Director: unknown
Writer: Eiichiro Oda
Going really into obscure territory here, since this is the prologue to One Piece Film Z, but it wasn’t released as a limited edition disc in a specific chain of theathers or shops, that would be too easy: instead it was originally released in 2 parts (6 minutes each) on smartphones as part of collaboration with Docomo’s then new mobile TV format-service, NOTTV, and later compiled in the japanese Blu-Ray release of One Piece Film Z.
Yeah, it’s basically an “Episode 0” of sorts, but instead of setting up more clearly the events of the movie and giving more info on the villain (like the following OVA prequel/episodes 0 for Strong World and Film Gold would do), this is a direct prologue that leads into the actual beginning of Film Z. Not that it matters because this is so detatched from the movie (you don’t see any of the movie villains in any shape, for example) it might as well be a random featurette, it would make more sense that way.
Sure, with the release format and the very nature of this OVA, you would reasonably guess whatever happens in it can’t be that important to the plot of the actual movie…..and you’d be correct, let’s not dance around it.
What i wasn’t expecting is Glorious Island being pretty much a gravure shots compilation of Nami in a bikini attire, because there a lot of close up and erotic shots of her, and even in normal shots she either drawn with noticeable more care than usuale or way more glistening, just to make sure you notice even more the “plots” and “hometowns”. And of course, one shots of Robin’s ass, just to leave nothing behind.
As to why i decided to cover the pervy focused direction that lingers on Nami swimming or sunbathing, it’s because there is basically no plot, as the Straw Hats goof about, chill in a inflatable pool, they get attacked by a “sea horse” (cue Mastodon guitar riff around the Remission days), have to go after it because Luffy punched it miles away, and Brook gets to wear a funny cat hat and has to be “undrowned” (not as weird as him smoking weed or smoking anything, really).
The most standout thing of this OVA is half the crew dreaming of his favourite food after Franky does a really weird ass “imaginary banquet eating” pantomime, as it leads to some strange visuals, like Luffy’s imaginary “cartoon meatstick” islands with palm trees growing on the meat, and the other ones seem – in retrospective, at least – a purely accidental foreshadowing of the Whole Cake Island… ok, not that much “accidental”, as Oda himself wrote the script for this one, but this isn’t a “sneak peek”.
Then cherry blossoms petal start falling down and it ends with an image previewing the “corsaire” attire seen in the third act of One Piece Film Z.
I mostly jest about Nami’s gravure shots, as they aren’t really that extreme or nothing that hasn’t been seen already, after her time-skip design and – mostly – hundreds of episodes where Toei slowly inflated every female character bosoms, maybe Emporio Ivankov blasted them with elephant sized doses of hormones over time, or something,
But the reason i bring that up once again it’s because – to be blunt – the pervy shots are really the most stand out thing about this OVA. Even for a 12 minutes “thing” just meant to advertize Film Z, this is rubbish, i’m sorry, but it is, even the crew doing their usual casual routines and shticks are subpar here. It may sound a bit too harsh, considered this is exactly what it’s supposed to be, but it’s really no wonder this material was used as a way to publicize Docomo’s new service-mobile tv app and not put in the movie, gotta do something with scraps i guess.
It’s not even that interesting as a curiosity for One Piece fans that want to see every single piece of media related to the series. Kinda pointless and boring.
Watch One Piece Film Z (a.k.a. the best One Piece film, still) instead.
Wise Cafe (International) 