Since One Piece has such a long runtime, it comes as no surprise that viewers notice recurring patterns. Some are beloved and help characterize the anime positively, such as Luffy’s love of meat. Others are viewed negatively; instead of adding to the story and characters, these trends elicit annoyance from viewers for reducing interesting personalities or harming the narrative.
Instead of adding anything good to One Piece, these trends are seen as decreasing the anime’s quality. In turn, this leads to frequent complaints from fans who believe the viewing experience would improve if these details were changed, adjusted, or removed completely.
10 Zoro’s Intelligence Takes A Hit
Roronoa Zoro has always been one of the most stoic main characters of One Piece. However, his ambition to be the world’s best swordsman and his tragic backstory with his best friend adds depth and complexity to his character. For added comical flavor, Zoro gains another habit: the tendency to get constantly and implausibly lost.
As One Piece continued, criticism that Zoro is the most lacking of the main characters began to circulate. He doesn’t receive as much personal development or focus. His lack of direction has eclipsed his character and he seems more dimwitted and flatter in general, aside from combat proficiency. This disappoints fans who think Zoro should be much more capable and that his potential deserves to be explored more.
9 Haki Outranks Devil Fruits
Devil Fruit lore is an integral component of One Piece’s setting. As the Straw Hats’ journey progresses further into the Grand Line, the story introduces the powerful Haki. Many antagonists use it, so it only makes sense that many of the heroes, like Zoro and Luffy, develop and hone it, too.
However, many One Piece viewers dislike how the Devil Fruits comparatively decrease in importance when Haki becomes more common. Many fans prefer the variety and uniqueness of Devil Fruits. They also like the mysterious factor of what unknown power the consumer will receive. Overall, Devil Fruits are considered to add more distinguishing characterization to the bizarre fantasy environment. In comparison, Haki can be used by anyone and there is less diversity.
8 Many Interesting Incidental Characters Fail To Join The Straw Hats
A fun guessing game to play throughout One Piece is to speculate which fun and dynamic characters will join the Straw Hats on their travels. The downside is that, given the length of the series and the sheer number of characters, there will inevitably be a large number who fail to make the cut.
For example, the characters Princess Vivi Nefertari and Kaku were both adored by fans who hoped they would become permanent additions to Luffy’s crew. However, One Piece dictated otherwise. Vivi chooses to leave and look after her beloved country while Kaku reveals his true sinister allegiance to the World Government. Now, fans look forward to the possibility of future cameos.
7 Awesome Battles Are Left Offscreen
One of the shonen genre’s driving features is battles. Viewers enjoy seeing the characters participate in combat while demonstrating their strength, abilities, and tactics. One Piece is not lacking in fights, but fans have noticed a strange tendency to leave larger and climactic fights offscreen as the series continues, even if a fight has a strong potential for great visuals.
Earlier in One Piece, this trend was less common and so its usage hit harder, such as with Blackbeard and Ace’s duel or Whitebeard and Shanks’ confrontation. However, more recent usages have been met with more annoyance from loyal fans.
6 Chopper Gets Reduced To The Cute Mascot
When Tony Tony Chopper was introduced on Drum Island, he was more than a cute blue-nosed reindeer with medical expertise. He had a traumatizing past, crippling insecurities, respectable combat forms, and a hefty dose of naivete. Subsequent One Piece arcs follow Chopper’s maturation, such as Thriller Bark where he is crushed by his idol Dr. Hogback’s shady agenda.
However, Chopper’s development slows after the timeskip. He is minimized to an adorable sidekick, and his primary purpose seems to be supplying cuteness. To make matters worse, his fulfillment of the doctor role gets seen less and less. Being cute was always one of Chopper’s appealing features, but his three-dimensional nature and struggles were a key part of his likability.
5 Robin’s Skills Are Underutilized
When Nico Robin joins the Straw Hats after Alabasta, they gain a calm and wise presence and a valuable ally. However, One Piece viewers eventually noticed an unfortunate occurrence. For someone who was once the formidable Miss All-Sunday and the right-hand woman to former Warlord Crocodile, Robin is frequently underused in combat.
It’s possible that Robin’s Devil Fruit is just far too useful and she would solve all of the Straw Hats’ problems too often if she used it all the time. However, viewers still wish to see more of her fighting ability on the front lines — not just in a supporting role or a brief but vicious scuffle.
4 Sanji’s Personal Morals Cripple Him Against Female Opponents
Sanji is extraordinarily proficient in combat and considered one of the top three hard-hitting fighters of the Straw Hat crew, alongside Zoro and Luffy. However, he has one value that he sticks to: he will not fight or hurt a woman, regardless of if she is on the opposing side.
Over the years, this decision, while well-meaning, has harmed Sanji’s performance in battle and his logic since he also tends to become excessively excited about the woman’s attractiveness. Additionally, it has limited the Straw Hats’ flexibility in squaring off with antagonists. Many One Piece fans believe that Sanji’s chivalry is misguided and that viewing his female opponents in terms of abilities and morals instead of gender would solve many issues.
3 No Deaths Permanently Stick
Many One Piece fans are unhappy with how the story’s deaths are likely not permanent. This happens even if their survival probability is negligible at best. Over the course of the series, there has been only one very notable exception.
One Piece’s trend of impermanent deaths annoys many viewers who think it undermines the narrative’s dangers and undoes its dramatic resonance. From Pell in Alabasta to Pagaya in Skypiea to even Sabo, it is well-established that any deceased character has a chance of not staying that way.
2 Long Recaps Swallow Up Episode Runtime
Over the course of the One Piece, recaps have become a common part of each episode’s runtime as the plot becomes more intricate and involved. This fact drives irritates many fans thanks to an episode’s limited length and the growing size of recaps.
With the combined title opening, ending, and the recap segment itself, this can easily suck up nine minutes of a One Piece episode which averages about twenty-four minutes in total. This means that over one-third of the viewing time is spoken for in an episode that is already strapped for time.
1 Too Much Padding Drags Down The Narrative
Most anime engage in fillers. This is to give production more time to work on additional episodes and/or to allow the original manga to gain more material first. This is nothing new to One Piece, especially for such a long-running anime. It would be understandable, but fans have started to become bored with filler content in recent years for what is seen as overuse.
The padding is usually repetitive and provides nothing new to the viewer’s understanding of One Piece. The filler episodes are considered arduous and tedious, with some notable exceptions. They drag the story’s quality down, slow the pacing to infuriating levels, and feature the characters acting in out-of-the-way settings and circumstances that have no bearing on the main plot — which is what viewers actually want to see.