Like many One Piece fans, the excitement I had for the anime’s Fishman Island remaster has been gradually waning in recent weeks. While it’s a far improvement on things from a visual standpoint, the pacing, ironically enough, is now too fast more often than not with how many cuts each episode makes, and it’s made it very tiresome to watch more often than not.

My enthusiasm for One Piece’s Fishman Island remaster has dropped significantly low, but even then, I never outright quit watching it. Much of that was out of an obsessive devotion to One Piece, but I kept watching every new episode, even though it felt like I was just going through the motions more often than not. Imagine my surprise, then, when One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 delivered not only the best episode of the remaster, but one of the best episodes of One Piece, in general; it was pleasantly astonishing, to say the least.

One Piece's Fishman Island Remaster Just Delivered One Of The Anime's Best Scenes To Date

How One Piece Delivered On Fishman Island's Biggest Moment

The first major standout of One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 was the pacing. Like previous episodes, episode #16 edited things down to adapt two chapters, but where previous episodes were still awkwardly paced more often than not, One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 cut out just the right amount of content to have an incredibly organic flow of content up to the triumphant moment of the Straw Hats showing up to fight Hody Jones. The remaster has often felt restricted by the poor direction of the original anime, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case here.

Another big part of why I loved episode #16 so much, of course, was the visuals. The visuals for the remaster have always been an improvement over the original, but episode #16 seemed to go above and beyond with a level of scale, fluidity, and general quality far above its predecessors, with the scenes of Shirahoshi crying and Luffy attacking Hody being especially big standouts. One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 delivered some of the most gorgeous visuals in the entire franchise, and it’s almost enough to excuse all the faults of the remaster, as well.

One Piece's Fishman Island Remaster Fixes One Of The Original Anime's Biggest Slip-Ups

How One Piece's Original Anime Messed Up A Major Scene

The visuals in One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 were great, especially with how much they fixed the original anime. While the remaster has always been a visual improvement over the original Fishman Island saga, it’s especially notable for episode #16 because the corresponding episodes of the original anime were rife with off-model and otherwise lazy artwork, especially when it came to the scene of the Straw Hats entering Conchcorde Plaza. One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 worked to fix some of the worst artwork in the original anime, and that’s always great to see.

Regarding the improved visuals, episode #16 also fixed the original anime’s poor handling of one of the manga’s most iconic group shots. When the Straw Hat Pirates arrived at Conchcorde Plaza, there was supposed to be a big spread of all of them with Shirahoshi, but the anime ruined it with its poor visuals and by not putting everyone in the correct positions. One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 fixed the original anime by finally making the Straw Hat Pirates’ iconic group shot match the manga, and as a long-time fan, that was nothing but a delight.

One Piece Is Giving Me Hope That Its Remaster Will End On A High Note

Why I'm Still Excited For One Piece's Fishman Island Remaster

As novel a concept as the remaster is, it’s become increasingly less engaging with every episode as the fast pacing, one of the main draws of the project, made things awkward to watch because of how weird the editing to make it happen was. Much of that is because it has to work in the framework of the original anime’s poor pacing, but regardless, the poor pacing of One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga has held it back far too often, and even the improved visuals haven’t been enough to save things.

That overall feeling of disappointment has been why episode #16 was such a welcome change of pace. Not only does episode #16 boast the best visuals of the remaster by far, but it was edited in a way that allowed for far more organic pacing than usual, and it was much more fun to watch because of that. One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga episode #16 reminded me that the remaster can live up to its promise of being better than the original anime, and that gives me hope that it will end on as high a note as possible.

One Piece Is Finally Making Me Realize How Great Fishman Island Is

I Finally Get What Makes Fishman Island So Special

Talking about episode #16 of the remaster has made me reflect about why the remaster has been great to watch at all, even with its various faults. Like many One Piece fans, I didn’t have a good opinion of the Fishman Island arc when it was originally running; the story felt boring to me after so many years of anticipation, the villains were weak to the point of being punching bags for the Straw Hats, and overall, I, like many One Piece fans, just wanted the Fishman Island arc to end so we could finally get to the New World.

With over a decade having gone by since I first went through the Fishman Island arc, though, I’ve learned how to better examine media compared to my youth, and because of that, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation for the character writing and worldbuilding in the Fishman Island arc, especially the way it handles race-based conflict in a deeper way than most media. Watching One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga with my current experience of literary analysis has helped me understand how great the Fishman Island arc is narratively, and that’s been nothing but a fun experience to have.

As inconsistent as the remaster’s quality has been, I’ve been loving it for giving me a chance to properly reevaluate one of One Piece’s most divisive arcs, all with the kind of animation and overall direction a series like One Piece deserves, as well. One Piece Log: Fishman Island Saga, for better or worse, is the best way to experience the Fishman Island arc aside from reading the manga, and if the rest of its run is like the phenomenal episode #16, then it will surely go down as a worthy addition to the One Piece franchise.

One Piece releases new episodes Saturdays on Crunchyroll.