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One Piece and psychological horror? Two things I never thought I'd hear in the same sentence, but here we are.

I was first introduced to Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island when I saw clips of some of it's creepiest moments; it seemed interesting and equally horrifying, so I came into the movie with high expectations. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed the entire thing though. I was definitely underwhelmed for the first half of the movie; which was reminiscent of the Long Ring Long Land arc, that was ending around when this movie was released.

The bait and switch storytelling really caught me. The ... lighthearted first half of the movie leads you to believe the rest of it will be the same, until the mood changes; fast. It goes from being a typical story of the Straw Hats having a fun adventure on an island, to something more like an apocalypse. The second half of this movie made me unsettled in a way I never could've expected.

The main themes that this movie really portrays are friendship, betrayal, and decay. Slowly, quietly seeing the villain change the Straw Hats as characters is the element that really disturbed me. As psychological horror goes, there are no real jumpscares, ominous soundtracks, or anything you'd expect from a typical horror movie. Which in my opinion, makes things even scarier. This movie slowly but surely fills you with a sense of dread, and when you least expect it.

So, does One Piece work with horror? Yes. Although I didn't like the entire movie, it got the job done in making me more disturbed than I ever could have expected when coming into it. 9/10.