 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. Last week we experienced a long-awaited reunion on Sabati Archipelago, and this week it is finally, and I mean finally, time to visit Fishman Island. Fishman Island is the 25th arc in the series, consisting of 51 manga chapters and 51 anime episodes, a disgustingly equal number. The premise of the arc is as simple as most, the Straw Hats want to go on an underwater adventure to a cool island. So they do so, and trouble ensues as they encounter a set of villains threatening to tear the island apart. And let's get some heavy negativity out of the way first in regards to these villains. Hody Jones is garbage. I firmly believe that he is one of the worst villains Oda has ever created. At no point is he or the rest of the new Fishman Pirates threatening, nor are their plans well thought out and their designs are simply lackluster. All three of these factors make following the villains of Fishman Island quiet a struggle to get through at times, however they do represent a very important theme, which is racism. We'd previously explored racism to some degree with Arlong, but Fishman Island took things to a new level and invested the required time into conveying an understanding of exactly why there is such violent racial tension between humans and Fishman. Although I would argue that this idea is much better conveyed by the flashback featuring Fisher Tiger and Otto Hime. I struggled with this flashback when it was coming out weekly, but I've grown to appreciate it a hell of a lot in subsequent readings. Fisher Tiger and Otto Hime are absolutely brilliant characters that showcase opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to dealing with humans. Tiger favours the strategy of fear, while Otto Hime preaches pure peace and acceptance between humans and Fishman. And there is no greater example of the latter than when Otto Hime protects a celestial dragon from being killed by using her own body to block the bullet. This moment is incredibly impactful primarily because of the work put in during the original Sarbadi Archipelagoa. This is where the concept of celestial dragons was introduced primarily through Saint Charles and his cruelty was epitomized through his desire to purchase a mermaid simply to torture her to death and by shooting Hachi, a Fishman. And in the Fishman Island flashback, this scenario is entirely flipped on its head with a mermaid protecting a celestial dragon. In fact, not only is Otto Hime a mermaid, she is a goldfish mermaid, which is probably one of the smallest and weakest fish you could possibly think of. And yet she is able to make greater waves than anybody which continued long past her demise. It's an incredibly powerful contrast and a masterful piece of storytelling by Otto. However, in complete opposition to her is Fisher Tiger, whose hatred of humans ran so deep that he would rather die than have his life saved with the transfusion of human blood. But the most important thing is that his hatred was understandable and even relatable. I wish that this much effort had been put into Hody Jones and the new Fishman Pirates, who simply turned out to be mindless zealots. There's even an incredibly creepy illusion to the KKK, where the new Fishman Pirates dress up to implement their hatred. Although I can't help but laugh because the idea behind this was to preach hatred anonymously, and then we have Darama here. I mean, come on Darama, how many Fishmen look like you? That mask is absolutely nothing to conceal who you are, silly. And although I hated most of the new Fishman Pirates, I will say that I do have a soft spot for Zeo. His jokes landed pretty well with me, garnering consistent laughs as a result of just how proud he is and how creatively he attempted to cover up his gross incompetence. But putting the villains aside for a second, though, Fishman Island is probably one of the most visually stunning locations we have ever visited in the series. Which is incredibly necessary because after traveling to a very remote location 10,000 meters under the sea, the last thing I want is for it to look like every other island sitting on the blue sea. Ryugu Palace in particular stands out to me as one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture that Oda has ever put to page. The copious detail that went into it did a superb job of making me feel like this was a truly regal space. And the aesthetic of Fishman Island in general received a huge boost when the arc was put to animation, through the use of wonderfully selected colour. But now that that's out of the way, let's get back to some more horrible villains. And here's one we didn't mention before, it is Vandedecken. Now I shudder to say that I find him a more interesting antagonist than Hody, but it is technically true. Where Hody is a mindless hate machine, Vandedecken actually has a goal, as stupid as it is. And because of that simple factor, it becomes a lot easier to enjoy him as a villain. I do also quite like his devil fruit ability. It's nice, unique, and used to incredibly dramatic effect, almost directly causing the destruction of Fishman Island actually. Plus the concept of a Fishman with a devil fruit power is something that I had been waiting for for quite some time, although I don't think this was explored in enough depth. Say yeah, Vandedecken isn't a bad villain. I hate myself for even saying that, he just isn't good. From here we should probably transition into Vandedecken's target, Shirahoshi. Now this giant mermaid is a very polarizing character, so much so that she made it comfortably onto my top five most hated characters in one piece list. And I stand by that decision to this day because Shirahoshi gets a lot of hate from the fan base. But I would like to say that I am no longer one of those people. Looking