And is this short worth watching in the first place?
Summary:
- Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation is an adaptation of a one-shot by Eiichiro Oda, set some years before One Piece.
- It’s made by E&H Production and directed by Sunghoo Park, known for the first season of Jujutsu Kaisen.
- Despite that, the visual quality is very lacking, which left the fans disappointed.
Of course, Eiichiro Oda is known mostly for being the mangaka of One Piece. It’s not his only work in the universe, though, and not even the first: before One Piece existed, he made a few one-shots, which were later published as an anthology named Wanted!.
Monsters is one of the one-shots from that anthology. It focuses on the backstory of Ryuma, an antagonist from the Thriller Bark arc, covering his life before he was turned into a zombie.
When an adaptation for it was announced, fans were happy, at least initially: more One Piece anime content is always welcome. However, the reception of the latest released PV is lukewarm at best.
Why are the fans disappointed?
Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation (Monsters: Ippyaku Sanjou Hiryuu Jigoku) is going to be a one-episode adaptation of Oda’s one-shot. The anime is releasing on Netflix in a week, and the latest trailer being posted just before the actual thing comes out should already be a warning of possible problems.
The anime is directed by Sunghoo Park, who previously directed the first season and the movie of Jujutsu Kaisen, among other projects. With a project as short as Monsters, and such a big name being involved, it would seem at first that there’s hardly anything that can go wrong. However, fans are disappointed by the trailer, and there’s a reason for this.
The PV didn’t look very good, but why?
The trailer looks very subpar when it comes to animation. That’s what disappointed fans the most: of course, such a short story isn’t going to be a game-changer when it comes to the lore of One Piece, so fans just hoped for a well-animated short. They aren’t getting it, which is especially bizarre because Park’s projects are usually very good-looking.
One thing you need to consider is: Monsters is made by E&H Production, the new studio established by Park himself. Some fans speculated that this is the reason why it doesn’t look so good: projects might have severely lacked in staff and/or time allocated for it.
After all, E&H Production has a TV anime airing this July (Ramen Akaneko) as well as an original project by Park in the works (Project Bullet/Bullet).
Probably still worth watching
Is the adaptation of Monsters worth watching? Even with low-quality visuals, it won’t be much of a time commitment. If you’re a fan of One Piece, there’s hardly ever any reason to skip it.
With enough support, perhaps E&H Production will get more One Piece-related short anime in the future, and hopefully, some of them will look better than Monsters.