The Women of One Piece
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- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
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Sorry if my voice starts giving out mid video I was sick while recording this, the things we do for these beautiful queens.
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0:00 Intro
3:44 The Shonen Discussion
14:25 A Woman's Design and Sexualisation
20:19 The Fights
27:02 Impact of Story and Plot
35:29 Boa Hancock, Hiyori Kozuki and a Crush
45:17 The Spoken Misogyny
49:20 Conclusion
52:18 Ending
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Hey melonteee I saw you made a reference to lupin the third and was curious if you would be willing to cover it . I don’t see many people talk about and it was the anime that got me into anime so I would love to hear a video essay on it. Thanks for possibly reading this if nothing else great video and have a good day!
Just wanted to say that your video on Sanji completely recontexualized the entire character for me. It was honestly amazing to see a piece of media I was familiar with and actively watched since I was 12 be completely changed before my eyes. Fantastic video and I cant wait to watch this one!
A Queen making a video on Queens.... Truly we're blessed
im currently at 8:15 and enjoying it so far since while I AM an action fan, im not so much a shonen fan and while i like me a bit of romance, i hate poorly written characters and simple one note plot lines ESPECIALLY with romance and mind you im a dude who by and large you could easily see as your standard 'dont like romance stuff and LOVES action shit' type guy with i think its a bigger issue with the mindset behind most shonen producers and is why if you ask me we are seeing more stuff like jujutsu kaisen and chainsaw man or shows like my dress up darling or dont mess with me miss nagatoro as damn near the only anime coming out today. its a issue with writers not having the creativity to write their stories the proper way like how one piece did.
now this is gonna be ranty since mind you, i have adhd and mild dyslexia so its hard enough to keep out big ol' typos let alone puncuate properly but for me i think there is a VERY clear way to write a good story with the base/spine/keel of any good story that literally everything else should be built off of is the world. flat out if you dont have a good world than nothing in your story will hold together as it becomes to clear that everything is just a backdrop for a play of sorts rather than REAL events in a REAL world with im using brandon sandersons definition of REAL there for anyone who knows it with the reasoning being something that becomes clear whith the next 2 steps to story writing... before i move on i will also add that when making a good world, flat out you need to KNOW literally EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL of literally anywhere on the map. if someone points at someplace at the map and you dont know what would be happening there than you have failed as a writer and while you dont and honestly shouldnt tell or show everything and hell honestly, MOST things unless it would naturally follow from the story that the audience would learn it, YOU, AS THE WRITER *NEED* to know this shit by heart!
as for the second step, once you know the notable locations of the world and the relationships between them and the cultures of each place and the races that exist and the magic systems that exist which mind you, a GOOD writer makes sure to include their magic/power systems in how the world functions and if they fail to do this and say there is no major use of low level enchanting lets say to make fields that automatically harvest themselves and simply need people to monitor the goings on and ensure the tools are working as they should or maybe there is common use of mages when it comes to large scale moving on resources like trees or ores and stone or maybe constant awarness of rulers of how magic could be used to spy or infiltrate a location or be used to attempt harm on a city than that would again count as a failure of creating a good world and make this step FAR harder and likely ruin it at least a bit.... i have deviated from it enough tho with the second most important step is to make your characters but not make them but rather almost just pluck them from a place in the world so in the same vein as how you made sure you knew what was each citites biggest exports and culture and relationships with neighboring nations and etc. when you make your characters all your doing is essentially looking in the location you want them to come from and basically choosing them from the people there and more so, your doing it either from your MC or if you story has multiple MC's on different storylines that will converge, you basically just follow the MC in their daily life with of course probably making sure you pick one who would have the strife to drive them etiher around the world or drive them to meet others as they are forced to work through their troubles meaning the other characters you pick are just the people the MC meets naturally. trying to either just make a character to fit a role in the story or trying to force a character to embody a personality that wouldnt by all logic be theirs but instead yours or more specifically, someone from our worlds personality are only going to hurt the immersiveness of your story and a good writer knows how to write a world with the strife and problems they want to talk about in a natural way that lets them naturally write their characters to fit those lessons or ideals without forcing it.
lastly and hoenstly the by far least important if you ask me is the story. honestly a good story would be the natural outcome of REAL people interacting in your REAL world you created with the story is just the retelling of what happened almost more like summarizing or just looking at a reccording of a simulation of a certain event. full stop i believe THIS is where almost all writers at this point are going wrong and why the majority of 'good' stories today are being focused on being set in the real world or a world VERY similar to ours with only some minor differences with hell undead unluck and undead murder farce are 2 more examples as well that i recently have been watching. full stop people nowadays are going STORY first and than make characters to fit the story and the world is an afterthought it feels like to me with one piece is one of the few examples where the correct order was followed with a few more being overlord and log horizon as well as that time i got reincarnated as a slime. honestly people just have either forgotten or hoenstly based on dragon ball, bleach, and naruto, NEVER really understood which is a shame and i hope in time more writers will learn AT LEAST this if not also to STOP squeezing their story into just 12 episodes out of fear of it not being told in its entirity and missing that by compacting it, it will almost certainly become complete trash nobody wants to watch because its boring with TERRIBLE pacing and with the dragonball and bleach issue of rushing to the end to fast and than NEEDING to find some way to continue the story and power up way further the next plot line so it doesnt feel like a boring downgrade.
oh and one last point cause i found it weird but i never even realised there was such a guy focus when it came to shonen. i mean i know usually action stuff is more focused on guys like how romance stuff is usually aimed at women but i never really thought about it before i started seeing talk about this topic a while ago but yea i guess but hoenstly it feels like to me the concept of aiming ANYTHING for adults at any specific demographic is utterly stupid. like i said i believe the concept writers should make REAL worlds and no matter how you design it, an REAL world like our actual realworld is gonna be a melting pot of beliefs, ideals, morals, innovation, culture, and etc PURELY based on the natural fact that everyone everywhere is different and people existing in different places and under different conditions will always breed different types of peolpe as a natural fact of life so it should ALWYAS be the case that no matter YOUR likes and dislikes as the writer, ALL people usually should be able to find something to enjoy and mind you not cause you intentionally made that the case but just as a biproduct of people usually being able to like whats similar to them and so subsequently being abel to find the little threads they like and making their very own rope to follow along with ya in your story.
hell im reading a manwha right now callt the SSS-class suicide hunter and its your usual regression and hunter climbing a tower type story for the most part in the begining but its very quickly evolved as time as gone on and like one piece has had fun doing, it literally has devised a concept where every 10 floors, the 'theme' of those next 10 will be different and the current 'theme' is going into this mysterously powerful librarians books which in acutality are apocalypses of other worlds and the librarian is sending the MC and other hunters with him in to try to right the ends of those worlds and give them good endings meaning each book is its own genre and the most recent has been your typical old school noble families romance story between nobles and pirnces and shit and full stop..... I FUCKING LOVE IT........ I HAVE LITERALLY NEVER READ PAST LIKE THE FIRST FEW CHAPTERS OF ANY ROMANCE MANHWA,MANGA, OR NOVEL BUT I HAVE BEEN ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT FOR THIS SHIT CAUSE ITS FUCKING GOOD........ like ANYONE can find a reason to love a good story no matter what its 'genere' could be said to be and i feel its stupid that we categorize and write stories based on this antiquated idea of 'genres'
No one talks about how none of the female characters cry pretty. Like... it's so common to see women in media not emote at all while tears stream down their face, even sobbing women only get a lip bite and a few more tears at most.
In One Piece, even the women have snot drooling down their face, tears falling rapidly and the iconic lip bite. They are allowed an emotional moment to be vulnerable and not be forced to make a pretty face while doing it. I love it
This!!! Women don't cry to make themselves look sexy and sympathetic! And crying isn't just seen as female weakness, even the manliest guys totally cry too. Gives those moments so much more weight
@@doodlecookie8947 EXACTLY! For every step back Oda has in characterization, he launches himself forward rapidly.
Exactly. They cry just as men do- snot dripping, sweating a bit, pitifully and sometimes with smiles on their faces or sometimes looking agonized. Say as much as you want about the bodies. How one note, sexualized, and unrealistic as they are but they act, and are teated with the same respect as the men are, and that is so, so important.
I'm sorry, but that's not a female thing, anime as a whole likes to make characters cry pretty, man and woman, so you can take the moment more seriously i guess. I don't like it that much either, but it has nothing to do with sex. You see man crying pretty everywhere in anyme. Thats can't be seen as anything but bias, stop seeing things where there are none. I just watched a scene in Hunter x Hunter where Gon cries twice in front of Pitou and Killua at the end of Quimera Ant Arc and both times Gon cried pretty.
Naruto cried at Jiraiya's death, so that comment is just an excuse.
Having the women in One Piece be at least, a bit evil was an absolute power move by Oda
you've not seen fury until you've either seen a woman scorned or a gay guy slightly inconvenienced lmao.
😂funny enough women in one piece are very strong 😂 not just in the physical state but in all aspect with nami and robin growing up yamato with her fathers tyranny and big mom....
@@blackblaze4830Yeah like both Nami and Robin had to sail on their own as children for YEARS. They had to risk their lives and get out of dangerous situations time and time again. That is something even Sanji, Zoro and Luffy didn’t do. While Sanji definitely faced a lot of hardships, he was raised in the Baratie most of his childhood. Luffy was in his village with a mother figure taking care of him and Zoro was in a dojo, a safe place. All the other straw hat men were raised in a safe place as well.
