Eiichiro Oda Must Avoid the One Shonen Trope That Both Tite Kubo and Masashi Kishimoto ‘Exploited’ Only to Get Massive Backlash

The Naruto and Bleach fandoms have been at it against each other since the dawn of time. Sure, the question of who’s the better main character, which series has the better side characters, storyline, plot-twists, etc. have been raging on. But lately, fans have been arguing on which show has the better ending, Naruto or Bleach?

While the larger anime and manga fanbase has deemed both endings to be contentious, One Piece fans have been considering a more serious issue. Eiichiro Oda has something to learn from both Kishimoto and Kubo: Avoid the misgivings both Naruto and Bleach had when it comes to concluding One Piece‘s story.

Naruto according to Bleach fans and Bleach according to Naruto fans

According to a Naruto fan on X, if Naruto was written by Bleach author Tite Kubo, Naruto Uzumaki would have had several powers gifted to him, just like how Kubo wrote Ichigo to have several heritages just handed to him later in the series.

However, a Bleach fan rightfully pointed out that Masashi Kishimoto had already written Naruto to be born with rights even without Kubo. For instance, Naruto Uzumaki is from the Uzumaki clan, a formerly prominent clan in Uzushiogakure. Its members are renown for having bright, red hair, possessing incredibly strong life-forces and chakra, and their prowess in fūinjutsu.

It was later revealed in the series that the Uzumaki clan were the descendants of Asura Ōtsutsuki, a godly being, and also shared a distant blood relation with the Senju clan. As a result, Naruto and anime fans in general weren’t quite pleased to know that their favorite Ramen loving character, who started out quite unprivileged and weak, turned out to be an actual reincarnation of Asura, who said to have surpassed Indra. Not only that, Naruto Uzumaki was also destined to become a Hokage, since he was the son of the fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

The reincarnation bit took quite a toll on the entire community because Kishimoto did not give any buildup to this revelation. And it wasn’t a simple revelation, it was a game changer! It changed the entire way fans saw Naruto as a character.

On the other hand, Ichigo’s role as human, Hollow, and Shinigami was developed throughout his series, with his Quincy heritage being a major plot twist that solved the mystery of his mother’s passing and his relationship with his Zanpakuto, Zangetsu.

In fact, understanding who he is is one of Ichigo’s themes throughout the series, and it comes to culmination during the “Everything But The Rain” segment of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, which is often regarded as the character’s apex.

Not only did Kubo incorporate the Soul King into the story, but he also made Ichigo’s races a significant part, as previously stated. Under Kubo’s direction, the anime adaptation of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc is further developing a significant narrative point that Ichibe’s actions have already established: Ichigo was prepared to serve as a battery for the three worlds and as a replacement for the Soul King.

Now when fans consider Naruto Uzumaki’s development as a character, Kishimoto hasn’t done anything to uplift Naruto after these revelations but rather devalue his struggles as a child. All that abuse and discrimination he faced, along with his whole journey, is now considered redundant by some fans.

Even in Dragon Ball Super, some fans did not like Bardock’s wish to make his sons thrive after they were born. It seemed like Goku surviving against the Red Ribbon Army, King Piccolo, and Piccolo Jr. was because of Bardock’s wish, which basically undermines his whole struggle to power.

This is something One Piece fans hope Eiichiro Oda should avoid.

Luffy should be Luffy and not anything else

From what fans know of the story so far, Luffy wasn’t born into a particularly rich heritage. Sure, he has Monkey D. Dragon as his father, but it’s not like Luffy took any sort of big inspiration from him when he was a child. The only thing left to be revealed is the identity of Luffy’s mother. There are loads of theories surrounding that, but what’s more important to fans is that, the mother shouldn’t have had an effect on Luffy’s rise to become the future Pirate King.

Oda hasn’t made Luffy some incarnation of a godly being or gifted him with some demigod-like powers. The revelation of Gear 5 and Sun God Nika has been foreshadowed for years and they didn’t come out of nowhere like Naruto’s Baryon mode.

As One Piece heads towards its finale, fans are concerned whether Oda will actually nail the ending or succumb to the battle Shonen ending curse, like Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Naruto and Bleach have faced.

One Piece, Naruto and Bleach are all available to watch on Crunchyroll and Netflix.