Luffy’s Gear 5 in ‘One Piece’
Toei Animation
A viral post praising One Piece became a target of online backlash against Luffy’s Gear 5, as anime fans roasted the video clip.
Eiichiro Oda’s immensely popular, long-running manga has been adapted into a live-action Netflix show and a lengthy anime series, the latter sparking criticism on social media.
The One Piece anime has been adapting the manga for several years and is far later in the story than Netflix, to the point where the series’ feisty protagonist, Luffy, has evolved into a legendary figure.
Luffy’s Gear 5 enables him to channel “Sun God Nika,” a warrior of freedom, turning him into a reality-bending trickster, with wacky moves that could be compared to classic cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny.
In the anime series, Gear 5 has inspired visually complex and highly stylized fight scenes that are strikingly different from Luffy’s classic battles, in tone and execution.
Gear 5 is somewhat divisive within the One Piece fanbase, and those grievances erupted online after a post on X (Twitter) meant to praise the series sparked backlash.
‘One Piece’ Gear 5 Post Sparks Online Backlash
A post praising the animation of a Gear 5 fight scene became a magnet for criticism as commentators began tearing the new style apart.
The scene sees Luffy effortlessly deflecting powerful projectiles using a baseball bat that he carved with his own teeth after uprooting a tree from the ground.
Many criticized the pacing of the scene, noting that it dragged out the joke, killing the comedy and removing the tension from the fight.
Others found the scene somewhat baffling and overwhelming, noting that it seemed far removed from the show they knew.
Some pointed out that the sluggish pacing was unique to the anime series, noting that the original manga depicts Luffy’s Looney Tunes hijinks with a few efficient panels.
For many commentators, however, the pacing wasn’t the problem—it was Gear 5.
Why Is Luffy’s Gear 5 Controversial?
Scrappy heroes transcending into godlike warriors is a common anime trope, but Luffy’s abilities have changed more dramatically than most, as the rubber man can now alter the shape of reality at whim.
Many fans have lamented that One Piece lost its way after imbuing Luffy with too much power, and retconning his iconic origin story.
Luffy’s adventure began after he mistakenly gobbled up the Gum-Gum Fruit and gained rubber powers, allowing him to pursue his wild ambitions.
The ability to bounce and stretch imbued Luffy with a fun, interesting combat advantage that required creativity and skill.
Luffy’s rubber powers were never as formidable as the powerful abilities of his most fearsome opponents—much of the fun came from watching Luffy navigate the world of One Piece as a plucky underdog, able to punch well above his weight.
The Gum-Gum Fruit has since been retconned as a near-mythical fruit that transforms Luffy into a god, shifting his story into a “chosen one” narrative.
Hence, Gear 5 has been criticized for being too different and overcomplicating the series.
Gear 5 is indeed different, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing—Oda has been working on his story for almost three decades, and it makes sense that the artist might seek to push boundaries and explore new ideas with his story.
Rubber powers might be versatile, but Oda’s interests appear to have evolved over time—plus, Gear 5 has inspired some genuinely awe-inspiring scenes in the manga and anime.
The pacing could be tighter, sure, but the original post was right to praise the animation—it’s an elaborate sequence that required great skill to create.
Gear 5 might be too much for some fans, but whenever this long-running story ends, Luffy’s increasingly inventive battle scenes are likely to be remembered fondly.
Gear 5 is a unique experiment that fuses old and new animation styles, pushing the limits of the medium.