I am not trying to compare their struggles or the tragedy of their backstories at all. I just love that these women faced more dangerous childhoods than the men despite being way weaker physically. It just shows how strong they are in other aspects
A "bit evil" big mom is canonically a rapist bro that's why she has so many kids
@@denizkaragullu6239yeah, even Da Chop got a ton of support
The way Nami fought during Arlong Park has always been way more impressive to me than how the other Straw Hats fought during that arc. You don't need to write women to be physically strong to "do them justice". What impresses me the most personally is showcasing willpower and selflessness. The scene in which Nami told the villagers to hold on a bit longer with a big smile on her face so they don't attack Arlong and get themselves killed is still one of my all time favourites. She endured 8 years of this crap and was still ready to do it all over again knowing that she will probably get screwed over yet again. Otohime is another example. She's literally one of my heroes and role models and I aspire to be like her someday.
As someone noted,
Luffy respect Nami enough not to meddle in her affairs until she explicitly ask for help
"you don't need to write women to be physically strong to do them justice" agree, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have physically strong women as well. And I think we also should have more male characters who aren't physically strong but display their strength through willpower and selflessness, and actually keep it that way from beginning to end. Most of the time when we encounter a male character that is mentally but not physically strong, they usually gain physical strength later as well. And that is cool, nothing wrong with it. Their past lacking physical strength causes them to value their strength and care for the weak in a way someone who was always strong might not. But just as you don't need to write women to be physically strong to do them justice, you also shouldn't need to write men to be physically strong to do them justice.
It's a shame that's the only arc she was actually decent in. She's just been mid after that. An annoying bitch, weak powers, and apparently still maps the world eventhough we never see her do it once.
@@anonisnoone6125 please give good reasons instead of poking her like bully
@@anonisnoone6125 Oda said in an interview that she draws the maps after dinner and before sleep. Nami's most talents don't really get into the screentime nowadays. Her drawing the maps for example and feeling the weather
quick shout out to Queen otohime ... quite a complex woman, and her relationship with Neptune isn't just sidestepped in their approaches to handling racism. She took charge, and her husband couldn't (complexity in the conflict of Neptune, but otohime didn't hold it against him). I think this is actually one of the most grounded relationships in one piece, and she isn't just there for Neptune as his wife, she also was a parent and a queen.
This!
And Otohime did it even though she had her own set of physical issues (I forgot exactly if it was a sickness or just fragile bones)
she didn't let them stop her
You absolutely nailed it. Otohime is literally one of my favorite characters because of her activisim.
I hate how we in the West see One Piece's sexism, but we don't realize how progressive it is compared to Japan's media industry. Oda places female characters as the protagonists of their own stories, with desires and dreams independent of any man. That's more than a lot of American work.
Also that the same lens isn't turned to Shoujo at all. The fucked up sexism that seeps from that abyss is really something. Women should not be allowed to write BL. I've lost track of the amount of series I dropped because halfway though the theme changes too "falling in love with your rapist"
@@VaughanRoderickwhat’s BL?
@@BigA207 Boobs Luigi
I usually use Jujutsu Kaisen as an example of sexism in the manga industry. I mean by the shibuya arc ends we're only left with one semi-prominent female character whos left deformed
@@BigA207boy love manga
One thing I think you missed, is that Nami basically runs the day to day operations of the crew aside from being their navigator. The ship literally can't operate without her.
She is also the crew's accountant albeit a more possessive one. But goodluck letting the crew decide what to buy and stuff during their stops
I always see arguments of "Who's the most important Straw Hat?" and everyone argues about the fighters, argues for Franky building the ship, argues for Sanji keeping them fed but I hardly ever see anyone arguing on behalf of Nami who literally keeps the entire thing running. Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp would have smashed into the Red Line and sunk to the bottom of the ocean if not for Nami. There is no-one else on the crew who has shown any kind of aptitude for navigation, she can feel changes in weather conditions in her body, she predicts Grand Line Cyclones while she's practically bed-bound with a horrible fever.
Every member is vital to the survival of the crew but they would never have gotten anywhere if not for Nami, the fighters, the food, the Sunny, none of it is possible if they're sunk to the bottom of the sea or left stranded in the East Blue. I cannot even imagine how badly Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp would fuck up the climb up Reverse Mountain.
@@kielanwade5096I agree with you but Robin has shown navigations skills. During Alabasta she was moving herself everywhere in the sea on her own, also there’s a scene that she tells Nami about the sea situation. Etc
they are all euqually important. Only Brooke not that much xD@@kielanwade5096
there is no such thing as a "most important straw hat."@@kielanwade5096
Sanji not kicking a woman is actually really sweet to me. Zeff told him in a flashback on Whole Cake something along the lines of "If you ever kick a woman it'll be my greatest failure as a father." And so Sanji will never kick a woman because he elevates Zeff as his father.
What a dumb simp ideal, its like saying i won't ever hit a black person cuz theyre black and therefore deserve special treatment 🤣
It was a combination of that and the only two people who ever showed him any kindness in his first 8 years of his life were his mother and his sister, probably leading to the thought that (before he met Zeff) all men were all assholes.
But there is also an element of "funny/odd" behaviour pointing out this is a misplaced behaviour. Oda treats this is Sanji as a gag -- Sanji is wrong for being like this but it is a part of him very well justified
but zeff kind of seems like a chivalry strawman with him saying "I dont employ women, because i cant kick them, but i can only solve kitchen problems by kicking men"
Also because reiju and her mother were the only caring people in his childhood
One thing I would have liked to see you mention is the way Luffy treats women as the protagonist. One of my favourite things about Luffy is how gender blind he is. He doesn't care about fighting or hitting women and treats fights with them the exact same way as he treats fights with men, he talks to women the same way as men, he doesn't ogle women, to him men and women are exactly the same.
I also would have loved to see Chiffon mentioned alongside Pudding, especially since for once we have an example of a man supporting a woman he loves because he loves her, whereas her motivations are not motivated by a man she loves but rather by a desire to live her own life free from her tyrannical mother.
Yes! I also noticed that Luffy is really gentle with Robin.
He even hit Vivi back when she escalated the situation to physical violence first, usually when a women hits a man in media he would just stand there and take it.
@@voiceofthelegion578 ye Luffy believes in equal rights and equal lefts lol. But he doesn't take it too far either, he gives her the same energy back.
Noticed at how Luffy will fight the female Imu?
@@colinmarques1506 there hasn't been any confirmation of whether Imu is male or female or otherwise so far, there's only been fan speculation that they could be female, but we don't know that yet.
Funniest part of Robin to me is she barely gets to fight because her fruit is just "I win" except when it isn't.
I like how she basically does one shot kills.
Wish she learned armenant haki to improve her defense.
🤓☝️I don't think she is the fighter of the crew, or as a character she is interested in fighting. She became strong in pre timeskip to save herself. But now she does not need to focus on fighting but now she focuses more on her actual role the archeologist. I think so does this make sense?!! I am not correcting you but sharing a thought (not being rude)
@@stickthelanding4785if she had haki there technically no enemy she doesn’t beat unless they have strong haki to negate her blooms or monstrously durable like kaido.
@@Ty-cx5zj huh? Why would that be? Haki would make he stronger but it wouldn't make her invincible
@@PranavDhote_ Part of the development of both Nami and Robin is learning to trust others enough to leave the fighting to them and still feel safe so they can pursue their own strengths, something neither had for many years. They both deserve that relief of not having to be constantly on alert and trusting nobody.
One of the most underrated One Piece girls is Perona. Not in popularity (people love her), but when discussing well written women in One Piece she rarely comes up. Which is a shame because she is the perfect embodiment of what a female side character should be. She isn't sexualized by the author or story. She is an intelligent capable fighter with unique abilities. She isn't portrayed as less important than but instead equal with Moria, Hogback, and Absalom as part of the "Mysterious Four", she has a unique design (I love her eyes) and personality, and she is still playing a role in the story to this day (with her being the reason Moria escapes Hachinosu which could have unforetold consequences on the entire story). She isn't a major character and doesn't reappear that often, but she has a role and fulfils it perfectly.
This great analysis i never noticed
Yeah!! I love her!! I also feel like it made Zoro stay with mihawk all the better and the funnier, she brought a much needed pop of silliness to mihawk and zoro seriousness, and I friking love their dynamic.
Like she wasn't there as mihawk or zoro girlfriend, she was more like a daughter to Mihawk and an annoying sister to Zoro, she humanized them both a lot, and not because she needed their help, she was just there being herself.
Agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve said, except that tiny detail about being equal. While yes i would agree she is completely equal if not more than her male counterparts i would say Moria is considered above the rest. I mean he is the captain and he is the Warlord after all.
@@braydenswinhartMoria is more her father than a captain.
@@Travelling_Heart15 that’s a fair interpretation of them
I also think that both girls being smarter than most of the male strawhats is great.
Robin is presented as a literal genius and Nami is incredibly knowledgeable about navigation and finance.
This helps them out of the "damisel in distress" position since they are both highly capable in their areas, which as you said, don't need to be fighting.
Meanwhile, in the "big 3" you have:
- a raging alcoholic swordsman with suppresed emotions who is also the only member who has no role in the ship besides fighting.
- a guy who can barely function when around women
- the king of stupid
I know zoro has a role in a ship especially at night. He is the one awake when the crew is sleeping. Thats why we see him sleeping in daytime a lot.
