One Piece: Chapter 1 vs. Episode 1

This blog entry will contain some One Piece spoilers.

One Pieces anime adaptation is relatively faithful, since while there is a copious amount of material added to the anime to pad out each episode, and occasional censorship, relatively little about the story is changed. However, the start of the series had a small but significant alteration; rather than begin with Episode 1, it instead first adapted Chapter 2's story, and saved Chapter 1 for Episode 4, after Luffy and Zoro's introductory arc concludes. I will look at Chapter 1 of the manga and Episode 1 of the anime to see which makes for the better start to the series.

Chapter 1/Episode 4

The story begins in a small harbor village, and the narrator explains that a group of pirates has been based there for about a year. A young boy named Monkey D. Luffy decides to make a gesture in hopes that the pirates will take him seriously- he takes a knife and cuts himself under his left eye, leaving a scar under that eye. While the scar is a noticeable part of Luffy's design, the scene was cut from the anime to prevent kids from emulating Luffy.

As the pirates celebrate Luffy's courage(save for the captain, Red Haired Shanks, who chides Luffy), Luffy insists that he's not scared of getting hurt, but Shanks says it's impossible for Luffy to be a pirate since he can't swim. Shanks' statement comes off as rather odd considering that most pirate crews worth their salt have at least one Devil Fruit user among their ranks, almost always the captain. The Red-Haired Pirates seem to be one of the few strong crews with no known Devil Fruit users.

Luffy boasts that his punch is as powerful as a pistol(hence his standard punch being a Gum Gum Pistol and other punches having gun-themed names), and the other Red-Haired Pirates seem to support Luffy's dream, albeit halfheartedly. Shanks continues to make fun of Luffy, but Ben Beckman, Shanks' first mate, explains that piracy is dangerous and Shanks wants to keep Luffy safe. The anime version of the episode begins around this point, but leaves off some of the dialogue, such as the bit about the voyages.

Makino, the bartender comes in. Shanks says that he'll probably do another two or three voyages before he leaves for good. Higuma the Bear, a mountain bandit, then comes in and demands liquor despite Makino claiming to have run out. Shanks offers him a bottle, but Higuma, offended, breaks it on Shanks' head, causing Shanks to apologize for making a mess.

Higuma boasts that he has a 8 million berry bounty and that he's killed 56 people already. Compare how most of the East Blue arc villains have bounties of 10 to 20 billion, a  bounty of 100 million is unexceptional in the New World, and Shanks has a bounty of over 4 billion berries, it makes Higuma look like a blowhard.

Shanks then cleans up the mess, prompting Higuma to take out his cutlass and slice open some more bottles, making an even bigger mess, before leaving in search of liquor. Shanks and his crew laugh off the incident, whereas Luffy is furious that Shanks didn't fight back. As Luffy tries to storm off, Shanks grabs him by the wrist, only for Luffy's arm to stretch. After a moment of panic, Shanks then realizes Luffy ate the Gum Gum Fruit. Considering that the Gum Gum Fruit was so important that a member of CP9 was assigned to guard it and was sent to Impel Down for failing at the task, one has to wonder why Shanks is so careless with it. In the anime, Luffy is shown eating the Devil Fruit while still angry about Shanks' passivity, whereupon Shanks shakes him upside down until his legs stretch and he falls face-first to the floor.

Luffy's remarkably happy about his new power, since he couldn't swim before anyway, and pledges to be a pirate who never falls overboard. The mayor, however, refuses to let him become a pirate. While Luffy's drinking with Makino and complaining about Shanks' cowardice, Higuma returns. These scenes were left out of the anime.

The scene cuts to Makino running to the mayor and asking for help, saying Lufy's in trouble with the mountain bandits. Higuma and his men are beating up Luffy, only to find that their punches don't affect him. Despite this invulnerability to blunt force, Luffy easily gets outmatched and defeated. The mayor arrives and prostrates himself before Higuma to beg for Luffy's life, but while Higuma is somewhat amused, he says Luffy signed his own death warrant by attacking him.  The anime leaves out the part in which Higuma toys with Luffy and proposes selling him to a freak show.

