After giving a very generous 7/10 to the first season, i was fully prepared to be disappointed by the awkwardness that seemed inevitable with such an unapologetic direction. What i did not expect was that the only awkwardness the show really had was already present in the trial-and-error phase of the first season; and once that introduction was out of the way, the series could finally move forward with a new full confidence, bursting straight into the Grand Line. My biggest concern was the over-the-top personalities of the crew, which are the most toned-down elements in the first season. I worried that the absence of Luffy’s brainless impulsivity, Nami’s aggressiveness, or Sanji’s perviness would cost the crew their familiar dynamic. However, the confidence i mentioned earlier is evident here; instead of trying to rationalize the comical elements, this show simply treats them as a specialty of the anime medium counterpart. So it does not argue which version is more correct; it just completes the narrative that if these cartoon characters existed in real life, they would behave like this and vice versa. With that single worry out of the way, i can now wholeheartedly say that almost everything else here has an improvement towards perfection. They've filled in previous narrative weaknesses through character inclusion, a broader scope of places, seamless practical/VFX, amazing choreography, and pacing that keeps its momentum remarkably well; it is hard to ask for more! Especially the Drum Kingdom storyline which, to me, is the first time Eiichiro Oda truly shows a clear grasp of how this fable would emotionally connect with his audience. I do have one minor complaint though, more of a nitpick as a manga reader, and it is the same issue i had with the previous season regarding, IMPACT. Not the impact right now, but the future ones. As you see, some key characters have appeared earlier than they should; even though their absence plays an important role in later twists. I'm just not entirely convinced that this short-term exchange is worth the potential loss in the long run.
Translating an IP of this magnitude, of course the first responsibility is to the fans. So let's take a look! It is no exaggeration to say that this series set a new standard for a similar adaptations in the future. Their commitment to the aesthetics, and their care in knitting the cartoonish side of the manga and the realist side of live-action together, without offending the logic of each side, finally managed to present an adaptation that was not only a tool to justify the new medium, but more of a tool to appreciate both worlds! The use of this new aspect, realism, was not to insult the cartoonist logic that is ingrained in the fan perspective. Instead of removing the comical factors because they don't make sense, they copy them to a realistic level that makes sense. So at the same time, they can lead fans to understand that there are things that have to be lowered for the realistic realm to work, and also show that there are new things here that were previously unexplored in the cartoonist realm. That's also because the East Blue Saga, when compared to the other sagas, is the weakest in terms of structure. Eiichiro Oda, the creator, at this point had yet to understand how big the scope of the world he was going to created, so the connection between plots was minimal. But now, three decades on, fans have a good idea of the scope of what's being talked about, and those behind this series clearly understand how to utilize it to build a more perfect world-building! As a result, it's not just a new rendition, but rather additional content that expands the overall lore of the series. But there is a price to pay for realism in adapting a work as cartoonish as this, especially when it comes to "impact": In the manga, One Piece relies heavily on the juxtaposition of silly moments to serious moments, in building up the suspension towards the impact panels, which will be the main emphasis in the resolution of the entire conflict. The loss of the ridiculousness characteristics for the characters, makes the series limp in establishing the motivation towards those impactful moments. The relationship between the characters and the conflict often feels awkward, because there are actually silly moments there in the original source material to break the ice, but they are absent or minimized here in the interest of conducive realism. It is unfortunate that many of the impactful moments in this adaptation are ineffective when compared to its predecessor. Proving that the cartoonish side of the story is not just a gimmick, but absolutely integral to One Piece.
House of The Dragon S1 presented the same amount of glorious carnage, unfiltered politics and repulsive elements that made the parent story; Game Of Throne so raw and beloved by many. It successfully recreated that atmosphere of the world of Westeros within this small, self-contained story, surprisingly without any grand adventure or any large-scale epic spectacle. But it goes really well with the theme of restraint nobility, and serves solidly as a foundation of the overall lore of the main-story. But what its really lacking is in the patience and the build-up to make the actual climaxes feels rewarding. The plot of this season is the equivalent of 2 or maybe 3 season of regular Game of Throne, and i just don't feel we earned it yet The constant time skipping, while true it resulting in an interesting dynamic, it buries the character under this heavy flows of the plot-driven narrative. It's sacrifices all the character intrigue to be almost unrecognizable And to be honest, if in season 2 when the war finally ensue. And they suddenly slowing down the pacing to the point that we wouldn't get the same amount of length of time jumps each episode like in season 1, I'LL BE REALLY PISSED!
Feels like a two separate season cramped into one. With the first half get enough time for the overall development. And the second half completely overlooked, just like tossed it in for the sake of agendas. Who cares about character development? as long as we have a woke representative character everywhere. Don't make it deep, just enough for a face value one. And a typical underdeveloped strong female character, that just there for the sake of posing and being overrated by everyone. The style is great, the narrative is unique. And there's some episodes that just uhm.. Movie Quality! But the overall attention get distracted more for making cool spectacle, it left the characters hollow and the narrative much to be desired
The first thing to mention is that, the visual of the shows might be the best one i've ever seen!. But clearly the main reason for that is because the show runner are fully realized that their one and only strongest point of this whole presentation, is the world that Tolkien has carefully crafted back in the days. What they've forgot, is that Tolkien builds all the character in his story with the same amount of attention that the world would've gotten. So when your source material is solely a footnotes of the world once has been completed, this shows falls exactly the same scenario as The Hobbits Trilogy did, by making the characters in that story as stereotypical as possible. Lastly, the visual effects is not even that impressive honestly. I would love if with all that budgets they are pouring, we could get a cinematic experiences of the camera zooming in and out, tracking and overlapping throughout this expensive looking background. The same way Blade Runner 2049 does. But surely, hiring an established cinematographer is not in their capacity. So, the end result of that near 1 billions of a budgets just became nothing more than just an expensive looking backgrounds.
I kinda worried that they're gonna go full diabolical and straight up became unpalatable. But surprisingly enough, this season has enough self-restraint to hold on the blood fest and build up their tension nicely Only the aftermath is slightly bothering me, because they're kinda playing safe. Too safe to be honest. This season has so little consequences dan development compare to the other. After all that conflict is ended, we kinda went back again to the square one. Only with a more loose and screwed in the head Homelander on the run. Honestly the plot for the next season is what i imagine this season's gonna be. And that makes me a little disappointed at the finale
