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Chappie (2015) Review

by with No Comment Reviews

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Neill Blomkamp first hit the big screen after a bunch of interesting short films with District 9 – a science-fiction film that had a much smaller scope in a location that wasn’t the United States for a change, yet could still deliver wonderful special effects and impactful action. He followed that groundbreaking film with Elysium, a general disappointment of a flick despite some stellar trailers. Now he brings us this: Chappie.

ChappieIn what looks like Short Circuit through way of Robocop, Chappie is a film that stars Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Die Antwoord (yeah, really), Sigourney Weaver, and of course, Blomkamp mainstay Sharlto Copley. It’s set in the near future where in South Africa the first fully automatic police droids have been invented and implemented, but one particularly unlucky drone, CHAPPiE (Sharlto Copley), is disabled, installed with artificial intelligence newly discovered by Dev Patel’s Deon, brought up by Die Antwoord, and employed to commit crimes like robbery and grand theft auto.

All the while with Hugh Jackman’s Vincent – a rival robotics designer to Deon – strives to finally have his project noticed – The “Moose”, an ED-209-like over-the-top combat drone, even if that means sabotaging CHAPPiE and the rest of South Africa’s robotic police force.

And the film, overall, is not very good. Which is a huge shame.

It just adds more thinking towards Neill Blomkamp being a one-hit wonder in the world of cinema. Chappie is a film that is very amateurishly written, with plot beats, hollow characters, and cliched dialogue that is comparable to the most base, least interesting examples of the sci-fi action genre. Some moments work – Blomkamp is good at the whole faux-documentary snippets and establishing world-building – but for the most part, Chappie is long, unimpressive, and tonally all over the place.

Chappie is a film that one cannot take seriously. Whether that’s the mother/father/child/god dynamic between the four main leads or the silliness of Dev Patel cracking the code for artificial intelligence after three Red Bulls or just every single thing Hugh Jackman says or does. Seriously, Jackman seems to be quite good at being hammy and entertaining to watch from time to time, and Chappie is a stellar example. A moment where he pulls a gun out in a crowded office and points it against Dev Patel’s face as a “joke” isn’t even the tip of the iceberg.

Unintentionally hilarious, Chappie is a film that deals with subject matter and themes that have been tackled much better in much better movies. Ex Machina was a criminally under-watched film that did so much more with artificial intelligence, and of course Big Hero 6 was a glorious animated film with another lovable robot buddy who could be programmed with new ideas. Chappie rather pales in comparison, with only the want of 1980s sci-fi action joy as a good selling point. Unfortunately, Chappie suffers a great deal in the ways District 9 and Elysium did, where what begins as a solid concept devolves into the most generic and boring action-packed third half.

Chappie15And even then, Chappie under-delivers on that. Once the first moment of a completely drastic change of tone happens action-wise, Chappie becomes just too ridiculous. It shows Blomkamp’s penchant for the over-the-top, in a film that already boasts Ninja and Yolandi of Die Antwoord fame as underdog crooks trying to save their hides through silly schemes.

Overall, Chappie is a disappointment of a film that seemed to have a lot of promise, which one hopes won’t be the case for yet another Alien movie we actually don’t need. Blomkamp’s films can be noted in their style and set design and special effects, but he can’t exactly match the talent of Ridley Scott or James Cameron in their primes. Maybe he’ll beat Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s foray into the Alien world.

Until then, Chappie is almost certainly a miss. If you do still want to see it, try to strive for the IMAX because the visuals certainly work. But bring a friend who you don’t mind laughing and joking with while watching how unintentionally silly this movie is, and try not to drink every time you see a Sony product or a rubber chicken.

You read that right.

Chappie hits cinemas in the UK on Friday 6th March 2015. It’s directed by Neill Blomkamp from a script co-written by Terri Tatchell, and stars Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman, Die Antwoord, Sharlto Copley and Sigourney Weaver.

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Suffragette movie celebrates International Women’s Day

by with No Comment NewsTheatrical

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Pathé has released a portrait of the women behind its major new film Suffragette – the first feature film to tell the story of the ordinary British women at the turn of the last century who risked everything in the fight for equality and the right to vote.

The photograph was taken by Brigitte Lacombe and features…

Back Row, Left to Right:
Sarah Gavron (Director), Helen Pankhurst (Great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst), Laura Pankhurst (Great-great-granddaughter of Emmeline Pankhurst), Alison Owen (Producer).

