One Piece is one of the world’s longest-running shonen titles, with over 1,000 episodes and chapters. It’s one of the most popular manga series in history for a variety of reasons, but one aspect that fans love about the epic high-seas adventure is mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s art style.
The One Piece cast includes an enormous number of characters with unique, often outlandish designs, all of which are meant to be memorable from the moment they first appear. After a two-year time jump in the story, the One Piece manga returned from a month-long hiatus with a new art style over a decade ago. However, there have been far more changes in this regard in anime. Because of the way anime is produced, the art style can vary from episode to episode depending on who the director is for that particular week. Fans frequently argue about which episodes or arcs are better than others, but the most recent arc has sparked the most debate.
The Animation Style of One Piece’s Wano Arc Changed
The Wano Arc brought one of the most dramatic shifts in art styles in the history of the anime, becoming something entirely unique. The animation style looks much softer, uses brighter colors, and everything looks much smoother, particularly during fight scenes. Fans have universally praised the new art style, but there’s been a single point of contention hotly debated in the community.
Power auras, which are glowing colors that surround a character during a battle to show how powerful they are, are popular in shonen titles. Previously, One Piece never used them because it was never part of Oda’s vision for the series. However, the animators of the Wano Arc made extensive use of them. This sparked online debate, with fans frequently claiming that they had no place in One Piece and demanding that they be removed from future productions of the anime. Other viewers didn’t seem to mind, claiming that it didn’t detract from their enjoyment of the story as a whole.
The Animators of One Piece Went Too Far With Luffy’s Conqueror’s Haki Ability
In a pivotal moment during Luffy’s one-on-one battle with Kaido, he discovered he could coat himself in Conqueror’s Haki, the strongest form of Haki in One Piece’s battle system. In the manga, Oda’s art style delivered an awesome new power-up in a spectacular way. Luffy pummeling Kaido with his new ability felt powerful, and most importantly, fans could see what was happening on the page. When this scene was adapted for the anime, the animators went a little overboard. What was one of the most hyped-up showcases of power in the series thus far became a visual mess, obscuring an important moment for the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Fans Persuaded One Piece Animators to Remove Visual Effects
Of course, viewers expressed their displeasure online, and it appears that these complaints were finally addressed in episode 1033. This episode had few to no power auras and few visual effects. Tu Yong-Ce, the new chief animation director who recently animated some of the fan base’s favorite moments, stated that this would be the case in the future.
Fans largely praised the decision, praising the fact that these effects were toned down, with many claiming that Episode 1033 was one of the best episodes to come out of the anime in a long time. Many fans compared it to Episode 1015, which is widely regarded as one of the best episodes ever produced by the show. Fans are hoping that Tu Yong-Ce can maintain this momentum and are excited to see what he does next for the series.
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