See One Piece Show Off Luffy’s Newest And Craziest Power
The biggest events in shonen anime are typically the transformations when a character achieves an entirely new level of power. One Piece manga and anime fans recently got to see Luffy finally reach Gear 5 in animated form in episode 1071, and the results did not disappoint. Soon we’ll get to see even more of Gear 5 when the upcoming episode debuts on August 12.
A new video previews Luffy’s continued Gear 5 transformation in episode 1072 of One Piece.
One Piece episode 1072 promises to show us even more of Luffy’s insane Gear 5 transformation and its abilities as he continues his fight with Kaido. Gear 5 allows Luffy to not only enhance his existing rubber powers to new levels but he can also give his environment the properties of rubber.
This allows him to turn the ground bouncy, easily bend it, and other off-the-wall things. We saw Luffy deflect a massive blast from Kaido back at him by bending up a huge chunk of Earth in the previous episode.
As one of the Shonen Big Three, this One Piece transformation will forever be compared to transformations like Naruto’s Baryon mode or Ichigo’s True Bankai form.
The crazy, Looney-Tunes-style animation used to depict Gear 5 has been a bit divisive amongst One Piece fans. The previous episode saw eyes popping out, a Tom and Jerry-inspired slam attack, and other nods to the beloved WB cartoon style. However, many fans feel like this perfectly fits Luffy’s personality and that Gear 5 was perfectly done.
Those who weren’t convinced of Gear 5’s animation style in the previous episode of One Piece might find the next episode to be more in line with their expectations. While Luffy is uncontrollably laughing from the sheer joy of his Gear 5 form, he still has a mighty opponent to face. We’ll likely see Luffy take the fight with Kaido a bit more seriously in the coming episodes.
Of course, the debate in the anime community will rage on as to whether the Gear 5 transformation was worth the hype. As one of the Shonen Big Three, this One Piece transformation will forever be compared to transformations like Naruto’s Baryon mode or Ichigo’s True Bankai form.
And as the predecessor of the Big Three, all of them will be forever compared to the legendary Super Saiyan transformation in Dragon Ball Z and subsequent transformations like Goku’s Ultra Instinct.
However, Luffy’s transformation to Gear 5 was intended to be very different than your typical shonen transformation, and it’s hard to say that One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda didn’t achieve this — regardless of what you think about Gear 5. It’s also hard to say that Gear 5 doesn’t perfectly match Luffy’s style and personality, so it succeeds in that respect as well. It’ll be interesting to see if the hype can continue and be exceeded when the next episode hits this weekend.
Netflix’s Live-Action One Piece
Meanwhile, the live-action adaption of One Piece is also right around the corner, with an August 31 release date. With well over one thousand episodes in the anime now, it’s hard to imagine that the live-action series will ever end up getting the green light to adapt the whole series. Although, it would be pretty interesting to see how they would bring Gear 5 to life in live-action.
