 This video is a re-upload of my original Luffy vs. Kaido, a fan-based divided video, which was manually flagged and blocked worldwide by Toei Animation on Christmas Day. So thank you Toei for really getting into the spirit of Christmas, but here's the video once more in all of its opinionated glory. Enjoy. Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything on peace. And today it's time to talk about some controversy within the global fan base, spawning from the recent anime episodes being primarily 914 and 915, the centerpiece of which was the much anticipated Luffy vs. Kaido clash. Now there have always been manga critics and staunch anime defenders at war with one another since the beginning of time. In fact, I'm pretty sure those two factions actually pre-date the dinosaurs. However, I don't think I've ever seen such an intensely split opinion between these two groups. Generally, what will happen is that manga readers will complain that something was not realized properly, be it through art, animation, pacing, or just downright changing events. And anime watchers will be like, yeah, that's fair, but I still liked it. However, in this case, anime only watchers on mass are praising this fight as one of the greatest events to ever grace this anime. While manga readers seem even more disappointed than ever before. And to be perfectly honest, even though I fall firmly into the manga camp, I do believe that both sides have very legitimate reasons for feeling the way they do. And I'd like to explore that here today. Now I would like to begin by stating that these episodes, no matter what you thought of them, are far and away superior to the quality of storytelling that we've experienced for the last 10 years. And that is never lost on me when viewing any one new episode, no matter how much I may criticise it. The art style is nothing short of stunning, and the animation by and large was pretty solid, especially in episode 915. 914 had some, let's say, questionable elements during the filler combat. But that's irrelevant now, because for the first time that I can really recall in my lifetime as a One Piece fan, the series is being presented as an aesthetically polished product. As a result, the difference in opinion between anime watchers and manga readers has become much more streamlined and a relatively simple endeavour to identify. And it effectively comes down to the original intent of a scene as presented on the manga page, versus the animated realisation. And now you might be thinking, well, what's the issue here? If the art is great and the animation is competent, then this shouldn't be a problem at all, right? Well, no, actually. Because there is a hell of a lot more to the art of storytelling than that. And One Piece, as well as all anime adaptations in general, are subject to the artistic and narrative direction applied to it. And in the case of Luffy vs Kaido, the anime took a radically different storytelling route than the manga did. I mean, the final result was still the same, Luffy ended up defeated, but the journey to get there ends up radically reshaping how we view this event, as well as how we view both Luffy and Kaido as characters. And manga fans are understandably upset with this change of direction, whilst anime fans have no point of comparison, and so are pretty thrilled with what's on screen, a sort of ignorance as bliss situation. But to dive into how the anime radically redefined this encounter, let's go to how the events played out in the manga, and I'd like to focus on two key aspects. The first of which is Luffy's initial punch on Kaido, and the second is Kaido's knockout blow on Luffy. These two events, despite following the exact same story, could not be more different across the contrasting mediums. So first up, Luffy punching Kaido. Originally, after Kaido used Bora Breath targeting Oden Castle, there was a moment of shock, followed by spotting Luffy immediately in the air, smacking Kaido, bam in the head. And the beauty of how this plays out on paper is all to do with the element of surprise. The panels we see of Luffy are minimal. There is one shocked reaction, and then the very next time we see our protagonist, he is engaging in a head-on assault against one of the four emperors, surprising not only Kaido, but more so us as the readers, and thus in my opinion amplifying the experience significantly. If Oda had elected to portray Luffy gearing up for this attack in any way, that flawless surprise would have evaporated before our very eyes. And I think this is a very important aspect of Luffy's character as well. He is an individual who acts much faster than he thinks, and a long-standing motif of the manga involves Luffy leaping into action before we as readers have the chance to clock that it's even happening. It assists in us helping understand the kind of man he is, rash, irrational, and uncontrollable. Meanwhile, the anime changes this significantly. So to begin, we spend some time watching Luffy effectively power up in a very stereotypical, super sainish kind of way actually, and already from this moment on, the original intention of the manga scene has changed. And that is because we know that Luffy is clearly preparing for combat, and so from here on out we are just sort of waiting for the moment where he assaults Kaido. The surprise of our protagonist taking on an emperor out of nowhere is gone, being instead traded for more of a slow sequence to build up anticipation for the event that we now all know is inevitable. And in many ways, I don't think this is a true portrayal of Luffy's character. He just isn't the type of person to stand there, get mad, power up, and then comparatively slowly make his way to the target of his rage. Like I said before, Luffy is the kind of character who acts before he thinks, meaning that in order to properly convey him, we can't be privy to too much of his thought process or it very much undermines who he is. It's very conflicting to take an impulsive character and then give us a step-by-step guide to their thought process. That's my opinion anyway. I can also fully understand if anime only watches defend this portrayal of Luffy because it is really all I know. He is still a charming character, just in the anime he's very easy to understand. So in one way that could even make him more endearing to some because they find it easier to identify with him. For others like me who have always been invested in Luffy's shock value and super left field lifestyle, it removes a huge layer of that and so it can be quite frustrating to sit through. Now let's also talk about the action itself and may I just say that the anime absolutely nailed the moment of impact when Luffy's fist collided with Kaido's head. It was such a satisfying oomph moment and very reflective of the instantaneous action of the manga. In fact I'd say it even surpassed it. However where the two differ greatly is the decision made immediately after. With the manga choosing to down Kaido swiftly while the anime milked this moment for well everything it was worth by showing about a billion sequential close-ups of Luffy and Kaido artificially extending the clash. Now this is a very common device implemented by Toei and it frustrates me on every occasion