It’s your boy Dijon and WELCOME BACK to this week’s article. Sorry for the little hiatus. I will continue to post as much as I can. This week I want to discuss two very big names in manga and anime: One Piece vs. Naruto. Who doesn’t like a little good ol’ comparison of two beloved franchises that definitely will not generate controversy? 😉 This will be my own opinions, so if you disagree then let me know in the comments. With that being said let’s get to it.
Fights
One Piece
Before I grill One Piece for the fight scenes, let me just say I still really like them. Honestly, not many rival the fights in Naruto, but Luffy vs. Lucci and Luffy vs. Katakuri are some of the best fights of all time. The raw emotion produced by these fights had me cheesing throughout. However, if you were to show a person who has never watched One Piece and Naruto, I would bet my money on them saying Naruto has better fights. On top of that, Luffy is the one carrying fights in One Piece. Personally, there aren’t many fights that are up there with Luffy’s fights. The only fights I can think of are Ace vs. Blackbeard, Zoro vs. Mr. 1, and Zoro vs. Kaku. I know there are others, but let me discuss Naruto now.
Naruto
I mean is there anything bad about Naruto fights? Even though Naruto is known for having weak supporting characters, their fights are legendary. Rock Lee vs. Gaara is a goddamn staple of the og Naruto series. Madara vs. Might Guy is another insane battle, and I’m sure not many were expecting that close of a fight. There are so many more fights I can think of than I can with One Piece, and I haven’t watched Naruto in a few years. It’s really hard to find a fight in Naruto that isn’t ingeniously crafted. If you say you didn’t watch Naruto for the fights then you’re a goddamn liar. I think the fights in Naruto is what made it become such a huge success. For this category, I have to give Naruto the dub.
Characters
One Piece
Hands down this one goes to One Piece. Naruto has its own amazing characters in its own right, but One Piece has its own amazing characters in all of Shounen. It rarely feels as though its characters are forgotten about, unless it’s a fight because only Luffy gets those. Every straw hat has their own dreams and desires on going on this adventure which I love so much. Still, it is a bit unfair to compare them on this considering One Piece hasn’t finished just yet, so all I can do is hope that every straw hat gets a well-deserved ending (which I think will happen). Even the supporting characters on every island are amazing. Gaimon, Koby, Garp, Law, Kin’emon, and Momonosuke are fantastic additions to the series. Also, the female characters in this show are on another level when compared to Naruto’s female characters. Nami, Robin, Hancock, Big Mom, and Vivi are all amazing designed characters, something that Naruto desperately needs.
Naruto
This is where Naruto falters… A LOT. It’s really disappointing to see most characters get benched while Naruto and Sasuke become the focus for 95% of the show. I’m not hating on that entirely, but it feels kind of weird to give the spotlight to characters at the beginning of the show and then write them off with almost no development. Rock Lee had the detriment of not having the ability to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, so he practiced his taijutsu immensely. In Shipudden, he had almost zero feats. What happened with Hinata, Shino, Kiba, etc? They all get completely shafted and left in the dark. It’s so bad that I forget Shino’s and Kiba’s names very often. Also, the female leads are just awful in my opinion. Tsunade and Konan are probably the only two female characters that were ALMOST done right. Don’t even get me started on Sakura (everyone pretty much knows why she’s bad).
Don’t get me wrong, I really love the characters in Naruto, but most fall flat in comparison to One Piece. The quantity and quality of characters in One Piece are in abundance while Naruto goes through some sort of drought. This category belongs to One Piece.
Music
One Piece
Every track in One Piece is damn near perfection. You already know if you’ve watched One Piece. Once you hear Overtaken, your wiener shoots straight up. It just captures the pirate feeling so perfectly, and the track just gets better and better. Also, the openings are all bangers. There is not a single one that does not miss. Hope, Hikari E, Fight Together, and every other opening are pure gold. One Piece even has my favorite ending of all time, Eternal Pose. Overall, beautiful composition and emotion are put into every track.
Naruto
Similarly to One Piece, Naruto has amazing hits as well. For the tracks in the show, it is pretty much equal love from me. The Rising Fighting Spirit slaps so goddamn hard. There are so many types of battle music to get you pumped up. Honestly, there have been times when I just put Naruto tracks on and hit the gym. As for intros, it definitely has the high highs, but I think there are openings that are pretty low. Other than that, it is damn near a masterpiece.
It’s really close to calling for this one, and I think I would want to give this one a tie. If I had to choose in this vs, it would have to be One Piece over Naruto (this choice is probably the most biased considering I favor One Piece).
Atmosphere/Worldbuilding
One Piece
Everyone and their dogs have heard about the incredible worldbuilding that One Piece has to offer. It’s almost unfair to even compare the two series because of how amazing One Piece does its worldbuilding. The only thing blocking the creativity of this world is Oda’s mind. He can literally create whatever he wants in the One Piece universe because everyone will just find it to be normal. He can create an island made up entirely of balloons, and it would fit in. On top of that, having the antagonist be something that is looked up to as a protector is always cool. I really enjoy it when the heroes are underdogs. Finally, there are so many key moments in the plot that are throwbacks or foreshadowing that fans assume Oda is a god of some sort. It’s almost unbelievable how everything flows so damn well.
Naruto
Of course, One Piece has its amazing worldbuilding, but so does Naruto. I really enjoyed learning about different villages and seeing how each one has different clans, which also have different ninjutsu and genjutsu. I love the time period clash which has technology that modern-day people have, but its primary period is something like feudal Japan. That setting makes me drool simply because of how cool feudal Japan looks and feels. Aside from that, there isn’t anything that can throw you for a loop. It has very strict rules to how the world works which sets it apart from One Piece.
This category seems really unfair, but it is an important element of any show whether it’s a book, manga, anime, or video game. One Piece takes this to a whole nother level vs Naruto by seemingly having a near-infinite amount of ideas at its disposal.
Until Next Time
Sorry Naruto fans, but One Piece just hits most categories above Naruto. It took the dub with wins in 2 and a tie-in 1 while Naruto only had the 1 win and 1 tie. I didn’t mention the story much but even that would go to One Piece. Also, I really did try to keep it as unbiased as I could. If you don’t think I was right then please let me know your thoughts. I am open to all discussions.
Until Next Time
I’ll probably be doing similar content to this because I enjoy it more. I’ll still try and pump out reviews here and there, but I really want to write more freely about things. Thank you for reading One Piece vs Naruto and stay sexy my friends!