Shanks returns from his voyage with his crew, nonchalantly noting that he recognizes the mountain bandits and saying that Luffy's punch is supposed to be as strong as a pistol. Higuma threatens to kill Shanks, and one of his men points a pistol at Shanks' head at point-blank range. Shanks tells the bandit that he's risking his life by pointing the gun, and moments later, Lucky Roux shoots the bandit in the head, killing him. The bandits are outraged by the death of one of their own, but Shanks says that while he'll tolerate being insulted, he won't forgive anyone who hurts a friend. Luffy's genuinely and pleasantly surprised to realize Shanks thinks of him as a friend.

Higuma briefly regains his composure and orders his men to kill Shanks, but Ben Beckman singlehandedly takes them down(with the fight being off-camera in the anime), causing Higuma to drop a smoke bomb and flee with Luffy. Shanks panics over Luffy's disappearance, but Lucky Roux and Ben Beckman calm him down.

Higuma escapes out to sea with a boat and, no longer needing Luffy as a hostage, kicks him overboard to drown. After a brief flashback to Luffy confronting Higuma, a large Sea King(or sea serpent) known as the Lord of the Coast eats Higuma and his boat in one bite. The Lord of the Coast then turns his attention to Luffy, but Shanks saves him and, with a terrifying glare(later implied to be Haki), scares the Lord of the Coast into fleeing. Luffy is reduced to tears, but Shanks comforts him despite the fact that he has lost his left arm.

The narrator then explains that Luffy finally understood the reason why Shanks refused to take Luffy out to sea- Luffy isn't ready for the danger- and how great of a man Shanks is.

As Shanks prepares to leave for the last time, noting that he's stayed in one place for too long, Luffy says he no longer wants to come with Shanks, but instead resolves to become a pirate on his own. Shanks then gives Luffy his treasured straw hat and tells him to return it when he becomes a great pirate.

Ten years later, Luffy sets out to sea, with Makino excited and the mayor worried that he'll bring shame to the village. Before long, Luffy encounters the Lord of the Coast, and sends it flying with a single punch, before deciding to set out to find "10 men" for his crew. As impressive as the moment is, it's somewhat implausible that someone as strong as Shanks could lose an arm to a mere Sea King.

Episode 1/Chapter 2

The anime moves Chapter 1 to Episode 4, cuts out some scenes and lines of dialogue, and has it as a flashback as Luffy, Zoro and Nami make their way to Orange Town, the site of the Buggy arc. Instead, Chapter 2 is adapted first.

The episode immediately begins with the legend of Pirate King Gold Roger- at his execution, he said he left his treasure in a specific place, and challenged people to find it, leading to the Great Pirate Age.

The first opening sequence plays, and prominently features the first five Straw Hats- Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji- as well as the main antagonists of the East Blue saga. The opening doesn't have too many spoilers, since the identities of the first five Straw Hats are common knowledge, but I've noticed that more recent anime series may debut their first opening sequence at the end of the first episode, in lieu of the ending credits.

The episode begins with some seagulls circling overhead and some sailors looking at a whirlpool before a barrel bumps into the side of their ship. It then shows the title card- "I'm Luffy! The Man Who's  Gonna Be King Of The Pirates!"

The scene cuts to the interior of the ship, which has a luxurious ballroom. A man walks up to a girl in orange hair(who turns out to be Nami) and asks her to dance.) Outside, the sailors clumsily try to reel in the barrel, and when they finally succeed, realize it's heavier than they thought, causing two of the sailors to suspect that it's beer. Meanwhile, a third sailor is preoccupied with an island to the ship's starboard side, especially after a pirate ship emerges from behind the island.

