Topic for discussion of the 2nd episode (it is good that we keep them separate so that those that do not wish do not get spoiled)
Title: The Man in the Staw Hat
Directed by: Marc Jobst
Written by: Ian Stokes
Topic for discussion of the 2nd episode (it is good that we keep them separate so that those that do not wish do not get spoiled)
Title: The Man in the Staw Hat
Directed by: Marc Jobst
Written by: Ian Stokes
Alright I'm trying to write stuff for each episode (on episode 3 so) so I don't forget it but I wanna keep watching so I'll just be brief-
Buggy is the star of the show by far. The presentation, the nose sensitivity, some genuine funny lines from him.....I remember thinking the initial teaser had him look so offputting but I'm glad he was done justice. I can't quite place the feeling but the actor landed on some kind of middle ground between Jim Carrey and Tobias Funke...? Something like that?
The set-up is the whole town is forced to watch his crew's "performance" under the big top which again, is a pretty novel idea to play into the idea that this is a circus themed pirate, cue with forced laugh cue cards. Cabaji and Mohji are both present, sadly Ritchie is cut (but alluded to). You get to see the reminder of Luffy's backstory as the show goes on and I think overall it was handled pretty well. What is a change is Buggy stating openly that he wants to be Pirate King as well (which iirc is more of something he mocks Luffy for in the beginning) but maybe that could also be a consulation result of the real-life world knowing now more definitively what One Piece is or could be?
Actor wise I think Luffy is coming into his own with only some occassional "that's-too-verbose-to-be-Luffy" lines but to be fair, it's impossible to have his goofiness 1:1 with the manga, it's not happening. He's still smiling and cheerful and Luffy-esque so I think it's good
Zoro is a pretty serious dude and I do worry that it's playing too much into the seriousness of Zoro but you can see moments of him having fun, he does crack a smile/laugh a bit at the end of shells when Coby knocks out Helmeppo
Nami seems pretty faithful to me - obviously you're going to have more outsmarting in general compared to a Happiness Punch (she does technically flirt with that marine in the first episode to lower his guard?). I like the proactiveness with her using her staff and actually fighting. Hell if they had to cut down the Climatact due to special effects or whatnone, sticking more to staff fighting wouldn't be the worst thing. She steals, she hates pirates, I'm on board.
Back at Shells instead of the people/marines openly decrying Morgan's corruption it's not until Garp investigates the base getting raided (and he learns the truth from Coby), which maybe is a more down-to-earth kinda change. Morgan also boasted about how he took down Kuro so he's nice to have more of a connecting tissue across the East Blue. I suspect Garp accepts Coby's story the moment Luffy is mentioned, wonder when we'll actually have them meet.
Wow, they did a lot of interesting stuff with Buggy in this episode. They really played up the circus angle and him wanting the spotlight. I guess that fits with him being a flashy guy although him wanting to be Pirate King is an interesting thought to put out now given his feelings on the subject at this point in the manga. We didn't get to see the Buggy ball in action sadly, just the side effects.
It was nice to see everyone working together although I do feel like Zoro has bonded with Luffy very quickly considering what we've seen of them together.
I liked the use of Luffy's backstory in this episode as well, given Buggy's ties to Shanks. Actually getting to see the Red Haired Pirates kick ass was really cool, although I can't get over how much older Ben Beckmann looks compared to the others haha.
Also Cabaji had a brother I guess. Nice namedrop of the Goa Kingdom with that. Also Zoro continues to be characterised as very savage.
Also re: the marines. I feel like Captain Morgan being strung up and found guilty is kind of a little out of left field. We know why as manga readers but I feel like they didn't show his corruption enough in the last episode to warrant it now. That said, it made for a good reason to get Coby and Helmeppo with Garp.
Also Bogard getting more lines in this show than he ever did in the manga is very funny to me.
I really, really like Jeff Ward's performance as Buggy. It's a bit intimidating since he's in a position of power here, but it's also the right level of obnoxious that makes him the butt of the joke. Shame to lose the Chouchou subplot but that'd be hard to adapt and the episode wisely spent time weaving in Luffy and Shanks instead.
Yeah, this episode is making me trust the show now. That last scene was every bit as emotional as it was in other adaptions, and ultimately this version of Shanks did a good job. Same with Buggy. It's different, but is a good portrayal nonetheless.
Buggy was great, a good mix of funny and scary/cruel. And I'm liking Garp molding Koby into a good marine. Seeing them get screen time is a great contrast from Luffy and the pirates. All in all, the show is doing a good job with its world building.
God, this episode was great. I love Buggy and the Red Haired pirates showed out!
