At last, we have reached Fishman Island. I can’t help but think that they’ve been wanting to go to a death trap all this time, as experience should have taught that fishmen aren’t exactly fond of the human race. So who wasn’t surprised when right away, they’re threatened to either join a fishmen crew or perish 10,000 meters under the sea?

Continuing from the last chapter, the crew quickly escapes from the volcano with the help of the Kraken. After all the hubbub about the volcano, I was expecting some epic drawing once it was finally revealed, but was met with some disappointment. In a situation where no one else could act, Usopp was able to show his two years of training with a shot able to create a huge patch of seaweed. I’m hoping for an inevitable explanation for these plant pellets, because while it may seem crazy, a solid spine of logic does exist within One Piece, making any accomplishment/battle feel worthwhile.

My initial disappointment with the volcano drawing was quickly diminished after seeing the beauty that is the image of Fishman Island, a gigantic orb of air of some sorts, giving a mystical air that made me think of Atlantis. But before getting there, bringing us back to the threatening fishmen, the group quickly prepares escape (again) One panel displayed Nami still having some trauma from seeing what I believe to be is Arlong’s mark on Hammond’s neck. I’m surprised Nami hasn’t shown any reluctance to come here, but she isn’t your average damsel in distress either. Ironically, she’s been captured like one before, and I really hope that doesn’t happen this arc, as that soured my tastes when I saw it in Strong World.

Oh, and for those that asked me to cover Strong World, I didn’t get the chance during the time as I was pretty busy, so I’ll just give my quick thoughts here. If I were to sum up my feelings in one word, it would be “disappointment.” A huge killer for me were the glaring plot issues, such as Luffy being trapped in a ball of water by Shiki, but he just let him go free. After that, I just stopped caring what happened to anyone, because Shiki had no reason to let him live. Luffy’s gotten lucky catches a lot of times, but never anything like this. The battles themselves were pretty awesome, but most of the awesomeness was concentrated in the middle, rather than the end. Personally, I prefer epic battles as the movie finishes, but if you can do both, I wouldn’t complain; however, near the end, you get broken battles that made no sense, and short fights that have no weight in importance. I mean, “lightning thor gigant axe” was cool and all, but it’s just not satisfying to see (plus, how could he possibly stay in the air for that long to charge electricity into his leg?). I must sound stupid trying to look for realism in OP, but I’ve honestly never had this problem with any of the previous OP movies nor the series itself for 607 chapters, so I think I’m onto at least something here. Other than that, it had the best animation in an OP movie ever and a surprising amount of Nami fan-service. However, saving Nami from Shiki was not nearly interesting enough of a plot to be advertised as “canon.” Also, what was up with the winged arms people that suddenly gained the ability to fly at the end? It’s like the designers initially gave them wings just so they could escape in the end as a happy ending. Don’t get me wrong, Strong World is still a great OP movie, and I still enjoyed it a lot. I guess I was looking for something more like Movie 6 because as of yet, Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island still holds as my favorite OP movie.

Luffy’s declaration at the end of the chapter gave me the biggest smile on my face. It’s almost heartwarming.

18 Comments

  1. I love how the crew just starts making strategies around luffy’s lack of self control. lol every plan just takes into account the worst possible thing he could be doing in that situation.

    Will
    1. Well there really wasn’t much else he could do, yes he could’ve maybe taken a while to think of a strategy but he’s not the scheming type. I think his determination is has become the ethos or culture for the crew

      minarge
  2. Strong World must be your favorite movie! Why? hey! I am just trying to force an opinion here!

    It’s been a while since my last “wow” at an scene… guess last time was the Archipelago.

    “You defated Arlong but helped Hachi” what about Jinbe? ah yes, he is regarded as a traitor.

    I am the Mermaid Princess, and I’m here to ask you a question. Is a Fish not entitled to the sweat of his brow? ‘No!’ says the man in the Marine, ‘It belongs to the needy.’ ‘No!’ says the man in the World Government, ‘It belongs to Us.’ ‘No!’ says the Pirate, ‘It belongs to US!’ I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose… Whitebeard! …or in this situation… Rapture!

    Lectro Volpi
  3. What annoyed me about strong world was it made a legendary pirate like Shiki look anything but! This is a pirate who was mentioned in the same breath as Roger and Whitebeard and was defeated by pre-time skip Straw Hats. I know the movies aren’t meant to be canon, but come on. Wished they had used Shiki in the main story to get over the straw Hats post-time skip.

    arknoir
  4. They did sort of already explain Usopp’s plant pellets. They’re called “Pop-Greens” and they only grow in the giant carnivorous plant that he had been stuck on. So rather than any real explanation, it’s more of an acceptance that they’re weird plants from a faraway place. Now the question becomes how many does he have and how is he going to get more?

    Strong World was super boring. I find it hard to accept as canonical.

    K.K.

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