One Piece: Stampede - Cheap Thoughts

Let’s not stand on formal ground here, this is a review very much being done from a fan’s perspective because that’s all that matters here, because they’re the only people who would go out to see this film. Stampede is aware of this fact because they made a film filled with fanservice moments that exist only to get cheers, laughter and all other forms of glee out of audiences who have been fans of One Piece for many years now, in a lot of ways, this works very well, in others the film feels as though it’s having its cake and eating it too. So let’s delve a little deeper, and if in case it hasn’t been made clear yet, if you have never seen/read One Piece then turn away now because there is nothing that this film or review can do to appeal to you or make you a fan.

Regardless of said fanservice, there still needs to be some deeper substance here to make the film more than just flash & bang filler and…they nearly got it. There is a clear theme here, that being the reliance on other people is not a weakness but a strength. Our antagonist Douglas Bullet (Tsutomu Isobe) believes that relying on other people only holds individuals back, naturally a character like Monkey D Luffy (Mayumi Tanaka) has always been open about his reliance his crew to fill in his own shortcomings, and also for the fun company. It’s not a new angle to come to One Piece about, but it is always an effective one, which makes it all the more disappointing that they don’t follow through with it by having the Straw Hat Pirates contribute nothing of value for the entire film. That is for the exception of Usopp, who does contribute to the plot and becomes the emotional centre of the story, creating a contrast between himself and Bullet, as Bullet is objectively the strongest character in the film and Usopp is one of the weakest, and yet he shows what he contributes that makes him a valuable piece of a greater set.

Back to the fanservice however because the film has sold this aspect as its main appeal, as if it’s the Smash Bros Ultimate of One Piece movies. Everyone and anyone is here, and yes, it can be quite cool at times, it’s fun to see the Supernovas all fighting together, it’s fun to see all the Warlords make an appearance, heck, it’s even fun to see the Foxy Pirates cameo and get a good laugh. Combine that with some of the greatest animation this franchise has ever seen and it can’t be denied on a pure spectacle level this film guarantees an enjoyable experience for any One Piece fan. Where it sometimes goes too far however is when it breaks its own boundaries, not within the greater plot of the franchise, those rules have to be broken to make this story happen, and the fact that it’s non-canon gives it the allowance to make it work. Where it fails is with characters being able to achieve great feats that they were never able to before, such as Boa Hancock running faster than The Flash and somehow being able to kick a mountain. More egregiously is the overuse of Luffy’s Gear Four, his ultimate attack that comes with strict limitations otherwise it loses all sense of tension and weight behind it. Characters being portrayed as more powerful than they reasonably should be, especially when it contradicts even the internal narrative of the film (Luffy’s first fight with Bullet vs his last fight for example) it drains the film of any genuine tension when the film begins to look more like a Dragon Ball Z fight than a One Piece fight.

There’s always going to be a limit to how deep a One Piece film’s plot can go before it oversteps its boundaries and conflicts with the main story, in reality they’re best off being compares more to a fireworks show, loud, colourful and has you going “oooooh ahhhh” over and over again.

-Danny