One Piece Movie 04: Dead End no Bouken

This is the fourth One Piece movie, theoretically taking place after the Navarone arc and before they go to Water 7. Just like all movies, it is a filler mission with a good budget and a simplistic plot. But unlike the previous ones, this is quite darker and more violent. It also has some nasty backstabbing going on, as well as interesting cameos from all over the main series to further give you a feeling of familiarity. The story is just about the Strawhat Pirates taking part in a race of pirate crews. The first to reach the goal at an unknown island will receive ahuge amount of money. Although the premise seems simple and unimpressive, along the way it becomes a lot more complicating thanks to some cool plot twists. Amongst the strongest competitors is Gasparte, an ex marine with a huge bounty who has a bounty hunter after him, because he killed his family many years ago. These two turn the tables to the point the race becomes a death trap and you literally feel like people are actually dying in here. And this is what I liked about the whole thing; the premise ends up being smokescreen for far more sinister plans. This is where I will tribute some words for the main villain. Gasparte doesn’t really care about winning, as much as being the last man standing. He is extremely powerful and doesn’t seek more power like all the previous bosses did but rather to take out the competition in any means necessary. He is also modelled after Crocodile from the main series in a way, since their looks, powers and even their bounties are almost the same. It must also be noted that originally the movie was only supposed to be dedicated to the latest addition to the crew, Robin (and her voice actress). But guess what, she only ends up being a minor character in the whole film and all the focus is given to the new characters of the film. Something of which I found to be very cool. Then we have the bounty hunter. Far stronger and macho than the typical useless brat that asks for help and is even fleshed out nicely with the drama in his past and his quest for vengeance. If there is a part I didn’t like much is when he ends up finding another brat … which hasn’t aged at all despite all the years he knew it. Some sort of plot hole I guess. But hey, that kid can fight, and has killed people, and he feels proud about it. Good sidekick. A thing I liked was the action scenes. You didn’t feel like it was the good guys versus everybody else, since many crews were fighting each other. Plus, the mini-boss of the movie is surprisingly not even dealt by one of the Strawhats. Furthermore the final battle had some strategy in it instead of being Luffy with his unstoppable power just owning everything without thinking. Although the method he used was similar to the one he had for Crocodile, it’s the feeling of tactics that matters; something quite rare in the anime. Another thing is how there was nothing here for Oda to take ideas from and add it to the canon story later on. In the contrary, this movie was a big tribute to all the major events that have happened so far to the point it felt like the movie was part of the main series. Oh, they also used some quite impressive 3D effects here, like the introduction scene where the camera zooms through the alleys, as well as creating waves during a storm. Although rather crude after all these years, they were great to give motion and life to the setting of the movie. There is also a lot of darkness in this; a huge contrast to the cheery ones of the previous movies. Helps to build up the necessary tension for such a dark tale. Although it is mostly a cameo parade as well as a slight alteration of the Arabasta arc, it is one hell of a ride and a movie I openly recommend to the fans of the series. And now for some excused scorings. ART SECTION: 10/10 Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 2/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 2/2 SOUND SECTION: 6/10 Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 2/4, Sound Effects 2/3 STORY SECTION: 8/10 Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 2/2, Complexity 2/2, Plausibility 2/2, Conclusion 1/2 CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10 Analysis: Presence 2/2, Personality 2/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 1/2, Catharsis 1/2 VALUE SECTION: 4/10 Analysis: Historical Value 0/3, Rewatchability 1/3, Memorability 3/4 ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10 Analysis: Art 1/1, Sound 0/2, Story 3/3, Characters 3/4 VERDICT: 7/10

