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I was considerably delighted to find that the second movie of One Piece had a more creative plot than the first. Stepping right into the film, the audience is immediately thrown into a humourous situation: the Straw Hats have lost their ship, and are without a change of clothes. Enter, stage right, the crew in wedding attire. No, seriously. Apparently that was the only clothing rental shop open. (REALLY guys? Really?)

So the story picks up from there, going into the traditional method of laying out movie plots: enter, stage left, side characters. And what do you know, they may have an idea of who the ... villains of the show might be. How coincidental. They're a loud, self-important group, which clearly contrast with the Straw Hats and make for some amusing banter. I really liked the movie characters in this, really. They've got memorable personalities, nothing that just fades into the background after watching them.

The movie continues with a light, humourous theme, and we're introduced to the island of the day with a bit of camera work: it's this giant Clockwork Tower, what do you know. I adored it. Thought it was really interesting. I mean, the crew hasn't come across many giant towers of islands before, have they? It's something that's more unique to this movie. So the landscape and setting of the incoming battles, you can tell, are going to be a bit different from normal and just plain interesting.

The villain was also highly amusing, what with his fascination and crush on Nami in a wedding dress, who was not in the least bit happy with the enemy taking a liking to her. But of course, Nami, being manipulative that she is, sought to use this against him. So Nami's role in this movie was just great.

All the other members of the crew, acting out their roles as suave and cool and determined fighters, are what mostly made this entertaining for me. Because you just know that the villains are going to assume that they're the toughest, greatest, most brilliant men and women that ever existed; oh what you've come to defeat me? Let me tell you how great I am—

Ass-kicking commenced from there on, of course.

They put up a good fight though, which further entertained me. Some interesting battle tactics and teamwork later, the Straw Hats managed to come out on top, but the villains were tougher than expected. I guess they had a reason to be obnoxiously cheeky. Not that that made them worthy of being defeated by our heroes.

All right, I'll stop mocking the villains.

At any rate, I much preferred this plot over the plot of the first movie, so if you saw this first one and were disappointed or concerned that the other movies wouldn't cut it, I would definitely try at least watching this one before you call it quits. Creativity and character motivation and back story and so much more were all improved from movie one. So don't despair.

Let me try this line to get you to see it: the villain attempts to crush Luffy with the slow and heavy downward force of a ceiling. That's action for you. No, wait a minute. Scratch that. There's Nami in a wedding dress. Yes?

The first One Piece movie, I must say, is more like a set of combined episodes than a movie. It does has the "movie feel," in that you can see how the plot is going to move. You know, the gang runs across some seemingly unnecessary characters, whom later turn out to be important to the plot. They arrive at an island, explore a little, the villains show up. Nothing exciting, nothing surprising. The main enjoyment that I got out of this movie, was not the plot or the action, but the characters. Because let's face it, a huge part of what makes One Piece ... so amazing is its cast. Luffy is just as adorably single-minded as ever ("MEAT! FOOD! TREASURE!"), Nami is still the money-loving woman we all know her to be, completely focussed on what she can gain out of the situation. Zoro, as unconcerned about the apparent "danger" as always, and just as cool and confident as we know him to be. Ussop playing his role with the injection of humour throughout. Basically, their vivid and expressive personalities are what made this movie, well, so intrinsically a part of the One Piece universe.

As I've briefly touched on before the plot isn't that great. It's nothing creative, if that's what you were hoping for. If you want something more interesting and inventive, I would skip right to movie four, if you want my advice. But for those of you interested in seeing every One Piece movie out there like I am, then go ahead and watch this one, it's not going to disappoint you. If you're like me, anything with those characters is going to please you, just because I think you could stick that cast in a cardboard box for all the plot you need, and still come out with something entertaining in the end. And after seeing the movie, I'm sure you'd agree: it's still One Piece, at the heart of it. Regardless of lack of plot twists or great excitement. And that's what counts.

Do take note of the year this movie was made, so that you won't be disheartened when you begin to see the poorer animation than what you might be used to. I had been watching the late 400s in terms of episodes when I saw this, so it was a shock to me to return to episode 1 in terms of art and animation. But really, it's not awful. If you got past episode 1 of the anime, this art style shouldn't bother you too much.

Music is the same as ever, the same battle music, the same great catchy tones that belong to the show. So nothing different there.

Overall, this wasn't the best movie, I'll admit. It had the feel of a quick filler more than anything, but I'm a completionist sort of person, and wanted to see everything One Piece that I could. If you're like that too, I'd certainly recommend it, because it still has the same feel as the show. Light-hearted action, Luffy looking badass, everyone cracking jokes. So yeah, watch the movie. I mean, come on, do you even need a review to figure that out? It's ONE PIECE.

Tales of Symphonia Tethe'alla is the 4 episode OVA that follows the four episodes of Tales of Symphonia, only it's set in another world, known as Tethe'alla. To start off, if you've seen the first four episodes, you'll be aware that the episodes in this anime are quite long, about 40 minutes long as opposed to the normal length for anime episodes, about 20 minutes. This doesn't bother me in the least; actually, I found it quite refreshing, not having to click on a new link as often to continue watching the show.

