Ranked #639

One Piece: Omatsuri Danshaku to Himitsu no Shima

Omatsuri Danshaku to Himitsu no Shima (Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island) is the sixth One Piece movie and differs in many aspects to the series in terms of animation, sound and character. I have to say now – if you like One Piece for it’s fighting – look elsewhere, this film is all about adding depth to the emotional bonds of the crew, which is picked upon during major arcs in the series, and how important nakama are to everyone.



Story.
Whilst sailing the Grand Line the Mugiwara pirates come upon a message in a bottle, advertising Omatsuri Island (Festival Island), a pirate paradise. But when the crew reach the island eager to kick back and relax, they are propositioned to go through ‘Ordeals’ (much like the Skypiea arc) that are all based on Japanese festival games (goldfish catching etc). Luffy, forever positive, is happy to participate in the ‘games’ while the rest of the crew slowly start to fall apart. Compared to the series, this movie is much more mysterious and, at times, even unsettling, especially towards the end when everything becomes desperate. I’ll leave the Story at that, not wanting to spoil anything.



Animation.
I noticed the art straight away and it first I thought it was just for the opening, but it stays throughout the whole anime and fits perfectly for the more serious tone. The characters are still drawn the same way, but there isn’t any cell-shading (y’know that band of light anime characters get across their hair? Yeah, there’s none of that), it gives a more ‘flat’ and simple look.

Computer animation is also used quite a lot (backgrounds, weapons, plants, goldfish..), especially when they first arrive in the island and are moving through the jungle. It jarred me at first, but eventually I started to like the 2-D characters against a computer animated 3-D background, it some ways it made up for the lack of colour the characters had.

There are also other things in this movie which you wouldn’t find in the series: a First Person Perspective – there are a lot of times where you hear dialogue but you don’t see our characters. Sanji also breaks the fourth wall a few times (turning to the viewer and speaking to them) early on.



Sound.
Where do I begin? I think after the art, the sound is something easily noticed. I cannot express how much I adored how the sound was used in this film, rather the background music or lack thereof. During the opening, there’s some steel drums and very ‘Caribbean’ music – highlighting the fact that the Mugiwaras are heading to a paradisiacal island (this actually reminded me of a certain Disney movie ¬_¬).

I can’t really remember any distinct scores of music in the film, but that’s probably because there are massive gaps of silence in the music. I loved it. It’s common that during a film we’re subconsciously affected by the soundtrack, it’s even more common that we can’t remember things like background music unless it’s highlighted. In this film, the lack of music really works; it makes us focus our attention on the characters and their expressions, their emotions and conversations. Often, the camera would be fixed on a character for a number of seconds with no dialogue or music, and even no real animation. It can feel a bit strange at times because you end up thinking to yourself “It would be more interesting if they were actually doing something” but looking back it enhances the overall style and feel of the movie.

As usual, the seiyuus of One Piece are brilliant.



Character.
This is probably the most important aspect of the movie, as in most movies that are based off a series; you need to be able to introduce your characters effectively for the familiar and unfamiliar audience. Within the first five minutes, we are shown all of the main characters personalities and desires quickly, whether it be Sanji’s affection for beautiful women or Nami’s for luxuries, Usopp’s ‘cautiousness’ or Zoro’s aloofness. For an unfamiliar viewer it helps you understand who these characters are, and their motives, for the familiar viewer, it’s fun to see the characters basic urges being poked fun of.

I’d say through the film we see (without trying to spoil anything) a different side of the characters, or at least in their attitude towards each other. Misunderstandings occur, arguments happen, crew members go missing and suddenly everyone’s fighting with each other. If, like me, when you watch One Piece’s emotional scenes (the character’s pasts, Luffy and Usopps fight etc) you actually feel for the characters, you cheer Luffy on, and when your favourite is beaten, you feel beaten too, this movie will get to you. The sight of the main characters drifting apart is painful and you think “What are doing you idiots? You’re nakama!” – that is the key to this whole film.

To touch upon the new characters that are solely in this film, they all have their own charm – I found Brief endearing and funny, the Tearoom pirates, despite their smaller amount of screen time, managed to have their own story and a family dynamic. Finally, Baron Omatsuri and the rest of the Island’s inhabitants are probably the most difficult characters to talk about. Personally, I probably felt more pity for them than anything else, despite the Baron being the ‘villain’. Characters like Muchigoro and DJ had the strange ability to invoke fear and sympathy at the time, I found it hard to completely dislike them even though they were the enemy.



