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On one hand, the episode itself is great, maybe lacking a bit of emotional value but still effective. On the other hand, if you compare it to the original work, you become desperate because, oh boy, it could have been muuuch better.

The consequences of not bringing Gin and Krieg to the arc are far too great. With this decision, they shifted the whole narrative and took Sanji's arc from him.

Making Sanji leave because of a tantrum was probably the worst of everything. In the manga, Sanji witnesses firsthand how Zoro and Luffy fight, putting their lives on the line, while Zeff reminds him of what really matters in this world: following your dreams. At the end, Zeff and the cooks throw Sanji's soup to the floor (despite not throwing food being a strong theme in the arc) to make him leave and fulfill his dream. This only works because we see the antagonism between Patty, Zeff, Sanji and the rest of the cooks in their philosophies. Their friendly enmity makes their bond strong, and it only works because Gin and Krieg are there. This synergy makes the farewell hit 300 times harder, but sadly, here it's just another bye-bye; we only care about it because of Sanji's flashback, which doesn't even mention the main point of his character. I could comment more on that matter, but I'd be summarizing the whole arc in the manga, and it's just better to see it for yourselves.

Following through, Garp's tantrum made no sense. Were they trying to imitate something from the manga? I don't know, but it was definitely not great. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Arlong is more decent than I thought. While it's not great, it's not bad enough to criticize, so I'm cool with it.

Luffy seems way too sensible here. Sure, he's sensible, but he's not easily depressed. It feels weird to have these kinds of feelings so early on, but oh well, at least they don't really contradict anything.

It's a good episode, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, especially because I wanted to see a lot of the Baratie come to life. At least I know the ones who are here for the first time will enjoy it, so that's great!

Wow, I didn't expect the live action to exclude one of my favorite characters, Gin, and still make me love the episode. From beginning to end, it's perfection with very, very minor issues that don't affect the plot at all.

The dialogue was fluid and immersive, something that I felt the series lacked until now. The acting gains another level with the kitchen; I absolutely loved Patty, Sanji and Zeff. Mihawk might be the only one who acts too theatrically, but who cares? It's Mihawk, he's cool no matter what he does.

I see they tried to replicate the Zoro scene in the manga, with posture and all. It was emotive, but they should have aimed for a more natural approach to avoid making weird shots.

Spectacular non-canonical content. The conversation between Nami and Zoro was perfect; I can imagine it in the manga like it was there in the first place.

The first Garp scene didn't even bother me; we finally see some of Garp's real personality. Great stuff. My only complaint would be Garp's argument about the warlords. While half of it aligns with what the real character is, I don't think he would be collaborating with warlords that easily. It kind of contradicts his fierce speech back in episode 2. The scriptwriters tried to experiment, and while the content is good, they need to take care of the continuity so they don't contradict themselves.

That would be it, really. Top-notch episode that actually made me feel like I was seeing a top-tier series. It's amazing they could pull this off despite it being a live action. Of One Piece. Cheff kiss... now more than ever.

I was accurate when I said episode 3 was the black sheep of the series. This episode felt much more One Piece than the last one, with better-crafted scenes and a much better emotional grounding. I absolutely loved Luffy being serious with Koby; for a second, I felt like I was witnessing the very same character I fell in love with in the manga. Having said that, it's time to comment on what could have been better!

Firstly, as much as I love Jacob, his acting felt a bit off during his scenes, probably due to the fast pacing that forced him to overreact and try too hard to be believable.

Kuina's flashback was good, but given how short the original content was, I was expecting some kind of improvement. It's good, but I think it's worth mentioning. However, it did feel out of place, but I guess it's better than cramping Episode 1 with a lot of content. Anyway, if they can elevate future flashbacks, especially the ones that are very short and simple, it would be a huge hit.

The Koby's trial that was supposed to happen in episode 1 happens here. It leaves a good scene, but that's it. For the most part, it feels like this Garp storyline is just there without actually doing anything substantial. I hope it gets better. On a different note, Helmeppo's actor is always a delight to see.

I liked Kurahadol's take here. Giving him a bit more emotion when mentioning Kaya's parents was great, especially since in the manga it's not clear if he ever had any empathy for them. Now it's clear he had. The biggest problem is, of course, the same as in the last episode. The Morgan storyline isn't resolved because, well, there's no Jango and they can't explain it. There's not a plan, and that's a huge miss because Kuro's character is all about plans. The dialogue was good for the most part; the CGI felt cheap, but that's probably because the camerawork was clumsy when trying to hide the imperfections of Kuro's fighting style. Still a very enjoyable fight.

Usopp was probably the worst part of the episode because of the missing content. In the manga, there are a lot of things that complement his character. For starters, he's always brave; he stops fearing death as soon as his village is threatened. Here, he looks like a scaredy-cat, and he never does anything worth mentioning. In the manga, he actually defeats Jango and saves Kaya. All these bits that strengthened Usopp's relationship with the village and Kaya don't exist in the live action, so the farewell doesn't hit as much as it should, especially since there are no Usopp pirates to make us cry (probably the worst mistake of these two episodes). Although there is something at the end that is nice and confirms a thing we fans have been wondering since the very release of this arc in the manga, more than 20 years ago, hehe. Better watch it yourself. Anyway, all these misses regarding Usopp's character directly affect the tone of the arc, making the bigger scenes lack emotional value. Especially when Luffy and Zoro push Usopp to join, it feels weird because their dynamics were poorly portrayed. None of them actually saw Usopp's sharpshooter skills (which only happen in one instance), so it felt very weird. Another relevant point would be Usopp wanting to be a real pirate, especially the captain. Both his admiration for Yasopp and the Usopp pirates helped to build Usopp's dream to go out to the seas and be a brave pirate, and now that that's mostly gone, it feels like Usopp didn't really join, more like he's a bypasser. One particular scene that lacks context is when he wants to be the captain of the strawhats, which comes out of nowhere because the Usopp pirates never existed.

It's a shame that the lowest points of this two-episode arc were the antagonist (Kuro) and the main side character (Usopp), but they managed to deliver a good episode regardless. With this, faith is restored, and we keep sailing. To the next island!