Kishimoto Explains Why Naruto Is Better Than One Piece
The decade was the 2010s when enthusiasts witnessed the rise of two greatest pieces of work – “One Piece” and “Naruto” – by two talented mangakas that went on to redefine the shonen era forever. As these generation-defining manga spawned, a rivalry developed between the two fandoms with fans debating the relative merits of each series.
To this day, the contention is still fresh between the works of Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda. Despite tackling very different plotlines and themes, comparisons are still often made over which is the better series. However, Kishimoto once shared the one key factor he felt set Naruto apart from its nemesis.
In his interview in Jump Versus, which was published in March 2013, Kishimoto contrasted his approach with Oda by recounting their diverging philosophies on character death. He mentioned that after seeing One Piece’s embracing of character persistence, he consciously pursued a grittier and more somber narrative path for Naruto.
Kishimoto pointed to One Piece’s lighthearted tone to be a reason behind its success and realized that had he done the same, his work would simply just be another one of the lot. Hence, he decided that Naruto should go the opposite way and started killing off his characters more often.
With characters surviving no matter the odds, the story maintains a celebratory spirit towards its eventual conclusion and One Piece follows the same path. Kishimoto highlighted it and stated that if he had not strayed away from the path that One Piece was taking, his story would not have been popular enough.
As a result, he made Naruto a more serious battle shonen series making it different from its nemesis. Having said that, both authors have mutual respect for each other’s work and accept the other path as valid, but for their respective stories, choose to follow their own compass.
While One Piece opts to keep its characters defiantly alive, Naruto integrated meaningful character deaths into its narrative. Regardless, both approaches work very well for their own stories. It highlights how two iconic mangakas make very intentional tonal decisions to craft wildly divergent adventures.
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