Enjoyment.
Briefly, everything I love about One Piece was in this movie – the characters, the humour and the usual emotional nakama-related plot. If you enjoy One Piece for the same reasons, I highly recommend you watch this. I would even perhaps recommend this to people who haven’t watched the series, but I doubt it would have the same impact as it would for fans.


Thank you for reading, please feel free to send me any feedback etc.
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This movie upsets and angers me.


This movie makes me feel things that I'm not even sure can be pinned down by the English language.


This movie is amazing, and it has no right being as such.


Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island is the sixth entry in a series of movies based off the popular anime series One Piece and in my opinion is one of only two (possibly three given how good Z turns out to be) of said movies which is absolutely required watching for anyone who calls themselves fans of the series (the other being the rather obvious Strong World). Unlike the aforementioned Strong World, Baron Omatsuri is a purely filler film with no bareing on the actual plot and storyline and while I can already feel the eyes glazing over at the mention of the idea of "shounen filler", trust me when I say this is a movie you will walk away from wishing it was canon.

Though I've linked it by association with Strong World twice, it's important to not go into this movie expecting the grand fights and fast paced action of that film, as well as the main series as a whole. Baron Omatsuri is a black sheep in every sense of the phrase, and to fully enjoy it you have to realize and accept this fact. I cannot stress enough how sorely you will be disappointed if you don't. Baron Omatsuri is a film which shifts the focus away entirely from the flashy attacks and battles so tightly associated with One Piece and instead focuses on, to me, the far greater (in terms of importance) theme of the series.

This is a story about family.

More precisely, this is a story about the hypothetical worse case scenario we so often ask ourselves; what would we do if literally everyone we ever loved was taken from us, leaving us behind to live on. This is a psychological, cerebral film about loneliness, mental decay, survivor's guilt, disillusionment, vindictive behavior, and the struggle to hold on to what no longer exists outside of memories. Baron Omatsuri is a dark, dark film with dark characters and dark themes, complete with it's fair share of body horror, disturbing and surreal images, and painful mental breakdowns.


Needless to say, this ain't your 4kids One Piece.


The supporting characters in Baron Omatsuri are really what makes me depressed. They are nothing short of fascinating, and the fact that their story won't ever be built upon is frankly a real shame. Along with our fearless Strawhats, Baron Omatsuri introduced a few new pirate crews, the main one headed by the Baron himself. These characters will rip at your hearts, genuinely creep you out, and leave you wondering. Pity is really what I mostly felt. The titular Baron is a really interesting character, and everything he does is shown to come from a heartbreaking place of real pain and sadness. Filler characters with such genuine relationships and feelings really propel this movie into an introspective piece of animation. The Baron's relationship with his first mate Muchigoro threads a rather impactful storyline through the rest of the film, and enhances his character immensely.

The Strawhats themselves are in a rather unique state in this movie. The slow unraveling of the tight family unit they are is actually somewhat unnerving to watch. There's not a lot to be happy about even from their standpoint, and it paints a rather strong contrast to the Strawhats we know and love. As they clash up against the other crews of the island, we see the lines between who is hurting and why blur between them. It's a slow decent into madness and frankly, it's scary.

I'm not going to spend much time on the art of this movie because discussing art and One Piece to anyone is just a huge waste of time in general. The art in Baron Omatsuri is different, even when compared to the unique art style of Oda himself, but it is not - I repeat not - "bad". Your cup of tea? I don't know. But it's not bad animation. Personally I loved it, it reminded me of a personal favorite movie of mine Tekkon Kinkreet. Frankly I found the expressions found in the characters under this art style fantastic. But it is experimental.

(I will say there is a particular scene where Luffy is talking to his crew, and his face is so damn wonderfully animated I could watch it for hours)

The music in this film is also amazing. From the sweeping opening score to the many songs that sync with movement in the movie itself, it all adds wonderfully to the film.

In closing, I will reiterate; DO NOT GO INTO THIS MOVIE EXPECTING SINGING STRAWHATS AND EPIC BOSS BATTLES. You are setting yourself up to hate it if that's your course of action. Allow yourself to experience a piece of One Piece that is unlike anything else you've ever seen. The paradox of this movie is that it's so great that you wish it was canon, but it's able to do a lot of what makes it so bizarrely fantastic mostly because it's not bound by the tone and feeling of the canon story. I have no idea if the extremely high quality of this movie was a fluke, or if it's just a gift from the anime gods. But man... what a beautiful nightmare.

I'm so upset. read more