Front Row, Left to Right:
Abi Morgan (Screenwriter), Anne-Marie Duff (Actor), Meryl Streep (Actor), Carey Mulligan (Actor), Helena Bonham Carter (Actor), Faye Ward (Producer).

TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAYA PORTRAIT OF THE WOMEN BEHIND MAJOR NEW FILM “SUFFRAGETTE”

International Women’s Day takes place on Sunday 8 March 2015 and this year’s theme is ‘Make it Happen’.

“International Women’s Day celebrates the achievements of women throughout the world and I am overjoyed that my film can be part of that celebration,” said director Sarah Gavron. “The story of the ordinary British women who were willing to sacrifice everything in their fight for the right to vote is an inspiration to all of us in our ongoing fight for equality.”

British Film Institute figures show that, from 2007 to 2013, the average percentage of British films released each year that were directed by women was 12 per cent; and for films written by women the percentage was little better at 14.8 per cent.

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WWE Survivor Series 2014 Blu-Ray and DVD Review

by with No Comment Reviews

survivorseries2014discWWE‘s annual Survivor Series pay-per-view has been one of the biggest events on the professional wrestling calendar ever since its inception in 1987, and 2014 was no exception. The Authority had been ruling with an iron fist over the land of World Wrestling Entertainment, and their leadership was put on the line in a massive 5 on 5 elimination tag team match in the main event. We also got to see the Tag Team Championships and Diva’s Championship on the line, as well as a match between Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose, who had been at each others necks since Bray Wyatt returned at Hell in a Cell. On top of that…well, if the DVD cover doesn’t ruin it for you, you might be in for a bit of a shock! So let’s get started!

The main show is kicked off with WWE’s owner, Vince McMahon coming out to the cheers and jeers of the crowd. Vince, fantastic as always, welcomes everyone to the show and calls out Triple H and  Stephanie McMahon, and after they come out (and Stephanie tries to start a cringe-worthy chant), we get the captain of the opposite team, John Cena. Cena is informed by Vince that Cena is the only man that will have the power to bring back the Authority if Team Cena wins tonight. That isn’t foreshadowing at all, by the way. Part of me feels like this is a segment that was meant to be tacked onto RAW or a plot point that was added at the last moment, but either way, we get to see Vince and it builds hype for the main event.

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Time for the regular opener – The Usos, Miz and Mizdow, Los Matadores and Gold and Stardust all compete in a Tag Team Turmoil match with the Dusts defending their tag team championships. Tag team turmoil matches are always a little confusing, but this one is one of the best in years, with all four teams playing to each others strengths, especially with the chemistry between Miz and Mizdow, who rightfully walk out with the championships. One of the few cases recently where WWE played it by ear and put the championships on who was hot at the time. Great match.

We cut to a backstage segment with Adam Rose and his, er, Bunny. They’re playing with action figures and get interrupted by Titus O’Neil and Heath Slater. Pretty funny segment, and WWE got to plug its toys, too. Shame this is a RAW tier match being added to a PPV, but ah well.

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Diva’s match time now, and this one unfortunately dragged on for a bit. Alicia Fox, Emma, Naomi and Natalya defeat Paige, Cameron, Summer Rae and Layla in traditional Survivor Series match in a clean sweep. This started off quite well, with Natalya and Paige facing off, as well as the fantastic and charismatic Emma getting to show off her skills, but it tapered off with the lacklustre in-ring ability of Summer Rae and Cameron. Watchable, but not exactly a candidate for the #GiveDivasAChance movement. Recap time now, as we go back to Hell in a Cell and we see the return of Bray Wyatt, and the ongoing feud with Dean Ambrose.

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Dean and Bray are up next, and this is probably the match of the night that isn’t the main event. Fantastic and brutal match, Wyatt and Ambrose’s styles really mesh perfectly, and as King says on commentary, the two just try and out-crazy each other, which makes for a very entertaining viewing experience. A hell of a lot of story is told between the two here, but ultimately it is all build to, which is announced later in the night, the Tables Ladders and Chairs match at, well, TLC. Ambrose is DQ’d after being baited by Bray into hitting the Eater of Worlds with a chair and goes nuts, literally burying Bray under a mountain of metal and wood. Backstage, Triple H hypes up team Authority. Highlight of the segment? Rusev is wearing flip-flops. Other than that, very tense and greatly put pressure on team Haitch to win.

