Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well, I think I’ve made it clear by now that I am a huge One Piece fan. To me, One Piece is the greatest manga in the world and what I consider to be the rightful successor of Dragonball Z. The characters are funny, realistic, and people you come to care for; the story is big, epic, and interesting; and the world of One Piece is fun, imaginative and creative, we’re constantly discovering new things about the world of One Piece that just keeps getting you invested into it. With its worldwide popularity it’s only fitting to have a movie around the series and One Piece has created surprisingly 10 really good films (11 if you count 3-D adventure. I don’t but some people do) with Strong World being the best so far so topping that would be a challenge. Well, they attempted that in the newest movie One Piece Film Z. Released in Japanese theaters December 15 Film Z marks One Piece’s 12th movie and the first movie to take place in the New World. There was strong promotion behind this film with teaser trailers, tickets being sold months before the premiere along with the Dragonball Z movie that came out earlier that year, and a short filler arc in the anime to setup for the movie. With this promotion and hype for the film does it live up to all the expectations? Well, let’s get ready to go on a cruise cause we are reviewing One Piece Film Z.
We start this film off with the Marines engaged in a battle (ohh~ did Miyazaki direct this) against who we’ll find out later is the Neo Marines a group of Marines who have defected from the Marines and want to eliminate all pirates. So why are they fighting if their goals are the same you ask? Well, it’s because the Neo Marines resort to anarchy and straight up kill pirates without giving them a fair trial like the Marines. As the fight continues we hear a man singing who despite a deep low voice sings awfully well. When the singing stops we see that the person singing was Zephyr or Z as he calls himself voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka (Jiraya from the Naruto series), the leader of the Neo Marines who joins the battle and just completely crushes anyone in his way with his mechanical arm. He fights through the forces along with his 2 commanders Ain and Binz into the Marine facility where they steal these weird pink eggs (I’m sure this will all make sense later on because if you follow the One Piece formula its introduce things now and explain them later). As they’re escaping Kizaru (who use to be a student under Z) shows up and attacks Z while the others retreat. It’s in this scene that we see how strong Z really is as he’s able to go toe to toe with Kizaru by himself. For those of you who don’t know, Kizaru is a Marine admiral the 2nd highest position a Marine can have and is consider one of the strongest fighters in the world of One Piece and being one of the only characters to actually own the Strawhat crew in a fight so for Z to hold his own against him is proof of his strength. He grabs one of the pink eggs which we quickly find out are Dyna rocks (that things a rock? It looks like a digi-egg he got from the digital world) a destructed rock that’s said to hold power equal to the ancient weapons and when exposed to oxygen they create a massive explosion (so it’s like an Electrode only 10 times more destructed). He throws the rock at Kizaru which he escapes and the blast pretty much destroys the island.
We then to cut to our favorite crew the Strawhats doing what they do best, having fun. As they sail through the ocean they come across a cloud of volcanic ash and one of the log post starts to shake violently in the direction of the ash. Luffy being the lovable idiot that he is smells an adventure and wants to check it out (he always gives the fans what they want. Action and adventure). As they sail they spot a castaway (his heart will go on) which turns out to be Z and pull him aboard. Chopper treats him and he awakes fully healed giving his thanks to them. He then talks about his mechanical arm which is called Battle Smasher made from sea stone that weakens those with the devil fruit power and how he can’t get it off without a key. After Luffy tells him they’re pirates he proceeds to attack them which is weird considering how famous Luffy is that he didn’t realize who he was. The Neo Marines also show up and they reveal that they also can use devil fruit powers. Binz can control the plants (a male version of Poison Ivy. I still prefer the female version over the male) and Ain’s fruit allows her to regress people back 12 years from their original form by touching them. She touches Nami and Chopper turning them into kids again and also Robin turning her 18 (she’s still hot). Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji lose to Z and he orders his crew to open fire on Sunny Go but they escape just in time.
We then cut to Marine Headquarters where we find out that Z’s objective is to destroy the 3 Final Points which if destroyed will destroy the sea of the New World and everyone in it (so the most dangerous ocean in the world can be destroyed by taking out these 3 specific points? How does that work and how do they know that’ll destroy the New World for all we know it could lead to One Piece or a transmutation circle from the sound of it). Going back to the Strawhats they dock on an island where Franky repairs the ship and they vow to find Z and make him pay (nobody fucks with the Strawhats and walks away conscious) but not before they gather information about Z and buy some new clothes since their clothes were destroyed in the attack (well if you’re going after someone you gotta look good and flawless (absolutely flawless). I’m Nitsuj and I approve this message). They hop on a sea train and go to a neighboring island where Nami, Usopp, Robin, and Chopper try to gather information about Z by shining shoes and having Robin perform as a dancer on stage (I already like this plan. (Isis): Please don’t start drooling. (Nitsuj): I make no promises). While there off doing that Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Brook take in the hotsprings where they come across Aokiji who has a scar on one of his shoulders and has lost a leg from his fight with Akainu 2 years ago. Nami and the others get discovered but they find out what Z is planning and that he is on the island too. After they meet back up with Luffy’s group we cut to Z fighting some marines and detonating more Dyna rocks which causes a volcano to explode. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji take on Z and his commanders where Zoro and Sanji hold their own against the commanders and Luffy does a decent job at fighting Z until he took a sea stone to the shoulder and lost his power (he also took an arrow to the knee later on but that’s a story for another time). Z takes Luffy’s hat and sends him flying where he gets picked up by Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji who are trying to escape the volcanic debris but aren’t fast enough (Sonic: You’re too slow). Luckily, Aokiji comes along and freezes the volcanic debris before it swallows them (hmm~ now what would Schwarzenegger say at a time like this? *Goes to the Schwarzenegger one liner files* Ah, this it’ll work. “It’s a cold town”). They reach the train and escape as they watch in horror as the island gets destroyed (like a bomb going off).
