Give Oda a chance 

One Piece is a surprisingly contentious subject. Two weeks later, the anime community is still buzzing about Gear 5. Gear 5 is probably Oda’s biggest misstep to date. Oda writes One Piece.

Not that he did anything wrong; most of his decisions attract overwhelming praise. Even when the manga’s momentum grinds to a halt, fans will give him the benefit of the doubt because the payoff always delivers.

He has never disappointed his fans. Sure, casual viewers complain all the time. But they don’t matter because they don’t read the manga or watch the show with any consistency. The hardcore fans love his work. Gear 5 is the exception. Some viewers thought the transformation captured Oda’s style perfectly.

Others hated the cartoony element. And Oda’s explanation (that he wanted to make the fight less serious) made things worse. It rubbed them the wrong way. For the first time ever One Piece fans are actually divided, which is fascinating. Usually, they band together to fight everyone else and for good reason.

The anime community spends too much time quarreling about this show, and I don’t know who to blame. One Piece fans will blame the casual
viewers who take every opportunity to attack the show, using terms like ‘Asinine,’ ‘Trash,’ and ‘Overrated’ to describe it. Surely, you can’t fault them for fighting back against such slander. They love this property.

Why wouldn’t they defend it against unjustified verbal assaults?

But casual viewers disagree with that description of events. From their perception, One Piece fans are always the aggressors. Have you seen those soccer fans that go to great lengths to tell you why their team is better than yours, even when you didn’t ask?

Some One Piece fans are equally insufferable. They need you to know why Oda is better than your favourite manga author. They tend to insert these comments into conversations about other shows entirely unrelated to One Piece.

They can’t stand to hear the anime community praise any other manga or anime as the best, the same way Akira Toriyama fans lose their minds every time you dare attach the title of ‘Strongest’ to a character not named ‘Goku.’ For those reasons, casual viewers feel justified in attacking One Piece. They need to bring the show down a notch. Are they right?

I don’t know. These arguments have been raging for so long that I cannot tell you who is at fault or whether either argument has merit. I have seen incidents that support both sides. Some fans are intolerable. It is not enough for them to take pride in the show’s dominance. They are quick to explain why your favourite show is utter garbage in comparison. They approach these conversations with a condescending tone.

On the other hand, the number of casual viewers that went ballistic because of posts celebrating the manga’s record-breaking sales (500 million copies) is astounding. For some reason, the show’s success irks them. I don’t know why. I should also point out that many so-called One Piece haters don’t watch the show.

They saw Joy Boy and immediately attacked the transformation while having zero context about the scene. A lot of twists, turns, and transformations in anime feel silly when you don’t know the context. Am I saying One Piece does not deserve criticism? No. I’m saying people are getting a little too heated over this show.

Let’s take a breather. Better yet, let’s wait and see. Oda will either win you over or alienate you. Either way, you shouldn’t lose sleep over Gear 5.

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