Opening 18: "Hard Knock Days"

G1Ravage

Besides Shirahoshi, in the far background there was also Lola, Kokoro, Doctor Kureha, and Dalton.

KageKageKing

Besides Shirahoshi, in the far background there was also Lola, Kokoro, Doctor Kureha, and Dalton.

Are you an Eagle?

FelRes

Love the song. Not overly emotional or peppy like they've been. The video to it was eh though, not very fitting for Dressrosa. And definitely not enough Koala.

basTchet

I don't know why but I like the scene where God Usopp riding his Impact Wolf~

I wonder if the Dressrosa scenes will get changed as the story progresses

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

Ooh, the scene where Usopp pulls his slingshot right after Kyros and co, is that...

! the scene where he'll get his haki??

Crossword

@Machineman:

Animation wise it's fantastic by the staff list toei really went all out with it.

Director
Fukazawa Toshinori
Storyboard
Fukazawa Toshinori
Animation supervisor
Hisada Kazuya
Key animator
Hisada Kazuya Shida Naotoshi Isochi Yusuke Nishino Takeshi Narasaki Asako Matsuda Midori Washikita Kyota Ito Shuuichi Kouno Genichiro Ishigami Hiromi Shimizu Tsubasa Watanabe Koudai Takara Isamu Kojima Takashi Shimizu Yusuke Kitazaki Masahiro

Can't wait to see it in 1080P

My guess as to certain parts:

bustin' out of the Navy base - Hisada (his art's lookin' kinda Kawamura there)
Luffy eating, running, gladiator bits, and possibly Sabo's attack - Takeshi Nishino
Luffy gets slingshotted - Takashi Kojima (the smears)
Straw Hat attack barrage - Shida (duh…)
Luffy and Law rush Doflamingo - Kodai Watanabe (the sketchiness of the scene screams of the 3D2Y special)

Unfortunately I have no idea what Ishigami did, and her style's usually pretty recognizable, unless I'm mistaken about what Watanabe did.

jmbjr

The new opening is fine; there's a lot a like about it, but there's enough that's "eh" about it that it's definitely not one of my favorites. I'd say I like it overall, though.

Animation seemed mostly good, especially for the action bits, though they cheaped out with some of the Dressrosa bits near the end with lots of still shots. Loved the Strawhats attack montage, the Bartolomeo/Cavendish and Sabo highlights, the glimpses of Kanjuro and Corazon, and the clash between Luffy and Doflamingo near the end. Also, was Luffy running on Pica's arm for parts of the opening? If so, nice touch.

The song was really the weak link here; probably the least remarkable song yet for an opening - even Opening 12 was remarkably bad, but this one was just kinda meh, and wasn't even all that catchy. It also could've used a little more animation for the Dressrosa parts (the Franky vs Senor Pink and Zoro vs Pica moments in particular looked like the animators ran out of time or something).

Overall, though, I like it well enough. We'll see how I feel about it after it's aired for a while.

Black Leg

Well that was okay I guess. The song was pretty boring and repetitive with no real exciting parts. I wasn't a fan of how much of the opening took place in a void and not in an actual location we've seen in One Piece. Also there was no where near enough of Dressrosa or of the Doflamingo family. Considering how long we're going to be in Dressrosa for they could have really gone all out with that, but as it stands this opening could easily be interchanged with We Go and you'd only have to change like 20secs of footage.

What I liked were the displays of all the Strawhat's attacks, the animation suddenly became super nice though it made it stand out noticeably from the rest of the opening. Ussop riding his Impact Wolf is easily the best scene! It just has so much impact :ninja:

I also liked the scene with with all the Strawhat's grabbing Luffy's arm and launching him into the distance. The scene with all of Luffy's allies was nice but everyone outside of Dressrosa and who isn't a giant mermaid were pushed to the back or drawn so small that they might as well not be there. I'd have preferred it if they just had it only be allies who appear in Dressrosa then have it be a reimagining of the scene where all the coliseum combatants charge Doflamingo's palace but this time with everyone there.

Kurloz

@jmbjr:

probably the least remarkable song yet for an opening - even Opening 12 was remarkably bad, but this one was just kinda meh, and wasn't even all that catchy.

The award for least remarkable opening song in One Piece is still held by Hands Up

Dahaka. 0

Why
are
they
still
in
those
shitty
clothes?

I just can't stand them. Worst SH desing in this manga and they cling to it like it's some kind of official outfit. Hello Toei, they changed them 3 years ago!
Opening was shit with few great moments, just like every opening since the skip. I hated endless SH-doing-random-stuff-but-not-really moments. Seriously Toei, stop with those generic Shida's SH exhibition and SH standing on Sunny doing nothing scenes every opening! How lazy can you get? Just use goddamn colorspreads like pre skip openings, or make up something cool on your own!

