Title: One Piece Film Z

Director: Tatsuya Nagamine

Producer / Creator: Eiichiro Oda

Studio: Toei Animation

U. S. Distrubutor: FUNimation

U. S. Release Date: Sep 30 2014

Format: DVD / Blu-ray / Feature Film / 108 minutes

Genre: Shonen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Age Rating: TV 13

Overall Personal Garde: A-

Synopsis:

Said to be comparable to the Ancient Weapons of old, the Marines’ trump card, the “Dyna Stones,” have suddenly been stolen by a group of renegade vigilantes. The terrifyingly powerful man responsible, former Marine Admiral “Z,” now stands in the path of Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirates. Can the Straw Hats defeat “Z” and his crew, or will the New World meet its end at the hands of this mad man?

Commentary:

Right as the movie starts, One Piece Film Z is much darker and grittier story then what is normally seen in One Piece. The movie opens with a fierce conflict between two warring forces on a sullen battle field while somber music plays, and this sets the tone for the whole film. The plot of the entire movie revolves around theories of moralistic intentions, how such morels can impede true justice, and what extremes a man is willing to go to after experiencing betrayal in the wake of tragedy.  This all adds up to make what I think is one of the most interesting antagonists in all of One Piece with Admiral “Z” (Pronounced Zed).  The existence of “Z” as a character plays with the duality of good and evil because he is a good person but is willing to go extreme lengths to achieve his goals. As a result, neither the Straw Hats nor the Marines truly want to fight him, but do so because they are left with no choice.

While “Z” was a well done, both as a narrative character and in his action sequences, the secondary antagonists who fought alongside him were poorly done and felt like set pieces and plot devices. In a lot of ways the only higher purpose some of the characters in this movie seemed to have was to give some conflict to characters other than Luffy. Unfortunately the characters didn’t even do that well, all the fights that didn’t involve “Z” were lackluster.

Overall Grade: A-

While One Piece Film Z may not have the same level of adventure and mischief that the other movies and main series has, I feel it fully makes up for it with having one of my favorite plots that I’ve seen in a One Piece story. I will admit with it having such a complex story, some of its potential was lost due to it having to fit within the length of a movie, however I still feel as if this movie was quite well done regardless.