of those classic One Piece moments that I have had long discussions with my friends about. That pretty much covers my feelings, but don't let my comments take away from this adventure, it was still pretty good and worth watching.

Artwork is a solid 9. I would give it a 10 if it was consistent all the way through. Music, voice acting, and sound in general were great, again I give the sound a solid 9. Characters are a 10 because hey, it's the strawhat crew. I even enjoyed the new villain. Where it dropped for me was overall story and enjoyment. If they had executed the story a little better (like what we're used to in the series) then it could have been so much better.I don't want to give any details because I don't want to throw spoilers around, but the final fight compared to what you see after the time skip was a little bit of a letdown. Again though, pretty good and no real complaints.

If you like one piece then you should check this one out. It's not bad, but I still liked Strong World better. Still it made a high enough score in my book for filler! :)

By far the most devious line that Sanji's ever said.

It must be a formula at this point. Get a random villain with extreme ideas, end of the world type, the gang, have them interact, then hate each other, they lose at first, they'll win next time. Boom, you got a “One Piece” movie. Along the way we encounter new worlds, with new costumes, accompanied by awesome animation, beautifully choreographed fight scenes, but not much else.

Contrary to the film “Strong World”, this one eliminates personal stakes entirely. This is the gang getting back at some random guy who did them wrong, but there's nothing extremely ... personal about it. And no, characters becoming 12 years younger doesn't do much towards that either. It's a fun plot, with fun scenes, and fun battles, but I knew they were going to win.

Be it the power of friendship, or perseverance, and loads of plot convenience, there was never a question about being able to win. Hell, they could've turned them all into younger versions, or just Luffy, and have that play towards the struggle of a body, not ready to take on the challenge. A smart way to defeat the villain, and this makes it all the more personal.

Bombastic movie, funny moments, tolerable fan-service, a bit of a treat. No stakes, villains lost easily, and the gang moved on with their lives. I wish we got more than just figurine bait, but I digress.

6/10. By no means a bad movie, just a filler, entertaining, popcorn movie. Perfectly watchable.

7/10 - Enjoyable

Really enjoyable movie, doesn't do anything groundbreaking however it was refreshing and interesting to learn more about the World Government and Navy's history. The new characters had interesting abilities and backstories with really cool art and motion during fight scenes.

I would recommend to give it a go however you are not missing out on anything major except maybe a few details about Navy Admirals.

The most surprising aspect for me which i loved was the fact i watched the UK Blu Ray version, had some interesting Credit songs which i really enjoyed and was a blast from the past.

My biggest problem with tie-in films to popular anime is that everything that happens in them is ultimately inconsequential in order to fit into the manga's storyline. No real risks are taken and the movies suffer as a result.

This film blows everything quite literally out of the water.

Film Z manages to tie itself into the larger story perfectly, feeling like an actual cannon story arc that hits just as hard as some of the best One Piece has to offer. I feel insane to say this, but the antagonist Z may be the best villain One Piece has had yet. He feels like an actual ... proper threat to the straw hats and his backstory is both believable and sympathetic.

This should be considered essential viewing for any fans of Luffy and his friends.

Released in 2012, One Piece Film: Z is also One Piece's 12th film, and, despite not having watched all 11 precursors, it would come in around 2nd place were I to rank them. One of the (currently, and I believe) 5 films to have Oda work on it, I was excited to watch it, especially after seeing the build-up presentation of four episodes in the anime, which was set just before the film. My opinions after watching it? See below, in my first movie review.

STORY: 6 (Fine)/10
There wasn't anything too interesting to the story, and seeing as it could be summarised within two minutes (including ... every scene), it is difficult to understand how it managed to last so long. There was nothing special about it at all, and I don't like the idea of the End Points, mostly because two of them were destroyed, meaning the New World now (luckily non-canonically) depends on a single island's safety. However, story is my main problem with One Piece movies. Of the movies I have watched, Dead End Adventure had my favourite and even that is about a 7 in terms of story.

ART: 8 (Very Good)/10
I greatly enjoyed the new character designs from this movie, but I was disappointed that Z wasn't designed after a famous Japanese actor, as the other admirals are. The black and red (and various other colours for some) Straw Hat designs that appear later in the film were very aesthetically pleasing, but the Hanami (Cherry Blossom) season designs, particularly Franky, seemed a bit much for me, although Franky, as a character often over the top, was quite humorous. I also enjoyed the island the Straw Hats visited after hearing Z was there, where they met Aokiji again. In terms of animation, around the 91 minute mark, Toei's movie team really showed us what they could do. Although this is a lot more common nowadays, it is important to note this movie dates back to 2012, and that the dynamic, fast-paced and many-angled animation is something I am sure served as a great testament to how great One Piece could look, before the regular anime was able to reach the same level.

SOUND: 7 (Good)/10
I often run through this section quickly, but I have some things to say here. I didn't properly listen to the opening, but the ending, which was two songs played one after the other, I definitely did not enjoy as they were both English songs I didn't like. The music played throughout was good, but I can't exactly recall it. Z sings a song that appears multiple times in the movie, and I did like this. The voice acting was great, being One Piece.

CHARACTER: 7 (Good)/10
My favourite part of the cast was seeing Aokiji as someone other than an antagonist for the first time in a while. When he was introduced, this did happen, but he did not do much. After that, he, as a marine admiral, fought against Luffy, and later, he allies himself with a certain someone... (that I'd not like to spoil for people who are only caught up to when this movie is set). I liked Z as an antagonist, especially in the last five minutes of the movie, although I did think his idea of killing everyone in the New World just to exterminate some, not even all, of the pirates, was rather weak. After all, we know Blackbeard came to Drum Island and Whitebeard and Shanks both arrived at Marineford, so it's not so hard to figure out that powerful pirates don't always stay in the later parts of the Grand Line. I'd like to see Z become canon - not this movie, but him as a former admiral that left the Marines for the same reasons. He is definitely a memorable protagonist, one of the at least top two of the films I've seen so far.

ENJOYMENT: 6 (Fine)/10
I watched this film in three sittings and over two days, so that would have affected my enjoyment, but the story didn't seem very exciting, and while it had it's moments that I liked, especially the end, it wasn't anything special. My favourite part was definitely the fight animations and new character designs. Despite my relatively negative feedback, I think most One Piece fans will enjoy this, particularly if you have a lot of time and don't have to make an effort to finish it.

If you're a One Piece fan with a spare two hours, I definitely recommend a One Piece film. With friends, watch the later movies first, like Stampede, Gold and Red (probably in that order, unless one seems particularly interesting to you), but if you have time to kill, this is worth a watch - especially if you're near when this film is chronologically set - in that case, getting to see the elevated animation is great! So, if you enjoy One Piece, don't miss this film!