Adam Rose and his Bunny take on Slater Gator. Few funny spots, but not much to report on. Filler match. Bunny takes Adam’s spot and celebrates with the rosebuds. We never find out who the bunny was, but he was pretty good in the ring. Next up, Roman Reigns appears on the titantron via what looks like the Shadow Realm and cuts his usual super-cocky Cena style promo. Not fantastic, but hearing him say he’d “make it rain (Reign, dohoho) up in that bitch” was amusing, if not a little embarrassing. We go now to team Cena’s locker room, where he hypes up his team, too.

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Diva’s Championship time, and this one ends before it even gets started! We get a rehash of Sheamus/Daniel Bryan from Wrestlemania 28, but this time, Brie Bella grabs AJ Lee and snogs her, (yes, really) allowing Nikki Bella to take advantage and steal the Diva’s Championship away from AJ Lee. Wow, er, don’t know what else to say about this. AJ got lipstick all over her face, so if you’re into that kind of thing, you’ll enjoy this match. Other than that, the storyline between the Bellas was kinda dumb, with Brie being made Nikki’s, er, that thing that Roman Reigns said earlier. And now they’re friends again even after Nikki mistreated her sister? Really doesn’t make sense and it was never explained, but the positive is at least we get to see the Bellas in a team and not wasting time feuding with each other.

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And now it’s time for the main event. Team Authority consisting of Seth Rollins, Kane, Mark Henry, Rusev and Luke Harper, take on Team Cena, which is of course, John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Big Show, Erick Rowan and Ryback. We get an amazing as usual video package and go straight into the entrances. Team Authority enters first, with HHH, Stephanie and J&J Security at ringside, and then Team Cena does the classic stare-down and roll into the ring. We start the match off with Henry and Show, and instantly The World’s Strongest Man is eliminated by one punch. Welp.

Personally, I have to say the KO Punch is a pretty horrible finisher, even for Big Show, since he doesn’t really seem to put his body weight into it anymore, and it’s unfortunate that Henry got eliminated so quickly, but it made for an interesting start to the match. Continuing on, both teams slowly eliminate members from either side, and here a lot of new stars are made, especially Rollins and Ziggler, who are by far the stand-outs. Rusev is eliminated by count-out after missing a dive through a table, and Cena is eliminated after Big Show turns on Team Cena, shaking the hand of HHH. Big Show turned alignment again, breaking news. Nothing new here, but added tension to the match, at least. It’s down to Ziggler VS Rollins, Harper and Kane. Ziggler manages to eliminate Harper and Kane via some means of luck, and the crowd lights up as The Showoff seems to be getting closer and closer to the comeback of the year, and as it looks like Ziggler has the remaining man, Rollins, down for the three, only Triple H pulls the referee out of the ring and rolls in himself. Calling out the Authority’s favourite referee, Scott Armstrong, the Authority looks like it has screwed over Ziggler and Team Cena, when all of a sudden…

Sting.

For the first time ever in WWE, Sting makes his way down to the ring and clears out all of Team Authority, giving Triple H the Scorpion Death Drop, as well as placing Ziggler on top of Rollins, to which the referee counts three. Holy cow. What a match. This really was, in hindsight, an overbooked mess, but when you think about it, it’s professional wrestling, and when you sit back and watch it, it’s very, very enthralling, and it was a real feel good moment to see Ziggler overcome the odds with the help of the Icon, Sting. Ziggler walks up the ramp and celebrates with his team captain, Mr Cena himself, but Triple H and Stephanie McMahon lurk around the ring, looking disappointed to chants of “You are fired!”, which isn’t technically true, and the ever favourite, “Na na na na, hey hey hey, good bye”. Stephanie has a great tantrum, which is bloody hilarious.

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Survivor Series 2014 was an all around fantastic pay-per-view event, and the main event really is a must watch, with the WWE debut of Sting, as well as what was probably the biggest moment in the career of Dolph Ziggler. The Blu-Ray is also chock full of some really good special features, mostly matches and segments stemming to and from the big matches on the card, as well as some pre-show and post-show matches and segments. WWE Survivor Series 2014 is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray!

