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One Piece season 2
I watched it this week and enjoyed it as much as the first season if not more, since I remembered fewer of the plot specifics, and this season introduces some more of the characters I really like. It's still absolutely bonkers. If you've seen season one, you know what to expect.
So we're getting Alabasta (Arabasta) next season. I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to get to Water 7 by season four, if they get a season four, but fingers very much crossed for it! If they do manage to get all the way through Water 7, that might be a pretty strong place to end on. (This show has to be hella expensive to make; I'm amazed it got 3 seasons, and it's hard to believe it'd go beyond 4 or 5 at the most.)
Random comments:
- I am thoroughly enjoying this version of Smoker and Tashigi, and I wish we'd gotten more of them this season than we did! It was also fun to see Coby and Helmeppo again (briefly) and the three protégés going off on their own so the grownups can talk, lol. I like that having Garp around for a while makes it explicit that Smoker's mentorship with Tashigi is a somewhat gentler mirror of the one Garp has with Coby and Helmeppo. He's obviously exasperated with her on a regular basis, but also sees a lot of potential in her - and validly! She beat the Baroque Works guy in the abandoned communications station by herself, where the Straw Hats often had to use teamwork to take one of them down or couldn't do it at all.
- Although we don't get *that* much of it, I also liked that we got a little of Tashigi apart from her relationships with Smoker and Zoro, with Robin trying to recruit her for Baroque Works. (Is that in the original?)
- I'm also really liking the casting on Robin/All-Sunday. She's got the right mix of aloof, mysterious, dangerous/scary, and potentially sympathetic.
- In general, one thing I'm loving about the live-action English-language version of this show is how many different accents you hear that are presumably the actors' real accents, or something close to it. It really gives their world an authentically multicultural feel that doesn't just feel like set dressing, and it also means the accents are a lot more varied, nonstandard, and natural than you often hear on TV.
- Totally forgot how much I adore this version of Sanji. He's just such a sweet and cheerful sunny golden retriever of a person. They've toned down the lech aspects of his character so that he comes off affectionate and chivalrous and maybe with a bit of a crush on Nami, but not creepy or inappropriate. And I really like his casual affection with his crewmates, the way he's so huggy and handsy with everybody.
- I also forgot how gleefully hammy and fun the guy playing Buggy is. Definitely another character I enjoy more in live action than animated.
- Baroque Works is darker and more horrifying than I think they came across in the manga/anime. I have surprisingly little to say about David Dastmalchian in this, except that he plays psychos well, I guess?
- Kid Vivi in the flashbacks is SO cute.
- Chopper is ADORABLE. I was a little worried he'd come across kind of uncanny valley in live action, but I really liked how they animated him, and his introduction was just as cute and charming as it should be.
- Though I had forgotten how devastatingly depressing his backstory is. Not just that his only friend died, but HE ACCIDENTALLY KILLED HIM. I hadn't thought the show would make me cry, but I teared up when he's crying over that, and again at the end with the cherry petals and Zoro picking him up.
- Dr. Kureha is Katy Segal? Wow.
- I feel like the issue I had with the fights in the first season looking overly staged and fake was much less of a problem here; Zoro's swordfights especially, and Sanji's martial arts. I think the only place that I really stumbled over the fight staging was Sanji doing the upside down spin kick in the last episode, which works fine in manga/anime but really becomes hard to believe in live action, even by this show's standards.
- Still really appreciate the show's willingness to let the characters smoke, curse, drink alcohol, and kill people. (Also kind of generally pleased, because it's rather rare in fighting/superhero-type media, that we've seen male characters fighting female antagonists a few times, notably Zoro - not just against Tashigi, which is kind of its own thing, but he also took down a bunch of female goons in the Whiskey Peak bar fight as well, and Luffy was definitely serious about going after Alvida, even if he didn't manage to hurt her.)
The Drum Island arc was probably my favorite part of the season, as it was a bit more serious than the rest and I really liked the side characters. But it was all a good time! It was especially fun watching Vivi bond with the crew, as well as Zoro relaxing a bit and warming up to his crewmates; he's a lot looser at the end of the season than the beginning.
