This is a bit off topic, but I just watched the sixth One Piece movie for the first time, that being Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island directed by Mamoru Hosoda.
I guess I'll have to start by redacting a statement from my last post. This film proves that the animation quality has nothing to do with the studio itself, since the animation in this sixth movie was glorious--so dynamic and fluid, a wonder to behold. The difference in quality probably has much more to do with a lot of the directorial choices made, as well as the animation directors who were on board. While Strong World had some things going for it in terms of visuals, such as some great creature design (courtesy of Oda) and its eye-popping use of color, Omatsuri's visuals blows it out of the water in virtually every single respect. It truly embraces the medium of animation. And I actually think the looser drawing style and character designs (which have been characteristic of all of Hosoda's films thus far) work much better with Oda's characters than the designs typically used in the TV series and the recent films. The staging, framing, and cinematography were also wonderful--it truly felt like a "film," rather than a long episode of One Piece. Admittedly, I have not seen all of the OP films yet, but this is the most visually impressive I've seen by far.
And not only are the visuals impressive, but this was also the most engaging and captivating OP movie I've seen in terms of storytelling as well (by a country mile). It does somewhat break away from what you'd expect from One Piece, or shonen, especially of the JUMP variety, in general. While it starts out lighter with fun and games, it grows darker and darker, at one point going into a moment of near-horror (these tonal transitions are handled very well, I might add--nothing feels forced or abrupt). Yet, the typical shonen arc of overcoming obstacles and beating the big bad is in tact; it does a great job to adhering to that arc, all the while going into something much more unique and engaging. It's true that there may be a couple of moments where the characters seemingly go out of character in terms of dialogue or actions. However, this was not enough so that it bothered me, even as a fan of the manga.
That said, I could understand why some fans of the manga would find this movie difficult to accept as a One Piece movie. The recent movies involving Oda, or even the fourth film, Dead End Adventure, probably capture the true spirit of One Piece to a greater degree. Still, I think they played the theme of "Nakama" in this film with much greater depth and meaning than Strong World, which I felt was a weak re-hash of the Arlong Park and/or Enies Lobby arcs. The villain was also layered and interesting; you could perhaps even describe him as sympathetic.
I must add that it had a great soundtrack as well, which was superbly timed with the on-screen visuals. I think the film could have used another 20-30 minutes to flesh-out some of the characters and the plot elements, but overall, I didn't feel there were too many pacing issues, and it works just fine as is.
I think this is quite stronger than Hosoda's Summer Wars, perhaps on par with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (need to rewatch), and a notch below Wolf Children. I honestly don't know how well the film would work for non OP fans, but I think it should be required viewing for any fans of Hosoda.
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. now im pretty much current with the show 
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