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!