they use it. To me action is best when it is swift. Swift is powerful and every millisecond that the anime delays the outcome of a strike lessens its power. And it's another one of those things where I guess you can argue that the intent behind it may be to amp up the dramatic stakes by having an extended clash whereby you can't necessarily immediately tell who's going to come out on top and while that's a valid opinion it just doesn't depict the reality of the situation as presented in the manga. Which is why so many readers are annoyed to watch it because they've been waiting for I guess roughly a year now to see this engagement being given the animated treatment and when it finally happens the way it plays out is completely counter-intuitive to the actual purpose of the original scene as well as to the character performing the action. And this is very similar to the second part I want to examine which is Kaido's defeat of Luffy. In the manga it's difficult to really express just how quickly this happened. Luffy basically finished pummeling Kaido's non-dragon form then Kaido stood up, gave Luffy a glare and like that Kaido took Luffy out with a single hit. There was no clash there wasn't even any time for Luffy to react. He was just completely outclassed in terms of speed, power, haki, you name it. And it really hammered home the sheer difference between Luffy and an established Emperor of the Sea. It made it clear that Luffy was not going to be able to take down Kaido in a head-on situation and that this was not going to be a standard antagonist. And in the anime version they once again completely changed this intention but even more radically than the first example actually because in the anime version Kaido is not the one to initiate this interaction which is massive. The powerful factor of the manga events is that this moment was Kaido saying enough is enough and actually getting mildly serious for the first time in the conflict resulting in Luffy's immediate dismissal. Whereas in the anime it reads more like Kaido is still on the defensive especially because Luffy is the one to initiate the attack, a King Konga no less, which he not only begins but even lands at the same time as Kaido lands his own attack. And despite the fact that Kaido still comes out on top it gives this encounter the illusion that these two combatants are far more equal than they should be because Kaido's sheer speed is now effectively non-existent. He is still a superior power but he does not feel like the impossibly unscalable wall that he should. And I will be more insistent about this example because while this clash is definitely entertaining to watch and well animated I do believe that it is doing Kaido a great disservice which may sound insane to say because yeah he still came out on top but it really does make him look like significantly less of a threat than he should be and actually kind of like if Luffy just engaged in combat at a clever angle or more intelligently like I don't know you snake man or something then he might even have a chance but this is not the case. And seeing it this way does radically redefine the audience impression of not only Kaido but also Luffy. And just as a side note it also results in a weird little moment where Luffy had to end up behind Kaido somehow despite being flung away from him due to the impact of the new strike so seeing Luffy need to be like maneuvered back into his manga position was a bit jarring to me although I highly doubt that any anime only fans would have noticed so it's not a huge issue I guess. But this is the core of why there is such a vigorous debate spawning every time discussion of these episodes pops up. Whatever your opinion of the anime is what it is doing is not Oda's original intention and it might seem like very minor changes but they completely redefine the atmosphere of the scene as well as the impression of the characters involved. Of course it's not just Luffy versus Kaido either these changes happen at almost every point in the anime adaptation and I guess here is the part where you can say that an adaptation does need to be its own thing to suit the storytelling medium. And in most cases yes I would agree one of the better examples of this would be the Lord of the Rings films they simply could not be a faithful retelling of the books because they do not directly translate into the format of film so they had to take that world and its characters and craft the story for that medium. Anime and manga are a bit different though because they aren't as far removed as purely literary and purely visual mediums. Manga exists as something of an in-between and so it can serve as a direct translation. In my mind what a great anime does is take that manga material and elevate it not change it. It takes the ideas the characters and the narrative and serves it as best it possibly can through the tools available to animation. That is not what the One Piece anime is doing though and there is no artistic reason to implement the scene redefining differences. However I will point out that there is indeed a practical one and that practical reason is because episodes need to be longer. In reality the events of Episode 914 and 915 should have played out within half an episode at most. However because Shueisha, Toei and Fuji TV insist on producing One Piece all year round instead of seasonally, directors are constantly under the pump to extend events and action is by far the most difficult feature to add filler into. So more often than not the choice gets made to extend the action so that a punch that took an instant to complete in the manga now takes 30 seconds to a minute to complete in the anime. And as someone who is captivated by Oda's brilliant storytelling beats it is highly unsatisfying to see them consistently undermined, even if they are done so with flawless art and stunning animation. Those things are almost meaningless if the scene doesn't play out correctly. But I do want to end on a slight positive note for anime watchers. In the end if you are satisfied by what's happening on screen then it really doesn't matter what manga readers like me say. Do not ever let anyone inhibit your personal enjoyment of One Piece. But I guess the thing to understand is that there are two very different incarnations of One Piece. They follow the same story but they lead very different lives. And sadly they happen to have the same name so this manga versus anime conflict is going to continue occurring until the end of time. And that pretty much does it for why Luffy Vs Kaido has divided the fanbase. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produces in general then please do consider donating to the Grand Line review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. And if you'd like to see more videos like this but apply to other anime manga series then please do check out my second channel New World Review for all of your wider needs. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time then please do head over to my discord server where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis. And finally please do comment with your thoughts on the Luffy Vs Kaido anime adaptation. This has been the Grand Line review and I'll see you next time.