One Piece Movie 4: Dead End no Bouken Review Story (5/10) Mediocre I thought the beginning plot for this movie was fine at first and they hype up this Dead End Adventure, the Pirate Ship Race (which gets interrupted and just felt bland) and the story of Shuraiya and his backstory and what not. I think with these three written on paper it sounds like it should be a good movie but I personally felt it fell short in the execution department as certain parts felt drawn out all of characters in the straw hat character didn't really do anything in this movie and I feltthe pacing was was off as there was a lot of boring dialogue scenes and had me dozing off honestly. Too much uninteresting things I felt was going on in this 4th movie of One Piece. Art and Animation (6/10) Fine Continuing with this annual repetition of release the 4th One Piece movie yearly at the point of this movie coming out of course. The only major difference I saw between this an the last movie is that during the beginning they tried to do this 3rd 1st person view of going through a town at night seeing all the people of the town until we eventually get to the Straw Hat Crew who is in a restaurant of some sort getting their grub on like always. I understand the idea of what this scene was trying to do and it probably looked good back in 2003 but I don't think it aged well at all because this is really slow frame rate 3D presentation honestly just hurt my eyes. The camera angles were cool but the fact that it felt like an introduction to a 1999 computer game before you hit the title screen just didn't sit well with me. Other than that everything else seem fine for a One Piece movie as far as the 4 that I've seem to this point. This one doesn't look any better than the 3 that came before it and it's not surprising since this (just like movie 2) came out almost exactly a year after the 3rd movie so advancements in the art style and animation category obviously made no improvements. Sound (7/10) Good Nothing to compliment but nothing to complain about. The BGM and voice actors were fine. Outro is fine also not bad not amazing it just exist so yeah.. Characters (6/10) Fair Like I said in the story section majority of the characters in the Straw Hat Crew hit the back-burner hard in this movie. As we really only get to see mostly Luffy and not that much either. This movie tried to push the movie MC mostly and his introduction started off good. Shuraiya with Luffy in the like the first 15 or so minutes of the movie and they are about to throw down but the main antagonist comes in and interrupts their fight as they basically say "we'll fight later". To me that's Toei basically hyping up a fight we never saw and at this point who cares because the Movie MC Shuraiya get's his ass whooped around the end of this movie anyway so I didn't even want to see the fight between him and Luffy anymore. His backstory with him and his sister (who didn't even looked like she aged since her backstory) was boring and uninteresting and since the movie gave him so much screen time I personally think he's the reason why I was dozing off during this movie. The other characters like the straw hat crew when they were doing something was good but like I said we don't get to see them that much, I usually give this section a 8, 9 and sometimes a 10. But that's only because I enjoy seeing the Straw Hat crew do what they do, when they are taken out of the picture my score in the section will most likely dwindle if the characters they focus on can't suffice for replacement. Enjoyment (5/10) Mediocre My enjoyment was not that high for this movie, I was honestly expecting more from it. And I like I said earlier I personally think they failed to capture my attention with this movie with the various things this movie tried to bring to the table. My interested raise just a tad at the very end when Luffy is fighting the Movie Villain and his Candy Syrup powers or what ever when he messes up Luffy's hat and the various signature moves Luffy was using against him. It was a good fight but I don't think it was enough for me to forgive the rest of my boredom I had for the other hour and like ten minutes I was watching the movie for. Overall (5/10) Mediocre More Specifically (5.80/10) Mediocre at best Dead End no Bouken in my opinion is probably the most boring of One Piece movies yet. It's down there with the 2nd movie and I like I said earlier if they focus on the Straw Hat crew then we can have a more entertaining movie, hopefully the future ones don't follow this template of letting the movie MC have all the spot light just to get whooped and end the movie with a Luffy fight because I don't think that's a good formula.

After reviewing the shitty film OP movie 3 was, I feel the need to write another one about the 4th movie: Dead End race. If you have seen the 4th one, you would have probably seen the 3rd movie too, and I hope so, because I will be comparing this masterpiece to that failure of a film. This film differs from the other since the very beginning, as the strawhats find themselves involved in a pirate ship's race in order to get some money. This is a nice basis for a OP movie, because as we all know, they alway run out of money due to Luffy'smonstrous hunger. We rarely see the mujiwaras looking for a treasure in the manga, but they always need to get some money. First of all, I would like to exalt the island where the movie takes place: Anabaru. This island gave me that pirate vibe im not used to see in OP. The different pirate crews that were in the casino impressed me: Great designs, great ideas and lots of different characters, from giants to gyojins, showing the large amount of different people that coexist in the huge OP world. Every scene in the first 30 minutes was fucking great. The strawhats having fun together in a tavern (we dont see this type of scene since episode 200 or something like that), the fight in the casino or even the flying shot which showed us the passages of the city. Pure greatness. As I always say, the best thing about OP is that everything can happen, and Toei know this better than me. The start of the race was impressive and the island design was so good I could have believed this was a canon movie if somebody told me. The film path was pretty good (when I realized it, I had already seen half of the movie) and the way the different character are connected was unexpected, as opposed to the other 3 movies. One Piece is an adventure and this film too. In the last movie, Chopper was supposed to be the MC, but he was pushed back to a second place for almost half of the movie. In Dead Race Bouken, every character has its moment to shine. Zoro and Sanji dont need a 1v1 fight to have importance the film, Robin, Usopp and Chopper werent useless as they are in a lot of OP arcs (specially the latest two) and the scene were Nami yells at Adelle because she lost her will to live is just amazing. Toei captured the essence of the mujiwaras perfectly in this movie. The non-canon characters were good. So good I just want some of them to be canon. This time, the villain is Gasparde, a 95 million berri pirate who left the marine looking for power. This guy isnt the best villain of the show, but he is intimidating as fuck. That bounty was not a joke in this part of the show (remember this movie takes place exactly after the Arabasta arc) and his subordinate was also strong. The other character I want to talk about is Shuraiya Bascud. This guy emit CHARISMA. He is a bounty-hunter who arrives to Anubara seeking for revenge. A pretty simple story but a great character design and development (I wish he was canon lmao). He was the one who dealt with the first mate of Gasparde, taking the spot Zoro and Sanji always get. That fight was thrillering, smooth and in conclussion, amazing. I wish they animated it entirely. As opposed to the 3rd movie, the art style and animation are great and the characters arent bright anymore. The final battle was pretty good and the effects surprised me in a good way. And talking about the music, here is where I have the only complainment about this movie: Please Toei, use some new themes. OP has a great OST but it can be boring if you overuse it, and Toei certainly did with 800+ episodes of this show. Finally, I would like to applaud the ending of this movie. Those last 5-10 minutes in the ship made me change my rating from a 9 to a 10, and the last scene where the people in the town recognize Luffy due to the arrival of the new bounty is amazing. In conclussion, Toei have proven that they know how to make a good OP movie so I will be disappointed at them if the following films are trash. If you made it this far, Ty for reading!

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