Toei's Figarland Garling design has One Piece fans in despair once again

Modified Sep 23, 2024 06:30 GMT

One Piece character Figarland Garling had a small redesign by Toei in the anime (Image via Toei Animation). — One Piece character Figarland Garling had a small redesign by Toei in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece fans were waiting to see Figarland Garling, the leader of the World Government's Holy Knights, in the anime, and Toei Animation surprised its audience once again, for better or worse. The anime adaptation of Garling features him having blonde hair, along with a slight redesign in his beard, now sporting a more groomed look.

It is not a major difference but is something that took a lot of fans by surprise, as this is a character with several mysteries surrounding him. For a long time, fans thought that Garling was a redhead, thus leading to some connections with Shanks, or at least having gray hair because of his age, but this change in the design has probably ruined some of those theories.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the One Piece series and reflects the author's opinions.

Figarland Garling's redesign in the One Piece anime has fans shocked

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As aforementioned, Figarland Garling is a character surrounded by a lot of questions in the One Piece universe. His role as the leader of the Holy Knights, the ultimate fighting force of the World Government, and his recent promotion to a member of the Gorosei in the manga have led to many theories regarding who he is, however, the recent appearance in the anime has ruined some ideas fans had.

For a long time, fans thought Garling had red hair, which is why many connected him with Shanks since there has been a long-running theory that the latter is a Celestial Dragon or at least works for the World Government. But Toei Animation has Garling depicted as a blonde man, which caught many people by surprise, especially considering they thought he would at least have gray hair due to his age.

This new design was a peculiar decision, to say the least, and one that added another set of questions to the leader of the Holy Knights. Moreover, his beard also had a slight redesign, now featuring a more stylish look compared to the one he has in the manga.

Fan reactions online

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The association Garling has with the Gorosei is quite interesting, since Saturn was recently killed by Imu and the former took over his position. This means that there are ways to reach a position in the Gorosei, and could also mean that it wasn't always the same five men who have been throughout the series, thus further elevating Garling's position and his achievements.

Garling was also seen in the flashback of the God Valley incident, which had Marine hero, Monkey D. Garp, and King of the Pirates, Gol D. Roger, teaming up. The fact that Figarland Garling was involved has resulted in several questions regarding his character, especially the theories connecting him with Shanks within the One Piece fandom.

"Also what happened to his beard why did Toei just randomly give him a casual redesign??" someone said.

"TOEI really stole Yuji’s cloth and thought we won’t notice," another person commented.

"The anime nuked my guys aura," a user added.

Regardless of personal preferences with the design, Figarland Garling is one of the most mysterious characters in the series and one that fans have a lot of expectations with.

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Edited by Janhavi Chauhan