Okay, now let's focus on the good stuff.
Animation is very good most of the time
Nice image of gladiators in the background + Barto and Cavendish scenes.
Awesome marines scene!!!
Awesome blackbeard scene!!! (those two felts like good old pre skip openings)
Group shot was ugly and random (lol at random Kureha, Lola and few others) though I suppose they were aiming for "allies" theme
Sabo/Ace was okay I guess.
Franky vs Senor - it's okay but those cutouts popping out from the bottom of the screen were hilarious XD
Rest of fights were okay
That little snippet of Doflamingo with high amout of shading of face was awesome!

The song is… meh? I'm indifferent.

To sum up, basically I don't like scenes with SH and I like everything that doesn't involve them.

Also where the hell is Shanks in recent openings? Pre skip he was always present I think, becasue Oda is listing him in important characters section every damn volume. It really shows how little fucks they give now compared to old times.

senjuitama

@Machineman:

Animation wise it's fantastic by the staff list toei really went all out with it.

Director
Fukazawa Toshinori
Storyboard
Fukazawa Toshinori
Animation supervisor
Hisada Kazuya
Key animator
Hisada Kazuya Shida Naotoshi Isochi Yusuke Nishino Takeshi Narasaki Asako Matsuda Midori Washikita Kyota Ito Shuuichi Kouno Genichiro Ishigami Hiromi Shimizu Tsubasa Watanabe Koudai Takara Isamu Kojima Takashi Shimizu Yusuke Kitazaki Masahiro

Can't wait to see it in 1080P

With that staff it should have looked better than it did

Qaaz

Enjoyable..

Think is the less spoilerific opening till today

Mr. Prinz

Everyone is talking about the background characters - and I just want the map they're standing on in the last scene! :)

Siranime

That opening is meh.Especially the song.I found it to be completely boring and repetitive-and in fact forgettable.There were not nearly enough Dressrosa scenes.It would've been more awesome if they showed pictures of events to come.I have to say that it is one of the worst One Piece openings ever.Do you guys agree?Totally underwhelming…

RamistaR

Gurarararareat!!!
Who is the guy running behind Inazuma and Ivankov ?

Halfmetal-lich

Pulls out checklist

Straw Hats doing random stuff on their ship? Check
Straw Hats showing of random attacks montage style? Check
Straw Hats staring out into the sea in a wide panning group shot? No
Montage of Straw Hats fighting enemies from the current arc? Check

3 out of 4, very surprised we didn't get number 3.

Decent opening, need to watch a few more times. Nothing to write home about.

Yobiyopi

I believe that the second half of the opening will change when we reach Law's flashback, and then it will have more focus on that with Rosinante, Doffy, some family members and Law

Dahaka. 0

I must say that even though Shida made basically the same scene for the third or fourth time (seriously, every opening since the skip has one), this one was definetely his best out of them all (imo). I watched it frame by frame and animation is just sick.

Cyclone_Baroness

@RamistaR:

Gurarararareat!!!
Who is the guy running behind Inazuma and Ivankov ?

Your sig definitely shows probably the best part of the opening. Hmmm. Well I guess Barto and Cavendish got some love too. So 2 good parts I felt.

Machineman

@Crossword:

My guess as to certain parts:

bustin' out of the Navy base - Hisada (his art's lookin' kinda Kawamura there)

Luffy eating, running, gladiator bits, and possibly Sabo's attack - Takeshi Nishino

Luffy gets slingshotted - Takashi Kojima (the smears)

Straw Hat attack barrage - Shida (duh…)

Luffy and Law rush Doflamingo - Kodai Watanabe (the sketchiness of the scene screams of the 3D2Y special)

Unfortunately I have no idea what Ishigami did, and her style's usually pretty recognizable, unless I'm mistaken about what Watanabe did.

Ishigami loves spining sketchy shots it's similair to the blackbeard and luffy shot in the last opening and her film z cut, my money is on her being behind the luffy, law and donflamingo cut.

XMURADX

@Crossword:

My guess as to certain parts:

bustin' out of the Navy base - Hisada (his art's lookin' kinda Kawamura there)

Luffy eating, running, gladiator bits, and possibly Sabo's attack - Takeshi Nishino

Luffy gets slingshotted - Takashi Kojima (the smears)

Straw Hat attack barrage - Shida (duh…)

Luffy and Law rush Doflamingo - Kodai Watanabe (the sketchiness of the scene screams of the 3D2Y special)

Unfortunately I have no idea what Ishigami did, and her style's usually pretty recognizable, unless I'm mistaken about what Watanabe did.

