Okay. I have to admit that AT FIRST I was underwhelmed by the new opening. Mainly because Jungle P was a much better opening and I expected more from a return to the "We Are!" song. But after rewatching it several times I think it's actually a decent opening.
Also I think people are exaggerating when they say it's the "black sheep" of the One Piece openings. That honor should specifically go to "Crazy Rainbow".
As I rate them:
1. Kokoro no Chizu
2. Jungle P
3. Brand New World
4. We Are (the original)
5. We Are (the remix)
6. Bon Voyage
7. Believe
8. Hikari E
9. Crazy Rainbow
To me this opening falls in the middle, not bad, not great. The first three are there because they are the best openings in the series. The get you into the show and when they were introduced they usually had spoilers in them (Luffy vs. Ussop, Brooke and Thriller Bark, Gear 2 etc…) and were placed at an appropriate point in the series. The first We Are is kinda dated by todays standards but I still feel its core to the series.
Now the remixed version has several things that I like:
1. The way the logo forms around Luffy in his, now classic, outfit.
2. When all the straw hats are running past all the people they met on their journey.
3. I LIKED the references to Vivi's goodbye (since it was a very landmark moment in the series) and the Going Merry drifting off into the sunset then the shot of the Thousand Sunny speeding towards the camera.
4. It borrows alot from Bon Voyage, especially the shots off all the characters.
5. I actually like that they DID NOT include Brooke as part of the crew but gave him a shot during the Luffy vs. Oz sequence.
Also I think based off what's currently going in in the manga this opening is very appropriately placed as it's a call back to how far the crew has come since the early days.
Almost all the openings I can associate with a part of the series (even if they started earlier or later).
We Are- East Blue arc
Believe- Baroque Works arc
Hikari E- Filler Mini-arcs and Jaya
Bon Voyage- Skypeia
Kokoro no Chizu- Post Skypeia-Water 7
Brand New World- Enies Lobby
Crazy Rainbow- has no placement
Jungle P- Thriller Bark
We Are (Remix)- Post Thriller Bark
Anyway my point is I do think people are exaggerating because this is far from the worst opening.
O-chan