One Piece's Top-Rated Episode Sparks Fears of More Review-Bombing

Despite mass acclaim, One Piece viewers worry that the Egghead arc’s high debut episode rating will cause spiteful anime fans to review it poorly.

The newest episode of One Piece quickly became its highest-rated ever on IMDb after its debut this week, but some viewers worry that this will spark negative review bombs from jealous fans of other series.

One Piece‘s latest episode, titled “Entering a New Chapter! Luffy and Sabo’s Paths!” premiered this week on Jan. 7 and introduced the anime’s “Egghead” arc, skyrocketing up the rankings for the highest-rated episode in the franchise just hours after it aired. Currently sitting at a 9.8/10 on review aggregate IMDb out of over 6,000 reviews, it dethroned the previous One Piece record holder, “Zoro vs. King,” to become the highest-rated episode of the entire anime — much to both the excitement and consternation of some fans when the news was posted on X (formerly Twitter).

The episode marks the beginning of the highly-anticipated “Egghead Island” arc adaptation from Eiichiro Oda’s original manga and sees the Revolutionary Army Chief of Staff, Sabo, defend himself against accusations from the Kamabakka Queendom. Unfortunately for him, the call is disrupted by a mysterious eavesdropper, who threatens to get in the way of Sabo’s plans to clear his name in the eyes of the law.

IMDb reviews for the episode are almost entirely full of high praise as of this writing, with fans complimenting the animation as some of the best in the series to date and its faithful adaptation of an arc that was already highly beloved and well-regarded as a whole. However, despite the positive reviews, some fans have expressed concerns online about potential backlash from “jealous” fans of rival shonen series — particularly Boruto and Attack on Titan — who are (reportedly) notorious for review-bombing series they do not like or view as competition.