@black-leg-jex said in Episode 2 (The Man in the Straw Hat) - Discussion:
I liked the use of Luffy's backstory in this episode as well, given Buggy's ties to Shanks. Actually getting to see the Red Haired Pirates kick ass was really cool, although I can't get over how much older Ben Beckmann looks compared to the others haha.
I'm pretty sure Beckmann is a decade older than Shanks at least.
Another great episode. Interesting that “Mother Ocean” was mentioned. We also had Buggy establishing the notion of Shanks being a “false idol” — as well as the question of “what does it mean to be a pirate” being thoroughly explored.
The acting remains fantastic. Buggy was a delight, the principal cast continues to kill it, and I loved the flashback.
Jesus god they made the lord of the coast actually frightening.
"Surprise, shithead!" got me more than I'd care to admit, lol.
Also another side thought - Buggy using water against Luffy is kinda neat because he has a fruit too and specifically knows how much of a hazard it is. Plus the usual magic trick of trying to escape rising water.
There are some nuances here that I did not enjoy as much as in the manga. Shanks' portrayal is too straightforward caring father figure in comparison to the Manga. That's a trait he's got in the original too, of course but he disguises it in the beginning by talking Luffy down and mocking him all the time to make him realize that he is not ready to go to sea. When he steps up and saves Luffy, the impact is all the bigger.
In the show, Shanks's cheeky attitude is replaced by straightforward concern for Luffy, more than once he simply admits that he is afraid of taking Luffy with him and even reckognizes his potential when he says he is sure he'll one day see Luffy's face on a wanted poster. At least for me, that makes the biggest emotional moment - the passing of the Straw Hat - fall flat because cheeky Shanks is still a bit condescending to Luffy (also reflected by his slightly knelt down posture) while live-action Shanks seems to fully acknowledge Luffy.
Okay, the guy who played Buggy was great. Obviously a very different take on the character, but it works. He had a lot of genuinely funny moments, but also came off as really intimidating. Definitely feels like they were taking a lot of inspiration from the Joker, but Buggy is still very much his own character.
Would've liked a proper sword fight between Zoro and Cabaji though.
And Luffy's backstory comes to a satisfactory conclusion. I'm not overly impressed by the guy they got to play Shanks, but Higuma was on point.
It's interesting that they're building up Garp so early on, which I'm perfectly fine with (now we know why Oda included him in the color page). Also, funny that Bogard gets more lines here than he has in the entire manga.
Oh yeah, and the idea of a Den Den Mushi bluetooth is just too good.
Joker Buggy is fantastic.
The Buggy episode! Obviously where my interest lies.
I was hoping they would show more of Buggy’s stupidity, while fearing they would go full Joker.
The resilt was a good compromise, and it fits his Orange Town depiction in the manga (when he was more menacing than in his future appearances).
His actor was just perfection, loved the Genius Jester reference, only wished the hat was kept longer because it’s such a big part of his design.
My only real problem with this episode was what they did to Garp. I don’t think the show presented any reason to justify him putting Morgan on the cross like that, he alluded to corruption but it just sounded like he was severely punished for lying about his failure… it looked really excessive and that made Garp look kinda villainous?
At some points I also think non-initiated watchers might get confused. Despite Makino mentioning Mother Ocean (!), I’m not sure if it was clear how seawater and fruit users mesh together and why Luffy was powerless in that situation. But it’s hard for me to judge that.
Highlight of the episode? Instead of my man Buggy, I would say it was the “hat passing scene”.
When kid!Luffy lift his head, teary-eyed, seeing such an iconic moment from the manga playing out and how big OP became. Couple tears rolled on my face and I could only think “I love this shit, huh?”
Loved this episode. As everybody else already said, Jeff Ward's portrayal as Buggy was awesome. A more serious and threatening take on the character, that made him feel more real. Him holding the town as prisoners and forcing them to be his audience was pretty fucked up.
They are also playing Garp pretty straight, but I like the portrayal of the actor. I also really liked Kid Luffy's actor and thought his reaction when Shanks gave him his head was really moving. It's hard to gauge how impactful the scene of Shanks losing his arm would be for viewers unfamiliar with the story, in comparison with the original.
Sad that they excluded the Buggy balls as well as Luffy actually kicking him in the balls lol. I also missed Nami tricking and stealing from Buggy, I always liked their little dynamic, even though it doesn't really matter in the long run.
Great episode, buggy was really entertaining. Interaction with shanks also good. Not sure why they chose to change Garps attitude, he seems too serious.
Even better episode than the first, loved this somewhat darker take on Buggy!
Liked Shanks a lot more this episode too, he came across a bit wooden previously.
Main complaint (Apart from the blatant lack of Richie!), like others have said, Morgan doesn't really come across as corrupt in this version, so Garp coming in and stringing him up just seems odd.
