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The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga series released an intriguing video on Thursday, December 21, 2023. The roughly 75-second video adapts an original song, titled “YO-HO-HO We Pirates,” that Oda sent to the team that manages the account.
While seemingly innocuous, the One Piece X account and Oda are now under flak from fans for a key detail regarding the song’s production. Of the video’s own admission, the song was produced using AI.
While it’s unclear exactly what aspects of the video were produced with AI, the artwork and the actual vocals within seem to be made with artificial intelligence.
For those who don’t understand why Eiichiro Oda is in hot water over this issue, the use of AI in illustrative and musical art has been a hot-button topic lately. While this is also likely why Oda and his team decided to create an AI song and video, their plan has seemingly backfired on them, given fans’ criticisms since it was released.
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One Piece manga and its creator, Eiichiro Oda, in hot water for use of AI, considering series’ current subject matter
Fan reaction
Reactions to One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda’s use of AI are somewhat varied but mainly negative. This is unsurprising given the timing of the video’s release, which comes just as Kuma’s flashback ends. As fans of the series well know, Bartholomew Kuma is a human who had his free will and conscience replaced with computerized programming to turn him into a super soldier.
With this in mind, many fans are harshly critical of Oda’s choice to use artificial intelligence for the video, calling it somewhat tone-deaf and ignorant of his own words and messages. Some are of the opinion that it is dichotomous for Oda to be writing a story about the dangers and implications of replacing people with computers while doing the very same in real life.
Other One Piece fans are pointing out that to Oda, artificial intelligence may just be a neat tool rather than something that is actively being advocated for as a replacement for human artists.
Furthermore, Oda has yet to use AI to write scripts or draw any aspects of his flagship manga series. With this in mind, it’s hard to say that he truly does support the use of artificial intelligence in the aforementioned context it's being advocated for.
Likewise, artificial intelligence is such a trendy topic that Oda and his team could simply be trying to generate clicks with the latest video.
At the end of the day, however, Eiichiro Oda makes his message and stance on the use of computers to replicate human life clear via current events in his manga series. With his own writing, which he has essentially full control over, serving as the best piece of evidence for his personal stance, it’s hard to argue that he should be so heavily critiqued by fans.
Thankfully, not all are taking the opportunity to take shots at Oda. Some fans are pointing out that this single use of AI for the series isn’t indicative of his stance or intent to implement the tool further. Others also believe this has nothing to do with the coming remake of the series anime and how Wit Studio will produce it.
Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.
