#do you think a cool person finds derivatives and integrals sexy.

[caninecowboy]

just got done for the day and i have a raging headache :/

[neverwatchedonepiece]

One Piece Movie: Strong World

The only thing I knew about this before wading in was Strong World was written by Oda himself. This was a good sign. After all, Toriyama wrote Battle of Gods, one of the recent Dragonball movies and I liked it a lot. Mainly because it was funny, but it also expanded the universe and opened up a ton of new potential plot directions. (Granted, I haven’t watched the latest DB series, so I have no idea if this was a good idea or not.)

The first thing I noticed about Strong World was, of course...

Hello, Movie Budget!

It is beautiful.

Seriously, look at those floating islands. The scope. The detail. Tiny Luffy in the right hand corner. If this was a video game, I’d be thrilled to play it.

Everything in this movie was that little bit lovelier than usual. There are a couple of scenes that stick out in particular. When Robin, Franky and Brook escape from the armed ants near the beginning (the swirling blossoms, the vibrant colour scheme). When the Strawhats look up at Shiki, stood on a stonehenge-like trilithon with the setting sun behind him (nice silhouette of the Strawhats) and, in general, those amazing shots of the Strawhats lined up, ready to fight.

Everyone looked great, too. All the Strawhats had new outfits (Robin suited the glasses and casual jumper dress, and Franky was perfect for that leather jacket).

Plus that Nami fan service... 

But I suppose the important question is this: why was Luffy tearing about on those floating islands, running away from a hilarious conveyor belt of murderous animals that culminated in a giant preying mantis being suplexed by a huge sloth bear?

The answer is this guy.

This Is What You Get For Being Nice, I Guess...

Shiki was a good movie villain. Threatening enough to cause trouble for the Strawhats but not over-powered to the point it disrupts the main canon plot (I hate it when that happens in movie specials). I like how he was integrated into the main plot (at least in the anime). There was that teaser back in Marineford when Sengoku mentioned Shiki in the same vein as Roger (and I thought it was something noteworthy, haha).

Well, it was a bit.

Post-Marineford, Shiki, who had been defeated by Gol D. Roger twenty years prior, had returned. After destroying a few innocent towns in East Blue, he flew his vast, floating island of a ship through the airspace of Marineford, its oars cutting through the clouds and left Garp and Sengoku a little message to remember him by. (That scene was good, if a bit CGI-tastic.)

On his way, he encountered the Straw Hats, who were just hanging out on the Sunny. The Coo News dropped and they discovered the grim situation in East Blue. Then, a vast ship passed overhead. Amazing, right? But it was headed straight into the path of a dangerous storm that Nami had spotted. Luffy, being decent, gave the order to alert the floating ship.

Shiki, being a villain, reacted somewhat badly to this news. He shot every single Navigator on his ship. What did he pay them for? Honestly! But look through yonder telescope. There was a sexy, young Navigator on the Sunny. The one who was sharp enough to spot the coming cyclone. And there was a vacancy. Several, in fact.

Aided by the power of his Float Float Fruit, he descended onto the Sunny’s deck. His design is cool. Those sword legs are awesome. It did not take him long to “invite” the Strawhats to his place: the floating islands of Merveille.

I say, “invite”. Kidnap is much more accurate.

Shiki’s Diabolical Fanservice-Filled Plan

And that was how the Strawhats ended up on Merveille.

And Nami in a swimming pool in a bikini, of course. (Don’t think I didn’t notice that scene when Nami pulled up those impossibly tiny shorts. But hey, it’s a tropical island. It’s hot, right?)

Mid-swim, Shiki and his goons showed up. For some reason, they performed a dance number. One of his goons was also one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen in a movie. His shoes made a dumb fart sound. His name was Dr Indigo, but I’ll call him Fart Clown.

Fart Clown rushed in with a new test subject: a duck that generates electricity. Shiki has been engineering fighting animals using a drug they developed from a local plant: the IQ plant. Nami did not approve and asked him what the hell he was doing. Shiki refused to reveal his goal, but dropped a few Significant Lines. “I’ll tell you once you join my crew. There are certain favours I’ll only do for crew members.”

Of course, Nami wasn’t planning to stay long. As soon as she found an escape route, she was off, with Electric Duck Billy in tow. Flying around with Billy, she spotted Luffy because he had amassed an increasing stampede of roid-raged creatures after his blood. 

Tear-Filled Reunions?

(Best joke in the movie. Why do you pretend to hate each other? You are fooling no one, guys.)

Meanwhile, the other Strawhats had been finding out interesting things.

Sanji and Usopp dodged sabre-toothed tigers and sharp-shooting buffalo and found themselves at a village filled with malnourished older residents and young children. They found out about how Shiki controls the village, takes away working-age residents to work at his palace, how the rest can only scrape by and that DDMs patrol the streets, recording everything anyone says or does. These people also had feathers. Why? No one knew.

Zoro and Chopper rescued a small girl (there is always a filler kid in movies) who had strayed from her village in search of a plant to help her grandmother. The grandmother was laid low by an airborne malady that originated in the Daft Green trees that surrounded the village. A double-edged sword: the trees kept them safe from the marauding animals but were also poisonous. There is a cure, but it’s derived from the IQ plant, and Shiki takes them all for his mutant animal projects. Chopper, by the way, did not have a good time around the trees.

Robin, Franky and Brook (well, not Brook, ahaha) avoided being stripped of their flesh by a crowd of angry, armed ants, then Franky improvised a Crawley Davidson (ahaha) to travel across the island in search of the others. There, they came across Shiki’s Palace. Elite pirates had gathered. There was a dress code. A random pirate told them Shiki had plans to demo his world-domination plans by destroying the village where all the feathered people lived, just like he’d destroyed the other towns in East Blue. (I liked how quick Robin was to play along. She’s such a good intel-gatherer.)