Well, you're wrong about most male straw hats being less smart. Usopp has enough technological knowledge to create various unique weapons, Chopper is a doctor, Franky had the knowledge to turn himself into a robot twice, Brook knows how to play all kinds of instruments, and Jinbe is not only wise, but a skilled tactician. That is five out of the eight men in the crew.
Sure, all the men in the crew are idiots except for Jinbe, but many of them are smart in their specific role. I correct your point to say that Oda writes women and men equally, and that is only one example of how legendary Oda is as a writer.
@@jakehudson5095 I understand your point and I can see how I might have suggested than the male members are dumb.
I think that people like Usopp or Brook are very skilled and creative. Jimbe is wise. Franky and Chopper are also intelligent.
However, Robin is a genius and that's something we are told again and again. I would say she is the smartest strawhat (with Chopper and Franky in the podium), therefore smarter than the average.
Robin is the most intelligent member and Nami is in the same group as all of the skilled ones.
Would you agree?
@@MarkGloria-ug2pgI always forget this fact until I see someone mention it. No wonder he is always yawning.
@@Ecastilla_ i wouldn't say dumb, more like they're chaotic and frustrating. the big 3 are smart, just not in the traditional sense.
I love One piece because it was the first shounen anime with female characters I could relate to.
Since I was a child until seventh grade, I was that friend who usually became a burden for others and I didnt have a friendship which lasted for more than 4 months. Around the start of seventh grade, I reached Water 7 and Enies Lobby.... And i thought: Oh my God Robin is so fricking relatable! I also didnt have friends who were into anime until then, but i met an amazing girl whom I have a lot in common with, especially love for One Piece... I mostly wanted to die because I had some disagreements with my family, and at school my classmates were toxic to others who were different. Until one day, I wanted to jump out the window, and no one noticed. or that's what I thought. Suddenly, i feel someone's hands dragging me inside, it was my friend who entered my class despite not being allowed to do so, and touching me (almost hugging me) despite hating it.
Then that same evening, I remember reaching the "I wanna live" moment in Enies Lobby. I still remember crying at it because I could feel what a character has gone through. It's amazing...
I'll say it again, One piece is amazing (ps. it also has healing properties. Are you sad? Watch One Piece!)
Wish you love and wisdom my friend. Take care!
Pls take care of yourself have a good life
If yall ended up in a relationship that would be the most wholesome story ive ever read on the internet IM NOT CRYING ITS JUST THE ONION NINJA IN THE ROOM DAMN IT
The women in One Piece are better than the women in Dragon Ball. At least they remain relevant
The women in One Piece are better than any male in Shoujo. Y'know if we're gonna make equal comparisons.
No, I lie. Takeo Gouda from Ore Monogatari is the GOAT
Hell the only female characters that can fight that I remember are android 18, kalefa, android 22 and chichi.
I haven’t watched it in years so I don’t know anything about other characters. Plus chichi doesn’t know ki so she goes down a peg.
Better than naruto's too without question
@@stickthelanding4785out of the woman you mentioned, now only kalefa fights and that is because she is introduced recently. Wait for 2-3 arc and she will become someones wife with a kid on his hand
@@stickthelanding4785and then there was Videl
Cindry is one of the women in One Piece that really hit hard for me. The whole story of Hogback taking her corpse and making a zombie with it, disrespecting her life by desecrating her grave and making her corpse do all sorts of implied awful things, just because she was his crush, is awful. She had her own life, her own career, love and everything but Hogback reduced all she was into something awful!
The moment Cindry heard Chopper's cry, the simple explanation of the situation, showcasing how this is horrible and then pleading for her to fight back, and her managing to fight that devilish power of the shadow in her last moments, smiling to Chopper, somehow her body managing to overcome the shadow possessing it, going against all we were shown about zombies... It was a huge moment for me.
Want me to make it worse? Stitches suggest he gave her corpse a boob job.
ni modo, toca leer thriller bark otra vez
Isnt this lowkey a barbie movie scene
Cindry is irrelevant
@@Benny_Mel❌️❌️❌️🚫🚫😡😡😡😡👎👎👎
I love this video so much and I want to say that as a man who went into One Piece assuming that the women were going to be the typical “Shonen eye candy bad written” female characters, I was absolutely stunned with how the women in One Piece turned out to be very well written and just so important to the overall story.
I’ve grown up watching lots of anime and I promise I’m not making this up but I got really tired of the typical Shonen female cast that I was used to seeing, whether that be in something like Naruto or Dragon Ball. I think it was really just annoying to see a repeat of having such a lame female cast when the authors were clearly capable at making and writing good characters, so when I went into One Piece with no context it kinda felt like a breathe of fresh air to not have a bad written female cast. And to be fair, I do agree the bar is on the floor and that One Piece has its flaws, but as someone who has watched lots of anime, I really do see One Piece as having a way better female cast than a good MAJORITY of shonen as well as it being one of the best written anime EVER.
I also would like to make note that the idea that “men can’t relate to female characters” is so ridiculously stupid and just simply wrong. When I first learned of Boa Hancock’s backstory, I understood her pain but could also empathize with her character. For a long time, I have had a big problem with mentally and emotionally opening up due to bad past experience, and so when I saw how she broke down in front of Luffy about her past, it was such an important moment for me that it helped me build my confidence towards opening up as well. I specifically remember relating to when Hancock was expecting Luffy to “look down” on her or see her negatively. When I saw Luffy treat her with kindness and respect it meant so much to me on a personal level. MEN CAN ABSOLUTELY RELATE TO FEMALE CHARACTERS AND THEY DO. I love her and relate to her as well as many of the other women of One Piece and I think Oda should get more credit for being so great with writing the female characters in One Piece in a space such as Shonen where that can be very rare.
i agree with this 100%
Men can relate to female characters sometimes but not always cuz men and women have a lot of different experiences in a daily basis even if they suffer from a thing they mostly go through it differently but there a things that are easy to relate to cuz every human go through them like losing someone ..m
@@erenkasa7882I agree, I just hate the idea that it’s like “Entirely impossible” or something
It is humanity.
I never read manga until I began with OP and I always though of the female charactera as that female and CHARACTERS.
Im a woman and have been reading one piece since I was 9. Robin is one of my all time favorite characters thanks to how good her writing is, but this video made me appreciate Boa even more! Thanks so much for this detailed anaylsis
My favorite Nami scene of all time is back in Baroque Works arc, where she was almost fainting for sickness and she still predicted a cyclone and saved the entire crew from certain death. Vivi's words: "Incredible... a cyclone on the grand line's said to be impossible to predict... this girl isn't just predicting the weather, based on weather forecast theories... its almost as if she's directly feeling the minute happenings of the climate itself!".
This scenes gives me shivers down the spine. Nami is freaking legendary.
Yeah I cant still get past what Vivi said there. There might still be some reason behind Nami's talents on feeling the weather, considering the fact that we dont even really know about Nami's origin
@@second1387 i would also like to add that we dont know many of the strawhat’s origins like zoro, brook, nami, and franky. They might get the sanji treatment where we thought that Baratie was all of his backstory.
@@Milkisu_u yeah considering that Franky's latest wanted poster is literally the picture of the Thousand Sunny, that might lead to something just like how Sanji's wanted poster was literally a drawing🤣 Maybe Egghead Island will be Franky's arc considering that the theme of the island is literally technologies based from the teaser. (Haven't read the manga so idk). About Zoro, Oda actually posted his family tree lol idk why. Usopp might also get the spotlight when we reach Elbaf
Bro now that you say it do you think she had developed an observational haki?
@@Ray_altz it’s even possible that she was born with it since she had exceptional skills since she was still with Arlong
I love how there is never a role that is designated as a "woman" or "man's" job. Nami is navigator, but so are Koby, Raffiette and Bepo. The straw hats fighters are men, but some crews have women as their frontline fighters. Whatever someone is good at, they're going to be respected and seen as peers to those in their field, no matter your gender. And when that doesnt happen, it gets called out in universe as a bad thing.
smoothie, one of the strongest of big mom's children and one of her generals. a woman captain promoting a woman to high command, and smoothie harried the sunny halfway across totto land while her brother dueled the captain.
I also like that the girls get to fight, even if it's not their main thing. (I mean it's not Sanji's main thing, he's a cook, and Chopper can fight but healing is his main thing. ) Everyone sits in the same level, story wise. It's not that the girls are just there too. Everyone is there.
I think a great villainous example is Nami at Arlong's "care": she proved her worth to him as a human, and her gender didn't even enter the picture, just her brains and abilities. The same way Crocodile Crocodile doesn't seem to care about the gender of his most trusted subordinates.
I wishbit were like this irl , I wish women would do jobs that men do.
My biggest ick is the excuse that women are physically weaker... In a world where a scawny teenager fights the most formidable opponents -_- Thank goodness we have Big Mom. Hope to see more of Bonny, or more female heavy hitters.
Thanks for the essay!
Doesn't change the fact that they ARE weaker which has been proven biologically.
Are you forgetting about Carrot, Yamato and Boa? Granted, none of them come close to the absolute monster that is Big Mom, but she's not the only one who can be considered a complete beast.
Carrot and Yamato almost exclusively fought men. Granted, there are (a lot) issues with Yamato. Carrot was a beast though.
