The final moments of One Piece’s most vile villain, Kurozumi Orochi, were met with controversy that the anime adaptation has changed for the better.
Wano’s ending featured many of One Piece‘s most satisfying moments, but one controversial scene that seemingly inspired hate onto an entire clan has been unraveled in the anime. Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi’s cruel leadership of Wano’s people lasted for decades and was focused on turning the once beautiful island into a toxic land devoted to creating weapons. After both villains met their end, the story of their fall is told in a play that the anime demonstrates more cohesively than the manga.
The end of the Wano arc features one of One Piece‘s most controversial moments that seemingly sentences an innocent girl to a life of hatred. A play shown in chapter #1057 of the manga is performed for Wano’s citizen recounting the story of their country’s liberation. It ends with Oden’s daughter proclaiming that “Kurozumi were born to burn” above Kurozumi Orochi’s final firey remains. Some readers interrupted the line as a curse to anyone who bears the Kurozumi name, and the anime has helped determine that is not the case.
Dramatic music, excellent voice acting, and Toei’s stylish animation gave Hiyori’s big moment more time and clarification in the anime. Before Orochi’s head explodes into fiery embers, Hiyori delivers the line in episode #1085, “Black charcoal would not be called kurozumi if it wasn’t burned!” The line is delivered while flashes of Oden are shown, which thematically resonates with her line being a direct reference to the morbidly ironic quote her father would often recite: “Oden would not be oden if it were not boiled.”
Hiyori’s Words Were Ment For Orochi, Not All Kurozumi’s
The original line of the manga was problematic because the truth is that not all Kurozumi family members deserve to burn as Orochi did. Before Luffy and the rest of the pirates left Wano, there is a brief scene of the young Tama praying in front of her parent’s graves. The names on the grave reveal that the little girl whose powers turned many of Kaido’s anthropomorphic forces into allies was, in fact, a Kurozumi. Suppose the line from Viz’s official manga English translation was to be taken at face value. In that case, Hiyori’s big moment also suggests that Tama is someone who deserves to burn.
One Piece‘s author, Eiichiro Oda, thankfully explained the controversial moment in manga volume #105’s Q&A section. He clarified that Hiyori’s phrase was meant to be directed toward Orochi rather than anyone who shares the name. The anime makes the moment even more transparent by changing the line to more closely resemble the expression her father would often say, a poetic choice of words for the vile Orochi’s final moments. Especially after Orochi attempted to kill Hiyori’s father, Kozuki Oden, by boiling him alive in front of the citizens he worked hard to save.
Tama Would Still Be Loved Despite Being A Kurozumi
There is a chance that Hiyori’s final words to a still-living, enflamed, severed head of Orochi never happened. Although it would have been thematically resonating to have Hiyori deal the final blow against the man who killed her father and enslaved her people, it was Denjiro who ultimately killed Orochi. The dramatic final scene between Orochi and Hiyori may have been exaggerated in the play to add a more potent ending to the death of the Wano’s oppressor. Either way, One Piece‘s anime has made one of the series’ more controversial quotes a poetic play on words that beautifully honored Oden and leaves the adorable Tama in the good graces of the people she helped save.
