One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga

Episode 6

Episode 7 has one of the best implementations of my least favorite trope.

I've gone on record as something of a Sanji-disliker in the past. "Hater" is a strong word, and not entirely accurate either. I'm a big fan of Sanji's best qualities - his desire to be noble in a personal sense, to escape the cycles of abuse his family represents, and his willingness to cook for others as an act of service - and there are no asterisks there. The issue is that his positive qualities are rarely on display or fully emphasized. Instead, we have to see the thirsty Sanji stuff. This is usually hit or miss for me - mostly misses, if I'm being Franky frank.

This week's episode gives us the thirsty Sanji stuff but in a way that I think is funny and meaningful. See, the usual problem I have with the joke of Sanji being horny is it is kind of the same old same old, so not all that interesting, and there are no real consequences for his actions. This time, we revisit one of the few times there were real consequences for Sanji being a thirsty goofball. Not only does his blood streaming make him obvious (which will come up more later), but he ends up losing blood. A lot of blood. To the point that it is of major concern and he's actually dying of blood loss. This is a fun way to take a standard trope and make it fresh again, while also creating fun drama in the story itself.

This episode also benefits a lot from the revised visuals, particularly when Luffy cuts loose. Overall, I enjoyed the visuals of the character interaction and exposition sections. This may have been helped by the greater-than-average number of whimsical sea turtles on display.

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