This is exactly what I thought, I think Ishigami did the cut of Kanjuro, and the cut before that might be Ito.

eliman12

Why no HD ? ? ?? ?

trafalgaroo

Not bad but liked the others two better.

MajinArekkusu

Sadly I find it very weak. The visuals they choose were meh and nothing special, and the song itself is just doing nothing for me as well unfortunately. It sounds pretty generic and forgettable.

Jabberwok

Echoing with everyone else's sentiments here. Song was bland and unexciting, early animation was eh, and the rest was stunning. Really a shame we didn't get a better song for such a kickass opening.

GJardim

Could've focused more in the Doflamingo's family than SH's, since most of them aren't even going to show up for a while. The song wasn't better than Hands Up!, in my opinion, but the opening as a whole was better than it.

dropper

@Crossword:

Straw Hat attack barrage - Shida (duh…)

What do you think of Shida's animation? I'm getting really sick of it…

GJardim

Finally a HD version. This one is subbed.

!

HD version without lyrics.

!

Crossword

@dropper:

What do you think of Shida's animation? I'm getting really sick of it…

In general or just applied to this opening? In general I think it's pretty unique and it's not going anywhere because he's pretty much Toei's "mascot" animator at this point (he contributes to pretty much all of their shows). As applied to the opening, eh, it's probably the better of the two attack montages he's done recently. I mean, it would be nice if the directors let him work on something else, but as long as his animation style lends itself well to this sort of stuff and it looks good I'm not too fussed. I'd blame it on the director's/storyboarder's lack of imagination before throwing shade at him.

Aru

Well, that must've been one of the worst OP openings I've seen. Song was awfully bland and the animation was, well, Toei quality - and I'm shocked, since usually OP openings have some great quality in them. Only part I liked was the dynamic scene showing everyone's attacks.

I have no idea what happened to this series, I'm watching the One Pace version and while it's enjoyable, it's clear as day Toei is putting as little money as possible. Probably that's why this opening looks the way it does - they had to do another one, but since they didn't know how long Dressrosa is going to last, they wanted to play it safe, put less money into the animation, so that when this arc ends and they have to put out a new opening - they still don't lose as much.

Jabra

Uninspired crap. Looks like a job that just had to be done, as if they were not even trying to come up with something creative. I mean after the horrible movie/game anniversary costumes I should be glad that they are not trying anymore, but it's sad nonetheless.
The track also doesn't really match the visuals, at all. A shame, because the track itself isn't the worst.

I liked the sketchy artstyle with Doflamingo, though. The whole intro should have been like that, if only to offer something fresh visually. The animation for the attacks was fine, but I would have preferred a solid concept instead.

dropper

@Crossword:

In general or just applied to this opening? In general I think it's pretty unique and it's not going anywhere because he's pretty much Toei's "mascot" animator at this point (he contributes to pretty much all of their shows). As applied to the opening, eh, it's probably the better of the two attack montages he's done recently. I mean, it would be nice if the directors let him work on something else, but as long as his animation style lends itself well to this sort of stuff and it looks good I'm not too fussed. I'd blame it on the director's/storyboarder's lack of imagination before throwing shade at him.

I think that with his talent used on the right scenes it can be very effective, the rushing shot for Rayleigh vs Kizaru was perfect for giving the sense of rapid motion.

So for this opening the budget is higher, the drawings are more detailed, everything is much faster and the Straw Hats show off their new moves, but throwing everything at the viewer doesn't make it any more effective. The characters aren't grounded and there is no following background, there's no way of distinguishing between the camera and the characters movements, even then it's not one panning shot but moves at different speeds, the whole thing looks impressively detailed but really awkward. Maybe it would be more suited for Dragon Ball Z.

The characters don't hold the same weight as the Strawhat showcase in Jungle P, or even Hands Up:

I don't think the shadows are the problem, I mean We Go added shadows to the strawhat showcase shot and it still looked awkward as hell, they all move out of character. You know what I mean?

EDIT: The song doesn't help, 'Hard Knock Life' to 'Hard Knock Days', that's some real inspiration, shoot me. Typical pop band 'Woah-a-oh-a-oh' that takes up 40 SECONDS of the opening. This is the 2nd least inspired opening, 1st being Kaze Wo Sagashite. Fans get annoyed with We Go but at least it was produced to benefit the show instead of some weird band promotion.

Kishido

Sanji is there… They haven't forgotton him :cwy:

Jazzfeezy

I Just got use to Opening 17.
Overtime this one will get better and I'm glad there isn't heavy spoilers for what is to come. 7/10 for this one

dropper

Notice the huge feet to the left behind all the characters running? It's Hajrudin right?

