So last week was the finale to the big Fishman Island flashback. At seven chapters long, it was about as long as the Noland or Ohara flashbacks, but also, um... not as good? I reread Water Seven and Skypeia not too long ago and I was really struck with how well done the flashbacks were, especially how well they were integrated. My theory is that the Fishman Island story was actually written quite a long time ago, probably around the time of Arlong Park, and that the events of it, especially the flashback, have been/will be in Oda's “older style” more than his newer one. This isn't bad by any stretch, and in some ways I'm looking forward to a more traditional sort of arc, like, solo-battle oriented maybe, hopefully some more exploration, Thriller Bark/Skypeia style, as a change from the absolute craziness of the war, Impel Down, etc, etc. But the thing is, Oda's improved as a storyteller so much in the last decade, and an old story like this just doesn't seem to have the same feel as his newer ones.
Specific Beefs with this Flashback vs. Other Flashbacks
No clear purpose
The flashback itself is motivated by Jimbei trying to explain the idealistic differences of Fishman Island, those optimistic re: human relations vs. those pessimistic about them, basically. Okay. This is some history we really ought to get because it sets up the tense situation of the present day. However, it really has difficulty relating itself to those events in any direct way. Very few characters in the flashback are in any position to be very involved in the story now, and those that were didn't have a major role in the flashback. The sense I guess we're supposed to get is that all the current characters have taken their ideals from the characters starring in the flashback, but the problem is that the current characters aren't very well known yet, aside from Jimbe and Arlong, I guess. What Oda's probably going for is that later, when we start getting a lot of action with the princes, the king, Hodi, Shirahoshi, etc, their personalities are going to be like, well motivated. Which is alright I guess on a long term scale but the thing is that right now, having not seen these results, the flashback had no real effect or purpose. Compare that with the Skypiea flashback: we are already very familiar with the characters of Wiper and the Shandians, not to mention Montblanc Cricket. Plus, almost every actual event of the story was known to the reader: Montblanc Noland went to Jaya when it was in the sea, it got knocked into the sky, the Skypieans reclaimed it, Noland was unable to lead the king to Jaya and was executed. Sure, there was a whole plot about Noland's activities there, but in terms of the events directly relevant to the outcome, there weren't really any twists. With the Fishman Island flashback, we get all sorts of new and relevant information Fishman Island.
Wait so now the thing that told us nothing is more purposeful than the thing that told us a lot of stuff?
Yeah, kinda. 'Cause, if Oda wanted to just tell us stuff about Fishman Island, he could have just told us. He's done that before. I don't think these flashbacks should be judged based on how much they actually advance the story because, since this is all history, whatever actual plot advancement that happens has already occurred in the current story. They ought to just be judged on the actual experience, and what it motivates in the current story afterwards. Key difference being “motivate” vs. “explain”. Honestly the idea of Luffy doing something different because he learned the history of the island is sort of weak compared the idea of him doing something due to things actually happening and him making decisions and such. Like, the Skypiea flashback: if I'm interpreting it correctly, the whole story was in the perspective of Wiper remembering hearing it from the chief, and possibly explaining it to Robin (the canonical explanation of what happens during these flashbacks in the “current” time, who hears what, who is actually doing the talking, etc. has always sort of confused me, but I digress). Luffy definitely didn't hear it. And really what he did would have made just as much sense without the story of Calgara and Noland, it just wouldn't have had the full emotional motivation it did after reading it. So it doesn't actually have to change anything, is I guess what I'm saying.
But I guess sometimes the attitudes change, like Robin's after her flashback, and Wiper's after this Skypeia one that I just said didn't change anything, but like, some of them really don't change anything. Like uh this one probably didn't actually change anything, like, the Straw Hats are going to be doing the same thing either way, and everyone else in attendance already knew the story, but uh, I'm not saying that that's what was wrong with it, I'm just trying to point out that even though I have beef with the way it presented information as sort of raw knowledge, I'm not saying that any flashback that does or doesn't do this is good or bad because of it.
Again, it's more about the experience.
So what was wrong with it just as a standalone story?
Hm. Not a whole lot. One sort of issue is that there's no real character that the reader is supposed to identify with, to follow along with, unlike almost every other flashbacks. I'm not sure if this is completely necessary, of course, but I think it certainly helps - otherwise you just sort of get this weird sense of jumping around too much. Jimbe is the only character that is sort of “around” for all of ot, and he's the one telling the story, but he doesn't really do a whole lot, does he? Or maybe Fisher Tiger in the first half and Otohime in the second, actually, I quite like that one, but I dunno, it kinda screws with the story's overall arc. It seems like two mini-stories, but they aren't really disconnected enough that you recognize the climax of each, and it's not connected enough to flow really well. It just seems like so much stuff is just happening rather than actually occurring as an event in a story, there's no real central thread to keep everything tied to.
Also, the pacing!
