 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything One Piece. And today we have an anime review. What, what? I thought I didn't do those anymore. Well, we can make an exception this time around, because despite the fact that it is technically called episode 907, what we actually have is an animated special of one of the one shot prototypes for One Piece being romanced on version two. And I think this was a really good idea for a TV special, which Toei and Fuji TV seemed to have an agreement of making at least once a year with 2018's unforgettable special being the episode of Sky Island, which was unforgettable because it was an unmitigated disaster. Like the other summary specials each had their own problems, but they were very watchable and enjoyable, but episode of Sky Island was just a mess. And I don't think that was lost on the companies involved, which maybe by this year, they decided to condense the scale of the project. Romance Dawn essentially plays out as a regular episode of anime. And despite the fact that it was clearly the One Piece prototype, it felt wonderfully refreshing. And to be honest, it's kind of disappointing that it's only a one shot because I would gladly follow an alternate continuity of One Piece, set up by this episode, and see how things play out in this very, very different world. One of the things I enjoyed most, which was immediately noticeable, was the nice textural filter that was present within every shot because it really makes it stand out from One Piece as we know it, which at the moment is the very schmick and clean style of Wano. Romance Dawn muddles that up a bit, but not at all in a bad way. And the texture applied doesn't just make it stand separately from the series as we know it, but it also gives it a sort of story book quality. Like we're watching an old tale or a nostalgic anime series from our various childhoods. It feels remarkably old, but in a very wonderful way that gives the episode a lot of weight. Like this was an important story that would eventually lead to something incredibly great, which it did because Romance Dawn eventually evolved into One Piece. And 22 years later, it's the world's number one best selling comic by a single author and the third highest selling comic book in general. And it's nigh on impossible to remove that spectre of greatness whilst watching Romance Dawn because you can pick up on all of the little things that would go on to contribute to this. As well as some of the features that were probably quite wisely left out by Oda. In fact, one of the things that really struck me about Romance Dawn, even though I've read it before is the idea that magic just exists in this world. That's probably the most radical departure from One Piece that this special offers coming in the form of the sorcerer Speel, who I have to say was brilliantly portrayed by Cho, aka the voice of Brooke. And years and years ago, when I first read this, I never would have imagined Speel having such a voice. But Cho gives this guy that hint of flair that his design really demands while also managing to retain an aura of dangerousness. And it's really nice to see those brookish qualities applied to a villainous presence. Although it is admittedly weird to see his voice coming out of a face that is actually capable of moving. But I've gotten distracted here, I think. What was I talking about? Magic, that's what I was talking about. In any case, seeing it in play here, I am incredibly thrilled that that aspect never translated into One Piece as we know it now. Because while it was kind of cool here, I think it would have been pretty boring in the long term compared to the intricate system of devil fruits that were set up, traditionally magical powers would only emanate as a result of one thing. I mean, maybe if Romance Dawn had been used for One Piece, then Speel's powers would have later been revealed to be fruit-related, but I'm happy that magic was left behind and let's keep it to that. The next most radical change would be Pirate Garp. And once again, I've read this before, but it's such a surreal thing to see Garp dressed as a pirate and also leading their lifestyle, even if he is one of the good guy pirates. It does send a lot of thoughts racing through my mind, though. Like with what we know of Garp in One Piece, he would have been a true force to be reckoned with in Romance Dawn as well. Maybe even the equivalent of what their four emperors would have turned out to be. Which also makes sense because he does more or less play the role of Shanks, inspiring Luffy and giving him the straw hat. However, it's a good thing to keep in mind that Odin never seriously intended this to be how Luffy received the hat, as well as his inspiration, because he has said that Garp was more or less a red herring in this one shot in order to give Shanks that much more impact in the eventual One Piece. And I think we can safely say that that worked out rather well. With Garp, or I guess I should say the grandfather character, one other really interesting thing is that he seems to be a much nicer man than Garp is in general. Like he's not throwing Luffy into valleys in order to make him strong. He's a more chilled and genuinely caring dude, which is really strange because I guess the whole premise of this version of Romance Dawn really hinges on that Luffy-Garp relationship, which as we know from One Piece doesn't really exist. Luffy and Garp sort of tolerate each other most of the time, but he was never a core emotional influence on Luffy as he is presented here. So it's an intriguing dynamic and one that's actually really fun to see played out with Garp and Luffy's actual voice actors. Such a strange, strange parallel universe we have here. Much of Romance Dawn really did feel like One Piece's life though. A lot of elements were there, but they hadn't been arranged and portrayed in a way that really gives you that emotional oomph. Like the first time Luffy says that his hat is his treasure in One Piece is such a powerful statement because we know the sacrifice Shanks had made to entrust it to the next generation. Whereas in Romance Dawn, it still hits, but more so because the hat is a family heirloom. So the inherited will aspect is still there, but it's very subdued. Probably my favorite thing to come out of Romance Dawn though has always been the character of Balloon. Pandas are my favorite animal in the entire world. So incorporating them into