back on Fishman Island has given me a new appreciation for Shirahoshi. Yes, she spends a lot of time crying, like a lot of time crying. But if anything, you could say that Shirahoshi is the first accurate example of how a princess would likely behave, especially one that has been locked up throughout her entire formative years in fear for her life. I mean, not everyone can be vivid. Plus, I think that most people, myself included, are all too quick to forget just how awesome she was during the climactic moments with the Noah. Although I am still very conflicted about the fact that she is the ancient weapon Poseidon, that was unexpected to say the least and really cemented her future in the series, more so the most major characters actually. In fact, when you think about it, Shirahoshi is far more important to the world than the Seven Warlords, the entirety of the marines, the four emperors, and any of the Straw Hats except probably Luffy. So if you don't like her, all I can say is, yeah, sorry. But speaking of the Straw Hats, Fishman Island is notable for being the first actual adventure with the post-times skip crew, and they were fantastic to see back in action. For a lot of the build-up with the story, they were very much background figures, which was annoying, but we did get a lot of brilliant trademark interactions between characters that were sorely missing for the time period after they'd been separated. One thing that really did start to annoy me though were Sanji's constant nosebleeds. That got old for me, really, really quickly, and when this joke transcended into a life or death matter, I was not on board at all. However, I must admit that it was a somewhat clever way of introducing the plot point of Fishman refusing to give humans blood, which carried over into the flashback and ended up being a monumental occasion when Jinbei decided to give blood to save Luffy's life. Although I have to say I was never really sold by the whole losing blood thing. The Straw Hats had been in more vicious battles than the one Luffy had against Hody, and none of them had needed blood transfusions simply to live. I mean, just look at Zoro versus Mr. One. He must have lost at least five Zoro's worth of blood during that fight, and he was just up and ready to go a few minutes later, but that's shown a manga for you. Injuries are only devastating when the plot calls for it. In every other case, bandages heal everything. But moving on, it was really nice to see Zoro back in action with a band Dana. It had just been far, far too long since we'd had a good Zoro fight, and sadly, we'd have to wait a bit longer because he also was a pretty disappointing opponent. In fact, most of the opponents were pretty lackluster, but it didn't really matter because this was the first real showcase of the entire Straw Hat crew fighting together, post-timeskip. And even though they were dominant every step of the way, it was quite a great spectacle to read. In fact, this is the first and only time that all ten Straw Hats have fought together. Yes, I say ten, even though this cock tease of a whale shark put his offer to join the crew on hold. And that action would be one of the many factors contributing to the setup of the eventual Whole Cake Island arc, along with Luffy claiming Fishman Island as his own territory, and challenging one of the four emperors. The end of this arc was simply excellent and really geared me up for the new world. Speaking of Whole Cake Island, one fascinating piece of information that came from Fishman Island was that Big Mom's Tea Party would be starting in four days. And just how insane is that? From this very moment in Fishman Island, till the Tea Party on Whole Cake Island, only four days have passed. In that time, we covered Punk Hazardress Rosa Zoo in the beginning of Whole Cake Island. I just… wow, a lot has happened in four days. So while the story of Fishman Island might seem to drag on a bit, it's quite a rich and meaty arc, actually. There's a hell of a lot to digest, some of which I haven't even touched on, like the very welcome expansion of Arlong's character, the revelation that Sea Kings can speak and who could forget about the appearance of Fishman Nami. What an arc. Except for Hody, and the new Fishman Pirates, and Vandedecken, and Karabu. To this day, I really don't understand why Karabu had to exist. I was actually kind of excited when he ended up stranded on the Thousand Sunny because I thought to myself, yeah, Oda has a plan for this guy and he's going to do something to cause general chaos and actually contribute to the arc. But really, he just kidnapped a few mermaids and treasure and served as a punching bag to hype up the comms. His involvement in the arc just makes me think that Oda had a much more grand plan for Karabu, but it ended up getting scrapped for one reason or another, and so he's just kind of there now. But hey, at least we'll never have to see him again. Except for a 46-page cover story, fuck. I actually feel like one day we are going to look back on Fishman Island in the same way that we do Skype here, as an arc that contributed greatly to the meta-narrative of the world that may not have necessarily been the most exciting arc to go through in that very moment. And that pretty much does it for Fishman Island. Next week we're abandoning the first half of the grand line and finally setting sail into the new world when we arrive on the island of Punk Hazard. If you enjoyed this video then feel free to like, favorite or subscribe. And if you are in any way keen on supporting independent creators then also feel free to check out my Patreon, Discord server or Twitter. The links to which are in the handy description below. Finally, please do comment with your thoughts on Fishman Island. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.