One Piece

One Piece fans crash Crunchyroll server

One Piece fans are celebrating!, months ago, followers of Eiichiro Oda’s legendary series have been excited for the arrival of Monkey D. Luffy’s new anime transformation, called “Gear 5”. , fans insisted this was going to be a shocking moment for the entire industry and this transformation would “break the internet.” On the night of August 6, 2023, episode 1071 premiered in Japan, everyone went to watch it on the anime streaming platform, Crunchyroll. But so many people wanted to watch Gear 5… that the servers crashed and the site started to malfunction!

One Piece “broke the internet” with Monkey D. Luffy’s Gear 5!

One Piece Crunchyroll

This was reported on Twitter by user @newworldartur (and many other fans of the series): When they logged on Crunchyroll to watch the long-awaited episode of One Piece, they found that the site was not working properly. People expect One Piece fans to be outraged and angry with this malfunction, but in fact the opposite happened. They were happy ( most of them) because it meant that the episode met one of their expectations. There were so many people who wanted to go watch it, not only it broke the internet… but it also broke Crunchyroll’s servers!

It should be clarified that this is nothing new. Every time there is a major premiere in the anime industry that is streamed on Crunchyroll, the site has server problems for many hours. It happened in the past with the premiere of the latest season of Attack on Titan, or the anime premiere of Chainsaw Man. However, those are relatively new series. The fact that a series as old and as long-running as One Piece continues to have such legendary moments that everyone wants to watch them is pure demonstration of the creativity and talent of Eiichiro Oda, and the staff of Toei Animation when it comes to adapting the original work.

Why is Luffy’s Gear 5 so important in One Piece?

One Piece Gear 5 Anime

But if you’re not very familiar with One Piece you might be wondering what is Gear 5 and why is it so important in the industry? Well, explaining all of this in detail would take a long time and would be full of spoilers, but to put it short : It’s due to many reasons. First, we have to keep in mind that we are talking about the transformation of Luffy, who is one of the 3 most iconic protagonists of Shonen (Next to Goku and Naruto). When such an iconic character gets a new power, it makes sense that it is an event that will catch everyone’s attention, no matter if they are fans of the series or not.

In context of the series, Gear 5’s appearance is one of the most impactful moments in the entire story. It is the revelation of the true nature of Luffy’s Devil Fruit, the natural progression of his growth as a character and the moment when Wano’s arc changes completely, as he finally has a way to defeat the villain Kaido, with whom he has been fighting several episodes ago and who had already managed to defeat Luffy on 3 different occasions. After all, Gear 5 had already been a memorable moment in the manga when it was revealed over 2 years ago.

One Piece Gear 5 Anime 2

Another reason why Gear 5 is so beloved is because the abilities it gives to Monkey D. Luffy. This awakening of his Devil Fruit turns our protagonist into a cartoon character who can basically do whatever he wants with his rubber body, his imagination is the only limit. Not to mention that he can also turn whatever he touches into rubber. It’s a fun and creative power, different from what we’re used to seeing in shonen protagonists.

Luckily, users were reporting in the last few hours that Crunchyroll is working better, in case you want to watch the episode on your own. And if you’re interested in watching One Piece just because of the Rise in popularity of Gear 5, we can say is a “must watch” (Although it’s a pity you started with such a big spoiler) Don’t be intimidated by its length of over 1000 episodes. The fact that it has managed to “break the internet” after more than 20 years on the air is perfect proof of how really good this series is.

One Piece Arte Wano

©尾田栄一郎/集英社・フジテレビ・東映アニメーション