News culture “He bothers me”: this character from One Piece poses real problems for the author of the manga, because he is much too powerful

Culture news “He bothers me”: this character from One Piece poses real problems for the author of the manga, because he is much too powerful

Among the many genres that the manga universe brings together, the most popular is undoubtedly Shonen as Dragonball, Hunter x Hunter and other Naruto. But these mangas can encounter a recurring problem that is difficult to get rid of. When the protagonists encounter increasingly stronger enemies, it is normal that they themselves become more powerful. But many works end up presenting characters who are far too powerful for their world, which ends up killing any plot.

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The Supremacy of the Straw Hat

Well, that’s what Eiichiro Oda thinks of his main character, the well-known Monkey D. Luffy. Already in 2012, he expressed some reservations about the power of his flagship protagonist.

It’s Luffy who bothers me the most. I have to slow him down with obstacles, otherwise he will soon defeat the villain. My characters act as if they have a will of their own. When I forced them to move for the sake of the story, my audience complained.

The mangaka must both show that the hero has difficulty fighting each enemy, to create suspense, but he must also show a feeling of progression between each fight otherwise the reader does not have the impression that the character is evolving. The fact of placing “obstacles” to slow down Luffy in his fights is a good technique that Oda has found to keep a certain suspense. We also had the opportunity to see it, not so long ago in the manga where Luffy was absent for a few chapters to…eat. These little pirouettes allow the story to move forward while slowing down the hero, who would solve everything in a fraction of a second. But not all mangakas had this idea.

A recurring problem in manga

Many other mangakas cannot manage the escalation of power of their work. We can see the case of the much too powerful hero in the former cult Toriko where the eponymous character becomes so strong that the power of his blows makes his enemies circle the Earth. But that’s not the problem with popular Shonen endings. Naruto also suffers from this scourge. From the first to the last chapter of the manga, we go from a ninja fighting with kunai and cloning techniques to the chosen one of a prophecy fighting against the goddess of chakra. The Dragonball saga also has the same problem, where Goku goes from a young boy who competes in martial arts with a stick, to a monster capable of eating planet Earth. In short, the end of mangas has always created debates and we wholeheartedly hope that One Piece will be able to manage its outcome, awaited for more than 25 years.