One Piece Artist Responds to Animation Critics in New Tweet Thread

One Piece has enjoyed a renaissance as of late, and anime fans are eating better than ever as such. In the past month, the show has dropped some of its best episodes to date, and you can tell how much love the show's team has for Luffy's crew. But after this week's episode left some fans bitter, one of One Piece's animators stood up and shared their side of story in a series of now-viral tweets.

The conversation began after animator Henry Thurlow posted to Twitter addressing One Piece episode 1018. It was there the fan-favorite artist addressed fans who felt let down by the release. Some expected this to happen as One Piece episodes 1016 and 1017 were true spectacles where animation was concerned. So when sakuga elitists came for One Piece, Thurlow shared the following:

Without a doubt the funniest part of this whole thing is that actually, I’m kind of a “less aura’s the better” sorta guy.
Lol. Of course I’ll add them when directed to do so & I don’t hate them, but if you notice, the scenes I have significant control over never really have them.

— Henry Thurlow (@henry_thurlow) May 23, 2022

"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," they shared.

Continuing, Thurlow went on to address specific critiques about episode 1018. It seems some fans were unhappy with its use of energy auras, and their complaints were met with a swift counter.

"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," the artist shared.

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"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!'"

As you can imagine, Throwlow is getting plenty of love for their discussion about One Piece's animation. It is always enlightening to hear from creators on the topic, and that goes doubly when One Piece is the topic at hand. After all, the show has reigned atop the anime industry for decades, and this year is set to be an exceptional one for the show!

What do you make of Thurlow's comments here? Did you have any issue with the latest One Piece episode? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.