Summary
Eiichiro Oda revealed that Luffy’s Gear Fifth transformation in One Piece was a deliberate decision to bring a more playful and cartoonish style to the manga. Oda wanted to counter the trend of One Piece becoming too serious and meet the expectations of modern fans by creating a lighter and more fun fighting style. Luffy’s Gear Fifth pays homage to the rich history and traditions of manga, with Oda expressing his desire for creative freedom and challenging the expectations of shōnen fans.
In a recent interview, A pieceThe author of Eiichiro Oda revealed the hidden inspiration for one of the biggest reveals in his manga history: Luffy’s Gear Fifth change. The form’s unusual and cartoonish style has divided the fandom, but Oda explains that there is a very specific reason behind it.
Issue 34 of Weekly Shonen Jump features an interview with Detective Conan’s Eiichiro Oda and Gosho Aoyama (seen below in a translation provided by X user @Orojapan1), in which the two legendary mangakas discuss their differences. their career. When asked about the turning points in their story, Oda replied that, for him, Luffy’s Gear Fifth was an important development and something he had been planning for a long time.
The reason is that Oda is really unhappy about One Piece becoming too “serious”, especially in terms of battles, not meeting the expectations of modern fans. He wanted to return to a more playful style and that’s what Gear Fifth is all about. Oda even went as far as saying “Think about me suddenly drawing ‘Tom and Jerry’”.
Oda made Gear 5 silly because he wanted One Piece to be interesting
One Piece fans were completely surprised when the series revealed that Luffy’s iconic power did not in fact originate from the Gomu Gomu no Mi, but from a much more powerful Devil Fruit, the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika. What’s even more surprising are the abilities demonstrated by Luffy after awakening his Devil Fruit and entering Gear Fifth, a strange set of powers that include the ability to change his body and surroundings according to his imagination. your. The result looks like something out of a cartoon, with eyes bulging to signal shock, legs turning into wheels when accelerating, etc. The official explanation is that Nika’s powers give the user “ absolute freedom,” but in reality there is much more to it than that.
Luffy’s Gear Fifth thus demonstrates Oda’s creative freedom and desire to return to the more comedic roots of his manga. The author knows that some fans may react negatively to Gear Fifth, but he continues. Oda also makes a very interesting reference to manga in the past. He said that, when he started as an assistant, it was normal to have an expressionist style such as light bulbs above a character’s head when they were thinking. However, the expressions that are the symbol of this manga are gradually lost. Readers (especially fighting manga) wanted a more serious style and authors adapted it to meet their expectations, but Oda always hated it.
The One Piece creator continues to defy the expectations of Shōnen fans
Therefore, Luffy’s Gear Fifth is an homage to One Piece’s predecessors and the formulas they created. Eiichiro Oda boldly stated in this interview that he didn’t want One Piece to be a serious manga so he decided to make battles fun again and created Gear Fifth for that purpose. Just like Nika’s power gives the user “absolute freedom”, so A pieceCreators express their desire for creative freedom with Luffy’s Gear Fifththis is also an homage to the rich history and traditions of manga.
Source: @Orojapan1/X
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