As cannonballs cause the ship to shake, the sailor reports the pirates to the captain, causing passengers to be thrown into a panic. Nami, however, is calm.

On the pirate ship, the captain, Alvida, demands that Coby tell her who is the fairest pirate in all the seas, and Coby says her, despite the fact that Alvida is obese and unattractive, to say the least, simply because he's scared of Alvida. Incidentally, the manga version of this chapter actually takes place on Alvida's island base, causing a few differences in the setting.

The anime takes out a few scenes in Alvida's introduction, in which she bludgeons one of her men for not making the ship spotless. She also says that she only keeps Coby around because of his "vast knowledge of the seas," (despite the fact that he'd never left his home island before).

As the pirate attack continues, the barrel rolls below decks, while Nami runs off onto the deck, then quickly hides when she sees the pirate ship approaching.

Alvida's pirates grapple and swing onto the cruise ship, but Coby's scared, so Alvida kicks him onto the ship and jumps over herself. She and her pirates then tell the passengers that they're planning on robbing them and killing any who resist, while Nami hides. Nami smirks, then rips off her dress in exchange for a blue short-sleeved shirt, black bandana and trousers, and a red sash.

Coby investigates the kitchen and finds the barrel while Nami sneaks onto Alvida's ship and takes down a guard by kicking him in the crotch.

As Coby's rolling the barrel, three pirates intercept him and offer to take it off his hands, eager to drink the beer despite Coby warning them that Alvida won't take kindly to it, since they insist that he keep the secret. As one pirate is about to punch the barrel open, Luffy busts out, accidentally punching him in the jaw, and loudly declares that he slept well, revealing him to the viewer for the first time. Not only was the first chapter delayed until later, but the scene of Luffy getting caught in a whirlpool is omitted.

Luffy's completely oblivious as to who the Alvida pirates are, or why the pirate he punched out is unconscious. Both pirates try to swing at them, but the blades of their cutlasses break somehow. They demand to know who Luffy is, and Luffy introduces himself. The two pirates then flee while dragging their unconscious crewmate.

In the manga, Alvida instead throws her club at her subordinates, sending them and Luffy flying, because she thought one of her men was yelling about napping. Alvida's men propose that Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter, was after her, but while the Marines have him imprisoned, Alvida believes Zoro might have escaped.

Luffy eagerly helps himself to the food in the store room, ignoring Coby warning him about the other pirates who will kill him if they find him. Coby introduces himself and says he's impressed by Luffy's trick with the barrel. Luffy asks if they're on a pirate ship, but Coby explains that it's actually a pirate ship that's being raided by pirates. Luffy hopes to find a boat, since he got sucked into a whirlpool, something Coby thought no one could have survived.

Luffy asks Coby who he's with- the pirates or the crew- and Coby says he's with the pirates. Two years ago, he'd boarded a pirate boat after mistaking it for a fishing ship, and the pirates decided to spare him in exchange for making him their cabin boy, resulting in Luffy tactlessly saying he's stupid and a coward.

In the manga, there's a brief scene in which Coby shows Luffy the boat he made, which he could use to escape Alvida's island base if he weren't too scared of what she'd do to him if she caught him.

The anime cuts to a scene of Alvida's pirates quickly unloading the treasure onto the ship, while Nami steals the loot from the pirate ship's cargo hold. The three pirates from earlier report to Alvida about the "monster" from the barrel, but Alvida knocks one of them overboard after mistakenly believing he called her a monster.

The episode then shows it's "eyecatch," with the first version showing a scene of the first five StrawHats standing near the Going Merry(their first ship) with the wanted posters of one of them being blown into view. Both times, the bounty posters belong to Luffy, although the first time, Zoro's leitmotif is used instead of Luffy's.

