One Piece Fishman Island Saga Podcast Discussion!
Added 2025-06-12 09:59:13 +0000 UTCWasn't able to get all the edits done for the questions on screen, so if you have comments for the discussion that you wan the YouTube audience to see, make sure to post them when the discussion is published on YouTube
Comments
To me, Hody is a good example of character who only works when your only thinking in terms of themes and symbolism and not what makes for an actually interesting character. It's why I think his "motivations" being essentially nothing, can be justified through the idea that ties into the broader themes of hate being irrational and lacking substance, but it makes for a super one dimensional and uninteresting antagonist.
Elijah Hernandez
2025-06-17 18:34:59 +0000 UTCAlso, I can totally understand the "it should've been Arlong" folks but I've always been firmly in the Hody camp because it would've muddied the themes Oda was going for in this arc and I think FI is one of the strongest arcs in the story thematically largely because Oda was laser-focused on it. Dealing with racism & discrimination and the legacy and trauma of it while also trying to be optimistic about the future to not pass on hatred to the next generation, but simultaneously showing that the prejudice is still a very real thing that is systemic and detrimental to them and their culture & they should be aware of that, while at the same time showing that not every Human is like that, is a very complicated & sensitive topic to really broach in a Shounen manga and I think Oda did as good of a job as possible. It took multiple arcs of set up & in the end he stuck the landing and I give him the utmost credit and respect and admiration for it, if he was a lesser writer this whole thing could've come across VERY tone-deaf & cringe & damn near offensive.
YetiCoolBrother
2025-06-14 13:04:11 +0000 UTCIn regards to Madam Shirley, I'm gonna go ahead and just drop this theory on yall because the community produced it pretty much immediately after Fishman Island was finished in the manga back in the day: Fishman Island is 10k leagues under the sea in an alcove in the Red Line. The Holy Land Mariejois where the Celestial Dragons live is 10k leagues above the sea on top of the Red Line, directly above where Fishman Island is. So the immediate theory was that at some point, likely towards the end of the story, Luffy will destroy The Holy Land sending it down through the Red Line all the way to the bottom of the sea thus destroying Fishman Island in the process. How exactly he will do that we don't know (like still to this day, I'm manga-current and I still could not tell you) but this was/is the thinking of the community.
YetiCoolBrother
2025-06-14 12:28:58 +0000 UTC
