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In a special interview to help celebrate One Piece‘s 25th Anniversary, series creator Eiichiro Oda opened up about working on the series through the years so far. When asked to highlight a turning point he remembered from the series, Oda surprisingly revealed that Luffy’s Gear Fifth transformation was a big deal to him. When speaking about his inspiration for the transformation, Oda explained that he just wanted to be “playful” when it comes to Luffy’s battles and that ties into his more cartoonish elements when in the form.
“I drew this playing around a lot thinking that it’s okay if people are against it,” Oda began when talking about the response to Luffy’s Gear Fifth form so far. “I just want to be playful with battles. Since the moment I was an assistant, the expressions that are the symbol of mangas have been continually lost. For example, putting a light bulb mark when a character thinks about something, or making the character’s legs go in circles as a car when they are running.” Much like how fans pointing how the cartoon references with Luffy’s “ridiculous” new powers, it seems that Oda had been wanting to unleash this side for a while.
The fight against Kaido immediately became much more cartoonish as it continued with Luffy in this new Gear Fifth form, and it seems like it’s only going to get stronger the more Luffy’s body adjust to his awakened new power and the impact it has on the rest of the world around him. It’s been teased that he can do pretty much whatever he wants with this form, and now fans are gearing up to see what’s next! What do you think of Luffy’s Gear Fifth so far? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
