One Piece animator's Garp and Coby artwork has manga readers hyped, anime fans nervous

One Piece recently began the adaptation of the Egghead Island arc with a noticeable change in the art style. The current arc is mostly lore-related and has revealed many things, including the survival of Ohara's knowledge and the origins behind the devil fruits.

This series' animation has been on a constant rise since the debut of the Wano arc. Katsumi Ishizuka, an animator who previously worked on the Zoro vs. King and Law vs. Blackbeard fights, is becoming a centerpiece for fan appreciation. Recently, Katsumi Ishizuka shared an illustration of Garp and Koby, which managed to gain a huge reaction from the fanbase.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series.

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One Piece animator creates hype for the upcoming episodes

One Piece's animation has seen a huge rise in quality and overall hype since the beginning of the Wano arc. Although the art style change from the Wano arc to the Egghead Island arc has received mixed reviews, the overall animation quality has not dropped a bit.

The Egghead Island arc recently adapted the fight between Lucci and Luffy, although the fight itself was one of the minor fights of this arc. An animator named Katsumi Ishizuka, who has a history of working on One Piece episodes, recently shared an illustration focused on Garp and Coby. Garp and Coby have been consistently built up as the main moral pillars of the Marines.

Coby was captured by Blackbeard while Amazon Lily was under siege. Garp has been consistently hyped up for his raw strength, and the upcoming Garp vs. Kuzan fight will be one of the main highlights of the Egghead Island arc. Recently, animators hyping up an upcoming episode have gained prominence, with the most recent example being the animators of Frieren hyping up episode 9.

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How fans reacted to the illustration

Aokiji, or Kuzan, as shown in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

The new One Piece illustration essentially brought the fans' attention back to episodes 1062 and 1093, all while raising the anticipation and expectation for the upcoming Garp vs. Kuzan fight. Although a few recent episodes, like episode 1100, received mixed reactions from the fans, this illustration managed to revitalize the expectations for this arc.

"It'll be a legendary episode, can't wait," one fan wrote.

This was done while sharing a clip of Kuzan from One Piece episode 1093. The episode itself mainly focused on Law vs. Blackbeard. But the few second long shots of Kuzan are still one of the most well-animated sequences in the series.

Coby as shown in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Another fan wrote how the episode will be one of the most well-made and well-animated sequences in One Piece, especially if Katsumi Ishizuka starts hyping it up.

"You know that the Garp vs. Aokiji episode will be at its peak if Ishizuka starts doing mad arts before it airs in months," another fan wrote.

Another fan took this opportunity to compare the Luffy vs. Lucci fight to the upcoming Garp vs. Kuzan fight. The fan mentioned how Luffy vs. Lucci was one of the earliest highlights of the Egghead Island arc, but Garp vs. Kuzan might end up reaching the levels of the Zoro vs. King and Sanji vs. Queen fights.

"luffy vs lucci is great but i think garp vs aokiji will be the best fight of this year," one fan wrote.

Garp as shown in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

Another fan took this opportunity to simply applaud Ishizuka's previous involvements.

"Ishizuka cinema for one of the best stretches in One Piece I am SEATED," one fan wrote.

Fans have taken this illustration as a form of sneak peek towards the spectacle that will be the Garp vs. Kuzan fight, especially since Ishizuka has previously worked on episodes 1062 and 1093, which have both been regarded as some of the most cinematic episodes in the series.

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Stay tuned for more One Piece anime, manga, and live-action updates for 2024.