#I was missing the emotions

[apri-apri-no-mi]

OPLA Review: I love it but it’s different!

Some context: I started watching One Piece when I was 19 years. So the straw hats have been part of my life for over 9 years. Nevertheless, I’m anime only. I have never read the manga. But I know about the story differences between the manga and anime.

I love the live action adaption! The characters feel in line most of the time. The pacing is quite fast, which is actually good for the story. It definitely broke the curse of bad live action adaptions. I can feel the love that is put into this series at each and every moment. Yet, it still feels different to the One Piece in my heart.

I was super excited for the series to be released. After my initial hype, I still tried to keep my expectations low. Yet while watching the first episode, I felt really conflicted. I loved it for what it is. But I wished I could love it even more. Does this even makes sense? Even after finishing the first 4 episodes, I felt every loving post and meme about it. But something was missing. And this feeling didn’t change after finishing the series.

After exploring my thoughts I noticed to main reasons for this:

First and foremost, I love One Piece for its emotions. I have goosebumps, I cry, I feel excited and motivated. With OPLA the emotions where conveyed on the conversational level a lot. A lot more than in the anime. But I was missing the emotions on the emotional level. Characters where saying what they feel. But I couldn’t sense them feeling it.

The second thing which is crucial about One Piece for me is the music! Especially reoccurring background music that also conveys a lot of the emotions. Yes, we had a little bit Bink's sake here and there. And the main theme song We are was incorporated twice if I’m not wrong. But besides that I cannot recall any music except the fishmen's background music. Most of the time I didn’t even notice the background music at all. Epic moments had no epic music.

Nevertheless, I am still very much in love with it. I see so many people engaging in my most favorite fictional world. And they get lost in it! Maybe some even start to read the manga or watch the anime. Some might won’t. But knowing the straw hats - somehow as they are - will be part of other peoples lives as well, makes me unbelievably happy!

And for everyone interested, here are some other random impressions and thoughts:

Almost all story changes where made with love and payed tribute to the original. Like having Chouchou in Orange Town or a girl offering Zoro onigiri. But making the Grand Line map the main story plot device leading to Arlong being kind of the end boss of season 1 felt off to me. It fits somehow into the story. But since Arlong is from the Grand Line, I feel like he wouldn’t be that much in need of the map anyway?!

Koby had sooo much screen time! It was an interesting choice. But I’ve admit, I liked it a lot! Yet I’m not sure if I like how Garp is portrayed. He seems a bit out of character to me personally.

I loooved how they integrated the wanted posters for each character! That was a really unique and cool idea!

We had a panda in the show!!! At this point I knew it’s just a big success haha!

There had been a lot of queer moments! So many more than in the anime at that time of the story. There will be so many fanfics lol

I loved Namis and Luffys first interaction. Even though it was different from the original , it was so cute and gave them some funny moments together. In contrast, Sanjis and Luffys first interaction felt really lame. I love how in the anime the first thing Luffy sees Sanji doing is offering someone starving food for free. This way he knows immediately Sanji is a good one. He asks him to join his crew without having tried his meals. In OPLA Luffy first sees Sanji as waiter resolving some fight. Luffy goes from "he's a good fighter" over "he's a good cook" to "he’s a good guy". And to me Sanji is a good guy first and everything else comes after!

The only time I felt emotions like in the anime, was the scene were Luffy gave his hat to Nami. I think it was almost a 1:1 adaption of the original scene and the dialogue. But somehow this scene felt also off in the live action, because it was so much heavier in emotions than the rest of the series. I’m sorry I’m really picky about the emotional stuff lol

Thanks for reading my rumbling about my favorite fictional universe! I’m really excited what OPLA can do in the future! For anyone starting to watch the anime, I have some last words for you: I’ll wait in Wano Kuni for you!!!

[chipsy]

Text me whenever you think of me, I like that.

[artsymeeshee]

Random idea I got this morning thinking about how small little things (mostly about missing important moments of the past) make the boys emotional and sorrowful.

[bixels]

It's crazy how Dungeon Meshi's manga can feel more cinematic and emotional than the anime to me, even when they're practically the same. Compared to the anime, this moment is such a heartbreaking gut-drop. The way Kui uses negative space and flat compositions to create a sense of horrific stillness is so key.

The way the text (Senshi's monologue) is sequestered to an empty corner of a panel or huddled away from the edge of its text box is not only a great way of showing Senshi's headspace (fearful, isolated, dissociating), but creates a visual representation of pause, as if you hold your breathe after each line. The first panel puts us directly in Senshi's perspective too (compared to in the anime, which puts us as an outside observer over Senshi's shoulder). The detail of the door and bricks so effectively implies that he stared at it for so long, waiting and hoping, that its image is burned in his memory. The wood grain, the brick arch, the number of rivets. The lack of dialogue in the second panel shows a moment of realization too –– "he's dead" (also a great example of the Kuleshov effect). And it's that pause that creates a beat and sets a great rhythm to his headspace, like a music rest: "He never came back." (oh god.) "I'm all alone." Finally, the third panel's negative space, cropping Senshi, shows how truly alone he feels. Without his family, the world ceases to exists. Under shock, he traps himself in a 1-foot radius, too scared to even perceive a world outside its boundaries; a world that can hurt him, kill him, make him disappear with it. There is only his body, the stone beneath his feet and against his back, his thoughts, and that awful bowl of soup.

Even though they're a series of flat images, there's an implicit reading of silence in Senshi's realization and horror. Kui influences your experience to slow down and take your time.

Compare this to the anime, which fills every shot with dialogue. The pacing is fast; we never get to sit in silence like we do with the manga. The horizontal frame allowed the boarders to add Senshi, turning the composition into an over-the-shoulder shot, which takes us out of Senshi's POV. They also added a zoom-out in shot one, which adds unnecessary energy to a very somber scene. The tightening on Senshi as a close-up reaction shot also dulls the moment. In the original panel, Senshi stares ahead at the empty space to his left as a shadow surrounds his mind. It not only shows how Senshi's senses are dulling and his world is shrinking (setting up panel three), but shows how terrified Senshi is of what's in front of him, how the air itself becomes pitch black and opaque, how Senshi is surrendering himself to fear. The pacing is understandable and necessary; this episode packed a lot of story content together. It's just a shame because it really (imo) deflated one of the most nauseating moments in Dungeon Meshi.

[doomedclockworkdotmp3]

his therapist woulda had a field day at their next appointment

[llwriterll]

I miss you the minute we stop talking.

[mroddmod]

just something i’ve been thinking about

[judgedarts]

just a boy and his dog..

[stillgotscars]

marjorie - taylor swift

[saewokhrisz]

mask expressions :O

[hayden-christensen]

OBI-WAN KENOBI (2022) Cinematography by Chung-Hoon Chung

@pscentral event 26: minimalism

[chipsy]

How do i say i miss you in a way that will make your heart ache as mine does?

[justghostthings]

I'll have you know I have a mildly popular nsfw tumblr blog 😒😒😒

[takemetodragonstone]

*if your gender and sexuality brought on different feelings, vote for whichever you want. (whichever feeling was stronger, or first, or however you want to decide).

If you’re comfortable with it, put your sexuality and/or gender identity in the tags along with the feeling you experienced upon discovering it so we can see if any trends appear with correlations between certain identities and feelings!

[racingwest]

i think it's pretty clear who's who

[lara-cairncross]

wake up people its missing pb&j duo hours