One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga

Episode 5

Episode 5 provides even more adventure and laughs through the dark descent to the island below.

I hate to say “Go look back at what I said last week and bring all that forward,” but that is how this one shakes out. I like Straw Hat shenanigans, strange environments, funny monsters, and goofball antics. This episode has all of them in spades. The details differ, but the net result is about the same. If you're looking for the macro-level plot moving forward in any meaningful way or grand secrets of the world's inner workings being revealed, I'm afraid those are in short supply. The literal plot-based events can be summarized as "They travel to Fish-Man Island."

But that sort of reductive summarization does not communicate everything that actually happens. If you are like me (which is to say, a person of taste and sophistication), then you enjoy watching the Straw Hat pirates interact with one another. We get a lot of that here, and while none of it is terribly new in concept (Franky silly, Sanji horny, etc.), it is more unique entries in how we understand those existing character qualities that have come to define them. I love how Franky uses his nipple lights (absurd robo-cartoonery in action) to communicate via Morse code (practical use of nipple-based illumination). I love that Zoro is so headstrong he nearly gets himself crushed to death due to underwater pressure. I also love that this episode reminds us that Nami and Robin keep everyone else alive in one form or another, in addition to being capable fighters in their own right.

I'm still a bit mixed over the remake itself. This does bring the show in line with what's currently airing but it's not much more than, well, weekly animation, which is fine! Not every entry has to be the greatest thing I've ever seen. But this feels like a perfunctory remake rather than a chance for new artistic expression.

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