 

Blu-ray Exclusives:

Monday Night Raw – 3 November 2014

Mr. McMahon Raises the Stakes for Survivor Series

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins

SmackDown – 7 November 2014

Christian Welcomes Dean Ambrose to the “Peep Show”

Monday Night Raw – 17 November 2014

Dean Ambrose Has a Surprise for Bray Wyatt

Team Authority vs. Team Cena Contract Signing

SmackDown – 21 November 2014

Dean Ambrose’s Survival Kit

Survivor Series Kickoff Match

Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro

Survivor Series Fallout

The Miz & Damien Mizdow Put Everyone on Notice

 

DVD Extras:

Survivor Series Kickoff Match

Justin Gabriel vs. Fandango

Survivor Series Kickoff

Bad News Barrett Returns to WWE

Survivor Series Fallout

Dean Ambrose is a Great Dance Partner

Survivor Series Fallout

It’s Time to Celebrate with Nikki Bella

 

All images (C) WWE and WWE.com

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 8 review

by with No Comment Reviews

Broadchurch__where_we_left_the_characters_at_the_end_of_series_oneWARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD.

The finale of the second series of Broadchurch has finally arrived. After eight weeks, everything comes to an end. While the series 1 finale of Broadchurch was tense, emotional and just all around brilliant, sadly, this finale is not.

The episode starts immediately where episode 7 left off. Joe Miller’s (Matthew Gravelle) verdict has been reached and in a shocking twist (and a rather bad night for the British justice system) Miller is declared NOT GUILTY! The man who murdered an 11 year old boy and dumped his body on a beach has been cleared of all charges. Straight after, Alec Hardy (David Tennant) arrests Claire (Eve Myles) as a suspect in the Sandbrook case, which Hardy vows to close today.

This is all powerful stuff, and the episode starts off so promising, but it also makes series 1 feel kind of pointless. Whenever anyone watches the previous series back, they’ll watch knowing that Joe Miller will be cleared and declared innocent even after he confesses to his crime.

The major problem here is simple: it focuses way too much on the solving the Sandbrook case and not enough on the Joe Miller case. The Sandbrook section could have easily taken 15 minutes of screentime to solve everything. But instead, it drags and drags.

We start off in the old Broadchurch police station, which at first is great. The series felt like it was home again and it felt quite nostalgic to see Hardy and Ellie Miller (Oliva Coleman) interview suspects Lee (James D’Arcy) and Ricky (Shaun Dooley) in the same room where they interogated the suspects of the Latimer case.

While this is going on, we see the town of Broadchurch all team up to deliver their own justice against Joe Miller, which is incredibly tense and exciting. But as perviously mentioned, the finale spends far too much time on the Sandbrook closure. Though the case is finally cracked and solved, the resolution and reveal of the true mastermind behind the murders is incredibly underwhelming. It is revealed that Lee, Claire and Ricky were involved in the murders.

The arrests of all the suspects also didn’t feel nearly as satisfying as they should have done, mainly because the case didn’t hold a candle on the original Latimer case and it was never strong enough to work as a story for an emotionally gripping finale.

Although the Sandbrook case came to an underwhelming end, it was nice to see Hardy finally have his closure on the case. The finale also included beautiful cinematography and standout acting, but that’s to be expected from Broadchurch now.

The finale would also have worked better if it spent more time on the townsfolk reactions to Miller being cleared and their plans to deliver true justice. But it didn’t. Instead it felt very rushed and poorly edited at times.

Half of the original characters from series 1 don’t appear in this episode (where was Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke)?) and most of the supporting cast don’t even get a line of dialogue.

The first 15 minutes were fantastic as it was both great and shocking to see Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) kidnap Joe Miller and take him to the hut where he killed Danny Latimer.

The only saving grace here was the section of the town dealing with Miller in their own way. While rushed, the ending of the Joe Miller story was still well done. Watching Beth (Jodie Whittaker) lay into Joe and talk about true justice was wonderful to watch and extremely powerful. We get a good feeling that both the Latimers and the Millers are now ready to move on with their lives. This whole scene makes the finale watchable.

Sadly, Joe Miller being “Banished” from the town didn’t feel like the best comeuppance the character could have got. Though the shot where he has to walk past all the townsfolk, who all know he’s guilty, was very well done.

Speaking of comeuppances, it wasn’t great watching Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) end her story arc by asking to work with Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). It just didn’t feel right for the character as she also seems to have forgotten all about her feelings to Maggie (Carolyn Pickles) from the previous week.