Then there's Boa. I know Stampede isn't canon, but Oda is very specific about how his characters are represented in the films. She's pretty cantankerous during Marineford too. I think we'll see her even more now that she's on the run. Also, Oda used Boa to power scale Blackbeard, which speaks to her abilities just as much as it speaks to his because your jaw just hits the floor.
well irl women are actually physically weaker than men, scientifically. (as a woman)
Super interesting video!!
Another thing I love about One Piece is the Nami-Usopp interactions. They're literally besties, right? They act like BFFs and there was never a hint of romantic interest from either of them (which, incidentally, is something that's common to everyone on the crew and I live for it). So, we have two characters of opposite genders who are very close but platonically AND who appear together in emotional, badass, and comedic situations.... That's already not that common in fiction. But what I appreciate even more is how Usopp always tells Nami to take the lead in a dangerous or scary situation (and she usually does). When have I ever seen a male character ask a woman to go before him, to fight in his place, to save him (and so often at that)? Honestly, I can't think of many examples (apart from Sanji asking Robin to save him). Usually the male characters seem convinced that their mission is to protect the female characters, not the other way round. Personally, I've always despised the [man gotta protect woman - even if she's strong enough to fend for herself] idea. But Usopp doesn't care that Nami is a woman, he cares for his own safety, and thinks he'll be safer if Nami is the one fighting. And he knows she'll be fine because he's the kind of guy who will forget his fears and fight if his friends are in danger. So he wouldn't ask Nami to go into danger if he didn't believe in her ability to be safe.
Of course, Usopp does the same thing with Robin! But with Robin, it's different because she's clearly one of the strongest fighters and she's fearless, so it's easier to see how he would rely on her in dangerous situations.
P.s. I love the Nami-Usopp duo they're the bravest
This is one of my favorite interactions and the fact that they are the most relatable since they are the most human in the crew is wonderful
Big mom is one of the best written female villains imo. She is so three dimensional. It’s not just that she was bad, she could have also had better parental figures, and she was definitely tempted to become the woman she did. She’s my favorite villain in one piece even over Doffy. I really wanna see her come back bc what happened in wano made me cry. I literally cannot get enough of big mom.
Yes. what I like the most about her (besides how crazy powerful she is) is that her goals aren't necessarily evil, she's like a distorted version of Joyboy, wanting to unite the world but in her own messed up way.
@@33amra33 her backstory made me cry so hard. I think she could have been amazing and an ally to Luffy if she had a better childhood.
she is my favourite yonko kaido is second.
Big Mom is also my favorite villain and i really hope she comes back bc what happened to her in Wano was a total disservice of her character imo
Fans hate her and call her trash though
Just gonna say it before I watch, Nami has been THE GOAT throughout almost the entire series! Her dedicating her loyalty to Luffy against Ulti and FREAKING KAIDO made me never question her loyalty ever again!
Fooking great scene. Both of them have had me whooping the last few arcs. I've loved Robin's cold certainty post timeskip, and this scene with Nami facing down a slow and painful death, having her very own "there are 4 lights" moment. Go on girl!
I am a little disappointed we didn't get a little "Hehe. Round two." from Robin when Luffy got back in the fight, but damn, Wano was fire.
Big Mom was almost tragic, but wouldn't we realistically have to kill godzilla if he did exist? Yamato was hilarious, tragic, and straight up theivery. (Should have been in the crew).
Otama, Tomo, Hiyori, Shinobu, Carrot, even Kiku saw more screentime than her brother. Wano really was one for the ladies.
@@mobbs6426yeah but it makes complete sense for Yamato to not join the crew, it was the smart thing to do
Nami tryna 1v1 Kaido for insulting Luffy is the coolest shit
@@Xman34washere and she won,like seriously she called him an oversized snake
@@leespn4396 If Kinemon died, it would have been fine if she stayed in Wano. But he didn't...
This might be a little late, but I just wanted to point out Luffy’s line in the live action after he broke Arlong’s sword.
“Nami isn’t some tool to be used! She’s a person! With wants and dreams of her own.”
This might be a little more about Luffy’s character, but I see it as the live action making a clearer statement about the women in One Piece as a whole. And I love the live action to death for that😊😊😊. AND I’M A DUDE!!!😂😂😂
There is also misogeny in some pieate crews more than others, Whitebeard and Roger didn't allow women in their crew. Meanwhile Kaido even if he is evil, ONLY cares about strength and you taking things by force, so his crew has a lot of women in it, even if a little less on the upper ranks. Also that Kaido respects his son changing genders (as when Yamato was young they called him "she-ogre") but still keeps him channed up in a prison.
Whitebeard had women on his ship, you didnt see the escorts he had around serving him food and doing nursing duty?
Whitey Bay exists and was on Whitebeard's old school crew back when Oden was around. She eventually went on to run her own crew under the Whitebeard Pirates banner like most of Whitebeard's original crew aside from Marco and she showed up at Marineford. There were presumably plenty of others like her under that banner. The Red-Hair pirates probably have some lady pirates hanging around but the main crew kinda seems to be the society of deadbeat dads
@@joshjonson2368 dude, he meant FEMALE FIGHTERS!
i mean it's fucking whitebeard and roger they don't really need a weaker member on their already strong crew and aslo whitebeard does have a woman on his crew
Would be surprised if it was just plain sexism - Roger and Whitebeard seem too good for that. I'm thinking, for WB, women could be a bit of a sore spot for him, that's why he doesn't allow any as crew members. I'm betting it might have something to do with Miss Buckin, that's still a side of WB's past that's yet to be solved. BTW @joshjonson2368, that's kinda sexist
Special shoutout to Charlotte Praline who just comes in with a unique design and skill, nurses Pekoms despite being affiliated with both his enemies and allies, and freaking SAVES the strawhats non-violently just out of love for someone else who likes them, opposing her terrifying mother.
Praline is the absolute GOAT
When Praline was first showed, her design (probably the teeth) made me think she was some kind of spy for her mother among the fishman crew. I admit I often fall victim to the kind of trend of expecting visually pleasing women to be allies. I expected her to betray the fishmen for her mother when they were escaping. So it was a pleasant surprise that she did the total opposite and betrayed her mother to help the fishmen!
The same arc also has Pudding who looks all cute and nice at the start but IS an evil manipulator but IS ALSO not totally at fault, being abused by her mother and everything. She has so many layers. I think Praline and Chiffon (and by extension Lola) are the example of what the Big Mom children can be once they leave the sphere of influence of Linlin: they can be happy, form their own families, live their own lives. But it only works once they leave that toxic family... and that's what Pudding, but also the duo of Katakuri and Brulée, must do to move forward.
.... damn as I'm writing this comment I realize how much Whole Cake has SO MANY women who don't share the design of Nami and how many of them have layers!
@@doubl2480WCI is so good and has such a great range of important & well-written female characters.
You think any of Big Mom's kids actually like her? Katakuri's whole personality was to scare people away from harming his siblings. Praline running off to be with her husband makes sense.
Big Mom is a tyrannical matriarch who makes a crew out of her biological family, and they hate her.
Whitebeard is a benevolent patriarch who makes an adoptive family out of his crew, and they love him
As a wise, powerful woman once said, "LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR WOMEN YEAH WE LOVE WOMEN!"
Carrot is quite a special case within the series. Because if you don’t count fight against Brûlée, Carrot exclusively fights against Men.
Literally the first thing she does in the series is attack Zoro head on, she stops Randolph, she is the first person to defend the crew against Katakuri, she goes up against Daifuku and his fleets to save the crew at the end of WCI. And then her main rival/enemy in the series is First Son of the Charlotte Family; Perospero.
I do believe the same goes for Yamato? With her main fights being against the Numbers, Kaido and Green Bull. Although she’s designed to be a female Kaido JR, so it’s more expected of her.
Tbh now I read this I kind of changed my perspective on how Oda wrote her, but I can't still shake off the statement I made in my head that she was only made ruler of Zou so Oda could compensate the fact she didn't win her only major fight in Wano, and that the writing regarding her and Wanda was clumsy, but could it really be a moment of bad writing?
I mean, she was in Sulong form while facing Perospero for quite some time, which was stated is a form that damages minks overtime the more it's maintained, and eventually they lost that power boost when the moon was covered and well the guy had them restrained for a good portion of the time they were transformed, and yes she had Wanda as partner but we could argue that she was tired and wasted from the fight. And like you said, Carrot did plenty of stuff to be awarded and recognized as a brave fighter and young woman, I just feel that putting a 15 year old as a sole ruler of Zou is a bit too much, heck, if she spent plenty of time with Luffy and the crew why not give her the position that Yamato didn't took?
@@danieljimenez9821 carrot's writing and character in wano was bad, after how well she did in Whole Cake. I hope this gets redeemed in the future
Yamato is a he.
Carrot deserved better in Wano tho
I feel that's one of the arc's issues
Is just how Carrot was just...pushed to the side after a bit, as if she got all her stuff in Whole Cake only
I wonder what messed it up
Yamato (Oden Fangirl and pronouns Od/en) one of the best too, especially as they were able to keep up with their father long enough for Luffy to get back
@@dosuna10oda literally said Yamato is a woman
I have a lot to say...but as a male writer (ignore the pfp thats my mum), just...thank you! Its been so good to hear you lay out exactly what you like about the girls in One Piece writing wise, and how they could be even better. This video has so much stuff to help me write better female characters in my own manga. I try to write them with just as much, sometimes even more importance than the guys...but I slip up all the time. So thanks to this video I'm sure I can write em even better with this advice!
