Baron Omatsuri is unique in actually having a plot, having unique animation and exploring psychological themes such as the nature of friendship and feelings of loss and despair, rather than just OOOO THIS VILLAIN SOOOOO STRONG. You also quite literally don't feel quite like you're watching One Piece as it departs so drastically from the main style of story telling and feeling of the series and that's a GOOD THING. If it was just gonna be more of the same it may as well be a filler arc. It's experimental. It's raw. It's visceral. It gets dark in a way shounen rarely ever does. It explores themes antithetical to the main story such as nihilism. It does all of this while also being funny and light-hearted at times early in the film and having very quirky designs and character personalities as one would expect from One Piece. It's just a shame that the industry didn't take a note from this movie and shounen movies continue to be soulless action porn to this day.