Pacing has been weird in One Piece in 2011
Recently they put out the sales results of the top selling manga in Japan and One Piece dominated so hard that you'd probably first guess it was a typo or something. It sold more than the rest of the top 10 selling series combined. Random volumes from its run were outselling the latest volumes of “competing” series. It was an all-out massacre. Now, I know probably the majority of people still get their new One Piece from Weekly Shonen Jump, but as you extend the length of the series and increase the popularity, a lot of people are probably reading most of the series in tankobon format for their initial read. This will be all the more true for the long-term, post-serialization legacy of One Piece – twenty years from now (assuming it's ended by then) people hoping to read One Piece (which will still hopefully be everyone, since a manga this great deserves the recognition) will be doing all of it through the volumes.
I got thinking about this and I started to wonder if maybe Oda writes his story with the legacy in volumes, versus its chapter-length week-to-week success, in mind; with pacing in mind specifically this seems to make a lot of sense, especially in the last few arcs. I remember finding the pacing in the war to be sort of jarring and not up to par, but having reread it without the weekly timing, I have no complaints. I can't really remember what I thought about the week-to-week pacing of the earlier arcs, I don't think I was ever that upset, but it just seems like it's always better in volume form, which makes sense, because you have strictly more freedom in how to read it. So I have hopes for the Fishman Island arc in general and the flashback specifically to benefit from this... when I read them in volume form... some number of years from now... because Viz keeps slipping behind. But yeah the flashback, stuff just sort of happened all at once, there was very little actual “story” parts it was just like, and then this happened and then this happened etc etc. Compare to the other ones, between the events of the flashback we had a lot of stuff just sort of filling out the environment, making it seem much more like something that would actually happen, something that actually took time, instead of like the busiest five days ever. Not that this flashback had none of that, it just didn't have enough I think. Maybe Oda was worried people were losing interest but I think he could have fleshed it out a few more chapters and it would seem less disjointed. So yeah hoping maybe it'll read better all at once.
Other random beefs
The whole Koala plotline seemed a bit arbitrary, I mean, I totally get why he did it, the execution just didn't really mask that as well as it should have and it came off a bit forced. What would be nice and what I'm expecting is that Koala will come back at some point in the story, that will give it a bit more legitimacy. Arlong's character in the flashback was really over the top evil, I don't think Oda really needs to try to make us hate him anymore, and it would have been neat to see another side to the character, instead of the same side again. Jimbe at least had some sort of development over it besides some hate leading to more hate. Uhhh what else, the prince trio... I just have this bad sense that the two “entertainers” will just never end up doing anything cool. Yeah the idea behind them doing it was nice but not so much that I'll forgive that being their only role. Also bugs me a bit because the whole Shirahoshi can summon Sea Kings seems sort of lame and I hope he does something really cool with us, also I have full confidence that he will do something cool. Otohime's assassin being some random human was sort of lame. The Vander Decken plotline was pretty weird, sorta funny premise with him trying to marry Shirahoshi to steal something so he can marry Shirahoshi so he can use her powers over Sea Kings for some reason, but I dunno it just sort of randomly interjected itself in with the other events. It would have probably worked a bit better if the plot wasn't already seeming more like a time-line of notable events on Fishman Island rather than the story of Fisher Tiger and Otohime. Same with the plot of Jimbe joining the Shichibukai and Arlong heading for East Blue, it had to be explained but it just sort of happened rather than it being, like, a story. The other result of this is that that common new-arc dizziness of a plethora of story elements all piling up and seeming out of place is now like, being introduced by two time-lines at once. Just so much stuff to take in! Of course, like every other arc, I'm sure they'll all get sorted out in an excellent fashion.
Okay what was good about it quit your griping
Oh man still a lot. Fisher Tiger and Otohime are both just awesome, awesome characters. Yeah sure they don't really have “realistically flawed personalities” or whatever but geez shonen can get away with that in my book. The whole concept of trying to spare the children not just from the suffering but the inherited hatred is a really cool idea, something that happens a lot in the real world that I don't think people are aware of sometimes. Same with King Neptune saying about how any action he would take is pointless, that even if he didn't use force, he couldn't be sure if it was his intimidating strength or his ideas that were working. The art was all excellent, I think that should go without saying at this point for Oda, but his Fishman Island designs and scenery have all been especially beautiful. A lot of the scenes, despite my gripes about it generally all seeming sort of choppy, were still very emotional and powerful.
Okay well so what was the point of this
I dunno just was thinking about it and had some vague ideas about what I didn't like about it and I figured maybe I ought to write them down and that might get them better formed. It sort of worked?? Plus I want to start writing more single-subject long posts again and figured this is as good as any.
Might as well rank all the flashbacks to wrap it up
Whitebeard Tier
Any fleeting scene with Whitebeard or Ace reminiscing
God Tier
The story of Robin and Ohara
The story of Noland and Jaya
Top Tier
The story of Brook and Laboon
The story of Luffy, Ace and Sabo
The story of Chopper and Dr. Hiluluk
High Tier
The story of Nami and Coco Village
The story of Tom's Workers
The events of Fishman Island's history
Mid Tier
The story of Sanji and Zeff
The story of Usopp and his family
The story of Zoro and Kunia
So yeah they're all pretty good.
Other thing not One Piece
Recently I was trying to come up with what I thought the big difference between early OFWGKTA stuff and Goblin-era stuff was and I came up with this:
In the beginning, they were desperate enough to do anything, now, they're desperate enough to do the same thing.
I think it's kinda good? Applies to some other stuff too maybe. Might write more about OF soon.
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