I know it's not my business, but just as a hint that I got also from another video:
1. Try to write an interesting character that fits somehow your piece of work
2. Decide the gender of that character afterwards
The problem is, that people write their stories and at some point they check their raster of characters and realize, that there are too few women. Then they think about how they could add a female in the plot. Don't think about the gender first, think about the character. Because of this issue, these women then turn out flat (storywise) and it's obvious, that they were added because of the imbalance. This is why I would give the piece of unwanted advise , that you should first lineout the characters and later decide on the gender.
@@TOWTsi this works fine in many situations, but sometimes being a certain gender does shape your reality and the choices you have.
If you want to depict a world where there are biases, prejudices and limitations for some people and freedom and equality still to be build, the individual stories can't be build in a vacuum without thinking about their gender.
Even in One Piece, many stories of women and girls are influenced by them being the gender they are in the context they live in: Kuina, Tashigi, Boa, Hiyori, Kamy, Lola, Shirahoshi, Pudding - all of them are influenced by that, some aware of it, some abused for it, some using it as a weapon and their stories would not work if they were randomly decided to be male. But they have depth, because first, being a woman is not what defines their core, they are fighters, rulers, celebrities, bakers, pirate captains and then in certain situations a woman specifically... Second, every one of them deals differently with the experiences they made with the biases put on women or exploitation of them, there is no formula to that, it develops out of each individual case.
Male or female, try to be creative with every character, what drives this character to do what they do, what shaped this character, how are they able to grow, what is the worst that could happen to them, etc.
As a writer the challenge is to explore characters that differ from your experiences just as deeply as characters that feel easy to you.
Nami's famous "Help me"-line resonates so much with me and I think with a lot of men. Men are taught to be strong, take responsibilities and don't ask for help. Nami is just like that. I've always struggled with asking for help when I needed it the most and this moment in the manga literally shaped me as a person.
I see this as proof against all the voices that cry about how men can't connect to female characters. That's bullshit and Nami is a shining example of that.
Having the strength and trust to open yourself up and lay your life into another persons hands is so unfathomably hard and scary, especially when you have experienced trauma. And it requires someone like Luffy who proves time and time again that he will always support those important to him. That's a universal thing every human regardless of gender can connect with. From all the strawhats I think Luffy, Nami and Robin are the most important, because they can teach us the most about how we should treat ourselves and each other. And oh look: 2 are women and the other is a non-toxic man.
This is such a great take.
seconded, a great take
Thirded, a great take.
I relate to this so much, such a great take 👍
damn i guess im more like nami than i thought
On a side note I dont get why people complain about Nami and Robin not being relevant in "fights" post time skip.Part of the development of both Nami and Robin is learning to trust others enough to leave the fighting to them and still feel safe so they can pursue their own strengths, something neither had for many years. They both deserve that relief of not having to be constantly on alert and trusting nobody.
Robin did get a fight in Wano,she stepped up when Sanji needed her help,plus her role is the archeologist she doesnt need to fight all the time.Same with Nami being a navigator and making sure the crew survives at Sea,while they protect her on land.
One point I would like to make is how Nami got a moment to shine in WCI,when she came up with a strategy for Luffy to beat Cracker(one of Big mom's top 3 generals)
She used her rain to make the biscuit clones of Cracker wet and soft so that Luffy could break up and eat them,also after Luffy was exhausted from using Gear 4 she manipulated the trees into protecting him while facing off against Cracker herself and buying enough time for Luffy's comeback.
Both of them step up when they are needed,and thats all that I needed
i never felt like she or robin didnt do enough. even as a teen (oh god! the eternal march of time!) i understood where they stood on the fight scale. i knew robin was probably going to be fine if cornered and that nami would need help since she was either the weakest or second weakest next to ussop. and it just isnt the place of the weakest to be on the frontlines.
Yeah I feel that complaint is much more relevant for Chopper - Enies Lobby showed that he had the potential to be every bit as badass as any of the so-called 'monster trio', but post-timeskip he hasn't been allowed to be because... somebody at Jump convinced Oda that would undercut his highly marketable mascot cuteness, I guess. And before anybody chimes in with "he's a doctor, not a fighter!": Law and Marco get to be world-class at both, why shouldn't Chopper?
@@LPTheGas I agree with Chopper man,his biggest strength was his brain point which finds out the weakest point of his enemy,but now he is so weak the brain point doesn't even work lol.Same with Usopp using his brain and tricks to beat enemies who were stronger than him,we dont see that after the timeskip
@@LPTheGas chopper did hold his own against queen for a while. while he lost, given he was up against one of the strongest in the world id say he did pretty good.
sanji is a chef yet he still fights. i understand why nami would not want to fight but robin? shes a masterclass assassin and they never use her
As much as they look alike design wise, a lot of the One Piece girls have distinct personality traits that aren't about as unique as adding water to a recipe. Tsunade was the most unique woman in shonen anime i'd ever encountered till I really looked at the MOST(NOT ALL) of the One Piece women's personalities.
I'm literally DEVOURING all of your videos and dragging my friends to watch them I love your in depth analysis and the editing style is so engaging fanastic work I really really love all of it!
one thing I rarely see mentioned about sanji and his simping gag is that HE'S the butt of the joke. it's always shown as being ridiculous and getting in the way, and when women shoot him down hard it's shown as being badass. I feel like this is kinda holding a mirror to the type of readers who only oggle the women characters instead of seeing them as actual people. like yeah dude you can let your eyes bug out at Nami's Wide Woppers but if she were here she'd slap the shit out of you and get back to work
Yeah, I like to point out that the pervs in OP, even the heroic ones like Sanji, are shown to be in the wrong for being pervs. They're cast in a _shameful_ light for acting like they do. It's seen as a detriment and _wrong_ for them to act that way - in the way others act to their perviness, in the faces of those around them and in the actions that happen to them after/during their perv sessions.
Hell, the 'biggest' perv in OP (invisibitch) is _dead_ atm. Granted, he likely didn't die from being pervy, but he did end up dead. That's a hell of a statement.
(Hoping only the worst for Saturn and Charlos, now)
Bringing attention to how Vivi is the main character of Alabasta, and how it's HER story, really helps put into perspective how One Piece has been written since the timeskip. There's a lot of talk about how the story is lesser now because the Straw Hats aren't the focus, and I think this is a good point to why that is: most of the arcs now AREN'T their story. Wano is the story of a broken country, Egghead is about Kuma, Fishman Island was about the fishmen, etc. One Piece is more stories that involve the Straw Hats, rather than explicitly about them anymore.
Kinda like how Mad Max just sorta shows up to help out some other poor post-apocalypse peeps but doesn't really get in the way unless he needs/wants to.
I have to disagree... At least a little bit...
Imo there is a huge difference between Alabasta and current arcs... Vivi was part of the crew... She traveled with them for quite some time and experienced a lot of adventures with the strawhats... She taught them and they taught her... So we as the audience cared for Vivi her dreams ambitions and sacrifices... Even today she is seen as a member of the strawhats and most people wanted her to stay on the ship...
Same can be said about FMI and Jimbei... Or Law and Dressrosa...
But then there are arcs that feel a little bit odd... At least for me... Best example (and I know I am controversal now) is Skypia... Imo this is the very worst Arc in One Piece because the whole plot has nothing to do with anyone we care about... You can write off the strawhats from this part of the story and it still works... Just finish off Enel with Wipers seaprism-dial-combo and everything is done without the strawhats... They were so irrelevant and sidelined in this Arc... Half of the crew was out of comition constantly and didnt do anything...
And Wano almost turned out the same... Fortunately this Arc was built up much much better... And the strawhats were involved in many keypoints of the revolution and fights on Onigashima without it feeling forced or twisted...
But what is completely different post timeskip isnt the focus on a character but the amount of flashbacks that are included in an arc... We got... What... 10 different flashbacks in Dressrosa... We got massive flashbacks in WCI (Sanji Pudding Pedro BM) THE flashback in Wano with Oden and are currently in Kumas backstory... All of them take months... 12-25 chapters...
So no... The "problem" post timeskip isnt that we dont focus on the strawhats... But that the characters who carry the plot arent as involved with the main cast that we have to be shown a lot of (useless?) backstory to care for the problems these characters faces
@@naviro6672 what... wyper wouldn't have beaten enel on his own. no one but luffy would have. except maybe some other logia that we hadn't even seen up to that point yet or someone with haki that didn't exist. it was important for the strawhats to go to skypeia, because roger went to skypeia
@@naviro6672 i'll give you that the real problem post TS is the pacing, though manga wise oda has been learning and refining his larger arcs ever since the mess of dressrosa. a bunch of people are talking about how they don't like the story as much since it cuts away from the strawhats more, and those people are dumb. this past year of chapters is some of the best one piece has ever been, and look at how much of it has been about side characters
@@alonedownthere47
I dont deny that...
But Enel was already down after Wipers attack but Luffy didnt have a fight yet and Enel was the big bad... So Enel somehow reanimated himself... That was the dumbest plottwist I ever witnessed (and I watched Naruto)
@@alonedownthere47
True...
And I absolutely agree that the chapters around the world are fantastic...
But think about... Which storys are shown... Corby... Law... Shanks... Sabo... And we met all of them before... And we care about their Storys because we and Luffy love these people... Therefore its nice to see what they are doing
Every one piece essay you post is genuinely phenomenal everytime. It's super refreshing to see such in depth analysis' of the characters and plot!
