It’s always hype to be getting some more One Piece adventures into the mix. This one’s got a really solid budget with the animation and it’s nice to see Luffy have to try and take on a fairly powerful opponent when he’s just getting used to haki. That said, the film starts off better than it ends as two fights end up being wasted. It would seem that Boa is doomed to never really get to show how powerful she is in a serious fight at this rate. Still, it is a solid action title all around.

The movie starts off with retelling the events of Marineford. It’s definitely hype to see that as it’s still one of the absolute peaks of the series. It was really the moment that defined the series and all of those high budget scenes were great. Still, Luffy wasn’t yet strong enough to win the day and so we cut to the present in between parts 1 and 2 of One Piece. Luffy is training on how to become a lot stronger when a villain named Byrnndi World shows up and kidnaps some of his allies while also crushing Luffy in a few good shots. Luffy will have to team up with one of the 7 Warlords, Boa Hancock in order to take him down. Will their combined abilities really be a match for someone that even the World Government fears?

Now the movie does give World a whole lot of hype but if we’re being honest here he should be no match for the admirals. There is no real reason to call in all of the war lords or treat this as such a big event. You could get around that a little later in the series like around Whole Cake Island since Luffy was at the top levels by then. Luffy’s still too weak at this point in time though so if Luffy can take this guy down then the world shouldn’t be afraid of him. His devil fruit is cool but that’s just not enough.

I did like World as a villain though. There’s not a whole lot to him beyond being a bruiser but he has a good design and his ability to make things really big made for an imposing power to go up against. He would be able to give many opponents a really hard time in combat. This guy’s just built different after all. World isn’t the smartest villain around but he can fight and that’s the important thing. His battles with Luffy in this film are animated very well and the guy can hold his own in a fight. Even Luffy’s greatest attacks were really not matching up well against this guy at all and Luffy’s no slouch in the power level department. Sure, he isn’t at the top like I mentioned but he is still very high tier without a doubt.

Luffy takes a lot of beatings in this film but his character portrayal was still on point the whole time. He never ran away from a fight and kept on trying to save everyone. He’s the kind of determined main character you expect to see here. Much better than Raleigh who basically decides not to help for no reason at all. I’d almost have more respect for him if he just admitted he was scared of fighting a pirate as notorious as Byrnndi. He also needs to work on his haki since somehow he never sensed the villain appearing on the island. The film was a bad look for him all the way around that’s for sure.

Boa gets a big role here since it’s her soldiers who are kidnapped by Byrnndi. A lot of people always figured she is super powerful to be one of the Warlords even beyond her stone abilities and I’d say that’s likely true as she got a good hit in during Stampede as well but that’s why it’s a shame when she doesn’t get to fight much. She does not look very impressive here at all. Unfortunately her fight quickly devolves into fanservice and stops being taken seriously as a fight almost immediately.

The second half of the fight is more focused on being a full on comedy than you’d expect. Boa’s fight is very lackluster and the same is true for Buggy. Of course that guy is always the comic relief character so it’s less surprising that he wouldn’t get a true fight. Even in the New World he doesn’t seem very powerful even though he overpowered Law once. Luffy’s fight was great but it sort of has to carry the second half while the first parts were a lot more engaging and set the tone really well.

One Piece usually isn’t as fanservice heavy as you’d expect so this was on the higher side for the series. It’s nothing too crazy but I still want Boa to get a true fight before the series ends and that is looking less and less likely to occur. Now while I liked World as the main villain, I wouldn’t say the same for his two sidekicks. For starters they are super forgettable. I didn’t remember their names by the time everything had ended. They had some cool abilities and techniques which had some real thought into them but the characters themselves really weren’t anything special. World didn’t think so either with how easily it was for him to believe the worst about these guys.

At the end of the day 3D2Y is a fairly basic One Piece adventure but one that hits on enough of the good points of the series. Luffy’s new outfit is a lot of fun and having an ally be kidnapped is always a good way to instantly get the stakes high and have you excited for what’s going to happen next. Especially when it takes place deep into a series like this so it’s always shocking to see Luffy taken down so easily. It’s a shame that Zoro and friends couldn’t be here due to when it takes place but that’s just how it goes sometimes. At least we had the intro movie to tide us over.

Overall, One Piece 3D2Y isn’t going to be beating any of the big films but it’s still a title that I would recommend to any One Piece fan. It’s new content with a high budget after all. How can you say no to that? The action starts up right away and there is always something going on. Even if it had some faults, I enjoyed my viewing experience to the ened and due to the fights it will have some replay value as well.

Overall 7/10