The value of friendship: a comparison between One Piece and Attack on Titan

Eren Yeager and Monkey D. Luffy each suffer through traumatic events that make them want to become stronger. In the first episode of Attack on Titan, Eren loses his mother after Wall Maria is breached by the Colossal and Armored Titans. In the Sabaody Archipelago arc of One Piece, Luffy is separated from his crewmates after they run into warlord Bartholomew Kuma.  

But while Eren and Luffy undergo similar experiences, the way they process them differs greatly. Whereas Luffy wants to become stronger in order to protect his friends against impending disaster, Eren wants to become stronger so as to be able to gain control over his own life. On paper these two motivations may sound similar, yet they reveal tremendous differences in character. 

Luffy knows who he is, and is content with it. From the moment he is first introduced in Romance Dawn all the way up to Wano Country, his personality is set in stone; like rubber, it may bend and stretch depending on the situation, but always snaps back into its original form. He is impulsive, optimistic, ambitious, voracious, caring, and does not give a damn about how others perceive him.

Like Luffy, Eren knows who he is as well. Unlike Luffy, he is not content. Over the course of the series, Eren constantly tries to work on what he believes to be his inner weaknesses. By the time the series arrives in Marley, Eren has undergone a complete personality change. His rage, his tunnel vision, his personal relations all evaporate under the guise of a new, more mature persona. 

Much of this stems from personal insecurity, of which Luffy has none and Eren has tons. Even though Luffy wants to become stronger, he is perfectly capable of recognizing that there are people in the world who can outmatch him. During the Alabasta arc, the Straw Hat Pirates meet Ace. When Luffy recalls how Ace used to always beat him in fights, he laughs and marvels at how strong his older sibling is. 

Eren, by contrast, cannot stand the thought of losing to someone else. Over the course of the series, this fear is expressed clearly through his relationship with Mikasa who, despite being his little sister, exceeds him in both raw power and natural talent. Eren tries to cope with his feelings by acting indifferent or hostile toward Mikasa, even going as far as to renounce his love for her altogether. 

The differences in Luffy’s and Eren’s character are also prevalent in the way they process loss. When Luffy loses his crewmates during the aforementioned Sabaody Archipelago arc, he is more sad than angry. Collapsing to the floor while balling his eyes out, he asks himself what’s wrong with him, and why he couldn’t save a single one of his friends. 

Eren, by contrast, is more angry than sad. After watching his mother being eaten alive by a Titan, he initially assumes a state of shock and disbelief. Rather than mourning his mother, he then proceeds to blame Hannes for taking him away. When Hannes, in turn, tells Eren that he was unable to save his mother because he is too weak, Eren tries to attack him. 

Put differently, what upsets Eren isn’t the fact that his mother is dead, it’s that he didn’t have the strength to prevent her death from happening. Whereas for Luffy power is a means to protect the people around him, for Eren it is a means to validate to himself his own self-worth. I believe this is the key difference between Attack on Titan and One Piece. 

And that difference not only affects the main characters. On the contrary, it leaves its marks on the stories at large. Strength, as mentioned, is a major theme in One Piece, but it is trumped by one other: friendship. Across the years, series creator Eiichiro Oda has crafted characters so unique and likeable that the trivial interactions between them alone are enough to carry the entire series. 

One of the ways in which he managed to do this was by giving the Straw Hats overlapping personalities and interests. Luffy and Usopp are a great example of this: Luffy’s need for adventure feeds into Usopp’s lust for glory, while Usopp’s imagination fuels Luffy’s ambition. Their symbiotic character traits naturally combine to create a strong as well as comedic bond. 

The same cannot be said for Attack on Titan, where friendship is all but nonexistent. Sure, the comradery between Eren and his childhood friend Armin plays a recurring role throughout the story, but always as a plot point. When Eren has to save Trost District, Armin uses their memories to motivate him—a process which is repeated several times before the story is over. 

Whereas Luffy genuinely cares about his crewmates, Eren cares for no one except himself. This is evidenced not only by his troubling relationship with Mikasa—whom he eventually admits to having always hated—but Armin as well. Although the two characters share a dream of going beyond the walls, they do so for very different reasons: Armin, to explore the world; Eren, to prove to himself that he is free. 

Attack on Titan and One Piece are both best-selling manga that have been adapted into popular anime which follow young men who are obsessed with becoming stronger. While fascination with physical strength is a well-known theme of Shōnen storytelling in general, the way in which that these two properties approach that theme reveal two opposing philosophies of life. 

At the end of the day, I feel that Attack on Titan is written by someone who is angry about what he does not possess, while One Piece is written by someone who is grateful for what they got. I realize that this is a huge generalization and one that my briefly-outlined argument above does a poor job of justifying at that. Even so, I believe there is some truth to it.