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Gear 5 vs Super Saiyan: One Piece & Dragon Ball fandom clashes in search of the superior powerup

By Joshua Corvington
Modified Jun 21, 2022 16:23 GMT
Goku, Super Saiyan circa the Frieza Saga (Image via Akira Toriyama/Shueisha/Viz Media/Dragon Ball Z)
Goku, Super Saiyan circa the Frieza Saga (Image via Akira Toriyama/Shueisha/Viz Media/Dragon Ball Z)

As with every anime transformation sequence, Gear 5 Luffy from the latest chapters of One Piece is being contrasted with the Super Saiyan transformation from Dragon Ball Z. Several people have put the Gear 5 above the Super Saiyan already, in a rather trollish manner. This has resulted in some fans not embracing it well.

This is an understatement, as Twitter tends to explode when things like this happen. With many fans mocking the statement as absurd, some have started descending into insults.

This all stemmed from one tweet expressing an opinion on One Piece and Dragon Ball Z. As always, this was followed by backlash after backlash. Some posit iconography made the Super Saiyan better, others share Gear 5 is better written.

Note: This article contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Z and One Piece. A content warning for the language at the outset, as angry fans and Twitter are a bad combination.

One Piece Gear 5 tweet sends Dragon Ball fans into a frenzy

The tweet in question was part of a thread of four tweets, which on the fourth the original poster stated they were muting replies. Today, the original tweet has well over 580 replies, over 10k likes, and over 1,000 retweets. The original commentator in question even stated it as a fact. They also added that they're not taking questions or nuanced discussions.

This hasn't gone over well with the Dragon Ball community, and some One Piece fans are even wondering what possessed the original poster to post this. Dragon Ball fans argued that the Super Saiyan transformation has more power behind it, and had more hype when it was finally revealed.

They also added that it is one of the most influential transformations next to Super Sentai and Sailor Moon. Every transformation that surfaced after Dragon Ball's Super Saiyan in shonen anime is inevitably compared or contrasted with it. It has a long legacy since its first appearance 31 years ago in 1991, including references, becoming iconic, and parodies.

One Piece fans, however, contest all of this. According to them, Gear 5 had more buildup in the story, with at least hundreds of chapters. They are of the opinion that Gear 5 makes Luffy's powers much more than just a rubber body. Many are also saying One Piece is the new innovator.

Many One Piece fans are also adding that the ani-manga deserves its place as one of the legendary anime alongside Bleach, Naruto, and even Dragon Ball. They say it’s more than deserved after outperforming other shonen series'.

Then there are those who are simply stirring up a hornet's nest. Some are fans of both that are already over this debate. Some just wanted to poke fun at it by comparing Gear 5 to Karma from Boruto or even some of Naruto's transformations.

Others may genuinely prefer one to the other. Many people, at this juncture, asked the eternal question of "why not both?"

There are certainly arguments to be made over which shonen action series did their transformations better. There are several arguments in favor of both sides, as well as numerous arguments in opposition.

It can get excessively annoying when a fan overhypes a series. But it's worse when fans overhype a series while bashing another series.

Perhaps if some fans just calmed down, they wouldn't get so worked up about transformations. On the other hand, there will always be those who do that.

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