I've long been curious about Strong World for the same reason that I imagine many One Piece readers were: it has the unique quality of being able to boast a screenplay written by Eiichiro Oda himself, the mangaka who delights and horrifies us on a weekly basis with the ongoing adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates and his tendency to never shut up about the breast sizes of the women of his world in his SBS letters pages. If that sentence didn't clue you in, I have something of a...tumultuous opinion of Oda, but undeniably his involvement in Strong World lends it an air of authenticity that drew me in in a way most of the other One Piece films, that wear their inconsequentiality practically as a badge of honor, do not. I already have so much One Piece to get through. Why stop for extra distractions?
More fool me. Strong World is practically the very definition of a distraction: inconsequential fluff that basically acts as a well-presented multi-hour key jangle.
It's not bad, per se: there's some great moments and fun redesigns for the cast (except for Nami. Please be normal about Nami Oda, I know you never will but please I am begging you), there's laughs to be had and fist-pumps to be made. Most of the cast get a cool moment to call their own, so there's something for fans of each Straw Hat.
But that's it really. Despite Oda's much purported involvement, Strong World has no real weight brought by his script. It feels like One Piece, sure, but One Piece in a holding pattern, One Piece that isn't doing anything with the characters or the world that moves them along or adds new depth to them. Despite the comic's extreme length, there's precious few times I've sat down to read some One Piece and felt like I got nothing substantial out of it. I've never really felt like the comic was stalled, or spinning it's wheels. Even in it's slowest moments, I always feel like I'm learning more about these people and the world they inhabit in a way that enriches my enjoyment of the experience.
Strong World has none of these strengths. Despite it's villain's interesting connections to the One Piece world (that go almost completely unremarked upon in the actual film), it is the definition of filler. It is empty-calorie storytelling that doesn't even use it's liminal (maybe??) non-canon space to just do something a bit weird and interesting. What we get here is essentially just a reprise of the (excellent) Arlong arc, but with almost none of the emotional gravitas or weight. Again it's not bad but it's not particularly special either. The most interesting thing I found about it is how Oda's writing did and did not translate to the screen: certainly the character voices are spot-on (for better or worse, Brook please shut up about panties) and Oda's effective impressionistic touches of worldbuilding remain on display here, but the pacing is a little off and weird. I particularly noticed in the comedy scenes: the instant transitions of panels suit work wonders for Oda's comic timing but when actual time of film separates them, they don't hit nearly as well. I've seen precious little of the One Piece anime, so maybe this is a consistent issue, but my overall impression of Oda's involvement was that he wasn't really using the new medium to it's fullest. Ultimately, Strong World didn't really do anything to dispel the notion that the One Piece films are strictly for fanatics craving their next hit of One Piece action, and that my time would probably be better served reading a few more chapters of the very good manga rather than watching a movie where nothing happens.
The prior exception to this assessment was Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island, something I watched because of the sage wisdom of my friends on twitter who love One Piece, and blew me away by being a genuinely incredible film that is maybe the highlight of my One Piece journey so far. I love this film for so many reasons, but one of the chief ones is that it really does feel like it engages with and moves the characters in interesting places. Sure, they get back to where they started at the end, but the Straw Hats went through some shit, man! It's maybe their collective lowest point, having their individual quirks and insecurities be drawn out in ways that genuinely drive them apart rather than provide room for playful banter, and not only is it incredible (and painful) to watch, but also it genuinely enhances the source material, mentally slotting it in. I know it isn't "canon" (who gives a shit lol) but key moments, particularly "Say you want to live!" and "Nothing Happened" would simply not have resonated with me as strongly as they did without having this adventure in the back of my mind, the time where this family was tested to their emotional limits and came out the other side closer than ever.
You could say I'm being unfair holding Strong World to such a high standard, but I think it demonstrates that you can do something cool and interesting and exciting with this format. But in hindsight, maybe Oda's involvement was the problem from the start. After all, if he has a really great idea, he's probably just going to use it in the manga, right? Maybe the real lesson to be learned from comparing Strong World and Baron Omatsuri is that these films should a space for voices that _aren't _ Oda's, playing with his world and characters in ways he never would, new visions of the Grand Line and it's many wonders that can stand tall alongside the main series as great works in their own right. Because, for all that this film is perfectly enjoyable, it's also just a pale imitation of the real thing, and when these films are written like this, that's all they'll ever be. With this in mind, if there are any other standout One Piece films that do deliver the things I want that I may have missed in my dismissal, let me know!!
Or if the Straw Hats wear drip as good as the suits they got at the end of this movie. I'm a simple person, at the end of the day.
36 out of 52 users liked this review
