 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. If you've ever seen one of my videos before, chances are you're aware of how much of a manga purist I am. That's why today's top five list may shock you, because we are going to be doing the unthinkable and examining moments in the series that were actually done better in the anime. What? And look, I know it's a small poll to judge from, but I assure you, they do exist. The criteria for this list is ever so simple. The selected moment in the series must have occurred in both the manga and the anime for comparison, and it quite simply needs to be more effectively conveyed in its animated medium. Easy as. So with that out of the way, let's begin. Welcome to the top five times the anime outperformed the manga. Number 5 Underworld Emperors The Musical Alright, let's commence this list with a collective of cool characters introduced at the business end of Whole Cake Island, more commonly known as Morgan, Stussy and the other dude bros. Now in the manga, these guys had a pretty cool introduction presenting themselves on a wonderfully drawn two-page spread, not a whole lot of room for creativity when it came to the anime adaptation, or so I would have thought. Instead, continuing the musical Disney theme that Whole Cake Island introduced us to, the wonderful people of Toei decided to turn this fairly flat introduction into an entire musical number of its own. Furthermore, the music itself took inspiration from the classical big-band swing style of the early 1930s, which coincided with the era of classical real-world underground figures such as Al Capone. So the instrumental alone managed to evoke a nice period underworld sense that is also reflected in the clothing of some of the characters like Stussy and Dufeld. The one negative thing I will say is that once the dialogue began, it was pretty clear that these were just manga lines inserted into a song they really had no business being in, but who cares? Because this uncharacteristically creative decision from Toei elevated this scene from a fairly bland introduction into a highly memorable and for the most part wonderfully animated scene that certainly outdoes its manga counterpart. Number 4 St. Charles. Alright, this particular scene pops up a lot in relation to my top five lists, whether it be best punches or the most hated characters, but for good reason. It is a fantastically constructed moment in the series that stands out for a wide array of reasons, but in this particular case, the anime absolutely outdid itself. Arguably the greatest advantage the anime medium has over its manga counterpart is sound. Manga does its best to insert sound effects, and they do work quite well, but they do not compare to a well-crafted soundtrack. This scene works so damn well because of the journey the music takes us on, from the somber isolated moment with Hachi to the epic slow walk of Luffy towards Charles. The anime soundtrack deserves almost 100% of the credit for pumping us up for the inevitable punch, and it didn't stop there because in another bold move from Toei for the actual impact of the punch, they decided to remove all colour, creating a very basic bright and stark environment, which when juxtaposed against the detailed dark and dingy auction house created maximum impact for Luffy's strike, and resulted in one of the most memorable scenes in the history of the series. Number 3 Luffy vs the admirals. I think it's fair to say that the marine foot portion of the anime is one of the most disappointing adaptations in the series, suffering extensively from long drawn out reaction shots and other assorted filler. However within that ever extended arc, there were sprinkles of phenomenally animated scenes that not only do the source material justice, but even surpass it in terms of quality, and there is no greater example of this than Luffy vs the admirals. And most of the beauty of this scene comes down to the care put into animating a detailed environment. For example when Luffy arrives having been tossed by Jinbei, the impact of the water onto a hard surface is sublime. And when it eventually dissipates to reveal Luffy, it is a truly epic moment, particularly with the slow down time effect that makes the water linger in the air afterwards. And a very similar animation technique is used when Luffy begins kicking the frozen mast at the admirals, except this time with chunks of ice. It's absolutely beautiful, and it may even be worthy of the number one spot, except that it suffers a bit too much from marine foot syndrome. For example, there is a section in the middle of this that is simply too long and drawn out, which is the time it takes when we see Luffy landing in this position, to him simply raising his head. That takes 17 seconds. 17 seconds to convey a grand total of nothing. Oh and also the scene gets split up over two episodes, which is really sad because we go from beautifully well crafted animation, to whatever the next team could shit out. But let's not dwell on this fact for too long lest we become Toei. For now, I believe the initial portion of this scene absolutely outdoes its manga counterpart. Number two, gear second. When this moment first appeared in the manga, it was mind blowing and as a result, the anticipation for seeing it animated was pretty damn high, and it exceeded my expectations. And just to be clear, what I'm referring to is the advent of gear second, as well as the ensuing fight against Blueno. Firstly, I thought that Luffy's coloring in gear form was very well done by Toei, managing to find this wonderful tint of raw fleshy pink. But they also completely nailed how shiny Luffy's body becomes when using the technique. However, where they managed to exceed all expectations from me is rather simply how they conveyed the speed of gear second. Luffy's attacks came at a pace never before seen in the anime, and with the accompanying sound effects, it really makes you feel like these strikes are landing hard and fast. And the ridiculous thing is, the animation is far more simple than anything I've discussed on the list so far. What Toei managed to master in this scene is the art of pacing. Shots didn't linger, and so hard cuts became frequent, which went a long way to evoking the pure speed and impact of what was happening on screen. It is a near perfect adaptation that takes the source material and elevates it, using all of the unique tools of the animated medium. If all of one piece were adapted with the actual impact of the scene in mind like this, then it would undoubtedly be one of the greatest anime in all of history. But for now, I'll settle on this scene being a rare example of a moment in Toei history where they surpassed the manga. Number 1. The Defeat of Crocodile Now I am more than likely looking at the scene with my nostalgia glasses on, but as a young teenager I watched this episode over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Everything about it had me hooked from the glorious animation of Luffy soaring into the air to the classical music and even tiny tiny details like the gruffness of Crocodile's voice as he yelled his final attack. And once again, I find myself praising the sound design, this time particularly for Luffy's punches as part of the Gomu Gomu no Storm. There's something about the particular sound they use that makes each individual punch feel so heavy, which was sorely needed when we're talking about punching one of the seven wallards of the sea through solid bedrock. And in terms of brilliant visuals, you really can't go past the tracking shot of Luffy's punch, which bursts through the sand and lands ever so satisfactorily on Crocodile's face. To me, reading this scene in the manga is downright disappointing compared to my memory of how it played out in the anime. Both of them, by the way, because when they reanimated this scene in Episode of Alabasta it was still absolutely fantastic, some may even argue better than the original. I wouldn't, but some might. In either case, this scene is the epitome of what an anime adaptation should strive for, to take the structure of the source material and bring it to life. And that is why the defeat of Crocodile stands at the top of this list. But that pretty much does it for the top five times the one-piece anime outperformed the manga. If you enjoyed this video then feel free to like, favorite, or subscribe. And if you are in any way keen on supporting this independent channel then please do check out my Patreon, Discord server, or Twitter, the links to which are in the handy description below. And finally, please do comment with your own chosen moments where the anime outdeared the manga. This has been the Grand Line Review, and I'll see you next time.