2023 was one hell of a year for One Piece and things show no sign of slowing down now that the new Egghead Island arc is underway.
In 2023, Gear 5 finally premiered in the anime, with astounding and delightful results, which cleared the way for the end of the Wano arc. We got a live action adaptation that was actually good, with a second season confirmed. Luffy was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. In December, we found out that Wit Studio is rebooting the anime. And behind all that, the manga has been incredible (sometimes controversial, but incredible—and I can hold both of those as true, thank you).
All of this is to say that One Piece had a lot of momentum coming in to 2024, which happens to mark the 25th anniversary of Toei’s anime. The very first episode of 2024, episode 1089, happened to be the first in One Piece‘s Egghead Island arc—the new arc in four and a half years. It featured a new anniversary-drenched opening and ending which made fans erupt in joy.
But beyond even that, episode 1089, “Entering a New Chapter! Luffy and Sabo’s Paths!,” is quite arguably one of the best episodes of the entire series. Or at the very least, one of the best directed.
A bold new direction for a new arc
Since the beginning of the Wano arc, and especially reaching a delightful peak during the Raid on Onigashima, One Piece has become an animator’s playground. Toei has allowed their incredible animators the freedom to differentiate their own styles in their work for the show. The result is a parade of astounding styles that dazzles the eye and created one of the best shounen fights of the last few years.
This new aesthetic for the show crystallized in Onigashima—and gave rise to visionary directors like Megumi Ishitani, who directed the new OP. But we had yet to see how that elevation of One Piece‘s animation would play out in the new Egghead arc. Now, we know: the Egghead arc’s art has a “softness” to it which lends a surprising kawaii aspect when applicable. But the “softness” has a double sword—as we found out in 1089, there’s a remarkable tendency for horror as well.
Episode 1089 was directed by Nozomi Shishido—a seasoned director with credits on shows like Dragon Ball Super and Digimon Adventure, but a first-time director on One Piece. Shishido’s One Piece debut absolutely served as assurance that the show would continue with the same innovative practices it curated during Wano.
Simply put, there is no episode of One Piece that looks like 1089. The angles and shot composition that Shishido finds are astounding—often with truly haunting results that struck my core even deeper than their manga equivalents. Two words: big shark.
Let’s talk Lulusia
The pacing was just as impressive. If the primary weakness of the Wano arc is its tendency to drag, Egghead goes in the complete opposite direction. In fact, Egghead sometimes feels like it goes too fast—to the extent that you wonder if mangaka Eiichiro Oda is imagining that the anime will pad things out a bit.
Episode 1089 does, in fact, pad out its central event. Believe it or not, the episode—as grippingly paced as it is—covers only half of one chapter. The difference between 1089 and the many episodes of Wano which had to pad out a single chapter is that the additions made in 1089 arguably improve the manga’s version.
***Major spoilers for One Piece episode 1089 ahead!***
The strengths of 1089’s padding are evident in its portrayal of the Lulusia incident, where the Five Elders order an entire island to be destroyed upon Sabo revealing to the Revolutionary Army the secret of Imu’s existence. In the manga, this major incident is only five pages long.
Shishido’s version artfully emphasizes the reality that Lulusia was a fully inhabited island. We see more time with its people, and we see the island from the ground as it’s destroyed. We see the sinkhole the incident left immediately. Altogether, the horror of the incident feels astonishingly in your face. And I will never look at a butterfly the same way again.
Of course, not all chapters will lend themselves to such stretching. Then again, Egghead in the manga is generally so breakneck that artful direction from directors like Shishido which takes time to emotionally ground the arc’s high-octane action is incredibly welcome.
Episode 1089 is an astonishing vision of how One Piece can continue to innovate and top itself, even after 25 years. You can’t help but feel excited for what Toei has in store next.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
