Shelf Life

Neo Toyko

Here's what I'm looking for in any One Piece collection: Did I laugh? Was there a cool fight? Did it make me cry (or almost cry)? If the collection accomplishes all three, it's reached my high level of One Piece quality assurance standards.

Admittedly, there are some comedy-only episodes in this set that failed to make me laugh, specifically episodes 46 and 47. I never liked Buggy as a villain (I hate clowns), and I was annoyed to see Buggy's return in a pair of slap-stick episodes that appeared to parody old Loony Tunes fare. Buggy walks some middle line between a formidable villain and the butt of a bad joke, and I wound up rolling my eyes whenever he was on screen. The real laughs in this set are all from Luffy, usually when he's smiling in the face of death.

The bulk of this set, at least in my mind, is about Nami's return to her home town, Cocoyashi, which has been under the thumb of a fish-pirate-mutant gang for eight years. As with the later Skypeia and Alabasta arcs, it's the flashback that's touching; Nami's adoptive mother Bellemere has an interesting life story to be told. Episode 44 brought a tear to my eye for sure.

The Loguetown arc, episodes 48-53, were more worth my money. The crew visits the town where the great age of pirates began, and the entire arc is like the beginning of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign (minus the tavern). Zoro shops for two new swords, Usopp buys some questionable equipment, Sanji fights in a quick one-episode cook-off, the crew makes some fierce new enemies, before finally setting sail for the much built-up Grand Line, all the while pursued by the Marines and a huge storm. Finally, after 50 episodes, an epic adventure begins.

All of the cool fight scenes are in the last handful of episodes in this set. I might be biased, since I've seen cooler fight scenes from later in the show. I know Luffy is going to beat the evil pirates by punching them, and it's just a matter of time for each plot arc. Arlong's fish gang just wasn't as intimidating as Crocodile or Eneru. Arlong is at his most intimidating when he eats a cannonball the Marines fire at him early in the set.

I'm glad I saw the Arlong Arc (Nami's story), but I don't think I'd rewatch it anytime soon. I'd certainly watch the Loguetown arc again.[TOP]

Makoto Konno (the encyclopedia says she's 17? I thought she was in junior high!) is a bit of a tomboy and a bit of a klutz. She enjoys playing baseball with her two (male) best friends, Chiaki and Kousuke, but she gets bad grades and sometimes sets home ec class on fire by accident. One day, Makoto trips and falls onto a time travel device in the science lab, and gains the ability to jump back in time for short periods (a few hours or days).

She accomplishes time travel by literally leaping, thus the title. Time travel films can be notoriously difficult to set up and explain, but TGWLTT handles it with panache. The leaping sequences are often the most memorable and cinematic scenes in the film. Hard science may take the back seat, but believable time travel clearly isn't a goal of the film.

The leaping sequences are extraordinarily well animated, as is the rest of the film. When I say "well animated" I mean that Makoto's landings have a believable heft and physical weight to them. When she rolls into a garbage can, you feel the impact in your gut. When Makoto throws a baseball, her arm moves the right number of frames in a realistically drawn sequence. Stretch and squash, speed and gravity in the film are drawn by accomplished hands.

The character design is simple and realistic, similar to the realism of Ghibli films without looking like a Ghibli film. There are two commentary tracks, and in one, staff members point out that Hosoda requested shadow-less characters (which is to say the characters don't have color highlights or two or three point shading). It's an interesting choice, and as such the film has a different look than most anime. It also looks a little weird on Blu-ray, which can be unforgiving when it comes to character animation.

The second half of the film has lots of emotional weight and less schoolyard goofiness. The reason I thought Makoto was younger is because she doesn't seem aware of her male friends as boys; rather, romance has no place in her life yet, as if it hasn't occurred to her, or she's been denying it. Makoto is almost prepubescent in that sense. As the film continues, there are life-and-death-level problems, and Makoto is forced to grow up a little.

Hosoda's direction shines through as Makoto is a very likeable protagonist with a wonderful physicality. The film is a sort of sequel/updated version on an older novel, and I've heard the author, Yasutaka Tsutsui, say that the protagonist needed to be updated to be a more modern girl. I agree with Tsutsui that Hosoda did a great job making such an active, delightful girl protagonist, even if she's a bit of a "bonehead". Emily Hirst plays a perfect Makoto in the dub.

The BD's multiple commentary tracks play alongside the storyboards, which is fun for a rewatch. The film by itself is good enough to belong in any classy anime collection, but the extras are so exhaustive that if you're on the fence about the film they easily push it into the "buy" category. Personally, I might not rewatch this film a thousand times because it's a little emotionally exhausting in the end (in a good way), but it's the sort of thing I'll enthusiastically loan out to friends. [TOP]