We return to Marine Headquarters where they prepare for war (be prepared~). It’s here that Garp tells us the story of Z of how he was once a marine who more than anybody believed in the justice of the Marines and rose up through the ranks where he eventually became an admiral. He also had a family but a pirate who hated him killed his family (cold blooded~). Oh, but that’s nothing that’s not what drove him over the edge, after the death of his family he stilled continued to trained other officers of the Marines who as of right now are the ones we constantly see but one day when he was training some new recruits his ship was attacked by pirates, killed all but 2 recruits and took his right arm. . .but. . . that’s not what pushed him over the edge if you can believe it. No, what pushed him over the edge was that the Marines appointed the pirate who killed his family a warlord which means he can’t touch the bastard and he has to work side by side with him to uphold justice. That’s what pushed him over the edge and caused him to quit the Marines and start the Neo Marines (Good God, Marines, the guy killed his family and you make him a warlord!? What the hell!? This is like Gotham City building a Joker statue to commemorate his 1,000,000th murder. He has every right to be pissed at them). Returning to the crew the ship is fully repaired and they prepare to set off for the final end point where they hope to stop Z once and for all. After a quick wardrobe change of the strongest equipment (designed by Oda himself) they blast their way to the final island where they begin to fight their way to Z and Zoro gets lost (they were only on the island for no more than 5 seconds how did he get lost). Zoro and Sanji take on Z’s commanders again, the others take on the lower rates and Pacifists, and Luffy makes his way to Z for the final fight. Franky shows up and takes out the Pacifists with mecha Franky General (why does this scene remind me of Power Rangers). Zoro and Sanji defeat the commanders which causes Nami, Chopper, and Robin to return to normal (With Robin there’s really no change and apparently their clothes also grew with them. I guess this is one of the many abilities of the strongest equipment. Nothing less from Oda). Returning to the fight with Luffy and Z, Luffy manages to break the Smash Buster and the fight becomes a straight up impressive brawl between Luffy and Z. I mean it, there are no powers involved whatsoever it’s just Luffy and Z settling things with their fist and I have to admit this is probably the subtlest fight we’ve seen in One Piece I’m not gonna lie. Luffy gets the final punch in and Z falls to the ground defeated (*Rocky aftermath theme plays in the background* ohh~ he did it, he did it! Oh my God! Oh my God! *frail arms in the air*). With Z defeated Luffy gets his hat back and the Marines show up prepared to attack them but Z decides to take them all on himself and give the crew a chance to run away. The crew escapes and he’s killed by his own students (at least he went out like a badass). The film ends by showing a short flashback of Z as a kid defending a group of children from some bullies and calling himself Z (scene here: https://youtu.be/NCEYCj_dCog).
Final Thoughts
This was good. Pretty damn good! Film Z is a very good and exciting film. The strong point of this film would have to be the villain Z. Z is a good and well-written character. They did an amazing job with him in the short amount of time they had. Even though his backstory was only a 2 minute flashback they used it effectively and established why he choose to go this path and why he’s doing the things he doing. You really do come to understand and feel sympathy for him for what he’s lost; he’s not just some madman out to kill pirates for revenge he’s doing this because he believes that the Marines have lost sight of justice to do what needs to be done and thus has taken it upon himself to carry out justice. While his methods are wrong his ideas are justified. Aokiji is awesome in this movie as well, he respects Z as his teacher to the point that even in the movie when he has a chance to fight Z he chooses not to because he doesn’t wanna kill him. Even in his final moments when Z was fighting against the Marines we see one of the vice-admirals actually shed a tear for him. That shows that even though they consider him an enemy they still respect and admire the guy. To them he was what they aspired to be, a hero. The animation is very good in this film as what you would expect from a One Piece movie, the action is also great, the fights between Luffy and Z were great especially that last fight. I’ve read a lot of people complaining that the last fight wasn’t epic enough because Luffy and Z didn’t use any flashy moves that we’ve seen in the other movies but I argue that that’s what makes it a good fight. There’s no gimmicks, tricks, or powers involved it’s just two guys giving it their all and letting their fists decide who’s the strongest of the two and at the end of the fight there are no complains or excuses Z has to recognize and acknowledge Luffy’s resolve and admit that Luffy was the better man. As always the Strawhats are funny and a joy to watch and the world is big and interesting.
There are 2 complaints I have with this film. The first is the story is weak. The characters are strong but the story isn’t. Come on, 3 points in the New World that when destroyed will cause total destruction in the sea? That’s a lot to buy into and even so these 3 points aren’t guarded very well. The first one was but the other two aren’t. One of them is an island full of people and the other is a deserted island. If they knew just how dangerous these points were than why not have a Marine platoon stationed on each point guarding it 24/7 instead of just waiting for 2 of them to be destroyed before taking Z seriously. Another problem is the humor is barely there. Yeah, the humor, one of many things that makes One Piece great is almost completely gone. In Strong World the humor was there but it was still an epic and exciting movie. Here, the movie is just epic but not that many funny moments to laugh at or enjoy. I kept waiting hoping for scenes that were gonna make me laugh but I just never saw them.
Final score
One Piece Film Z earns a 7.5/10. I still like Strong World more and consider that movie to be the best One Piece movie out there so far but Film Z is still good and if you’re a fan of One Piece is worth checking out for its good fight scenes and excellent villain. If they would have improved the story a little more and added more humor this movie would have easily surpassed Strong World and the one I would consider to be the best One Piece movie. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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