Strong World confronts Luffy and the Straw Hat pirates against a frightening new adversary in One Piece: Strong World. A Marine fleet is attacked by the famed pirate Shiki, who easily defeats it. He soon meets the Straw Hat pirates and is awestruck by Nami’s abilities. This sets Luffy and the group on a rescue mission in an attempt to release her from Shiki’s grasp. During the trek to his floating island, they meet new allies, monsters, and great adversaries. Nami is saved.
Strong World is the eleventh instalment in the One Piece series. Developed by Eiichiro Oda, it is directed by Munehisa Sakai, and written by Oda. Toei Animation is behind the project, while Fathom Events is distributing the dubbed version in the United States. In the beginning of that trip, One Piece: Strong World served as an inspiration.
Nine years after the film’s debut, I began watching One Piece.
To avoid spoiling myself as a manga reader, I was frequently offered films to watch, but only once I had reached a certain point in the manga. Strong World and Film Z were the most frequently recommended films, and I chose Strong World as my first watch from the two options.
I eventually saw One Piece: Strong World in the summer of 2019. On our podcast, my buddies and I gave it a glowing review (this is not a shameless ad). I was giddy with delight, having worked hard and patiently to get here. As One Piece: Stampede neared its debut, I was even more excited. I wasn’t familiar enough with the original material to give Stampede a fair chance, but I was able to get a lot of second-hand hype from my pals excited to see the next picture.
I was so excited to see Strong World that summer that I watched movie three times, both subs and dubbed.
One Piece: Strong World is a fantastic film, not just because of my excitement. The bouts are entertaining, and Shiki poses a serious threat to the Straw Hats because to the excellent animation. As well as beautiful companion animals, hapless civilians, and movie-specific clothing, there is a lot going on here! It’s hard to pick a favourite from the Japanese and English voice casts, as both are outstanding in their own right. That Oda himself wrote it provides a sense of canonical weight to the events that is absent from most shnen action-adventure films of this type.
What more could you ask for in a product?
No matter how many times I saw the film, it didn’t change my opinion. However, my perspective has changed with time.
The post-Stampede and post-Wano universe of One Piece: Strong World makes it a strange beast. It’s not a stretch to suggest that over One Piece’s over 1000-episode run, there have been episodes when the animation quality was, shall we say, pretty typical of a weekly production.
It’s not uncommon to see action-adventure films with high-quality animation in a condensed and thrilling package like Dragon Ball, Naruto, and the like. However, I’ve come across a number of folks who prefer to read manga and watch only the movies rather than the weekly anime, which gives you a complete tale and exciting, lavishly drawn cinema without having to wade through dozens of episodes with varied quality.
It’s like getting your cake (island) and eating it, too.
Stampede and Wano, on the other hand, blasted the doors open in terms of visual spectacle and fan service before they were even on the stage. Stampede is more of a celebration of the series than a picture itself. A giant evil who just needs to be pounded to death by everyone who has ever set foot on Usopp’s green earth is the main focus of the game, and you get to watch all of your favourite characters in action. As far as movies go, this one doesn’t have any substance or depth to it.
Wano, on the other hand, has it all and more. This adaptation has been a major undertaking for the Toei team, and that is no secret. Wano is beautiful, long, and enormous. Even while the anime continues to handle Oda’s wider storyline, each and every week, again and again, it has done so with great success.
Many of Wano’s episodes look better than this film—even better than Stampede, which is a far better film than this one. Those entries aren’t slamming the quality of the anime adaptation of Wano, but rather praising the amount of effort that went into making it something exceptional.
Rewatching it for a fourth time, I was surprised to see that it didn’t quite measure up to the visual treat I had previously taken it for. Wano’s weekly adaptation frequently has superior animation than Strong World’s off-weeks.
When viewed in this way, does Strong World hold up?
Yes, but not in the same way I formerly thought. For the past few years, I’ve enjoyed Strong World as a respite from the pressures of weekly production because of its succinctness.
Wano is lovely, but it is also massive—the manga arc has been published for over three years, and the anime version has over one hundred episodes. One arc from the series is a lot of stuff to watch and process, but it’s only one arc.
Even if you’ve been following the show for a long time, it might be difficult to keep track of all the characters, plot lines, and connections, even if you’re connected in.
What I love most about One Piece: Strong World in 2021 is that it makes me feel like I’m back in time. Even though One Piece is a lengthy and intricate series, I find myself missing the early arcs. Previously, when things were simpler, when the lore links were less complex, and when everything was wrapped up in a few pages. As an antidote to Wano, Strong World delivers the whole One Piece arc in just under two hours. It’s a wonderful change of pace to watch all of my favourite characters meet and beat a villain all at once!