Even after 24 years, the Anime One Piece is popular and manages to crash the internet. A half episode is to blame.
Most anime only last 13 or, if lucky, 26 episodes. Real long-running series are an exception – and one of them is One Piece. The anime has now released over 1,000 episodes and still enjoys immense popularity. The latest episode, Episode 1071, was so eagerly anticipated that some websites crashed when it finally went live.
What happened? Last Sunday was finally the day for fans of One Piece. Episode 1071 premiered and was set to reveal one of the most important scenes in the story surrounding Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates.
The episode was not only eagerly awaited in Japan but around the world. Everyone wanted to see the episode “immediately” after release and discuss it. This led not only to temporary server issues with the streaming provider Crunchyroll, but also caused numerous fan sites and discussion forums to go offline briefly.
Why was the episode so important? During the episode, the protagonist gains his “Gear 5” power. This is an extension of his previous abilities, which also gives protagonist Luffy a new appearance.
To inexperienced viewers, the battle may seem silly – especially due to the “flying eyes” or the exaggerated sounds that remind one more of Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry. But for most fans, this fits quite well, as it corresponds to Luffy’s rather eccentric personality and is therefore a logical enhancement of his power.
Many fans were also particularly curious about the design that Luffy would have in this form.
The episode did not receive only positive feedback. Especially the first half consisted of many old animations and flashbacks that strongly resemble recap episodes.
Fortunately, the second half of the episode was able to make up for that.
Why is One Piece so popular? This is hard to pinpoint to individual factors. One Piece not only stands out with its rather unusual art style and very eccentric characters, but also has one of the longest stories in the anime and manga realm. This is also why many fans have been following One Piece for almost their entire lives – after all, the anime started airing in 1999.
In addition, One Piece is slowly approaching its end. The mangaka Eichiiro Oda, the illustrator and author of the source material, said last year that One Piece “could conclude in the next 2-3 years.”
Even if the Straw Hat Pirates end their journey, One Piece is likely to go down in history as one of the longest and most popular anime of all time.
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