Coby reluctantly admits that Luffy's right about him being a coward, since if he were brave, he could escape in a barrel and pursue his dreams. He asks what Luffy hopes to accomplish, and he says he'll become King of the Pirates. Coby is astonished that Luffy is a pirate, and even more so that he would aim for such an audacious goal when he doesn't even have a crew. He drops a bit of expository dialogue about how the goal requires finding Roger's treasure, the One Piece, before ranting about how unlikely Luffy is to achieve the goal considering the amount of competition he has in the Great Pirate Era before Luffy shuts him up by hitting him on the head. Unlike Coby, whose shipmates push him around, Luffy's determined to pursue the goal even if it costs him his life.

Luffy starts to leave when Coby, impressed by Luffy's resolve, reveals his goal- to become a Marine and catch bad guys, especially Alvida. Alvida then bursts through the roof and asks Coby who he plans on catching. She's noticeably unimpressed by Luffy, assuming that Coby brought him here to catch her and realizes he's not in Zoro's league. Alvida asks Coby who the most beautiful of them all is, but before Coby can answer, Luffy asks Coby who the fat lady is.

Alvida then attacks him, and Luffy jumps up to the deck with Coby before defeating several of Alvida's men. He finishes the fight with Gum Gum Rocket (basically, a move in which he slingshots himself across long distances), demonstrating his Gum Gum powers for the first time. He then tells Coby that he's a rubber man, and Alvida realizes he ate a Devil Fruit, something she didn't know existed. Alvida demands to know whether Luffy's a bounty hunter, and he says he's a pirate who's looking for "10 guys" as  Nami emerges from belowdecks in the foreground. Alvida's as skeptical about his chances as Coby is, but declares that if Luffy is a pirate flying a different flag from hers, that makes them enemies. Everything in this paragraph is original to the anime.

Coby starts to talk about how scary Alvida is before recalling Luffy's defiance of her, then declares that she's the ugliest person on the seas. Alvida's crew are speechless, Luffy's amused and Alvida is furious. Coby stands by what he said and declares that he'll catch her after he joins the Marines, even if he's terrified as she brings the club down. The club hits Luffy, who's immune to it due to his Gum Gum powers. He then winds up a Gum Gum Pistol and punches Alvida.

In the manga, he simply punches Alvida in the face and knocks her to the ground. In the anime, he hits her in the gut, sending her flying a long way and causing her to land on the unfortunate pirate she knocked overboard earlier. In either case, he then demands that Alvida's men provide Coby with a boat.

At this point, the Marines show up, and while Luffy suggests that Coby walk over and join them, Coby refuses, saying they'll treat him like a pirate and capture him. Luffy then launches the boat from the ship, with it landing next to Nami, who's making her escape in one.

Coby asks Luffy if he's going to the Grand Line, and when Luffy says yes, Coby notes that he needs a crew. Luffy asks Coby about where Zoro is, and when Coby mentions that the Marines captured him, Luffy goes over to recruit him, much to Coby's horror.

In the anime, the episode ends with Zoro, tied to a stake, looking up into the camera as the camera zooms in on him. As such, it ends on a note that more explicitly hints at what is to come.

Analysis

Let's start by looking at what each version of One Piece's first episode does.

The manga, in a nutsthell, tells Luffy's backstory, reveals why he wants to become a pirate and what the straw hat means to him. It generally forgoes any major action sequences, and only at the end does Luffy demonstrate that he can fend for himself.

The anime, however, opts to cut to the chase and capture viewers' attention. Not only does it feature Luffy's first battle with a rival pirate, but by showing Alvida and her crew raiding a ship (a typical pirate activity that's relatively rare in the series), it provides a more action-packed retelling of Chapter 2. It moves some dialogue around to explain things, such as why Luffy's limbs can stretch, but some of the expository dialogue between Luffy and Coby works well enough in establishing the setting.

My final judgment is that the anime provides the better opening to One Piece. It not only establishes the setting, but provides a more exciting hook to new viewers, and moves Luffy's backstory until after  the series has gotten viewers' attention. For all the anime's flaws, it gets off to a stronger start and does a better job of attracting viewers' interest.