Loving One Piece Means Admitting Its Flaws

When I read Sasha's challenge title I thought, "Yay! Another chance to literally shower love and adulation in the direction of Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation for my favourite anime, One Piece."

Then I read the rest of her prompt and thought, "Shit."

Still, there is no piece of geeky media that I love more than One Piece, and there are so many things I could say that support it being one of the greatest modern works of fiction. However, nothing is perfect, and One Piece—especially the anime—is far from perfect.

Let's dig into its many annoying flaws.

Fillers, Pacing and Other Annoyances with Toei's Approach

Anyone who is a fan of anime, especially those adapted from ongoing manga series, will know that pacing and filler are almost a format issue.

To its credit, given the sheer number of episodes, One Piece actually has a much smaller percentage of standalone filler than many of its long-running contemporaries. At the time of writing, only around nine percent of the anime consists of entirely filler episodes, which is remarkably low for a series that has been airing since October 1999.

The problem is that One Piece doesn't really suffer from filler.

It suffers from padding.

Because the anime spent over twenty-five years broadcasting almost every single week while trying not to catch up with Eiichiro Oda's manga, Toei Animation had to find other ways to slow the story down. Instead of creating endless anime-only arcs, they stretched the canon material itself.

Extended reaction shots. Repeated flashbacks. Long staring contests before attacks. Fight scenes that take minutes to resolve despite lasting only moments in the manga. Entire episodes where it feels like very little actually happens.

Ironically, this means that although only around one hundred episodes are technically filler, the anime often feels like it contains far more. Fans regularly joke that hundreds of episodes' worth of runtime is simply dead air, and it's hard to completely disagree.

It's no coincidence that one of the most popular ways to experience One Piece today is through the fan-made project One Pace, which removes much of that padding and restores the pacing to something much closer to Oda's original manga.

Thankfully, with the move to a seasonal release schedule, this is hopefully becoming a problem of the past.

The Portrayal of Sanji

Sanji is the Straw Hat Pirates' chef and one of Monkey D. Luffy's closest allies and friends. He is kind, loyal, selfless and one of my favourite characters in the entire series.

He also loves women.

While there are plenty of heart eyes, over-the-top flirting and bloody noses whenever he meets an attractive woman, Oda generally knows where to draw the line. The gag is funny because it has limits.

Unfortunately, particularly in later episodes, Toei's approach to Sanji often deviates from Oda's portrayal. Rather than simply using his comedic traits, the anime exaggerates them until they sometimes overshadow the incredible character underneath.

The Egghead arc provided perhaps the clearest example. Toei caused a great deal of controversy by showing Sanji with heart eyes over Jewelry Bonney—a character who is canonically still a child, even if her Devil Fruit allows her to change her physical age.

Moments like this don't just make a joke less funny; they fundamentally change how audiences perceive the character. Instead of the hopeless romantic Oda created, Sanji can sometimes come across as little more than an exaggerated pervert, which does a disservice to one of the most compassionate and emotionally complex members of the Straw Hat crew.

Zoro Glazing at Sanji's Expense

This is really a continuation of the previous point because there are times where it genuinely feels as though Toei has a vendetta against Black Leg Sanji. Whether that's actually true or simply the result of adaptation choices is another matter, but the end result is the same: the anime occasionally adds scenes that exist purely to make Roronoa Zoro look cooler at Sanji's expense.

Now, it's no secret to anyone who has picked up the manga, watched the anime or even seen the live-action series that there is a fierce sibling rivalry between the two. They absolutely love winding each other up and shitting on one another.

However, in Oda's manga, Sanji gets just as many opportunities to shine as Zoro. The balance feels much fairer than it sometimes does in the anime.

That's a shame because, beneath all the insults and bickering, there is genuine respect between them. They're only really friends because they're both friends with Luffy, yet when it matters they trust one another completely. Their relationship has always reminded me of Gimli and Legolas in The Lord of the Rings—constant rivals on the surface, dependable comrades underneath.

The anime occasionally forgets that balance.

Fake-Out Deaths

Ah yes... even Eiichiro Oda himself isn't immune from criticism.

In my opinion, he's one of the greatest storytellers of the modern era and perhaps the best in manga history at creating complicated, emotionally rich characters and developing them over hundreds of chapters.

However, this is the one criticism I simply can't ignore.

Pell should have died.

Take Pell during the Alabasta Saga. One of Nefertari Cobra's most loyal protectors throws himself into the path of what is essentially a city-destroying bomb. It's a beautifully written sacrifice by a man willing to give everything for his king, his princess and his country.

Except...

He didn't.

He survived.

Because of course he did.

I adore Oda's obvious love for his characters. More often than not it means they're given satisfying, meaningful conclusions to their journeys rather than being killed simply for shock value.

Sometimes, though, I wish he possessed just a little of George R. R. Martin's ruthlessness.

Not because I want death for the sake of it, but because sacrifice only carries its full emotional weight when readers genuinely believe it might cost someone everything.

There are other examples throughout the series, but I won't mention them here because I'd rather not spoil major moments for anyone still making their way through the Grand Line.

Final Thoughts

The funny thing is that none of these criticisms have ever stopped me loving One Piece. If anything, they only exist because I love it so much.

I wouldn't spend time moaning about pacing, adaptation choices, Sanji's portrayal or fake-out deaths if I didn't think the series was capable of genuine greatness.

That's the curse of loving something this much.

You notice every crack in the masterpiece.

Despite everything I've written above, One Piece remains my favourite anime, one of my favourite stories ever told and one of the greatest adventures I've ever had the privilege of experiencing.

I just wish its adaptation—and occasionally even Oda himself—trusted that masterpiece a little more.

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Thanks for reading

This is my first of two entries into Sasha's brand new and thought-provoking, "Geek Out! Upside Down" — Unofficial Challenge