One Piece seemed to have its ambitions set exactly where they needed to be. It's a love letter to fans that only occasionally misses the point of scenes or characters. Ignoring the source material, it's a fun action comedy with many charming cartoony elements. It's not going to be the biggest thing in the world, but it will be an entertaining watch for casual fans and a great way to onboard newcomers.
Emma Sullivan returns for her second and final episode of the series. The show takes an interesting approach to hiring directors. Each short story arc takes about two episodes, so the same director helms both. This episode introduces writers Tiffany Greshler and Tom Hyndman to the series. The unique structure keeps things interesting, demonstrating much more thought than the typical anime adaptation.
Episode 4: "The Pirates Are Coming" continues the dangerous game that began in the last episode. Wealthy heiress Kaya lives under the protection of her butler, Klahadore, who has just been revealed to be the deadly pirate Captain Kuro in disguise. Kuro killed Kaya's dearest friend Merry, knocked out Zoro, and deposited their bodies in a well. This episode focuses heavily on Zoro, providing a bit of his backstory as he comes to consciousness and escapes his deadly circumstances. Meanwhile, Usopp struggles to convince Kaya of the danger she's in until Kuro lets his mask fall and threatens to kill them all. The Marines are still after Luffy, leaving him at risk as he tries to help his friends. It all comes together into a series of action set pieces that show off the crew's unique abilities.
Much like Episode 2's occasional breaks to show off Luffy's backstory, Episode four explores the early life of Roronoa Zoro. Netflix's take on Zoro has been a bit of a mixed bag. He's intimidating and harsh, but the live-action iteration of the character seems to lack his sense of gallows humor and love of a good fight. He's a bit too grumpy for his own good. The flashbacks in this episode help to explain his demeanor, but he'd still be more fun if he laughed once in a while. Zoro's duels with Kuina look good, and their rivalry is spirited enough. When they pledge to outdo one another, it's classic anime stuff without any alteration from the adaptation. Her fate is as sad as it is random, but it gives context to Zoro's drive. His ambition has been a bit underserved by the live-action adaptation. He seems reluctant to talk about the whole "greatest swordsman" thing. It'll come up later, so it's good to establish it now.
The VFX in this series would always be a point of contention. Adapting something so inherently goofy with flesh and blood actors will require all the tech wizardry modern studios have at hand. Some aspects of the CGI look great, capturing the impact of Luffy's punches or the absurdity of Buggy's floating limbs. Captain Kuro's main gimmick as a combatant is his superhuman speed. The effect used to capture that trick looks downright silly. In any other work, his movements would be a bizarre outlier. In One Piece, everything should look dumb and weird. Suggesting that One Piece's effects look ridiculous is anything but an insult. The fear from many fans was that they would be unable or unwilling to capture the otherworldly elements of the franchise. The VFX team has been more than willing to demonstrate that they know how silly this is, and they love it as much as we all do.
Narratively, One Piece has taken place over a few days. The experience of watching it feels more like a montage of semi-connected adventures. One wonders whether it would've been better to structure the series as a greatest-hits event. The scenes are concurrent, but every other episode does feel like a new adventure. Halfway through the series, its success still lives and dies on whether its appeals to fandom hit. Newcomers will have a lot of fun with these madcap pirates. It could be a great way to get into the series, but the anime is vastly superior. Fans will enjoy tons of little moments. This episode features the first joke at the expense of Zoro's terrible sense of direction. These small details could easily mark the series as the love letter it is.
The Straw Hats have their ship and their sharpshooter. Though the story is being told much faster than the original anime, it still has some impact. There's plenty of fun to be had with this anime-inspired swashbuckler. Hollywood doesn't make a lot of stuff in this genre anymore. This one comes packaged with a charming cartoon touch, and it only serves to make it more entertaining. One Piece should be celebrated, not just as a rare decent anime adaptation, but as a celebration of what the source material has accomplished.