After striking a deal with a familiar foe to find Arlong, Luffy and his friends set sail for Coco Village and learn about Nami's mysterious past.
(Source: Netflix)
Great episode overall! The whole season was doing a great job to tie everything in to Arlong park and Nami. And finally it is time! Spoilers ahead! be warmed! serious spoilers! So first of all I love that the berrys (money) are from Oda-sensei's designs. <3 And I LOVE that they made Arlong park into this amusement park. This might look weird because in the anime and manga it didn't look like that, but this type of change is one of those changes that makes the story so much deeper and so much better and ties in later episodes! As it shows how Arlong built this place to resemble the Sabaody Archipelago park. It's just a perfect change, like the world government logo on some of the crates at the start. Anyway i love it! <3 One person i know watched this and told that she cried. I'm very happy about that. But if i am completely honest because they changed so much here it made the impact less. Like i said before some changes are so good, but some changes like changing the key moments from nami's backstory decreased the impact it should have had. So first even if it's a very small thing i wish they kept genzo's pin wheel. Like looking at the scene, i can see that they actually filmed it, because genzo has his pinwheel on his hat in the flashback. but because it is not explained and he doesn't have one in the present day it looks very weird if one were to notice that. But many don't even notice it. I think the filmed it but then cut that part out. Which makes me wish they cut more of the marines and instead had this part as his pinwheel is a big part of her future tatoo. Bellemere looks a little bit older that she was but it's okay, I am mostly sad that they changed it a little more. Bellemere was much stronger and also the main part, that here it seems like she gives that money for herself, and after arlong notices the plates she says about the daughters. I loved (and hated XD) that in the manga, she doesn't give him the money for herself. He doesn't even know about the kids and doesn't notice them. It all happening outside and Arlong asking her if she doens't have any family and that the money is for herself, she says "i have two daughters" money is for them. It's like she wasn't planning on hiding that from the very start she realized she cannot defeat him. And only after she says that money is for them they run to her. and he kills her. tbh i cannot ask a lot from child actors and nami's child actress did such a good job but i would have liked if they screamed a bit when he shot her. And that whole thing is escalated even more because before that nami fought with her and told her she is not her mom and they didn't actually reconcile. And after the fight this whole thing happens and she tells that they are her daughters. It just hits differently and i wish they could have kept the original, cutting parts here and there. And honestly cutting this flashback into parts even though has it's own impact, but it also gives the viewers time to think and theorize. And most of the people would actually figure out that she will be killed and also figrue out the reason nami is doing this all. So having the flashback as a whole without cutting it, gives the viewers less time to think. because in this case even if those thoughts cross someone's mind they will be brief and they will see the outcome on screen already which may lead to a better and stronger impact, than saying oh i knew that was it. XD Second part of changes that didn't sit well with me is that the whole village and nojiko hated nami and didn't know about the whole thing. This honestly again decreases the whole impact. Because in the manga and anime, you are like hit one after the other by every character so it's like not letting you go. I wish they kept the village knowing about that whole thing. Her whole confrontation at the grave with nojiko could have been nojiko saying how we knew about it and we didn't tell you so that you could run away anytime. And then we didn't get to see the whole reason nami collapses, yes it is the money but after the money gets confiscated by nezumi, this is where the village comes and tells nami, all this time we knew it all but this is the end, we go and we fight and die, so that you can be free, And she is shocked that everyone knew but tells them that it's okay that she is now more skilled and can gather money again, but they still leave to fight arlong. And that's where nami collapses, of helplessness that not only the money was stolen but also she couldn't stop her loved ones from going on to a suicide mission. And that where luffy comes in. And tbh in the story luffy is so much stronger that this whole thing again hits differently. in the live action i was a little bit worried for luffy, yes he is rubber but he seems weaker than zoro, so can zoro fight arlong please, but oh wait zoro is badly injured, they are going to die O_O lol XD but maybe that is just a me thing. and also one more thing that threw me off track was that luffy was actually listening to nami's backstory. I am hoenstly not quite sure why did they change it. Because it is such a big thing of one piece as a whole that luffy always sleeps or something during the backstories. And tbh him not hearing nami's backstory was a huge thing. because he said of course he will help without knowing what is going on. That is why that whole walk towards arlong park, and then him crashing the door and saying which one of you is arlong had me crying XD I wish they kept it. Here arlong suddenly attacking the village is a bit strange as he gets money from them, but then if we think that he gets the map and plans to leave i guess it's okay. One more thing Little nami going to arlong saying i have what you want, so let me buy the village was a bit strange. They could have easily left that as is, aka arlong telling her that and not her telling arlong. because, how does she know he wants maps? he never said that, so why does she want to work for him? anyway the whole deal was weird. In the manga/anime arlong is the one who sees her maps and takes her, saying work for me, and when she is like why and all, if he will let them free he says ok then help me and i will let you buy the village. Also i would have liked that they would keep the part where it says that because he is bribing nezumi he keeps arlong's bounty low. Anyway, I love that they mention jinbei! :D I love the details on the map room and i love the maps nami drew <3 her theme is also nice. It is also really good how they cut things out to summarize this whole story. They have done a great job at it, I just wish they would have kept some things that had the big imapct. Also i'm still not sure about the marines and Garp storyline. I mean it was awesome at the start! i loved it, but now it is a bit dragged, zeff saying he sees roger in luffy is a bit strange as he didn't see luffy fight don krieg. coby helpemeppo having some vibes XD lol i still ship coby with that marine girl from the manga. And also i know they wanted some tension about marines being after them but honestly them revealing that it is luffy's grandpa, and all took away from the tension a lot. Like it is obvious he is going to like scold luffy, and luffy being nah im a pirate and the end XD so that tension they wanted to have with marines on their tail, is kind of not working well with that reveal. So if they cut down some of that, they could have really included a lot of stuff that was more important. again, overall it was great, Emily's performance was great!
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