anything will always result in a big thumbs up from me. And I think the Kappa Yamaguchi, aka Usopp was a great choice for his various noises. We also had the Nami prototype of Anne though, and she was pretty much as expected. She's a much more innocent version of Nami, but she also kicks some serious ass in the special. It was really cool to see her in combat, but it left me with this overwhelming desire to see Nami in actual combat again. Not just like wielding the climate act and shocking people, but actually fighting, because we know that she can do it to some degree. Oda just sort of refuses to give her any decent action anymore. So what Romance Dawn ends up being is also a nice flashback to a time when Oda was not afraid to put his female characters in harm's way. I mean, Anne was even shot, which is pretty brutal by modern standards, but it does also take me back to some of Nami's most powerful moments in the series, like when she stabbed herself during the Arlong arc, or when she stopped Miss Doublething's attack by allowing her foot to be impaled. Along with what Anne does in this special, these are badass moments that go on to define a character and leave a real impact on the audience. And it's just thoroughly depressing that I guess Nami doesn't get those moments anymore. In any case, that's a topic for an entire video of its own. And one thing I'd also like to praise about Romance Dawn is the pacing. To those of you who eagerly follow the one piece anime, Romance Dawn probably felt like it was moving pretty damn fast. It got a hell of a lot accomplished in just over 20 minutes. And once again, it goes to show you what the anime could be. There was no pointless extending of scenes, no lingering reaction shots, no flashbacks we've already seen a billion times before, just pure anime. Not even great anime either. Romance Dawn was delightful, but this is what standard anime should be. Although one moment that was simply exceptional was the eventual punch of spiel. How good was that? It had everything that a great punch needed, the good build up, a nice volatile rubber effect, and the moment of impact happened swiftly. It didn't linger for 45 seconds, showing spiel somehow resisting the punch. Before its impacts were eventually felt, it was just wham, bam, done. So satisfying. And that wham, bam, done kind of sums up the special. In essence, this was a really enjoyable piece of media and something that I think Toei and Fuji TV should invest in more. Like potentially adapting the other one to shots, or maybe even doing their own original alternate continuity of weird stuff like they used to do with the Boss Luffy specials. They're just a nice break from a mammoth series that takes forever and ever to get anywhere in the anime. And I think that stuff like this could actually be very needed going forward in Wano. I mean, Wano is just such a mega arc and there aren't going to be times where the anime will seem like it practically isn't moving at all. Locations and characters will get very stale if things continue as it's currently moving. And you know what? A completely unrelated episode of something or other here and there that retains the charm of One Piece and can act as its own filler is most certainly welcome to me anyway. But that pretty much does it for this review of Roman Storm. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this but applied to other anime and manga series, then please do check out my second channel New World Review for all of your wider needs. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time, then please do head over to my Discord server where a wide array of shenanigan retakes takes place on a daily basis. And finally, please do comment with your thoughts on Roman Storm. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time. What One Piece race would you bring into our world if you had to pick one? No humans or unintelligent creatures. Well, look, does the South Boat count as an unintelligent creature? I personally don't think so. But we have a fairly easy question here because if we're talking about races as I suspect this commenter means it, then it has to be the minks. If only for the fact that we could have adorable polar bears integrated into our society. Although it does raise some potential problems with the whole Soulong thing. So it would be kind of like inviting a race of werewolves to come and live in society. Steps would need to be taken to ensure that they don't go on a rampage. Still, is it worth it for the polar bears? I think so. Do you plan on doing a vid with anyone? Maybe teching. So I get a lot of questions or suggestions about me doing collaboration videos with other YouTubers. And the short answer to the question is no, I don't plan on doing these videos with anyone else but I'm not entirely closed off to the idea either. And one of the things is I'm not sure what I would do with any of them. My videos are pretty straightforward to the point kind of stuff. So I feel like the only thing that would work is a discussion, which sounds like it would become more long form content. And long stuff doesn't generally do very well in this channel, which is mostly my fault because I've structured it on 10 minutes or less videos or so. And when one comes along that's 20 or even maybe 50 minutes long, it gets absolutely minuscule of using comparison. Another thing is I'm not sure what most other YouTubers would have to benefit from being on my channel or by having me on theirs. Most other well-known ones are still far and above me in terms of views and subscribers, so they don't have much to gain. And to be perfectly honest, the reason why I started this channel was because none of them really offered anything that I personally wanted to watch. So that also raises the question on if having them here might end up defeating the purpose of the ground line review altogether. I don't know, we'll see what happens. Right now it's absolutely irrelevant though because I've never even spoken to any of them and I'm pretty happy doing my own thing. I think it's worked fairly well so far. If any devil fruit can be available in any other anime video, which will it be? Hmm, tough choice there. Primarily because I don't think I understand the question. But I'm going to say the Meromero know me and let's make it available in my top five favorite nen users video on New World Review. I hope that answers your question because once again, I don't understand it.