Monsters: Ippyaku Sanjou Hiryuu Jigoku

YOU get voiced by Chris Sabat! YOU get voiced by Chris Sabat! You ALL get voiced by Chris Sabat!

This is a 25 minute adaptation of a story that Eiichiro Oda created before One Piece. And because Oda is Oda, this story and the story of One Piece actually exist within the same universe! But aside from the little tease at the end of the short, this is a completely standalone story that you can watch without having any prior knowledge or experience with One Piece. But of course, those last 30 seconds could be considered spoilery. So if you'd like to watch this alongside your ... viewing of One Piece, you can watch this after you watch episode 362. This was just a really cool thing for them to do. I had NO clue it existed and saw NO advertisement for it, though! Kinda just stumbled upon it be accident. I've always wondered if I would be able to enjoy another Oda story if he decided to create something after One Piece. While I sincerely hope he just retires as soon as its finished and catches up on 30 years of sleep, this short definitely gave me some confidence that I can learn to love any story woven together by him.

8/10

What I was expecting:
When they spoke about that Dragon relic, I thought it's Kaido's DF and the person who stole it causing terror from past 10y. We were told that Ryuma slayed a Dragon so I was very much excited thinking Ryuma saved Wano from a monstrous dragon similar to how Luffy and others did!!!
Is this what happens? watch it to find out!! I don't see any reason for a One Piece fan to skip this

During the episode: (will contain spoiler from here on)
[spoiler]
- I knew that dude was acting tooo good to be true, but didnt expect to see an actual dragon, thought ... he would be the DF user
- I was so confused when Ryuma already achieved black grade with Shusui but still lost the challenge early, but it made sense in the end he probably found leads about the surprise attack and intentionally came to this town
- wasn't expecting King's reveal :o , I hope its Ryuma D King haha but probably wont be that way as it's not his real name
[/spoiler]

Based on the chapter titled "Monsters" from the manga Wanted, by Eiichiro Oda, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation manages to please, even if minimally, both One Piece fans and those who have never had contact with the work.

In ONA we discover more about Ryuma, already introduced in One Piece and having a direct confrontation with Zoro, to whom he is a predecessor in lineage. Following the narrative we understand more why the swordsman is so renowned, we see more of his strength and his much talked about battle against the Dragon.

It's 25 minutes with a good production, produced by Estúdio E&H Production. The direction, made ... by Seong-Hu Park, is well done, and the Director takes the opportunity to play around by using a reference to Jujutsu Kaisen - another anime he directed. Another highlight for the Director is the scene where we see Cyrano showing his real personality and, at the same time, a flashback of the villagers admiring him. This fact brings a huge contrast and that was a great success. Concluding this topic, the addition of the final scene, where we see Zoro's fight with Ryuma again, brings a nostalgic appeal to the episode that was not included in the original material (even as it was released even before One Piece).

However, in my opinion, the colors in Monsters lacked a little life, everything seemed low in saturation/contrast, which may have been a choice by the Art Direction, but it didn't go down very well. Still on that, the animation style reminded me a little of Devilman Crybaby, and that's a great quality. The improvement in character design compared to the manga is also notable.

As for the narrative, for 25 minutes it is good, as far as possible. However, with little screen time, ONA presents us with a very easy defeat for the Dragon, which is a demerit and is present in the original material.

Even with these drawbacks, relying on nostalgia in the final scene, Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation is an ONA that is worth giving a chance to watch.