Lets see if this upward trajectory continues.
I noticed they played the content in the first episode more straight (not fully, of course), but they really changed up this content. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I suppose a 1 for 1 is never what happens either way.
The way they juxtaposed Luffy's drowning scene in the flashback with Luffy drowning in the "tank of doom" was a nice touch. They set it up so when Shanks reached for Luffy in the flashback, you knew that Nami and Zoro were going to do the same in the current day.
I'm not against what they did with Nami and Zoro and Cabaji here, but it looks like one-on-one battles may not be much of a thing in this adaptation if at all. They seem to be playing up heavily on the teamwork idea with the fights in the first episode and this one here. And you know what? That might not be a bad idea.
Continuing to show Koby's growth as a marine with Garp is interesting. However, all of this time taken on building up does make me wonder if they're going to take this a different direction and have Koby and Garp show back up and have some kind of confrontation with Luffy early on. Either that, or the directors of this adaptation just aren't aware that Koby kinda fades into the background of the series and doesn't run into Luffy again for a very long time. I doubt they're not aware, though.
The nuance of Zoro's build-up of trust in Luffy sadly is a bit lost in this quick format. That's the kinda stuff (the buildup of the friendships with the crew) that I think is really important to this series, so that's kinda sad. One Piece gets a lot of flack for it's insane length, but it works well for the characters.
Anyway, I'm only on this episode so far, curious to see what they'll do going forward.
Before I read any other comments here is my take on this episode.
First it is really interesting that I am almost the only one who didn't rate it highly. I gave it 3 stars here or would have give it 6/10 if we had that rating system.
I watched it with my girlfriend she gave it 8/10, gave 10/10 to the first (she doesnt watch anime or reads manga in general)
So my thoughts.
The episode felt not moving but but at the same time a bit hectic and miniaturish/claustrophobic, forced in scope.
Almost everything was going on inside of Buggy's tent.
The people Buggy captured that were forced to laugh, that felt forced...in a sense that both ep 1 and ep 2 the crowd in my opinion is really acting poorly.
It was a twist on Buggys character but again it went a bit more forcefully into the Joker's direction with Buggy feeling egocentric and with bigger balls then I remember him. Would the Buggy from East Blue really say that he ll be King of the pirates? He knows Shanks, Whitebeated and so on are levels above him. The guy was just after Captain Jack's treasure until the point he felt he actually can go after OP.
The way Garp was doing things at Shells town and how he is chasing Luffy... i don't know bothers the shit out of me as well but that is just my manga side.
I loved some of the fighting stuff like him splitting and using the red ball's smoke behind Luffy. But him stretching Luffy elwho is a rubber guy felt strange.
Oh Cabaji vs Zoro felt even freaking weirder. Why the hell would a guy wjo got his brother killed by Zoro be playing with him on the wheel for so long.... probably would come in and start doing physical stuff to the guy immediately... emotions and all...?
So that felt weird also.
Shank's flashback the only good thing for me was young Luffys acting. Shanks for me is notvok. How he loses his arm fir us who know how strong he is is even more weird than in the manga.
Missed the part where he says if youbpointvhuns you should be prepared to use them.
Lucy Roux meat he isceating looks plastic and fake as f.....
One of the toughest hurdles this show was going to have was to have a real flesh person say “I ate the blank-blank fruit” with their whole human mouth and for it to intimidating and they cleared it with this episode.
Jeff Ward is great for his version of Buggy. The rewrite worked really well. Wasn’t sure how Luffy was going to endear Nami on his side given there’s no Hachiko plot but freeing the town was a pretty good substitute. Think they could’ve set up the hat is his treasure plot a bit better though if they plan to use the payoff later which the Hachikou plot did better to do.
Didn’t like Morgan lying of what happened there. That’s a route to go under but not a fan of the interpretation, and tying someone up for being a bad leader seemed excessive. Curious to see where they’ll take Garp and Coby though in this show.
Luffy’s still too eloquent for my liking, but I’m liking him more and more. And can’t help it, Zoro’s just a thirst trap. Everything just has a sexual undertone to it Iono why.
Buggy is the goat of this episode
I was waiting for his ability's reveal by stabbing Zoro from behind with his sword, they sadly removed it entirely
I think we won't see Shanks again for a while, I love Shanks although the CoC moment could've been done better.
The episode in general had poor faith to the source material which i disliked, Oda's work was perfect and this is not. didn't enjoy it much except for Buggy.
Just finished episode 2 and the show so far is a lot what I expected. I like it generally, but some of the choices just rubs me the wrong way.