Concluding with Hardy about to leave the small town and wondering where to go next was a good closing shot as for the first time ever, he is free. However, it also hinted towards a possible third series. And what a surprise, it has now been confirmed that there will be a third series of Broadchurch. Likely to either air in 2016 or very early 2017, let’s just hope that the next series focuses more on drama and not another murder mystery.

Overall, series 2 of Broadchurch has been a very mixed bag. It started off so well, but lost its edge as it went along. Still, it provided enough engaging elements to make it a watchable and enjoyable season of television.

What was your opinion on series 2 of Broadchurch? Let us know in the comments below.

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Broadchurch Series 2 episode 7 review

by with No Comment Reviews

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WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD

The penultimate episode of Broadchurch series 2 is upon us and while it isn’t as strong as its predecessor in series 1, this one is still pretty good.

“It never ends well, does it?” asks Claire (Eve Myles) during a flashback which reveals that she almost certainly slept with Alec Hardy (David Tennant). This was a very powerful opening line which could very well be foreshadowing the finale, which airs next week.

It seems that the pieces are finally falling into place in the Sandbrook case. Evidence is being turned over, conclusions are being drawn and more importantly, characters are being “Reborn”. That’s what Alec Hardy says to Lee Ashworth (James D’Arcy) in a really well done confrontation scene. It is great to see Hardy show off his new emotions to Lee, who Hardy is now certain is the mastermind behind the case.

The Latimers share some very good scenes together, which shows that their family is on the verge of breaking apart forever. Even Beth (Jodie Whittaker) confides in Ellie Miller (Olivia Coleman) stating that she is considering leaving Mark (Andrew Buchan).

What’s also strong about this episode is that some very minor characters get a chance to shine. A particular favourite moment was when a member of the prosecutor Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) speaks up against a member of Joe Miller’s (Matthew Gravelle) defense team, Abby, by saying that she’s a “horrible person”. That’s all that needs to be said about her character.

The trial scene this week for the most part seemed like unnecessary filler, but it did manage to deliver some tense scenes and some amazing single camera panning shots, that manage to pan past every character from the show. It’s also really nice to see all the original cast reunite again in the courtroom.

However, Sharon Bishop’s (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) villainous performance is very annoying to watch, solely because, it’s too unrealistic. The acting is fine, it’s just that the character does nothing but moan at poor Ellie and she never gives her the chance to defend herself. With that said however, it is nice to see the defense for Joe finally come to an end.

The episode features some great banter between Ellie and Hardy like always. But one thing it hasn’t featured is some of the new characters. For example, Ricky (Shaun Dooley) has been a real missed opportunity. He’s barely had five minutes of screentime this entire series. He started off as a creepy new suspect, but the character never had a chance to shine. Also, Susan Wright’s (Pauline Quirke) comeback feels wasted now. It was great to see her return at first, but like Ricky, she has not had enough time on screen.

The episode’s saving grace is it’s ability to deliver some very tense courtroom and interaction scenes. Lee and Claire share a very tense scene together that is quite hard to watch. Here we see their relationship sink to new lows. But this scene also leads to a nice interaction between Claire and Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill), in which Paul convinces Claire to face her demons.

Speaking of nice interactions, there was a very sweet scene shared between Jocelyn and Maggie (Carolyn Pickles). It was very warm and powerfully acted. It would have been nice to see more scenes like this, in this series.

The ending of the episode was both predictible and tense at the same time. Even though the dialogue that came out of the judge’s mouth was very silly, the final courtroom scene was very exciting, right up until that cut to black.

Overall, this second series has been a mixed bag. But there is still one more episode to go. One more chance for Broadchurch to shine. Here’s hoping next week provides us with a satisfying conclusion.

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One Piece Music Symphony at Cadogan Hall Review

by with No Comment Reviews

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With a franchise which has amassed over 680 anime episodes, 775 manga chapters and 12 films, One Piece has clearly cemented its place in the anime hall of fame, and shows no signs of slowing down. Whilst it’s taken a while for One Piece content to fully get distributed within the United Kingdom, 2012 saw the release of the Pirate Warriors video game franchise, and in 2013 we began receiving licensed boxsets. However, something special came to us in the form of music; One Piece Music Symphony at Cadogan Hall.