What made me the massive One Piece fan I am today are the women. I discovered OP when I was 12, and even then it was such a game changer. Watching Nami and Vivi being treated as people who have agency, watching the baroque girlies being badasses and being gifted Kureha - one of the best chasrecters I've ever seen, made me realise that this could be for me too. Adn it's INSANE that the only other shonen I've seen (written by a man) do this is GINTAMA, of all tittles lol
I think they did Dadan good. She is Luffys foster mom. Leader of the bandits and when she sees Garp what was the first thing she did? Garp didn't deserve it but he felt he failed and if anyone ever had the right to feel worse it was Dadan
Garp absolutely deserved it and that’s why he would have let Dadan keep beating him until she would have had a heart attack.
Yeah, Garp totally had it comming, he chose duty over his family (fully aware Ace was a good dude) or at least he acted so neutral in marineford that he has some fault in Aces death
Dadan was those boys mother, and I bet her finding out Sabo was still alive made her weep with joy, as Luffy still had a brother.
And yes, that scene where Garp just lets her beat the shit out of him. I love it. It does a good job depicting her grief, there was a beauty to it because, it showed she truly loved those children like they were her own, something she spent years denying.
Dandan is an amazing character, and I hope to see more of her.
Very underrated! Dadan really grew on me I was tearing up when Luffy left man
First of all, Garp did deserve it. Second of all, what's even more astaounding about how Dadans reaction is that she was always afraid of him.
But that fear was nothing compared to her motherly grief.
"The strathats are a colletive".
Exactly. It is one thing that I really love in One Piece and that stands out on the shounen genre. Every single character in the crew isn't only important. They are indispensable. No matter the powerscale, the crew wouldn't be where they are without any of the members. All the success they had so far was thanks to every single one of them.
I completely agree with you, but the only objection I have is. Is Brook that indispensable to the crew? He isn't all that necessary, mostly there to be a figher(somewhat), a musician which is not really required, and to be Sanji V2. I love Brook as a character and all that he stands for, but he really feels like the only one that the crew could function without with.
@@joeboah6040he was pretty much the first character Luffy wanted on his crew after Zoro and Nami, without him at least Luffy wouldn't function properly and there would be missing life and spirit (hoho) on the sunny.
@joeboah6040 I hope you'll love The Hidden Island's video about Binks Sake as much as I did. Oda wrote the song for the series, and its importantance cements Brook's indispensable role in the overarching story. Really beautiful theory, at least.
Well it WAS like that before Oda coming with the sh*tty time skip who ruined all that sweet and cool development the characters had,now never stopping to make everyone except luffy,sanji and zoro useless
@@strawberryusagi2037 Brook is the MVP of wholecake Island. Robin had her moments with the poneglyph. Chopper showed his strength in making literal cures to viruses and poisons within hour. Nami got power upgrade with literal storm cloud following her everywhere. Usopp learned Kenbushoku. Franky had yet to have a meaningful one, but I'm sure it's coming. What you don't understand is, the pre-timeskip is for their deep core character development, they were maturing there. Post-timeskip is where they already understand each other, trust each other, and all of their hard work for TWO YEARS are for each other, so what they developed is their abilities and specialty and they showed it through many instances. As you can see, their development as friends and crew is already fulfilled, now it's for their role. The Monster Trio happened to be the best and main fighters so they got more screentime but that didn't mean the others are dispensable.
I was just re-reading water 7 and my god I forgot how much I live nami. It was when Sanji was about to get on the train and nami and chopper and looking for Luffy and Zoro and my god the action and initiative she shows is outstanding as she spring Luffy into action
MASSIVE thank you for this video!!! I've been reading OP since the first chapter came out, and I've been in love with all of the women in the series... until the timeskip. I felt that their characters fell flat after that, and since then I fell out of OP, feeling let down. UNTIL YOUR ESSAY. You have COMPLETELY upended my views on the women and made me take another look at why I feel so let down. I'm currently doing a re-read of the whole series, and I'm definitely keeping in mind the points you brought out. I'm completely blaming you if I fall back in love with it 👍
anytime someone mentions the “help me” or “i want to live” scenes i always wanna rewatch them 10x just bc i wanna cry at peak
I can relate too 😅 those are great scenes to watch (and to cry over too 😢)
nami and robin are such queens like love that for them
Vivi NEEDED to be mentioned in this video.
A PERFECT SUBVERSION of a princess's story.
Instead of being saved, she's the one who is saving.
ABSOLUTELY MAD RESPECT for bringing her up :)
... it's literally the opposite. She's the one being saved. She's the archetypal version of it.
Yeah I just re-read the Alabasta Arc in the manga and wow is she just so well-written. Even as a child in the flashback scenes she had so much agency and purpose.
@dontmisunderstand6041 No. She is the main hero of her arc, she is saving her people, her country. The strawhats assist her, they are her support, but she is leading that entire sociopolitical operation. She goes out there to investigate, she provides information, she find allies, she motivates and inspires the people who help stop the civil war, she stays to rebuild the country. She also is the person who teaches Luffy, by example, how to be a good leader. Just because she isn't the main fighter, it doesn't mean she was powerless. She had an irrepleaceable role. Everyone came together because of her.
PS: Not to mention that she travelled with the strawhats as a crew member, and that Alabasta clearly will have a role in the final war too (with Vivi as their as queen).
People confuse Vivi's crying during Alabasta arc with weakness, but most of the time she cries for other people: her tears of sadness depict her empathy, her compassion, how she feels other people's pain. Her tears of anger and frustration depict how much she cares, her determination. She isn't complaining nor faking nor playing victim. She never loses her fighting spirit, she never gives up (not even when faced with a logia devil fruit user who has taken control of her country via scheming, not even when her childhood friend feels forced to start a civil war).
Vivi is fierce, loyal, unwavering in her devotion for her people. She's actually one of the bravest characters in One Piece. And she's not a spoiled and naive, or an arrogant and superfitial Princess who doesn't know anything about the world. She's independent, adventurous, confident, grounded and charismatic.
Do not forget that she went out of her way to join Crocodile's crew only to gain info.
She's powerless, but not the one who needed to be saved (in comparison to her people).@@dontmisunderstand6041
Now that Wit Studios is remaking One Piece, I can't wait to re-watch that arc :)@@Beaverghost6500
Awesome video! This is like my fourth time watching it and get more out of it each time. Really nice to have someone doing this type of analysis on this topic (especially since it’s once piece related!). Love your work.
It's so refreshing to have a video celebrating a show with well-written women. Even if there's still a lot of work to be done across the genre and even within the show, it gives me hope 💛 I would love to hear your recs for your other top anime with well-written women!
Being greeted with an almost hour long MelonTeee video is like getting crack injected into my spinal column, thank you for this
This along with the 2 hour summoning salt video posted a few days ago are fueling me xd i love me some video essays
You're so real for this
@@paupaug2790 Glad I'm not the only one that watched both of those videos :p
Oda has the "he is a little confused, but he got the spirit" syndrome about female characters. His extraordinary love for boobs and Nami in general is messing with his head tho😂
Considering Nami is one of the best written female characters put to manga, I literally don't care how sexy Oda makes her. He clearly still knows what makes her important to the story and has a great respect for her.
It just so happens that his wife cosplays as Nami which kickstarted this whole debacle and honestly? That's kind of hilarious.
Well ,there are aesthetically pleasing women ,and not aesthetically pleasing women, duality of appearance is a real thing ,it can't be denied just because of personal feelings. Big boobs and big ass are more visually pleasing, slim figure is more visually pleasing compared to overweight figures, women like tall, rich and physically well built men, men like feminine, well endowed and slim women, both standards are equally acceptable. Misogyny and misandry are equally unacceptable. can't shame anyone for their preferences until it doesn't become illegal😅
I'm not defending Oda in any shape or form but his editors forced that shape into his drawings. For reference, look at his earliest character designs of Luffy and Nami. How he said in an sbs that one of his greatest shocks is his editor telling him that his females are unattractive because they are not cute. That he said he stayed awake all night drawing females because of that.
Also in a separate sbs, he told a female shounen mangaka aspirer to stay away from jump editors because they are pervs.
And he clearly likes what Nami looks like he met his wife when she was cosplaying nami
@pockystick8557 I think you are misinterpreting what he's saying. Tbf I don't typically read sbs' specially the translated ones because a shit ton of intent and meaning is lost to translation
Great channel, you're constantly teaching me stuff i missed on my read through one piece
damn that boa shit hits hard. me and my boy were talking about women who fall hard for guys because the guy treats them with basic decency. like how much trauma must those women have suffered? sick shit
Zoro's behaviour towards women on the battlefield always seemed odd to me at first given his backstory with Kuina being very counter to that, but thinking about it more after the Monet fight, it actually started to make some sense to me.
Zoro got confronted with the idea that women are weaker and can't keep up with men by Kuina stating it to him and back then little boy Zoro thinks it is silly and calls it out as dumb as she is the rival he actually looks up to. But then she dies. Pretty much the next day. Just like that. For an incredibly unceremonious reason (to the point that her cause of death is a literal meme in the community). This incredibly strong woman he looked up to just suddenly dies this "easily", meanwhile Zoro, "the man", is facing death (quite literally at times) thoughout the story but seems to almost not be able to die. I've seen so many people jump to conspiracies regarding Kuina's death because of how sudden and "weak" it was. In a world like One Piece, people don't just seem to die like this, not from just falling down some stairs, it seems unfair and unbelievable and makes her seem almost oddly "fragile" and I can see how this might have traumatized a little angry kid Zoro, who just got confronted with the idea that this is the "fate" of a woman, because it's almost like the universe is proving Kuina correct and he has no way to disprove it to her anymore. So ultimately I feel Zoro is someone that kind of hates the idea to think about women that way (because he wants what he told Kuina as a kid to be true) but he can't shake the feeling that it might be true based on what happened to her.
