 Hello and welcome to the ground line review your source for everything one piece and today is a momentous occasion because it is almost 1 a.m. And it is finally time for me to review one piece stampede Which I just saw this evening and before jumping into anything I would like to point out that this is a non spoiler review Which I decided to make because I know that many many of you will not have the opportunity to see the film until October November and sadly perhaps even beyond that for countries which have no confirmed screenings as of yet So never fear I'm not going to give anything away beyond general details and impressions here But for those of you who have seen stampede or who simply do not care whatsoever about spoilers I will also be posting a spoiler review shortly But for now I was lucky enough to see the Australian premiere of one piece stampede at Mad Fest in Melbourne And I have to say that the atmosphere in that room was incredible and will more than likely have positively skewed my review of stampede But it really was difficult to walk away with anything other than a smile on my face after Experiencing this for the first time along with hundreds and hundreds of other one-piece fans There was a huge amount of cheering hearty laughter and terrifyingly long lines It stretched all the way around the entire theater just to get in it was a fantastic experience And I highly recommend going out to see this because this film is a once-in-a-lifetime One-piece experience a true love letter to fans and who better to spend the screening with as a result Also when a highly introverted man is telling you to go out and spend time with other human beings You know it's for a good cause with all of that said I do have to say that this review won't be entirely good because stampede does have its flaws Which will get into in a very general manner here and much more specifically in spoiler review But for now if I had to give my overall impression of the film in one word, I'd say Overwhelming from beginning to end stampede is a relentless barrage of pure one-piece Which is both one of the most amazing things I have ever laid eyes on and one of the most Exhausty experiences of my life all in one for example the sheer amount of characters contained within the movie is staggering And most of them are given their moment to shine in one way or another the best equivalent I can draw is probably infinity wall except stampede goes even more overboard Especially with cameos by secondary and tertiary characters in fact on more than a few occasions I even spotted characters from previous films Which is a wonderful nod to the people who have kept up with the history of the one-piece movies But as for the primary characters who demand most of the film's focus Well, they're no secret due to how heavily the trailers marketed them But essentially we've got the straw hats the worst generation and the final united force who command the stage Which even on its own is a ridiculous amount of cast members to keep up with But I will say that they all received a pretty decent balance of screen time and stuff to do Even if that stuff to do is action for the most part I guarantee that one-piece fans will not be unsatisfied with what most of these three groups have to do in stampede Although I was personally slightly disappointed by one or two characters Who may or may not have been pretty heavily featured in marketing material And don't really provide what was promised And my primary example of this without giving much away is roblucci He just doesn't quite have the role you might expect after watching some of the trailers Especially the later trailers This is definitely not the case for most of the primary cast though And I will say that I was very happy with how the entirety of the worst generation were handled And seeing them all together in one place for the first time since the subreddit arc is a momentous occasion With some interesting action based surprises as well There were a couple of things I definitely was not expecting to see from them So let's just say that they go pretty all out As for the straw hats, they all get their due focus even amongst this powerhouse cast I don't think that any Zora or Sanji fans are going to be disappointed with them in this film But I will say that there is one standout amongst the crew in stampede Though I won't specifically mention in this review But just wow It really did remind me of exactly why I love each and every one of the straw hat pirates Because they are all incredibly capable of having their profound story moments Which I will say was very welcome in stampede Now something I do need to say is that you will need to suspend your disbelief Quite often with the amount of characters that pop into this film And specifically how they make their entrances Or even what their overall purpose of being there was There is certainly a couple I can think of where I was like Yeah, you were there But there was no adequately explained reason for why you were there And this applies to some pretty major figures as well All of them received resounding cheers and applause amongst the crowd So they did serve their purpose in that context I suppose While we're on characters though We also need to talk about our film specific antagonists Being Douglas Bullitt and Buena Festa And we'll start with the more intriguing individual being Bullitt And my god, is he powerful? If he were a canon character I'd say that he approaches the level of power held by an emperor figure Like Big Mom Hokkaido But not quite getting there Although in the film his strength is compared to that of Ray Lee So, hmm And so for much of the film he is incredibly overwhelming And honestly that might be one of his greater flaws Throughout Stampede I consistently felt like Bullitt was made far, far too strong Which creates a big problem when trying to satisfactorily conclude him There are other issues though, many of which I won't get into here But to me Bullitt was a fairly flat antagonist He has one track mind, a less than satisfying motive And a backstory that demands significant expansion In fact I really do wish that instead of a lot of the action The film took a bit more time to develop him Especially his connection to the Roger Pirates Because that was another big selling point of Stampede The fact that this guy was a former member of the Pirate King's crew And at any given time I just wanted to know more In terms of action though I will say that for the most part He is very compelling to watch His powers are a visual feast And once again they are just absolutely absurd And as for our other driving force, Buena Festa His motive was somewhat more satisfying But in the end I found myself just not really caring about this guy He has a classically Oda Rescan appealing on first impression design Only without the solidly written character to back it up And yeah I don't actually have a lot of great things to say about Festa Every time he was on screen I just felt like he was stealing time From the billions of other people who we could have been spending it with Now speaking of how time was spent Let's