One Piece is the best anime right now because of Eiichiro Oda’s great storytelling and creativity. The current animated fight scenes are excellent, but it wasn’t always like this. In the past, One Piece didn’t have the best animation quality, and some people didn’t watch because of it.
Henry Thurlow, a key animator for One Piece, expressed concern in a post about fans not liking the animation quality.
As a fan, he understands that animation quality is important to viewers. However, the artist thought that the story was much more important than the animation quality and defended instances of lower-quality animation giving examples like DBZ and Berserk.
One Piece Animator Concerned About The Fans’ Choice
In May 2022, animator Henry Thurlow started a conversation on Twitter (reported by ComicBook) about One Piece episode 1018. He talked to disappointed fans who were let down by the episode.
Some fans expected this because episodes 1016 and 1017 had impressive animation. When animation enthusiasts criticized One Piece, Thurlow responded with the following:
“I wonder what the people who complain every week about TV anime think about older series, the ones I grew up loving. DBZ, Yuyu Hakusho, Hokuto no Ken, Berserk, Kenshin, etc. They rarely had “insane/smooth” animation. Just great art, great characters & story, & were perfect as is. As someone who’s watched anime probably every day since middle school & then dedicated my life to it, Current fans’ concept of “quality” confuses me. Older series had better art & less animation I think, but the old OVA’s blow everything current out of the water.”
He wonders if people who complain about today’s TV anime ever consider the older series, like DBZ, Yuyu Hakusho, Hokuto no Ken, Berserk, etc., that he loved growing up. Those shows may not have had super-smooth animation, but they had great art, characters, and stories, and they were perfect as they were.
He believes that while animation quality is crucial for making an anime captivating, the most important element of a show is its story.
The Animator also Hinted at the Animation Quality of Wano Arc Long Before its Release
The animator, Thurlow also responded to specific criticisms about episode 1018. Some fans were unhappy with how energy auras were used, and their complaints were quickly countered. The artist shared:
“Yup that was me. And Imma do it again and again and again literally for years. And just cause I know you don’t like it, I’m gonna make it an even bigger aura next time. Blue and red flames all at once, multiple layers going at the same time. Can’t wait. After this thread what I’m gonna do is try to make the biggest aura *ever* in anime. Like Gon’s hair from HXH kinda aura. Gonna add some filler too of Enel on the moon looking down saying ‘Wow that aura’s coming close to me!'”
The artist said that because fans don’t like it, they’ll make an even bigger and more impressive aura next time. It will have blue and red flames and multiple layers which they really did in the Wano arc, which is considered the best-animated arc in the series.
Also Read: One Piece Theory: Buggy’s True Devil Fruit Ability is Nuclear Fission, Can Beat Luffy
