Dive into the wild world of One Piece controversies that have shocked fans and stirred up debates! From censorship and voice actor scandals to sensitive jokes and character design choices, we're exploring the most talked-about moments in the series' history.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for the biggest scandals in
00:10One Piece's history.
00:20More often than not, when a voice actor is replaced, it's because they're either
00:35not available for the gig, or they're retiring.
00:38Just look at the passing of the torch for Frankie.
00:41However, during the War of Marineford arc, there was a sudden replacement that had a
00:46much stranger story behind it.
00:48And Ivankov's actor, Norio Imamura, was replaced after appearing in just a handful
00:54of episodes.
00:57It turns out that the seiyuu had posted photos online of himself butt-naked.
01:03It was trying to show off his tattoos, but it was seen as a huge scandal at the time,
01:07leading to Imamura's arrest for posting, quote, indecent images.
01:12This resulted in them being replaced by Ivankov's current voice actor, Mitsuo Iwata.
01:20For the most part, series creator Ichiro Oda isn't the focus of any of One Piece's
01:32actual controversies.
01:33But, that wasn't the case in 2018, when, in his author's note in Volume 89 of the
01:39manga, he wrote a joke about how people should call leftover food at a picnic, Sergeant Shoichi.
01:46Sergeant Shoichi is, of course, the Japanese Second World War soldier posted in the Guam
01:51forests, who only discovered the war was over 28 years later.
02:02Turns out, this was a pretty sensitive subject for some, and the publishing company in charge,
02:08Shueisha, was on the receiving end of a number of complaints.
02:11As such, both Shueisha and Oda himself had to make a formal apology to those who were
02:17offended by the blurb.
02:23Whitebeard's Jolly Roger was originally a picture of his face on top of a manji symbol.
02:45For those who don't know, the manji is a symbol in Japan, which appears as a flipped
02:51version of the swastika.
02:53It symbolises compassion, prosperity and balance in Buddhism, representing the Dharma Wheel.
03:12The Nazi Party took the right-facing manji, tilted it at a 45-degree angle, and used it
03:18to represent their hateful ideology.
03:21Hence, in the West, we associate the symbol with fascism, whereas in Asia, it's associated
03:27with Buddhism.
03:29As such, Oda had to redesign the symbol, which was tattooed on Ace's back, and replace
03:34the manji with bones, so people wouldn't associate Whitebeard with fascism.
03:55Number 7 – Pacing Issues
04:05Most long-running anime struggle with pacing issues.
04:08When both the anime and manga are being released weekly, it can be difficult to keep a consistent
04:14pace.
04:15This is why a lot of older anime introduce filler, so that they don't catch up to the
04:19manga too quickly, and the non-filler episodes can be of higher quality.
04:31One Piece used to follow this mentality early on, until they decided to get rid of filler
04:36altogether.
04:37This means the pacing had become increasingly slower, with each chapter being adapted into
04:43one episode.
04:44To solve this, Toei is re-editing Fish-Man Island to give a little breathing room, but
04:49the pacing will still put many off watching.
04:55Number 6 – White Usopp
04:57There's long been a debate on what the real-life equivalents of One Piece characters' nationalities
05:04would be.
05:05That was mostly put to rest when Oda listed what he imagined each straw hat's origins
05:10would be, back in one of his SVS columns.
05:14This included Zoro being Japanese, Luffy being Brazilian, and Usopp being from Africa.
05:20Not sure why he got a whole continent, but hey.
05:23So in 2024, when concept art was being shared for the The One Piece reboot series, and Usopp
05:30was shown three shades paler, some people weren't happy.
05:34They also pointed out that Usopp was black in the live-action adaptation.
05:43On the other hand, some have argued that Usopp was originally pale on the manga covers,
05:49and it was Toei who made him more tanned when they animated the series.
05:57Number 5 – Erasure
06:03Many people had a lot of concerns when it was announced that there would be a live-action
06:08One Piece series, but against all odds, the show actually ended up being well-received.
06:13One thing that does still draw the ire of some fans, however, is in its casting.
06:18Most prominently would be what happened when the Season 2 cast was teased by Netflix.
06:23The next arc to be tackled will be Alabasta, whose setting is heavily influenced by Egypt.
06:29So, you'd expect the cast of its main residence to be of this origin.
06:34However, when the actors of Vivi and King Cobra were revealed, audiences would learn
06:42that they were of Indian origin.
06:44Many were irate at this decision, labelling it as Arab erasure.
06:49Number 4 – Pirating
06:50Don't you just hate it when someone spoils the big reveals in the latest chapter of your
07:04favourite manga?
07:05Well, some people thrive off it.
07:08Releases of popular series such as One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen were being leaked online
07:12before they were released in that week's Shonen Jump volume for a sizeable period of
07:17time.
07:18In 2024, Shueisha and the police began cracking down on the uploaders and an arrest of two
07:24men was made in Tokyo.
07:28Apparently, they had somehow been purchasing that week's Shonen Jump early from a local
07:36bookstore, scanning them and then posting them online.
07:39Imagine getting arrested over One Piece!
07:42Number 3 – 4Kids Dub and Censorship
07:454Kids created an English dub of One Piece between 2004 and 2007, covering only 143 episodes
07:53of the show.
07:59It was notoriously bad because they thought American kids couldn't handle it.
08:04This meant they heavily censored the show, especially the violence, even when it was
08:09plot essential.
08:10They also removed alcohol consumption and replaced cigarettes with lollipops.
08:24Even worse, major plot points were taken out since 39 episodes were cut – meaning multiple
08:29arcs – were skipped completely.
08:32Eventually, it was discontinued, ending with the Straw Hats comically being killed by a
08:37falling ship.
08:41Number 2 – Sabo Replaced
08:44One Piece's American release featured Vic Mignogna, one of the biggest names in English
08:48dubbing at the time, as Sabo.
08:56This changed when, in 2019, Mignogna faced several accusations of inappropriate behaviour
09:02towards fans and peers.
09:04Following an official company investigation, dubbing studio Funimation officially terminated
09:09Mignogna's contract.
09:11They later recast all of his ongoing roles, including Sabo, in One Piece.
09:19Mignogna responded by filing a defamation suit against his accusers, he lost the case
09:24and the appeal.
09:25Shockingly, that's not the only time Sabo had to be recast.
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09:45Number 1 – Sabo Seiyuu Saga
09:48Yes, indeed, there's been more than one controversy that led to a replacement for
09:58Sabo.
09:59Though this one had massive implications for various airing anime.
10:06Sabo's Japanese voice actor, the renowned Seiyuu Toru Furuya, also had huge roles like
10:14Amuro Rei from Mobile Suit Gundam, Yamcha from Dragon Ball and Toru Amuro from Detective
10:20Conan.
10:21However, he found himself in a wild scandal in 2024 when his affair with a fan, which
10:27also resulted in a terminated pregnancy and alleged abuse, appeared in headlines across
10:32Japan.
10:33In the wake of the scandal, Furuya announced he would be stepping down from his most prominent
10:37roles and so Miyu Irino became the new voice of Sabo.
10:48What aspect of One Piece do you find the most controversial?
10:52Let us know in those comments below.