One Piece - Fishman Island Arc
It's nice to see the story calm down again post-timeskip. I find it rather enjoyable when the characters are actually able to explore a whole new type of setting in a more leisurely way without rushing towards a certain immediate goal. In many ways, this arc actually reminded me of Skypiea, except under the seas instead of in the sky. Except it wasn't as boring in the middle, lol.
The best parts of the arc in terms of action and general plotting would be firstly seeing the crew gather together again before taking off underwater, and then later on the major fight in the plaza where they all show off their new abilities gained during the timeskip. Franky's vehicles and the DOCKING was fucking amazing. Goddamn. Finally my dream of a Super Robot in One Piece was achieved! +_+ <-- I felt like Luffy and Chopper at that moment. ^^;
Thematically I didn't really enjoy the arc that much because it was mostly one large racism story trope. Really tired of those. They're in pretty much every Tales RPG, it's in Magi right now, and a bunch of other shit everywhere. So overused. >_<
To Oda's credit, the theme was something already foreshadowed long in advance, since the Sabaody arc, so it's something which would have to be explored eventually. What I did like though, was that the arc provided a lot of development and some closure to the running theme of Fishmen throughout the story so far. We've always known that Fishmen were one of the major non-human species in the One Piece world, but we've never really seen them in their natural habitat. Having a home country for them which ties into the origin of many of the Fishmen characters previously encountered was a pretty creative way of making the reader care more about the story arc.
What's especially interesting to me though, is how many open plot points there are by the end of the arc. The prophecy of Luffy destroying Fishman Island, Noah being saved and undergoing repairs, the revelation about Poseidon and Joy Boy... it all seems to strongly suggest that at some point in the future Fishman Island will indeed be destroyed and abandoned, with all the inhabitants being carried to the surface inside Noah, driven by the Sea Kings under the princess' command. If this is the case, then I have to wonder if the "Ancient Weapons" are really "weapons" as we imagine them to be, or if they're simply three powerful tools which can be used to change the world forever...
Oh well, now that I'm kinda caught up, I don't know if I want to read through an unfinished Punk Hazard. Since it's at chapter 696 now, the arc has to be almost done right? I guess I'll wait for Punk Hazard to finish before catching up on that, and then maybe I'll read One Piece weekly from then on.
