The Story: https://i.ur.com/r1a1K5Y.png One Piece even from the first chapter has always been about being able to follow your dreams. From the start the focus and importance put upon the characters dreams and motivations has been one of the most endearing and amazing parts of this story to me. The Straw Hats goals are something that they are willing to risk their lives at any second and as their bond grows tighter and stronger they eventually hit a point where their collective goal is to ensure the completion of everyones dream. One Piece: The Movie does a great job showing and not telling us this from such an early part of this crews journey. With 24 years of hindsight its crazy to see a story with such a small cast and limited focus with there being more Straw Hats in the current day than named characters in this movie combined but that charm lingers throughout the entire runtime and makes this such a pleasurable glance into the past. With just the original four Straw Hats that limited focus can do a great job at shining each of their characters at this point in the story after Syrup Village and before Baratie and does a great job at giving each Straw Hat time to breathe and show off what makes them such a loved character 25 years later. Luffys determination Zoros cold and calculating persona tied into his childish and competitive attitude that makes him a perfect first mate with Luffy Namis greed but huge heart that at the end of the day puts her as one of the most selfish characters in the crew and Usopps larger than life stories and tales that he spins to make sure none of his friends get hurt and hes able to get away and stall until Zoro and Luffy arrive. All that being said Tobio and his grandfather Ganzo are great singleshot examples of One Pieces core thesis. Tobios dream of wanting to be an amazing pirate like his mentor Woonan and his grandfathers dream to make Oden conflict in such a beautiful way in a symmetrical way to how Luffy interacts with the world. Here we see a driven motivated kid who against all odds continues to carve out his future and make his insurmountable dream come true. However this kid is a mirror to the Luffy we see before he meets Shanks NOT the Luffy we see now. Like most young people Luffy meets and later on goes to inspire Tobio is someone who is at his core unsure of his dream and is unsure of how he will be able to complete that dream. Through Luffys actions and the reveal of who his grandfather is and knows Tobio can become assured in his dream of either following in his idols path or his grandfathers path but both potentially leading him to a happy fulfilled life. This is the beauty of One Piece and what I love about this movie so much. The Visuals and Fights: This movie has such charming simple and timeless animation that makes me feel so comfy even though Ive only been watching One Piece for just over a year and a half. Every time I start this journey again with the early animation it takes me back to a time when I could picture myself watching TV on a Sunday morning on those old box TVs. The 4x3 ratio stretched out the big hands and feet the huge eyes and expressive mouths everything just clicks so perfectly in such a charming way. Toei has improved their animation immensely since this was made but I genuinely think the first 100 episodes and first few movies have such a timeless scrappy and emotionally resonant animation style that we will never be able to replicate. https://i.ur.com/STZ3cOI.png https://i.ur.com/hjYTmaw.png El Drago is your average One Piece villain a character who has their goal usually in opposition to the person Luffy and the crew are aiding and gets humbled HARD by Luffys Gum Gum Pistols. Since this movie is so early in the timeline Luffy and Zoro are the only fighters in the crew so I knew going in the fights was not going to be WanoScale but I still liked them. We see Zoros determination and ferocity with his reputation scaring El Dragons crew and with how swiftly he butchers Golass and delivers the coldest line of the movie. https://i.ur.com/P6f3qDb.png As for the Captain fight Luffy gives it his all and deftly defeats El Drago using his creativity and rubber body to counter the bullish strength of the villain. This fight is so nostalgic with 24 years of fights in the rearview as we see the simple yet impactful hits that Luffy delivers over and over again fighting for his new friends dream. The Emotions: One Piece is the most emotionally impactful series Ive ever read with even the worst backstory being some of the best in fiction to me. This movie is no different. The comedy is on point as always with each Straw Hat getting some good belly laughs out of me. With Usopp trying to con the pirates constantly Nami faking being Woonans granddaughter and her rage towards Luffy always a perfect gag Zoros broke boy moment on the Oden ship and his forced edgy attitude and Luffy just the entire movie there is no shortage of humor throughout the entire movie. As for the rest of the emotions this movie hits the nail on the head. From moments of Hype with Luffy punching El Drago and saving Tobio to sorrow as Tobio finds Woonans corpse to a new peak Luffy moment with him eating the dirty broken Oden not only a callback to Zoro eating the rice ball but to Luffys personal feelings towards respecting peoples dreams and not wasting food. This movie doesnt have the GREATEST of moments but for having such a short runtime and not a lot of backlog of story to use for big impactful moments it does the job incredibly well. Ill think about the goodbye Luffy gives to Tobio and Ganzo for a long time and how even though this isnt canon I know that theyd be rooting for Luffy to this day. Conclusion: In conclusion this movie was such a blast. I had a great time and it felt like a twopart episode of TV shows past in the best way possible. It was a great start to the amazing movies in the One Piece catalog that would follow this one up. Cant wait to continue this journey and get through the rest of the movies https://i.ur.com/pzJ17FX.png