"You Don't Understand": As One Piece Faces Backlash Over Manga Changes, 1 Director Is Telling Fans to Chill Out
The return of One Piece's anime was glorious, to say the least, and fans welcomed the gorgeous animation as well as the emotional and beautiful new opening. However, the series was also met with controversy after some odd choices in One Piece's new opening visuals that led to thousands of fans being angry about how Sanji was handled. Fortunately, a director for the series has clarified and explained why the controversy makes no sense.
Henry Thurlow, a veteran in the anime industry who has worked on some of the biggest series like Naruto and One Piece, explained in a post on his X account that studios and staff do not have an agenda against characters and would never purposely mess up a scene to damage a character. This was in response to many One Piece fans being angry at how Sanji was portrayed in the opening song. While the fan complaints do have some merit, Thurlow's experience makes him the best person to speak on this, and he perfectly explained why some fans might think that way.
Episode And Opening Directors Have Their Hands Tied
Thurlow went on to clarify that episode directors are given a certain amount of content that they have to turn into a full episode and that each director goes about their own way to achieving this. Some might employ longer still shots, others will focus more on the background, and some will even add whole new scenes. One Piece's anime is a more extreme case of this, given that each episode adapts one chapter, and at times, half of that, the director's job becomes that much trickier.
Can’t believe I have to even say this but there’s not a single anime production where the “staff hates a certain character & sabotages their scenes.” Certain animators might request specific scenes & not others, but the directors try their hardest to make the whole thing good.
For those unaware, this controversy stemmed from the fact that Sanji was left out of a scene that displayed all the Straw Hats at once, and to make things worse, the spot where he was supposed to go was empty. Furthermore, the opening theme showed him with heart eyes for Bonney. Bonney is canonically 12 years old but appears older due to her ultra-powerful Devil Fruit power. This is not just a one-off incident, according to fans, and many documented how the anime portrayed Sanji in a negative light and included scenes that were not in the manga.
Sanji Has Been A Source Of Controversy For The Anime
The Straw Hat Has Endured Many Humiliating Scenes
Between the exaggeration of his pervert gags or scenes where he is being beaten, Sanji fans feel like the character is being unnecessarily portrayed in a bad light, even when the scene is not from the manga. While their concerns with One Piece's anime regarding the character certainly do hold weight, the situation is much more nuanced than one might think, and brushing it off as the studio having a hidden agenda is not accurate.
- Created by
- Eiichiro Oda
- First Film
- One Piece: The Movie
- First TV Show
- One Piece
- Cast
- Kazuya Nakai, Akemi Okamura, Kappei Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Hirata, Ikue Ôtani, Yuriko Yamaguchi
- Video Game(s)
- One Piece: Unlimited World Red, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, One Piece: World Seeker, One Piece Odyssey
- Character(s)
- Monkey D. Luffy, Roronora Zoro, Nami (One Piece), Nico Robin, Usopp (One Piece), Vinsmoke Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, Franky (One Piece), Jimbei (One Piece)
