one piece: baron omatsuri and the secret island rewatch + review, or rather me rambling and waxing poetic about this movie
“The Baron once told me … It makes him furious to see friends like us. It makes him want to break us up, to cut us into pieces one by one. He wants to make us feel the same way he feels.”
circle jerking out of the way first, i genuinely believe in my heart and soul that this is the best one piece movie out of them all, and characterizes the pre water 7 crew the best. we’re coming right off skypiea, and long ring long island, where the bonds are tighter than ever. this is the only film that does not mention luffy as a known figure, no mention of his bounties, or his feats as a pirate, as per the two previous films (dead end adventure was before jaya, and the cursed holy sword is a bit more muddled, but it’s after jaya and probably skypiea as well.) which were really heavy handed with his identity as luffy, the straw hat pirate. in film 6, he’s the captain of his crew, and that’s enough for the baron to want to tear him apart.
the one common complaint i see about this film, is that the straw hats are out of character. i think that’s silly cause it’s a film about breaking them up. trying to drive the wedge between them, without seeming purposeful. the lily feeds off of their mounting distrust of each other, the small spats that get larger and larger, until they aren’t speaking to each other (nami and usopp) or being outright hostile (zoro and sanji; although not out of the realm for those two, but their .. like. the indifference in the cooking scene. sanji refuses to feed zoro for something so small as falling asleep. it’s not in sanji’s character to do that, i mean, if you think he would i subject you to 50 baratiè rereads) to each other. it’s bringing out the worst in everyone, the only three to remain cool and level headed and themselves, being chopper, robin, and luffy; and it’s of no surprise that the former two were the first to be captured.
the pride of each straw hat, when their arguments and distrust of each other starts to well, and explode, robin remarks “Captain, can’t you do something -” when she is interrupted by the next, new shiny thing. i do find it interesting that his movie was released in 2005, when water 7 was being serialized. we were an arc away from sabaody, when luffy would end up losing his crew.
it’s just so. and to talk about how the baron loved his crew, and he was doing whatever he could to save them, just like luffy was. he was holding onto them no matter the cost, no matter how many crews he had to sacrifice. the graveyard meticulously taken care of in contrast with the careless wreckage of countless ships that fell prey to the island. the veneer of luxury, an island of parties and endless ease. dad wanted to take his children to picnic on it, and ended up in the hellish realm of the trials, and trying to stay strong for his kids when he knew they wouldn’t get out of there with just him alone.
i don’t really know where i’m going with this i just like to talk, but it’s just. it’s such a good movie. it envokes such a fear when luffy has beaten the centerpiece around, and the color drastically changes. the coil turns into arrows, and we see the carnation lily as it really is: a grotesque monster leeching upon baron omatsuri, parasitic and hungry. at the very end, when you can hear the baron’s crew, his nakama, tell him that he should have forgotten them, and made new friends when they died. they wouldn’t have truly minded, the unspoken as long as he was happy, no one would really mind.
gorgeous film, levity in some of the more tense spots that eased well, the score was beautiful and well placed, and the visuals. my god the scene where the lily dies and all the characters of the red arrows crew, are replaced by twigs, their head sprouts you saw since the very start the only thing familiar remaining, and the absence of sound during that moment. it’s stuck with me since the first time i saw it.
i love love love love love this movie, and i really truly madly deeply believe that even if you have zero knowledge about one piece, you should watch it. it’s an hour and a half long, and i thought it was paced well, my only (teeny tiny itty bitty) complaint that the end could have been drug out a bit longer, but i love it when things linger, so i think for people who don’t it’s perfect.
trying to find the words to leave off on, and i just really think a lot of love and understanding of one piece was poured into this movie. i feel like it’s the only movie that really gets the total, unearthed dynamic, with dead end adventure being a close second. if anything, dead end was them working well, a beautiful glossy well kept coat, and baron omatsuri is the soft, easily hurt underbelly that’s just as beautiful, but rarely seen.
this post was unofficially sponsored by my region free dvd player (one of the best investments i’ve ever made, and i’ve only had it for a week and a half) and my beloved friend bee, who gifted me the one piece film collection 💗
