ONE PIECE: A View from the Self-Proclaimed Queen of the Pirates (PART TWO)

We all know our favorite clown pirate and the third antagonist recurring in the One Piece universe, appearing here and there to push Luffy forward and snap about his rivalry with Shanks. It is more like a one-sided rivalry with Shanks, as we all know Shanks’ laid-back behavior towards Buggy. He is very much the silliest and funniest of the antagonists we have ever been across and one that I have such a soft spot for, especially during the Impel Down/Marineford Arc. And if you know, the latest few chapters of the One Piece manga have displayed Buggy with our fan favorites.

In our first review of the Live Action One Piece, I have expressed my enjoyment of the darker side of this trend that the live-action has done. And this is the same sentiment for episode two of the live-action; this darker and twisted side of Buggy is amazing. I enjoyed his small monologue about Shanks’ “betrayal” and how he was in his “torture” of Luffy. He goes beyond what it was then, just a silly pirate captain. He went further and further with this twister side of One Piece, the way he treated the people of Orange Town. The harsh reality of being a Pirate is the cruelty shown during episode two. While Buggy did show a small side of the original Buggy from the manga, there was an underlining of that crueler side of him with his jokes. And Buggy still was caught up with anyone mentioning his nose, even if they weren’t, which I was so happy about.

Jeff Ward did a fantastic job capturing who Buggy was with the smile and unhinged display. This made me fall back in love with our Pirate Clown; I couldn’t ask for a better person to portray Buggy than the man himself. Throughout this review, I could praise Ward for making Buggy his own. Enjoying this episode makes me even more hopeful about the next one.

The pacing of episode two was much better than the first one, and the chemistry with the actors is improving, do I still wish the costume design was slightly better? Yes, very much so. However, these cons are still minimal as the list has grown shorter with episode two. Again, this dirtier and gritter version is something that I am enjoying, and I love how great it has been expanding as we go deeper into this new universe of One Piece.