talk a little bit about the story in Stampede And really there's not an awful lot to say The premise is the Pirate Festival And the main event is the Hunt for Roger's Treasure The second part of that I'll have a lot to say about in the spoiler of you But that really is kind of that for the story Do not go into this movie expecting a lot of twists or even development Because it lays out its cards very early And I think banks on you being down for the ride Which for the most part the crowd and I certainly were Now over in terms of criticizing Stampede as a film The lack of story does become a detriment at points There were certain parts where as much as everything going on was Amazing fun and often a spectacle to watch There was a definite desire for some kind of story progression Which does eventually happen but it is minimal And I suppose you could argue that Stampede doesn't really need it Because of what it sets itself up to be Which is an all-star team-up film And it might even be a fantastic thing that we don't spend too much time setting it all up But I'm not too sure about that For me after a while I do need some form of progression Because it is possible to have too much of a good thing Now as for what that good thing is It is undoubtedly action and animation Stampede is nothing less than beautiful at all times Even with some of the CGI stuff happening There were very few points where I felt like something was off In terms of a model or animation And for the most part that sort of stuff can be a tribute to the particular art style that was being invoked And is generally forgivable as a result Having only seen it once at the time of this recording I'd go so far as to say that the animation is actually pretty damn flawless And it is always a pleasure to see one piece given this treatment But while all of that is amazing The action can at times get a bit fatiguing Especially when you're jumping in and out of multiple fights Happening all around the island for great stretches of time on end Stampede does not give you a lot of breathing room As the stakes are high right from the get go Most of which is being delivered to us through action pieces I mean there is at least one merciful moment of respite Which honestly is one of the shining moments of Stampede to me And it really highlighted what I felt was missing from a one piece story up until that point Which was the space to have great character moments and developments that don't involve fighting Because despite being classified as a battle shounen One piece has always been more than that And arguably excels in terms of story drama and comedy At a far greater capacity than it does action Which I guess is why it's kind of weird to see such a physically based film But your opinion on this is going to change depending on what you're seeking from Stampede If what you're hoping for is a product that tells a decent standalone story Then you might have some issues But if what you wanted is an event film that just celebrates a ton of 22 years of one piece Then you'll love it Personally I was incredibly greedy and I was hoping for both Which isn't realized but it is incredibly difficult to be disappointed with what was delivered Every time I think of a negative aspect of the film It is immediately dispelled by the astounding amount of just playing cool moments characters And clashes that were in it And so any flaws that Stampede had were entirely forgivable to me Although I doubt that will be the case for anybody not familiar with one piece Because it really is like taking someone who has never seen a single Marvel movie Or even read a comic into say Avengers Endgame You really do need to have a solid grasp of the series to get maximum enjoyment out of Stampede So sadly this probably is not a good example of something to show a friend to get them into the series Which is a shame because it is beautiful and fun But Strong World, Film Z and Film Gold do still exist for that purpose Also before I get to talk about this completely I should have said this in the beginning But this screening of Stampede was preempted by a message from Mayumi Tanaka Mayumi Tanaka Mayumi Tanaka I said it three times because it's important AKA the voice of Luffy Which was really cool because she was addressing Mad Fest directly So it felt like quite a personalized message The more important thing is that her message actually contained some massive foreshadowing towards a certain event in Stampede Which at the time I thought was just Mayumi being all charming and funny But looking back on it, it is just very cool to see how that was laid out right in front of my eyes And I'll tell anybody who was curious about that in the spoiler review, of course But to summarize my thoughts, let's put it this way I spent a stupid amount of money to fly into state for a couple of hours With my wife for the sole purpose of seeing this movie It's one of the most financially irresponsible things I have ever done And I regret nothing This experience was like no other A true event film that I'm not sure we'll ever see again Because no other series really has what it takes to pull something this ridiculous off And I cannot see One Piece repeating itself with this format on its next outing And so Stampede is a very special film I mean, yes, it has problems from a filmmaking perspective A lot of problems But if you're a One Piece fan, then I really would say it doesn't matter You're going to have a good time here And once again, I'd highly encourage you to see it with as many other One Piece fans as possible And not only that, but you may even want to see it multiple times Because for me, one viewing really didn't feel like enough I mean, I was exhausted after it But I feel like there's so much that I missed or wasn't able to appreciate happening Which is a great compliment because I haven't felt that way After watching any of the other One Piece films Like with Strong World, Film Zed and Gold I walked away going, great, I've seen it Now, time to digest it But the problem with Stampede is that you can't possibly see it all in one sitting So it becomes a bit more tricky to digest So I want to see it again But sadly, that won't be happening here in Australia until mid-November But by then, I'm hoping to be more than ready to go back into this incredible creation With a fresh mind and keen arise But that pretty much does it for this non-spoiler review of One Piece Stampede Just a reminder that I will have a spoiler review up soon As well as hopefully a review or at least impressions from my wife Who knows pretty much nothing about One Piece So I suspect that will be an interesting discussion Speaking of discussion, if you have seen Stampede Please be mindful about posting spoilers in the comments Because there is a huge chunk of the world who haven't seen it So let's not ruin its awesomeness But 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 apply to other anime 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 place on a daily basis And finally please do comment with your thoughts on One Piece Stampede This has been the Grand Line Review And I'll see you next time