Controversial take: I actually liked the pacing in the Arlong Park arc

I know everyone says the original One Piece anime drags too much, but I was at a convention last year in Chicago and caught a marathon screening of that arc. The slower pacing let me notice little character moments I'd never seen before, like how Nami's hands shake when she stabs her own tattoo. Does anyone else think the modern fast-paced editing makes us miss those details?

2 comments

2 Comments

loganburns1mo ago

The muted audio trick is genius, I gotta try that. I did something similar on a rewatch years ago, I turned the subtitles off and just watched the body language during the walk to Arlong Park. You pick up on how Zoro keeps shifting his weight between his feet like he's ready to spring at any second, and Usopp's hands are shoved so deep in his pockets you can see the fabric stretching. The animators really packed every frame with stuff that gets lost when you're reading subs or following the action. Also, if you've got the blu-rays, check out the scene where Luffy sits on the rocks before the fight, the background has these tiny fish jumping out of the water that foreshadow the whole water-based fight.

thomas2911mo ago

I caught that same marathon actually, third row from the screen. The slow pacing worked for me because I could track how long Nami holds her breath before stabbing the tattoo. In the sped up version you miss that she doesn't exhale until seven seconds after. If you ever rewatch it on streaming, try muting the episode during the walk to Arlong Park and just watch the background extras. The animators hid a lot of small reactions from the villagers that the normal audio drowns out.