#[Spoilers]
Hi, your resident #1 One Piece fan here. I've started going through all the One Piece movies after dropping the series, simply because it's far too long. I love the world they've built, and I really like a lot of the characters. So, watching what is essentially a 90 minute arc kind of sounds perfect for me, right?
The first 5 movies I think have ranged from great to okay with Dead End being the standout thus far. It is very much a typical One Piece fun-filled action movie with a good story told in such a short time. Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island is not your typical One Piece story, it is far from it. At the very beginning you can notice a change in the animation, not just to how they're drawn but the way they move, and that isn't a bad thing at all. I've never been one of those people that dislikes the animation, and this slightly different less detailed style with heavier shadows and darker colouring was still easy on the eyes, but with what was to come this style change really paid off.
The first part of the movie is where all the fun happens as they arrive at the beautiful island resort, filled with huge 5 star hotels, and banquets where all the food you could want is free to eat. The great comedy of OP is on full display here and we get to see them play some games which includes getting a fish into a net. Pretty simple game, right? Only problem is that it isn't exactly a normal fish.
During the crews fun stay on the island, something new starts to creep in that we haven't seen on this show before. The members actually all start to have problems with one another, and this isn't Water 7 Usopp at work, this is everyone. This isn't messing about fighting, this is serious doubt between them. In fact, they start to disappear slowly after having odd interactions with the inhabitants of the island, whilst this is happening the tone completely shifts from light-hearted into a dark gothic anime. A place we've never seen OP go to before, no, not even Thriller Bark had the psychological horror element that is explored here in the second half. We know that the Baron is going to be a bad guy, but there is no way we expected him to be like that
This is the first time watching OP that I actually felt worried for the crew. The build-up, art style, and audio during the big reveal of what's actually going on really hit a place deep inside of me, below the depths of fear and anxiety, all the way down to terror. This is where you think "yeah, this is not very OP style, at all", but that does not for one second take away from how good this movie is. Despite this, it's not all doom and gloom, this family are quite charming and manage to tell a cute story even in the small amounts of screen time that they had
This movie I have even thought of suggesting to friends that haven't seen the show, that's how highly I rate it, and I feel like it could do well as a standalone story. Oh yeah, I almost forget to say. For those that already are fans, never call Usopp stupid again because my guy literally said 20 seconds into the start of this movie, "it's a trap, no doubt about that".
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