Love Live! superfans (Livers) and One Piece manga fans are butting heads after a comment made by Eiichiro Oda sent the former into an uproar.

Weekly Shonen Jump 's combined 37-38 issue included a feature focusing on One Piece and its 18th anniversary. Kanna Hashimoto of the group Rev. from DVL dressed up as Luffy and celebrities offered their comments on the series. Oda, however, had his own comment in the back of the magazine that raised the ire of Love Live! fans. He wrote, "When I went to Kanda Myojin shrine, I saw they were having a cross-promotional campaign with Love Live! Why did this happen?"

The comment seems innocuous or perhaps an honest question. As it turns out, the Kanda Myojin shrine is close to Akihabara and is a pilgrimage spot for the Love Live! series. It's possible Oda is unaware of this, but some fans thought the comment was more critical than curious. Comments online include:

“Huh? You got a problem with that?” “Listen punk, if you make an enemy of the Love Livers, your life as a manga artist is over!” “Who does this guy think he is? I'm sending an email of complaint to Shueisha .” “If you've got so much free time that you can be hanging out at shrines, why don't you work on writing an interesting story?” “You picking a fight with the Love Livers? You wanna die?” “No one cares about One Piece anymore.”

Oda's fans pushed back, criticizing what they saw was an overreaction.

“Love Livers sure are sensitive.” “Yep, Love Livers are worse than the garbage of society. It's rude to cockroaches and ants to say they're on the same level as them.” “Garbage Livers.” “Oda's comment is an appropriate, if roundabout, criticism of current Japanese cultural standards.”

[Via Rocket News 24]