On Saturday 7th February 2015, Cadogan Hall in London opened its doors for many One Piece fans to enjoy much of the music from the anime. The lobby was swamped with many fans grinning from ear-to-ear, as they eagerly discussed their favourite characters and arcs. There were many fans in cosplay, emulating some of their favourite characters such as Monkey D.Garp and Sabo. Leaflets were being handed out for a raffle, in which names would be drawn during the show to win some One Piece DVD’s. At the lobby were three key sections, one for fans to purchase programmes for the show, one for fans to purchase drinks and snacks, and the most important for fans to purchase merchandise such as shirts, and CD’s.

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Before the show started there was a lot of chatter, but as soon as the orchestra was ready, the hall fell deeply silent. The orchestra was conducted by Jean Thorel and included the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The show was presented by Kōhei Tanaka (One Piece series composer), with the help of his translator Alex. The orchestra was split into two main sections, which essentially were focusing on One Piece before and after the time skip. They had a fifteen minute intermission between them. The track list was as follows:

1 – Kaizoku-o ni narunda
2- Hamaguchi’s Medley
3- Fuyu ni saku kiseki no sakura
4- Yurusenai Yatsu to wa tatakae!
5- Katayoku no taka
6- Ihen ni kizuku
7- Ogon To Oden ~ We Are! Piano Version ~ TV BGM-M50
8- Unan to ghanzho
9- Dainagan kibaku!
10- Inochigake no last battle
11- Binks no sake

~Intermission~

12- We Are!
13- Nusumareta Going Merry Go
14- Iza, okanjima e!
15- Ore ga kiru
16- Z o osotta higeki
17- Luffy
18- Soshite shinsekai e
19- Yabo no tame no kakugo
20- Hirake! Otasuke box
21- Karakuri-jo o bukkowasu!
22- Aokiji kaku katakiri
23- Nakama no shirushi da!!
24- Hangeki no noroshi
25- We Go!

The show began with the piece ‘Kaizoku-o ni narunda’, which for many One Piece fans (such as myself) had us swimming in an ocean of nostalgia, flowing back to the inception of the series. The collaboration of the visual anime scenes in conjunction with the songs had me thoroughly invested and grinning. Looking around the crowd, as the orchestra steadily went through the pieces, the applause passionately grew. Throughout the songs we’d have the occasional breather when Kōhei Tanaka would come on stage. He was full of humor, and joy as he would mention forgetting to introduce himself way later into the show. He had a way of comforting the crowd, and etching them into the performance.

Whilst listening to the songs fly by with pieces such as ‘Hamaguchi’s Medley’, and ‘Ogon To Oden ~ We Are! Piano Version ~ TV BGM-M50’, there were four songs in particular that I did want to hear – ‘Binks no sake’, ‘We Are’, ‘We Go!’ and ‘Ocean Guide from Film Z’. My wishes were answered when prior to the intermission Tanaka-San himself came out on the piano and began playing and singing ‘Binks no sake’, which you could tell the crowd were excited for. He encouraged the audience to participate, but we were either reluctant or embarrassed to sing along (with the most memorable part being a bellow of ‘yohohoho’). The use of this piece, with the anime visuals truly was emotional due to the back story this song covered.

yhPhoto by:Matthew Jackson (@noisiestmonkey)

After the fifteen minute intermission, a raffle occurred in which some of those in the audience won some One Piece DVD’s courtesy of MangaUK. After the intermission the crowd seemed much more livelier than before. Their applause for each and every song was rapturous. We had fan favourites such as ‘We Are!’ and ‘Luffy’ play. With the intended last song being ‘We Go!’ which the whole crowd were singing to. After this performance the audience stood up whistling, clapping and in adoration of the whole performance. Some fans were in tears in sheer admiration for One Piece. However Tanaka-San wanted to return their adoration and did multiple encores, including songs such as my favoured ‘Ocean Guide’ from One Piece: Film Z, as well as an orchestral version of ‘We Are!’ which the whole crowd sung along to while standing up.

During the show Tanaka-san was full of enjoyment, energy and laughter. Emulating cartoon characters, as well as jokingly saying that some of the audience who weren’t caught up with the anime may be spoiled with some of the scenes. What completed the night was Tanaka-san’s repeated encores, constantly teasing the audience that the show was over. At one point during the encores, Tanaka-San took over the composer role from Thorel. It was an experience that was completely different.

Whilst all of the great songs were played, there were some missed opportunities, including a legendary scene with Roronoa Zoro in the Thriller Bark arc. However the performance was thoroughly pleasing, a new way to experience music, and hopefully one which inspires other series to follow in suite.