If you've played the game for this anime, you might be more familiar ... with the characters, plot, and overall universe, but as for me I had played it only briefly several years ago and didn't remember much when I started watching this. So don't think you need any background knowledge: I certainly didn't need it.

Tethe'alla is an amazing world, bespeckled with grand castles, interesting people, highly advanced technology and something that made me rather excited to see: dragons. I loved the storyline in this world. Lloyd's adventures to save Colette caused him to come across new enemies and allies, and everyone has their own unique story to tell. At some points the plot took real twists -I would blink in a surprised fashion as I stared at the screen and wonder why someone had done something, or how something had happened. In this way, it became so that I couldn't figure out what was going to happen next, and for me watching something with unexpected turns is a real treat.

Because Tethe'alla is a chapter only four episodes long, like the first chapter, things are going to be moving at a good speed to keep the plot rolling. There aren't any unnecessarily long scenes of reflection, and flashbacks are kept concise. Background information on characters is given to us, but we are shown only what we need to know to understand character motivation, so if you like seeing scenes that show more about the character's life I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. What I really liked was how there could be great action in one moment, and then, only a scene or two later, everything would slow down to give viewers some time to process what had happened while the characters recovered and figured out what to do next.

Lloyd is a fantastic main character. He's charismatic, determined, strong-willed, and he keeps everyone focussed towards the goal of freeing Colette. I feel like the other characters fill in all the standard group holes: Genis, the cheerful companion who still seems a bit too innocent. Rain, the instructor and sister to Genis, ready to help out where she can. Sheena, the woman who is at first a bit of a mystery, and seems cold and distant, but later she shows that she's got an amazing heart. All of these guys, and a few more, really come together and make the perfect team.

The music in this anime was definitely not what I was used to. It's got depth, layers, and it fits the scenes brilliantly, raising tension and setting the tone. If you're expecting to hear something catchy and memorable, no, it isn't. To be honest I can't remember one tune from the show. But that's what's different about it: it's wind instruments, drums, and so on, building up on emotion and just creating a great feel for the story. It didn't have to be catchy or memorable. The opening and ending themes were fantastic. They aren't the usual norm, either. If you're expecting classic J-Pop or J-Rock, no, you're not going to receive it. The songs are just beautiful. Entrancing. Delicate. ...And rather unprounceable. However, I enjoyed them, sincerely.

I don't know what to tell you that won't get into the finer details of what you're considering you might watch. I won't tell you about the twists, or the ending (although I will say that it ended on a note that left too many loose ends, I believe we're in for a third OVA to tie everything up). However, I will tell you that in my honest opinion it's definitely an anime to set aside time for. If it doesn't captivate you by the opening sequence or by the end of the opening theme, then this probably is not the genre or anime you're looking for, though I assume you watched through the first four episodes to get here, so why even consider whether you want to see the Tethe'alla chapter? If you enjoyed the first chapter, you'll enjoy this one, and though it's an often repeated line it's completely true.

As a continuation of the first series, you can expect the OVA to fill in much of those undesired loose ends and plot holes that cropped up throughout the series. These episodes focus on Kurapica's quest for revenge and his eternal hunt for his clan member's eyes.

Fans of the original series will note that Hunter x Hunter is not a terribly fast-paced anime, and tends to build the story around the characters and their interactions with one another, rather than with action. It lures the audience in by showing them all the interesting depths of the characters -their goals, their dreams, their struggles- and makes ... us root for them when they hit dirt. This OVA does so much more than that. Following up on the hints we were given with the original series, the OVA gives its audience a much deeper look into Kurapica's emotions and hardships, while also managing to show the heartfelt friendship between him, Leorio, Gon, and Killua.

Kurapica's character, I feel, was for the most part just a supporting character originally and wasn't given too many layers that really fleshed him out and gave the audience much insight into his emotions. Suddenly this problem is completely rectified: he becomes so much more of a main character than I thought he could be, he shows new and interesting sides of himself that I didn't know existed, and he draws you into loving his character so much more so than before. Furthermore, the OVA builds on his friendships and shows the trust, loyalty and support between them.

The Spiders are given stronger personalities and I feel they are much rounder characters than they were before. Each one has a unique relationship with each other and with Kurapica, and you really start to play favourites as he lays out his plan to dissolve the organization.

All in all, for me character was a 10.

The story is these episodes is a bit more fast-paced than what fans are used to (which is a given considering the number of episodes). However, this is what I found so exciting in this OVA. There's a lot of mystery in this plot, and Kurapica's planning skills with his limited number of resources is superb. Just when things start to fall apart, he critically analyzes the situation and pulls everyone through the trouble. I love all the problems Gon and Killua run into, and those two pulled a few stunts to get through them, even surprising many of the Spider members. I must say without a doubt the story was a 10.

As far as art goes, I didn't notice a whole lot of difference between the OVA and the original series. The lines could be cleaner, but that's probably just my preferance rather than the quality of the art. To me it wasn't bad: 8. For sound, in terms of music: it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't terrible either. The opening and ending themes definitely aren't the best, I would say they were average. Background music and sounds were acceptable (but it isn't shinobi battle music, if that's what you're expecting). 7/10 for sound.

To summarize in one short sentence...

This OVA is everything you were expecting and more.