Devil G.

Yeah, that's him

Zetto

@Machineman:

Ishigami loves spining sketchy shots it's similair to the blackbeard and luffy shot in the last opening and her film z cut, my money is on her being behind the luffy, law and donflamingo cut.

http://orig09.deviantart.net/0ad5/f/2015/095/e/8/op_18_5_by_aims773-d8oim82.jpg

Ishigami worked on film Z? Do you know which part? Is it the scene where Zoro and Ain are fighting in the woods? I always found that bit of animation, while done very well, to be a little out of place with the rest of film Z.

Machineman

@dropper:

The characters don't hold the same weight as the Strawhat showcase in Jungle P, or even Hands Up:

That jungle p scene is done by katsumi ishizuka(my favorite animator of them all) he/she is known for hard hitting impact animation with weight & high speed movement.

Katsumi ishizua

shida is more flashy, fast frame high quality art then katsumi ishizuka hard hitting gritty impact style.

Don't expect shida too be katsumi ishizuka or vice versa.

This is the hiromi ishigami scene in film z

http://sakuga.yshi.org/post/show/8164/animated-fighting-hiromi_ishigami-one_piece-one_pi

goty

Speaking of which, what's Ishizuka up to now? Working on Digimon, maybe?

Machineman

@goty:

Speaking of which, what's Ishizuka up to now? Working on Digimon, maybe?

Since one piece episode 616 Ishizuka has complete vanished in the same way kenji kuroyanagi went missing for nearly 2 years, hasn't worked on anything since then.

Katsumi ishizuka where are you ?;_;

Nitwit

@Machineman:

Since one piece episode 616 Ishizuka has complete vanished in the same way kenji kuroyanagi went missing for nearly 2 years, hasn't worked on anything since then.

Katsumi ishizuka where are you ?;_;

He's probably been smoking weed everyday. XD

Atuin

I don't like the song. It's very very bland. I was sort of hoping for something a bit rock but this is just forgettable generic.
The visuals were ok but not the best.

Kizuchan

I went through all the openings again. I don't follow the anime anymore, but at least always check out the new opening. Fight Together, Kokoro No Chizu, Bon Voyage, Brand New World and We Are came up top. I could not stand listening to Wake Up, I think when it first came out I liked it, but now rewatching after a while, it looked ugly, I did not like the interlude and I wasn't a fan of the song.
We Go! is definitely the best Timeskip opening, though. At least it has energy. I think Hard Knock Days is definitely better than Wake up, it's not bad, but it isn't great either, kind of up there with Crazy Rainbow and Hands Up in that I'm pretty indifferent about it.

Halfmetal-lich

After listening to the song at least 20 times, it has grown on me considerably. Out of the 4 time skip opening it is at least number 3, and a comfortable middle high overall.

Maromi

when ur dad wont let u fight steven tyler

kanjiro part was really nice, tho

Zoro Kun

The song is meh, i listened to it only once though so let's see if it will grow on me, as for the animation, as usual Strawhat doki doki days lol
I would have loved to see something like "One Day" opening where it was filled with melancholy and sadness vibes, however it was not too bad, i need to rewatch it again!

zachri

~~SHININ RANNIN FOREVAH~~

I still need to actually listen to this, only watched without audio, there's A LOT of content in there, got feelsy at Mr C.
Also is it stupid I'm sad they don;t include Law in the Strawhat scenes yet? I mean I know he;s not in the crew and just an alliance but sTILL.
then again in the logic I'm thinking off, Vivi and Jinbei should be there, but they're not on the ship der v u v; gdi

black-leg jex

That scene of everyone running is really random. It has everyone from the current arc almost. It's missing the tontattas, koala, hack and tank. But then it has caimie and shirahoshi. Ok i guess they were important post-timeskip so sure. Jinbei, Hancock and vivi are there. I guees yeah they are also super close to the strawhats. Same can be said for Kureha and ivankov i guess? But kokoro, her grand daughter, paulie, dalton, lola and someone i ca't make out properly at the back. Why i they there? Zeff and genzo would make more sense because at least they fit with kureha. It just feels like 'how can we fill it out the empty space?'

RamistaR

A few Tontattas are there actually. But I get your point.
I can see Kabu, Leo, Innel and ….Innel ?

senjuitama

The opening would have been a lot better without ugly scenes like this

Elektrik Dynomite

@senjuitama:

The opening would have been a lot better without ugly scenes like this

http://i.imgur.com/pMtOfCh.png

Who is in the brown, in the furthest back right behind Iva?