Luffy's Gear Fifth Anime Debut Breaks The Internet

Despite a lackluster first half of One Piece's most hyped episode, Luffy's anticipated Gear 5th still managed to break servers and websites.

Warning: Spoilers For One Piece episode #1071Luffy's reality-bending Gear 5th power-up has finally debuted in the One Piece anime, and while the enthusiasm of fans rushing to see it has brought down several servers and websites, the episode itself fell a little short of expectations. While the world knew for weeks that episode #1071 would contain one of the series' most important moments, websites could not handle the number of viewers excited to watch Luffy transform into Gear 5th.

After being defeated by Kaido for a fourth time, Luffy's heartbeat returned, and with it, the awakening of his Gum-Gum Fruit. Episode #1071 revealed, through the World Government's Five Elders, that Luffy's Devil Fruit had a different name that was changed to hide its importance: the Mythical Zoan-Type Human-Human Fruit Mythical Model Nika, which bears the name of the legendary Sun God. The ridiculously powerful fruit gives Luffy a boost in strength and complete freedom on the battlefield. However, another special effect of Gear 5th was crashing websites, making it difficult for fans to watch the new Fifth Gear One Piece anime episode, as reported by Artur - Library of Ohara.

Breaking the internet is no easy feat, but certain monumental moments in entertainment have been capable of overloading websites with an overabundance of user traffic. Anime fans on the internet have tried comparing the impact of Luffy's new form to Goku's Super Saiyan transformation from Dragon Ball Z, which aired all the way back in 1991. However, it was Dragon Ball Super's debut of Goku's Ultra Instinct and that show's final episode that also crashed popular anime streaming sites like Crunchyroll. Still, while Luffy's awakening of the Nika fruit is everything that fans hoped for, the rest of the episode fell short of expectations.

Related: Luffy's Gear 5 Upgrade In The One Piece Anime Makes A Subtle (But Better) Change To The Manga

The first half of episode #1071 is full of flashbacks about Kozuki Oden - Wano's righteous ruler that was killed by Kaido - and even Luffy's recent defeat, something that fans have seen recently and didn't need to be reminded about. The episode also reuses certain animation sequences, which stands out as odd, considering the stellar quality of animation that One Piece has recently made its fans used to. Considering the hype behind it, the first half of One Piece #1071 is surely not what fans expected. However, the second half of the episode switches gears - appropriately - and delivers a great rendition of one of the most important fights in the entire saga.

The second half of episode #1071 is a smorgasbord of over-the-top eye-popping animation and silly Looney-Toons-inspired sound effects that felt absolutely appropriate for Luffy's extremely cartoonish Gear 5th powers. In the end, the adaptation of the outlandish Gear 5th is in line with the recent quality of the One Piece anime. Although it was difficult to watch One Piece Episode #1071 as soon as it became available, many excited viewers could witness the episode within an hour of its airing after websites started working again. While episode #1071 of One Piece was not as perfect as its hype required it to be, the debut of Luffy's Gear Fifth is already one of the anime's most popular moments, certainly enough to break the internet.

Watch the latest episodes of One Piece on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Jason Hon is a Game Reviewer, Anime/Manga News Writer, and content creator behind the Mega Manga Mondays Podcast and the Comedic Gaming YouTube Channel Honzy and Friends! Within him lies a colossal passion for Gaming, Shonen, and making people laugh. He graduated from The Los Angeles Film School and is working hard towards becoming a Professional Nerd. He lives with his wife and two cats in Iowa, USA.