Unfortunately, they were too far away from the village to warn the other Strawhats.

Nami figured it out, but it was too late.

Vanguard Nami

This was the part of the movie when the protagonists suffer a defeat. It had to happen. 

Shiki appeared to recapture Nami. He was delusional, saying Nami really wanted to be part of his crew, honest. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Chopper tag-teamed Shiki, but the villain had an iron plot shield. His power was cool, though. You can tell Oda was behind it. The uses of it were very creative. Shiki made the earth float, engulf the Strawhats like a tsunami and them in a twisted spiral of dirt.

Then he forced Nami into a corner. She agreed to join his crew. Usopp tried to stop her, but Shiki still had his iron plot shield. Shiki decided to be nice and let her leave a Tone Dial message for her old crewmates.

Of course, when Robin, Franky and Brook finally found them an dug them out, Luffy listened to 80% of the message and got the wrong idea. How could she say Shiki was stronger than them, that he’d never measure up to a guy like that?

I knew there had to be more to that message. Nami would never say something like that, would she? (Interesting that Sanji was the one who asked to hear the message again.)

Luffy’s anger fuelled his epic rescue mission!

Which was just as well, as Shiki had executed his plan to tear down the protective trees. Murderous animals swarmed the village. The downtrodden people had to flee for their lives. Nami had been caught trying to betray Shiki (I still don’t get why she wanted to blow up the trees with dynamite) and he imprisoned her, leaving her to succumb to the Green Disease.

As Shiki headed towards East Blue, the Strawhats rocketed towards his palace on the Sunny.

Robin Must Have Mentioned the Dress Code

The big fight scene was great. 

The explosions, the smokey silhouettes, the sharp tailoring and the badass walk in were a joy to watch. Even the guns and the Kill Bill style brawl (you think you can take on the Crazy 88?) were fun. I liked how the first words out of Luffy’s mouth were: “Is Nami okay?”

Then, when Shiki lied about her doing just fine, Luffy respected Nami by saying, “Nami didn’t sacrifice herself. She came here to fight as our vanguard. Prepare yourself. We are the main force!”

Luffy acted like the captain. Gave Usopp and Chopper orders to find Nami, while the rest of them cleaned up. Franky fought the scrubs. Brook stealing the limelight when Sanji fought the gorilla for Robin was hilarious (”I WILL SHEAR THE FLESH FROM YOUR BONES!” “I have no flesh.”)

Luffy ran after Shiki and Zoro was elevated to angel status in my eyes for offing that IRRITATING FART CLOWN.

And a word of advice: don’t say anything bad about being born in East Blue to Zoro.

“Don’t Bother Our Captain.”

I agree, Chopper. He is cool.

Hasta la Vista, Fart Clown The only good thing about you is that you had some pre-made Green Disease cure about your person that Chopper and Usopp looted from your unconscious body.

They found Nami just as she exacted her Revenge Plan. Billy the Duck lit the dynamite fuses and the Daft Green trees surrounding Shiki’s palace were obliterated. The enraged fighting animals stampeded in and smashed Shiki’s palace. It was wild. Fun to watch.

Enraged, Shiki tracked Nami, Usopp and Chopper. But guess who followed him and was, at that point, literally steaming with rage.

Monty Python’s Grand Finale

“NAMI, I’M GONNA BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA HIM AND WE’RE GONNA GO HOME!”

When Luffy makes a promise. He delivers.

And this is where the movie budget came into its own. That Gear 3rd animation was glorious.

I liked how the Strawhats took down Shinki. It reminded me of when they teamed up to take down Oars. They have come a long way and are now a well-oiled machine of efficient teamwork.

While Luffy used Billy the Electric Duck to counteract his lack of reach (I mean, Luffy’s reach is great, but Shiki can fly. What can you do?) Nami used an approaching storm to their advantage. Usopp and Chopper menaced the navigation team to turn the islands directly into the path of the storm. Robin helped Usopp and Chopper blow the palace to Kingdom Come. Franky prepared the Sunny for a quick getaway.

Shiki was caught mid-gloat (always the villain’s Achilles’ Heel). Merveille sailed right into the coming storm. Nami, of course, revealed her Clima Tact and called him out. Usopp sent a lightning attack deliberately into the rumbling clouds. Brook called everyone else back to the Sunny, leaving Luffy to clean up.

As Luffy’s lightning-charged, giant foot screamed towards Shiki, I thought: yes. This is exactly the kind of spectacular, over-the-top finale a bigger budget movie needs. GET HIM, LUFFY! (It also had shades of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. You ever seen that giant grey foot in the opening? The theme song was stuck in my head for ages afterwards.)

So it was that the Strawhats saved East Blue and the feathery Sky Angel People! Two birds with one stone. How about that? Let it never be said that the Strawhats cannot multi-task! (The feathery Sky Angel People bit didn’t make much sense. How could you forget you were a race of Sky Angel People? But whatever, I just went with it.)

At first I was confused as to why the Marines were arresting Shiki’s goons. How did they know where to find them? Then I realised Garp and Sengoku had probably been chasing them since the stunt Shiki pulled at Marineford. 

And the heart-warming (ship fuelling) scene at the end with Nami’s real message played at the end?

“Promise me you’ll come rescue me.”

Awesome. Good movie. Glad you guys recommended it. 

Shiki has clearly never watched One Piece.