Ruffy has reached the ultimate point of his powers in One Piece with his Gear 5 form. Some fans may struggle with the silly cartoon sounds and drawings. However, that doesn’t concern the creator Eiichiro Oda.
What are some fans upset about? With Gear 5, Ruffy not only extends his powers beyond physical limits but also gets a new look. He becomes completely white and is accompanied by comic effects, which are typically seen in old cartoons.
The anime and manga of One Piece do not always take themselves 100% seriously and often feature humorous situations. However, effects like summoning weapons or running in place have not been seen until now.
Many fans have celebrated the new effects. However, there are also advocates of the classic One Piece animations who have been visibly annoyed by the silly Gear 5. Discussions frequently arise on Reddit, where the different camps clash and debate.
Oda himself has a clear opinion on this: He loves these effects and if the fans do not like them, he doesn’t care.
Oda defends Ruffy’s Gear 5 against haters
What did he say? In a 2022 interview with Gosho Aoyama, the mangaka of Detective Conan, the two discussed Ruffy’s Gear 5. He believes that one should have fun when drawing, as read on Reddit:
I drew it because I wanted to have fun, and I think it’s okay if people don’t like it. I just want to play around in the fights. Since I was an assistant, I’ve felt that such silly expressions, which were once characteristic of mangas, have been lost over time.
Oda has loved such symbolic expressions like the appearance of a light bulb when a character has an idea. However, they are disappearing more and more. No one draws them anymore.
Instead, mangas tend to stick to serious fights that meet the readers’ expectations. Oda hates that and doesn’t want One Piece to become such a serious work. He has simply decided to have fun.
What do fans say about it? His response appears again in a recent Reddit thread and makes the fans very happy. They appreciate that he stands by himself, his dreams, and his preferences. After all, One Piece is also a manga about freedom and dreams.
However, there are also representatives of the opposing opinion. User YoMikeeHey writes that he generally has no problem with it. But during serious fights, he simply doesn’t want Ruffy to suddenly start laughing.
EffectiveMagazine915 also believes that Oda cannot please every taste with so many readers. It is also not his case that Ruffy uses Gear 5, but he continues to read the manga anyway.
The transformation into the Gear 5 form is also very spectacular. MeinMMO editor Jasmin has watched the second transformation in the anime multiple times because she found it so cool animated: One Piece: Ruffy awakens his Devil Fruit for the 2nd time – I have watched the transformation already 5 times because it is so good
