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Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece Fan Letter.One Piece Fan Letteris a brand-newOne Piecespecial created to celebrate the anime’s 25th anniversary. The special loosely adapts the novelStraw Hat Stories, and just like the novel, it chronicles the lives of ordinary people in the world ofOne Piecewhom the Straw Hats have touched, although it’s reworked to be more of a linear narrative as opposed to disconnected vignettes.
Fan Letter’s gimmick was unlike any otherOne Piecestory, and the direction in whichit took things was also wholly unique.One Piece’s world is filled with dark elements that are never fully highlighted unless it’s relevant to the main characters, butToei Animation’sOne Piece Fan Letterused its gimmick of being from the perspective of ordinary people to show how terrifying the world ofOne Piececan be for ordinary people. The result was one of the most unique stories in the entire franchise, and it’s one that completely changes how people should look atOne Piece.
One Piece Makes One Of Its Darkest Arcs Even Worse
One Piece Fan Letterstrived to show how terrifying the world ofOne Pieceis for ordinary people, and it started with its portrayal of the Paramount War arc. The Paramount War arc was already filled with intense and bloody violence and action, and while it wasn’t originally any worse than an averageshonenanime arc,One Piece Fan Letterretold the Paramount War arc from the perspective of an ordinary Marine forced to struggle to survive being around the chaos ofOne Piece’s strongest pirates and marines, which led to a far greater focus on how intense everything was.
That heightened realism forOne Pieceled to a variety of striking scenes like the ordinary Marine painfully prying himself out from under Oars Jr.’s leg and briefly considering leaving his brother to die to save himself, and it peaked when the Marine and his brother were caught up in Crocodile and Mihawk’s fight and the two didn’t even register that they were there.One Piece Fan Letter’s interpretation of the Paramount War arc highlights how terrifying it was for anyone who wasn’t a major character, and sure enough, the Marine is still rattled by it two years later.
Overall,One Piece Fan Letterdoes a perfect job of showcasing what it must be like to be a nameless pirate or Marinein the world ofOne Piece. The ordinary Marine’s flashback was nothing but him constantly being terrified as he fought for his life against people who don’t even register his existence, and years later, he’s unable to move past what he lived through, even as other people have moved on. There’s never been such a dark and realistic take onOne Piece’s story, and it adds an incredible amount of life to the franchise, as a whole.
One Piece Shows How Hard A Life The Average Person Lives
The main character ofOne Piece Fan Letteris a girl who admires Nami because she doesn’t go around destroying everything like other pirates, which perfectly highlights how destructive pirates are, and to make things worse, she’s repeatedly assaulted by a random Marine for no reason and also had to contend with the Marines plotting to pollute the surrounding ecosystem just to get the Straw Hats.One Piece Fan Letteremphasizes how easy it is for the average person to get caught up in the insanity of the larger story, and it always makes that fact as terrifying as possible.
It’s not as ifOne Piecehas never tackled that sort of subject matter, of course; most story arcs have some focus on how the civilians of an island are being impacted by one of the villains, and2022’sOne Piece Film: Redwas heavily focused on how much the Great Age of Piracy had ruined people’s lives, as well. The main difference, however, is thatOne Piece Fan Letteris the first story to truly make the struggles of living inOne Piecea focal point, and the realistic elements of its story are all the better for it.
The World Of One Piece Is Still Worth Living In, Despite The Chaos
How People Survive Living In One Piece
One Piece Fan Lettergoes to great lengths to show how terrifying and chaotic the world ofOne Pieceis, but it also shows why it’s a world worth living in. As chaotic asOne Piecemight get, people still get by thanks to having something to latch onto, whether it’s something small like hanging out with friends or something big like a familial relationship. In either case,One Piece Fan Lettershows that people can survive the world ofOne Piecethanks to their relationships with others, and that’s something very true of real life, as well.
Going off of that, a common theme with the special seems to be that, oddly enough, theStraw Hat Pirateshelp people survive the world ofOne Piece. Every major character is someone who was touched by one of the Straw Hats, and therefore,One Piece Fan Lettershowcases how much the Straw Hat Pirates have become a symbol for the people of the world ofOne Piece, even if by accident. The Straw Hats are slowly doing something about how terrible the world ofOne Pieceis, albeit unintentionally, and the focus on that is plenty great to see.
One Piece
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The One Piece anime began in 1999 and follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy with rubber-like abilities, as he embarks on a journey to find the legendary treasure “One Piece.” Inspired by the pirate Shanks, Luffy aims to become the King of the Pirates, accompanied by a diverse crew.
