Pirates, Platypuses, and Parenting: The Joy of Watching 'One Piece' and 'Phineas and Ferb' With My Kids

I’ve already confessed to not watching any 2025 movies yet, which explains the barren cupboard of reviews on the site this year. I’ve also admitted to the odd battle my autistic brain wages with itself: it won’t let me watch anything without reviewing it, but it also won’t let me review until I’ve declared an “official fresh start.” The result? A spiral where I end up watching almost nothing at all.

Headache yet? Good. You’ve just had a quick peek into my world.

But even in the middle of that mess, one thing I refuse to give up is connecting with my kids through stories. Which is why I’ve carved out two exceptions: One Piece with Everett and Phineas and Ferb with Danika.

For the past few years, Everett and I have been voyaging through One Piece together and are now wrapping up the Thriller Bark storyline. Everett has always loved fantasy and video games, so the way One Piece characters power up and gain new abilities thrills him. He gets swept up in the serialized storytelling and how each arc changes the crew. He lights up during the big battles, cheers when new crewmates join, and delights in quirky characters like Franky, Brooke, and Chopper. Sometimes he’s so into it that he’ll act out the fight sequences around the house, and you better not be in the way of his flailing limbs.

He also dressed up as Monkey B. Luffy for both Halloween and our first anime convention, Anime North. 

Meanwhile, Danika and I recently started Phineas and Ferb. She adores the songs, and will often ask to rewatch her favorites. The creativity and artfulness of the show speak to her own love of making things, and she’s drawn to the show’s gentleness. Candace may constantly try to bust her brothers, but her affection for her siblings is always clear. Even the “bully” Buford has soft edges—Danika’s favorite episode is the one where he and Baljeet miss each other. The kindness, the celebration of imagination, and the heart at the center of the series resonate with her deeply. It’s no surprise her second-favorite show is Bluey.

Both series hit my sweet spot, too. I lean toward the quirky, imaginative, and fantastical, so it’s been a joy to genuinely enjoy them alongside the kids. Phineas and Ferb celebrates creativity with pop culture humor and catchy tunes, while One Piece offers sprawling world-building and long-form storytelling that gleefully mashes together satire, adventure, slapstick, horror, and drama. One is easy to jump into at any point, the other demands your full attention, and both remind me how animation can reach across ages and offer emotional, evocative stories in very different ways.

So while the movie reviews have been slow in coming, I haven’t stopped enjoying great storytelling, and more importantly, sharing it with my kids. This fall, as I recommit to reviews and weekly podcasts, I’m looking forward to digging deeper into these deceptively complex, wonderful series. If nothing else, One Piece and Phineas and Ferb have reminded me of the real reason I write about pop culture in the first place: because stories matter most when they’re shared.