It also kind of ties in interestingly with his intial reactions to Tashigi but also Sanji. Both seem to annoy him very quickly upon meeting them. Tashigi because she initially seems like what Kuina would have been, but then that glimmer of hope is pretty quickly crushed as she turns out to be clearly much weaker than Zoro now, so it's another cruel reminder Kuina might have had a point. And then there is this obnoxious women-crazy cook that openly and almost proudly wears his chivalry on his sleeve and isn't even trying to hide or is ashamed of how differently he treats women. It's something that Zoro tries to push to the back of his mind and that he is trying to ignore and stay away from, and now this curly-eyebrowed jerk is almost proudly embracing it and shoving it in his face. Eventually I think it turns into a different kind of friendly rivalry fairly quickly, because I think it's pretty clear from early on, Sanji's chivalry isn't actually rooted in him seeing women as fragile and weak, but I can see how a first impression of Sanji might look different at first.
Zoro and his trauma based misogyny. I do hope he gets a chance to get over it, or to have any closure for Kuina's death. As it stands Zoro will be stuck taking Kuina's, nearly, last words to heart. If he doesn't, then he can never become the world's greatest swordsman. To him Kuina was the greatest, and if she had potential stolen by her death, he can never fulfill his promise.
@@chronowaster5376 It always sounds weird to most people, but for me I would actually like for Zoro's misogyny to be more present in the story, so it can then be adressed and in a way maybe be more resolved. Because I actually tend to like how oda handles it with Sanji in many cases. (Although based on people constantly complaining about his gag I might be the minority there).
The thing with Sanji is that I think there is often (with some notable outliers) a good balance in his behaviour not only being treated as a bit of a joke (that is importantly on him not on the women) but also adressing it in a more serious way in terms of underlying intent and reasoning.
Viola always comes to mind as an example where it worked well for me. It starts out with the usual start of the arc chaos of people getting separated and for Sanji it once again being because he is falling for a woman and then this time actually leading him into a trap. And it keeps getting treated as a danger to Sanji and an obvious liability and mistake on his part, Viola straight up mocks him to his face in being so easily manipulated and he is very clearly at her mercy with her having all the agency to actually go through with her plan. So Sanji's behaviour is very much treated as a flaw and not something that helps him out here. What ultimately does though is the underlying intention. Viola being able to tell that Sanji isn't helping her for superficial and performative reasons or because he is just trying to take advantage of her being weak, but instead because he very sincerly and genuinely wants to help, and it is what makes the difference here and gets "rewarded" by her ultimately trusting in him.
And I'd like to see this for Zoro a bit more. I feel he rarely gets to be flawed and it being taken seriously dealt with by the story. He has his getting lost, being stupid etc. jokes that he is mocked for sometimes but a few more situations where he gets to deal with more personal issues would be neat to see. And I think his view on women going back to Kuina is kind of an obvious curiosity.
@@chronowaster5376 There's definitely something with him and Tashigi. I think at some point she'll finally get over herself and go after Zoro with all her strength. There's a conflict between them that needs to be resolved.
Sanji's way of acting is actually very interesting too because his obsession and excessive respect towards women is only caused because in his childhold the only people that were caring and compationate to him were his sister and mom, meaning he saw women as people who were objectively good and deserving, unlike men, because of his brothers and father
@@Ray_altz I'd actually go almost a step further and think Sanji's behaviour towards women is interstingly mostly based on men and has very little to do with women initially. When we see him with Zeff as a kid, he is still asking why he can't just kick a woman when she joins the restaurant, so at least at that point Sanji still views women and how to treat them as a lot more similar (I think growing up alongside a sister that was much stronger than him that and took care of him rather than vice versa also adds to why Sanji's treatment of women doesn't come from a perceived superiority to women but quite the opposite). But then we get the very hard hitting Zeff quote with if you ever hurt a woman I'll kill myself and that's what changes things for Sanji. Sanji as a kid was desperate for love and approval from his father, but Judge refused and rejected it at every point and now Zeff is finally offering it and that's why all of Zeff's principals are essentially law to Sanji. Because he will not disappoint and be a failure to another father, he finally has someone that is taking that role and he won't risk disappointing him. That's why not only the not hitting women but also the not fighting with his hands are so engrained in him.
I think it helps that by Zeff's code of what Sanji thinks Zeff wants him to be, it is everything Judge is not and everything he is sort of naturally inclined to be (as in the kind and caring kid we see him grow up as) and what his mother and sister more represented for him and that it gives Sanji an alternative to what a "man" should be compared to the idea Judge implemented in him. Zeff is essentially showing Sanji a way to be a man while holding onto values that are more rooted in what back at Germa was reserved to be for women. And I think what in a way makes Sanji love and overly cherish women so much is the other side of the same coin that makes him hate men or rather certain aspects of masculinity (the type Judge values).
There's an SBS where oda is asked what Sanji would do if he ruled an island and oda essentially suggested he'd give women all the power, essentially oppress men and then there'd be a coup because of that. And it made me realize that Sanji is not that unsimilar to Boa in that regard, because Sanji's optimal state (and not just for horny reasons) is essentially Amazon Lilly as there are no men there to ruin things. And for both Boa and Sanji, it kind of goes back to horrible violence and trauma they were subjected to my men and what is seen as "typical masculine" behaviour. And I think that's a part of what makes Sanjk also ideolize women, that they are not men.
And coming back around to the Zoro post this started from, it's what also makes his relationship with Zoro so intersting, because while Zoro is still what some would consider pretty much the definition of masculinity, he does still lack all the harmful, and may I say toxic aspects, that are associated with it. He is the strong, not really emotional, stoic and ambitious type that a Judge would probably approve of, but he still ultimately cares about people, isn't cruel and actually has a caring side. And I actually think how Zoro and Sanji both represent and also view masculinity and feminity is an incredibly interesting part of their specific dynamic.
Even characters like Dr Kureha, Kokoro, Aisa, Mocha. And the lattest Ginny and Bonney. Are all so well developed and strong in their own ways. It is pointed out that Sanji didn't fight any of the trans women either. Because of his whole thing about not fighting women.
I agree, there will be people who will says that Sanji fought Bon chan, but i feel Bon is more like a non Binary person than a Trans woman, so it still make sense.
@@Lickere1idk how definable Bon-chan is. I think gender-fluid might fit a bit better than non-binary tho. #1 waifu for sure tho
They’re not trans they’re okamas. Basically travesties
@@Lickere1I always just thought of Bon clay and Ivonkov in the same sense as doctor frank n furter. They’re beyond the concept of gender.
Omg yea Dr Kureha was such a badass. Legendary character
Additional thing about the quote at 12:50. The "a boy's fiery spirit" bit could almost certainly also be translated as "the fiery spirit of _Shonen"_ - as in, the genre, and not "boys" as people, the two just are the same word. And at least I would personally imagine that's what Oda implied there.
I miss the days where Nami wore a shirt. But yeah, while the women in One Piece are undoubtedly sexualized and I personally really dislike it, they are far more than eye candy and are their own characters.
... huh. Now that you say it, I'm realising that ALL the big fan favourite arcs in early One Piece were centered around a female character. Arlong Park was Nami's story and most people seem to think it's the best arc in the East Blue Saga. Alabasta was Vivi's story and everybody seems to love Alabasta. And Water Seven / Enies Lobby was Robin's story and we all know how much the fandom loves that one, even someone like me who doesn't really engage in the fandom can tell as much.
The Bonney backstory is yet another example of Oda’s skill in female character writing.
And young girls at that
@@Pajarocaro nah, fr, that was some bullshit trickery by oda lmao
@@artonio5887 You mean you didn't expect Oda to pull something like that? When I saw a character that can manipulate her age my gut-reaction was "ok, she is either a granny or a little child. Oda wouldn't miss the opportunity to do a plot twist like that"
@@denizkaragullu6239 The way he made most people think granny based on Conney and the interactions at Mariegiousfajer :chef's kiss: Man knows how to misdirect.
I love how oda literally like writes his character to perfection no matter how small their character is. This what really makes one piece such a good anime. No character is rushed and their personality isn’t just random. Every character probably has a planned out back story that just makes sense. For instance, Senor pink was just a random villain who’s basically a background side character but still just got a perfectly balanced backstory. No character is made with an unexplainable trait. Oda really did a good job and I will forever not be ready for one piece to end.
I've discovered your channel a few days ago and your stuff is exceptional. The delivery is on point, there is no over flashy attention span grabbing in your face bs. The jokes are natural, authentic and not put there to incite the viewer.
The wait for the scene where Robin cries that she wants to live wasn't stretching like it usually is with other channels.
I'm making alot of comparisons here. Cuz I genuinely see and believe that your approach to making videos is far more grounded thaj others.
On top of that, you have an amazing talent to see the underlying emotional currents and how characters perception of the world and feelings towards themselves and others change over time.
You are capturing an essence of story telling thay is way too underappreciated and as a man, I feep glad to have an authentic, emotionally sensitive women in the OP YT community who highlights all the important stuff that alot of other content creators moss out on for the sake of hype.