Fun times! Looking forward to season three.
So we're getting Alabasta (Arabasta) next season. I'm not sure if it's going to be possible to get to Water 7 by season four, if they get a season four, but fingers very much crossed for it! If they do manage to get all the way through Water 7, that might be a pretty strong place to end on. (This show has to be hella expensive to make; I'm amazed it got 3 seasons, and it's hard to believe it'd go beyond 4 or 5 at the most.)
Random comments:
- I am thoroughly enjoying this version of Smoker and Tashigi, and I wish we'd gotten more of them this season than we did! It was also fun to see Coby and Helmeppo again (briefly) and the three protégés going off on their own so the grownups can talk, lol. I like that having Garp around for a while makes it explicit that Smoker's mentorship with Tashigi is a somewhat gentler mirror of the one Garp has with Coby and Helmeppo. He's obviously exasperated with her on a regular basis, but also sees a lot of potential in her - and validly! She beat the Baroque Works guy in the abandoned communications station by herself, where the Straw Hats often had to use teamwork to take one of them down or couldn't do it at all.
- Although we don't get *that* much of it, I also liked that we got a little of Tashigi apart from her relationships with Smoker and Zoro, with Robin trying to recruit her for Baroque Works. (Is that in the original?)
- I'm also really liking the casting on Robin/All-Sunday. She's got the right mix of aloof, mysterious, dangerous/scary, and potentially sympathetic.
- In general, one thing I'm loving about the live-action English-language version of this show is how many different accents you hear that are presumably the actors' real accents, or something close to it. It really gives their world an authentically multicultural feel that doesn't just feel like set dressing, and it also means the accents are a lot more varied, nonstandard, and natural than you often hear on TV.
- Totally forgot how much I adore this version of Sanji. He's just such a sweet and cheerful sunny golden retriever of a person. They've toned down the lech aspects of his character so that he comes off affectionate and chivalrous and maybe with a bit of a crush on Nami, but not creepy or inappropriate. And I really like his casual affection with his crewmates, the way he's so huggy and handsy with everybody.
- I also forgot how gleefully hammy and fun the guy playing Buggy is. Definitely another character I enjoy more in live action than animated.
- Baroque Works is darker and more horrifying than I think they came across in the manga/anime. I have surprisingly little to say about David Dastmalchian in this, except that he plays psychos well, I guess?
- Kid Vivi in the flashbacks is SO cute.
- Chopper is ADORABLE. I was a little worried he'd come across kind of uncanny valley in live action, but I really liked how they animated him, and his introduction was just as cute and charming as it should be.
- Though I had forgotten how devastatingly depressing his backstory is. Not just that his only friend died, but HE ACCIDENTALLY KILLED HIM. I hadn't thought the show would make me cry, but I teared up when he's crying over that, and again at the end with the cherry petals and Zoro picking him up.
- Dr. Kureha is Katy Segal? Wow.
- I feel like the issue I had with the fights in the first season looking overly staged and fake was much less of a problem here; Zoro's swordfights especially, and Sanji's martial arts. I think the only place that I really stumbled over the fight staging was Sanji doing the upside down spin kick in the last episode, which works fine in manga/anime but really becomes hard to believe in live action, even by this show's standards.
- Still really appreciate the show's willingness to let the characters smoke, curse, drink alcohol, and kill people. (Also kind of generally pleased, because it's rather rare in fighting/superhero-type media, that we've seen male characters fighting female antagonists a few times, notably Zoro - not just against Tashigi, which is kind of its own thing, but he also took down a bunch of female goons in the Whiskey Peak bar fight as well, and Luffy was definitely serious about going after Alvida, even if he didn't manage to hurt her.)
The Drum Island arc was probably my favorite part of the season, as it was a bit more serious than the rest and I really liked the side characters. But it was all a good time! It was especially fun watching Vivi bond with the crew, as well as Zoro relaxing a bit and warming up to his crewmates; he's a lot looser at the end of the season than the beginning.
Fun times! Looking forward to season three.