Review of One Piece: Episode of Nami - Tears of a Navigator and the Bonds of Friends

Episode of Nami is one of those One Piece movies that don't tell an original story but instead retell an arc from the series with updated visuals and music. Most of these movies aren't that great, since they try to cram way too much content in a single movie (like the Alabasta movie for example). This movie however is a bit different. The Arlong Park arc wasn't that long, it actually has the perfect length to be adapted into this kind of movie. It's not rushed at all and they are no important scenes missing. On top of that it's a fan favorite arc and for many fansthe turning point of the series (for good reasons). If you've seen One Piece, then you probably already know what this arc is all about: we get to know Nami's past, how the fishmen exploited Nami, and of course Luffy and the gang beating up the fish guys at the end.

The most important part of this arc - Nami's childhood flashback - is still perfectly intact and it's as emotional as ever. The fast pacing is only very noticeable in the fight scenes at the end, especially when Sanji and Zoro fought Arlong's minions and defeated them in about 2 minutes. At least they didn't skip too many scenes, so unlike the Alabasta movie everything still makes sense, it just happens way faster than in the anime.

And before you ask: Yes, the famous walk to the Arlong park is still in this movie. It's only 1 minute long instead of 2 and the music "Overtaken" was replaced with "Luffy's Fierce Attack". But just the fact that they left this scene in (it wasn't even in the manga!), showed how much care Toei put into this (which is something that I can't say about most One Piece related things).

Not only did they improve the overall visual quality, but since this is an OVA it's also much more violent than the TV series. The scenes where Bellemere gets shot or when Enzo is attacked by the fishmen are way more graphic than their TV counterpart. This really makes the fishmen's actions seem much more shocking and overall really adds to the epicness of this OVA.

This is a must-watch for every One Piece fan.