Like this notion that certain things don't work for live action, but some of the things added are just off-putting. Not on the level of "no, the character isn't like that". More of if the character being this way is too absurd, unrealistic, or out of place for the general audience, then why is this newer choice so awesome.
Example 1, Buggy. Buggy is menacing, a joke, and essentially so dramatic, but they leaned in too much on the drama and menacing/intimidating aspect. In effort to make him a real threat, so I understand. His personality comes off as the actor trying too hard at times. The manga held a balanced jester/tyrant and I don't hold the series version to that exactly. The spirit of Buggy was to be multiple things equally and the performance was leaning on 1 side too much.
Example 2, Makino. Makino is this positive and kind character. Cries, is understanding, just polite overall. Would scold Dadan if need be. Makino, like Buggy, leans too much on 1 thing. She seems like she's been through a lot and mopes around like a slave. This is what makes more sense for a live action audience? Again, the notion that changes are for the better, just isn't living up to what it talked up to be.
Example 3, what was the point of Luffy telling Koby to be quiet, then being his loud and confident self minutes later? If Luffy is directed to be covert, quiet, by a Nami or Jinbe, he might mess up after attempting. This is just inconsistent. Luffy doesn't try this on his own. He is loud and almost afraid of nothing. This is less about balance or portrayal and more about consistency. You want Luffy to be hush hush, then provide a reason why and stick to it until there is no reason to be sneaking around. It just felt like some of the Western storytelling crept in here and it felt normal for a character to do this, but Luffy in that scenario isn't afraid. Why attempt to be quiet?
Ideal example, Garp. Garp isn't exactly what he is in the source, but he is balanced. I love the accent, the expressions, his anti pirate dialogue. I love the little changes. Being placed at the execution, interrogating Koby, empowering the new recruits. It's the spirit of Garp, even if his whacky, unruly, gimmicks aren't spammed. I still feel like they get Garp.
Ideal example 2, Red Hair Pirates. Man, I love it. Even the look that Shanks gave Roo was a slight change because Shanks fully trust his guys and wouldn't even move a muscle in that situation. The look back was playful, so while it is different, it's still in the nature of that crew and a great addition.
Not mad at the lack of Chouchou, Rokkaku, Woop Slap, etc. What they mean would take up more minutes of the show.
The lack of a character or personality changes is one thing, but certain actions of characters was what hooked me. Specifically how Oda handled Luffy and Zoro trusting each other which resulted in Zoro becoming a SH Pirate. It was taken out and replaced with... nothing. He was just spinning on a dial as Cabaji missed him, then said Luffy is infectious. What was the cause of that change? Nothing lol.
Short, but nice performance by whoever is playing Alvida, Helmeppo, Mayor Boodle, and Koby. Excited to see the next episode. Hope it doesn't piss me off and I have to drop it. So far, it's been decent with minor offenses. No deal breakers so far.
I like what they have done with Buggy's character. Which is easy for me to say since, to be honest, I couldn't stand him in the anime. I know he has his fans, but, eh. I think it was as good decision to go in a different direction in the story then the ChouChou stuff.
I wasn't a huge fan of the episode but the part of the flashback in which the Redhair Pirates beat up the mountain bandits was super fun to watch, especially when Beckman and Yasopp start fighting together.
Buggy is more threatening here so he'd seem like someone who would torture with knives instead lol.
Where's the lion indeed! I think it would've been cool to see Mohji kick some ass on a giant lion.
I remember someone mentioning the lack of Buggy Ball, I had this for a vision of what they could've done. Nami runs out and then the canon ball flies past her. And after the debris clears she's stunned when the camera pans out to see the scale of the past destruction and then gets recaptured. I see it!
Cabaji had a brother!? Moments like these make me google to see if I'm crazy.
Daww
Favorite moments:
Least favorite moments:
I am sure it was pointed out, but Garps speech when Axe hand Morgan was bound, was bad. I feel like it didn't fit the Garp we know from the manga. It feels like they will paint most of the marines as bad and only Koby as the good guy, maybe this will change in the next episodes, but this is how it feels to me at the moment.
Buggy was awesome, I like the Circus set-up and the towns folk being forced to watch the show. Luffy saving the day and only taking a bit of the food they offered was fine. Still a shame that there wasn't enough time to dive deeper into character interactions we had in the manga.
Getting the resolution of Luffy's flash back while he is drowning in the container was a good choice, but I still prefer a version of when the flash back isn't spliced into bits and pieces around the episodes.
Not sure when I get around to watch the other 6 episodes, but I will stick with it.
A friend of mine, who watched like 2 episodes of the anime, enjoyed the episodes. So good on the Live action to make it interesting for people who have limited to no experience with One Piece. Also the series is out for almost 4 weeks and its listed as the third most popular series on Netflix in Germany.