One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga

Episode 3

Episode 3 of One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga is a rapid-fire reminder of many of the series' best (and some of its less great) qualities.

What I find most interesting about this return to the Fish-Man Island arc is how it fulfills nearly the same role in the current era that it did when it was first released. This being the first arc post-timeskip meant that it follows the momentous events at Marineford. That entire battle was not only a grand confluence of important personalities and high-stakes battles, but it was capped off by some of the - if not the - biggest emotional gut-punches that One Piece had up until this point. Going into the timeskip the Straw Hats (and the audience) were at one of their lowest ebbs. Fish-Man Island felt like a celebratory return to the kooky hijinks present in the earlier arcs, with Luffy and company finding one another again and mostly battling their own stupidity rather than wrestling with the fate of the world.

In 2024, that same feeling applies with the remake. The past few years have been dominated by rather heavy arcs in the form of Wano and Egghead Island. This is a fresh start for new and old fans, seeing the Straw Hats goof about and getting caught up in whimsy. Bubbles around the Sunny and hijinks and cartoonish depictions of Neptunians crushing them all to death - you know, fun stuff. That said, for every whimsical concept (Nami hung out with weather wizards in a cloud!) there is often a less enjoyable one around the corner (basically every time Sanji and the okamas are mentioned). That said, despite being something of a Sanji-disliker, I actually think a lot of the “Sanji is thirsty” jokes weirdly work here, and this episode has a great example. Sanji having a giant spray nosebleed is whatever, but the fact that it rockets him through the bubble and nearly gets him killed (and endangers the crew) is genuinely a funny consequence in my eyes, and it's not the last time it will happen in this arc.

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One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.