One Piece’s popularity has been growing since its serialization began. Every year, it is breaking its record by reaching new heights. It is amazing to see an anime hold the top spot for the last 25 years. The only anime to ever put up a fair fight was Naruto. Naruto was just as popular as One Piece, and both of them had massive impacts on the growth of the anime and manga industry.
Their creators, Eiichiro Oda, and Masashi Kishimoto, have always been the best of friends, even though their fandoms are the exact opposite. Often, they have taken inspiration from each other’s work. But there is one aspect of Masashi Kishimoto that Eiichiro Oda is not a big fan of, and he confirmed he would never go down that road.
Reanimation Is A Big ‘No’ For Eiichiro Oda
Naruto has always been One Piece’s biggest competitor when it came to popularity. Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto have shaped the anime industry, and together, they have created an empire. In most cases, they agree upon and have inspired each other. But Eiichiro Oda disagreed with Kishimoto on one point.
The Naruto creator killed several characters from his magnum opus and brought them back during the Fourth Great Ninja War using the Reanimation Jutsu.
Oda (2007): If you want to revive a dead character, then don't kill the character in the first place. I've hated it since I was a kid when a character is resurrected because I felt the author's intention. 'Did he bring this character back to life just because he is popular?'🤫
— sandman (@sandman_AP) May 12, 2023
Even though it created one of the best war arcs in anime history, Oda was not a big fan of the concept. According to him, if any character is killed then it should be done for the betterment of the plot. If they are to be brought back, there is no need to kill them. He also mentioned he will never bring back dead characters in his magnum opus.
It means Portgas D. Ace is gone for good. Few fans thought Oda might use a new Devil Fruit that can summon the dead, but after confirmation, Monkey D. Luffy will only have a single brother alive. Portgas D. Ace was one of the most fan-favorite characters. Watching him die was one of the saddest moments in One Piece. But if fans want to see him, they will have to rewind the episodes since the mangaka won’t be reviving him.
Naruto and One Piece Differs in Death
Kishimoto and Oda have one big difference in their magnum opus. The latter starts One Piece has a happy adventure of Monkey D. Luffy and not many deaths. Oda only kills characters when he sees that it is beneficial to the plot and has a massive impact. Once he saw fit to kill the Strawhats’ ship, Going Merry, which had a massive impact on the plot.
On the other hand, Kishimoto wanted to write a happy-go manga but decided against it since it would be considered a rip-off of One Piece.
So, he created Naruto and did the opposite of Oda. He killed several fan-favorite characters to give it a dark nature. It often left the fans mourning their favourite characters. Even though they differ so much, the main protagonists are not much different.
Both Naruto and One Piece are available on Crunchyroll.
