Okay, since I kicked off the whole Movie 6 issue I'm just going to tell you guys a little story. You see Movie 6 was mainly responsible for converting one of my friends into a One Piece fan, while another friend also had a heightened interest in the franchise because of this movie AND Jango's Dance Festival.
The thing about MOST anime movies based off of TV franchises is that they are rather hit or miss. I mean, seriously, can you say the Detective Conan (Cased Closed), Sailormoon, DB/DBZ, Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, Digimon, the list goes on and on, movies are always in character and perfect? Point is, the quality level is always questionable. But once in awhile you get a movie that stands out and plays out like an actual THEATRICAL FILM! This is what Movie 6 is.
For those of you who are classic anime fans this might be a little be of review:
Macross: Do You Remember Love? took what was established in the TV series Macross and improved upon it tremendously. It set the bar of how to make a TV series into a perfect theatrical film.
Urusei Yatsura: Movie 2 Beautiful Dreamer was released around the same time and it took the original author's work (Rumiko Takahashi) and made it into a serious and introspective "art film". Despite that, hands down of all (the 6) UY movies this gets the most attention and praise. Even though the movie was NOTHING like Takahashi's manga it existed in a category of it's own (did I mention that in was directed by Ghost in the Shell's Mamoru Oshii).
Sailor Moon R movie sticks closer to what Movie 6 was about. Despite it recycling several elements from the TV series it also was a good character piece on how the Sailor Senshi's relationship to Sailor Moon was important to them. Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara (who would later go on to do Utena) this movie probably struck a chord with most anime fans because it actually had character development.
This all brings me to One Piece Movie 6. The movie wasn't about depicting the characters as close to Oda's vision as possible, but it succeded in getting the point home about the importance of Luffy's "nakama". This is what drew my friend to the movie and he refused to watch any of the other movies because he felt that they did not represent the One Piece world as accurately.
What also helped was the unique and different direction and animation style which gave the movie a more theatircal feel to it. I mean just look at the opening credits alone, instead of the generic "One Piece" logo we get something far more inventive that just screams "we are watching a film!". The amount of detail and CG invested in the backgrounds alone are just aew inspiring.
I can't really look down on a movie that converted a man to be a One Piece fan and who basically understands the strengths of this movie. Urusei Yatsura Movie 2 DID NOT follow the manga authors work but because of the directors influence it came off as a beautiful film. I actually like it when an anime movie is helmed under spirited directors who are willing to take a risk and actually see outside the box. Because you come out with some really nice pieces that actually redefine what anime is about.
Specifically, Thousand Lion-chan, What is your favorite One Piece movie and why? You spent so much time complaining about Movie 6 which of the existing 9 do you like?
There we go, I said my piece.
O-chan