Please keep on creating videos, I love your content so much!
there have been so many moments in one piece where i would be genuinely impressed at a female character being treated with the same respect as a male character without having to sacrifice her femininity, and then immediately become sad that the bar is so low that i would be so impressed by the bare minimum. Shoutout to oda for pushing the boundaries of shounen media
One of the or the best female cast in shonen period. These woman aren’t people to be saved or entirely worshipped they are just characters in a world with positives traits but also flaws. Reminder there no way to the one piece without Nami and Robin.
Nami, Robin, Sirahosi and Vivi were saved by Luffy and that's not a bad thing.
@@mray4784 true, them being saved just felt like someone helping a friend not a damsel in distress.
@@mray4784Big difference between being saved sometimes and existing to be saved, with no other purpose in the story (which is what people usually complain about in low-quality stories)
@@victordeluca7360
Yall are talking as if OP is doing something unusual. Are you guys trolling right now?!
@@kant.68 compared to other shonen op is different.
another banger thank you for filling the one piece video essay hole in my soul
Finally got to watch this video and it was amazing.
Another great video keep it up.
Would love for you to give thoughts on other female casts in Shonen
Especially Shonen you’ve recently read
Crocodile is truly the most inclusive pirate captain. Not only has a 50:50 male to female ratio, but also let the genderfluid person count as a man and a woman in regards to the hierarchy.
I really don't thing crocodile actually cares,lmao.
@@KrishSingh-wd2yn and yet there is a whole rule about it and a whole exception for Bon-chan
Probably because trying to find a partner agent for Bentham would have been even more work. Plus they're a strong fighter with a very useful power. There is a reason they are Mr. 2.
@@woogiestwoogie I mean crocodile doesn't look the type to care.
@@KrishSingh-wd2yn you dont judge people by looks in one piece, you should know that by now.
I do feel like a lot of people misunderstand Sanji’s perception of women. It stems from his upbringing, where his father and brothers constantly tormented him. The only people who didn’t were his mother and sister. As such, he subconsciously developed a respect and love for women. He saw women as something he had to protect just as they protected him. That’s why Sanji will never fight a women and why he will fall for them.
It’s also important to note that Oda will often further exaggerate the qualities of certain characters if fans complain about then. This applies to Sanii’s obsession with women. Once fans started to complain, Oda actually went out of his way to make Sanji even more ‘in love’ with women. I do understand the general criticism of men falling head over heels for a pretty women, but the idea that Sanji 100% fits this stereotype is flawed.
He's a good guy who's a bit too girl crazy and exists in a realm of anime tropes where said tropes can actually come back to bite you in the ass and take an entire season arc to resolve.
I think Sanji is a character well placed to exist for a male audience. We all have that friend who overcompensates a little, but is good people. We get tragic backstory to explain it, but he deserves his place on the crew despite his flaws.
It seems it's one of those flaws a lot of women simply can't see past. He's not my favourite character (Brooke is top perv), but I like him, warts and all. I think Oda turning a visual gag into a medical condition was hilarious, and the gag about Momo being just old enough to start appreciating the female form, but young enough still to be trusted around it, made for a few fun jokes. We've all been there, and the final punchline was solid. We've all been there too
The thing I appreciate is that, it's not just pretty women he will swoon over, its any woman of any shape or size, that counts for something
No, it actually comes from Zeff, not his family.
oh boo who sanji is still a pussy for not fighting women.
@@wepahey It’s both Zeff, but also his family. I forgot to mention Zeff(which i’m ashamed of) but Zeff reinforced Sanjis respect for women which is why Sanjis behavior is obsessive but not outright disgusting and unforgivable. To put it simply, Sanjis mother and sister layer the foundation for Sanjis love for women, while Zeff reinforced Sanjis respect for them.
Your content is great and i wish i had the critical/analytical thinking you have to dig deeper into the series, along with other things, with such enthusiasm. your work is something i wish i could mimic even slightly in terms of script writing and analysis. i think literary analysis on anything is super fun because its like talking about a machine and learning all the things that make it functional and exciting. plenty of ppl will not understand the level of passion it takes to do what you do, myself included, but i hope you never consider stopping
Fantastic video essay; you’ve earned a new sub! Can’t wait to see what else you make!
The first time i read one piece was when i was randomly reading chapter 27, and even though robin's design and mysticism have drawn me in at first (and she remains me fav character), but the scene with nami when she take control of the ship on the knock-up stream and said sth like "if our battle is with the sea, then let's show them who's our navigator is" or sth like that genuinely had me tear up, from just how... everything that scene is. I think Nami is just overlooked a lot in battle scenes, which makes sense since she's the navigator, so i do appreciate moments like this, especially since now the cast is pretty crowded so there's not many time we can spend like this anymore.
I also think her battle style results in some of the more interesting fight scenes, especially with her battle iq.
Literally one of namis best scenes, the anime does it so much justice too
I feel like it isn't talked about enough but I loved the call back to bellemere in in the fight between Nami and Ulti in Wano. Nami refusing to denounce Luffy as her Pirate King knowing she might die because of it is the will she inherited from Bellemere and I cried realizing that
I do too.
i’m so happy you brought “women in one piece bad because of their design” comment up. it triggers me so much because they are so well written and i hate how the public views them as just big boob women lmao. i feel like people would take them more seriously if they weren’t designed the way they were but they’re also so iconic.
I dislike more the fact that so many have just the same face as NAMI
But oh well it's better to just appreciate their good storylines
I’m a 36 year old man, I’ve been reading one piece since I was a high school freshman. Seeing the panels of Nami asking for help, and Robin declaring her will to live STILL makes me well up with emotion, even after all these years. 💚
I heard Netflix wanted to ship Zoro and Nami in the One Piece Live Action. And I respect Oda for sticking to his guns!
That would have been awful... I am so glad Oda shut that down.
This is why oda being involved in that saved it
(slight manga spoilers)
I love how you mentioned that Robin and Nami are allowed to not be fighters. This is why i'm really hoping that the next strawhat is a girl (specifically Bonney as of now). I really wanted Carrot to join the crew because she was so different from the girls we already had, Carrot wanted to fight and she was allowed to be silly and slightly stupid like the boys. Im sad that its unlikely she will join the crew now but Im really hoping that Bonney will because we see that Bonney chooses to fight, and she is a glutton like Luffy. We don't know much about her as of now but I hope she will turn out to be as 'punch first, ask questions later' as the boys to contrast Robin and Nami's levelheadedness.
i'd love her to be on the crew. i don't know how the straw hats would be able to make food last with luffy and bonney on the crew tho lol
@@greengoblinhunter poor sanji LOL
@@ReegaalThere is no number of locks Sanji can put on that fridge that can stop the combined might of a young growing girl with an appetite on par with Luffy's, and Luffy himself.
He might have to send word to Momo for a set of Seastone locks.
I actually think that Bonney should keep being her own captain. But with the addition of Kizaru, Vegapunk, and Sentomaru as her crew.
Bonney's wish is to save Kuma and and be a one big happy family with everyone during her operation in Egghead
I wish you'd talk a little about Perona, she's such a great female character even on the character design aspect of things.
I love her 🫶🏻😂
Thank you for making this video. As I grow further away from my teenage years, I am unfortunately not able to enjoy One Piece as much as I used to. Fortunately, the video essay community surrounding it is amazing, and your videos are among my favorites. This was a very refreshing one to watch, especially the part about Boa.
As for fights, I feel like the physical disparity between men and women also plays a huge role in how they're shaped, as well as the imbalance in representation in pirate crews. The same can be seen in real life, as men usually dominate the media coverage given to a competition that involves physically demanding activities. Hopefully, we get to see a lot more variety in this regard, as fiction is a platform where it can be achieved without any difficulty.
One of the problems that Oda having on designing female characters is that he can't draw charismatic aged women or old women, we have Raleigh and many other male characters who are at their sixties/seventies that are attractive and wanna call them daddies, but many women with that age in OP simply are drawn with exaggerated "ugly" face and weird body figures and sometimes feel like just for gag, really hope there will be at least some in the future arcs ((but i still love OP to the heart, im just pointing out the fact😂
Update: I do realize One Piece has Shakky, Gerd and Doctor Kureha and they're gorgeous and charismatic aged ladies. But also wanna point out that many can't guess the age of Shakky and Gerd by just looking at their design... on the contrary, cool daddies are everywhere in OP 😂 I hope there will be more cool mommies in OP 🥲 God I love Doctor Kureha🥹
Shakky is 64 and Gerd is 75 and both are super attractive. I'm sure Elbaf will have lots of attractive woman who are over 60 because of how giants age.
Doctor Kureha is concentrated charisma and I can not call her ugly by any means. Big Mom is also more Of a Tank Granny, still not ugly and charsimatic (The picture Of her with blazing hair looks badass AF). Also, Big Mom is one Of The Best villains in The manga. And Brook asking to see her panties is one of most hilarious moments.
Conny from Bonney flashback is also very nice, she looks very kind lovely.
So I guess there is no tendencies Of ugly old Lady.
Or I May be wrong cause I dont remember any more old women.
your facts is dumb tho, we got tsuru, dr kureha and shaky
Part of that might be because the women you are referring too gave up on their dreams. Oda said that characters that give up on their dreams age worse.
Wait what,,you think oda CANNOT DEAW CHARISMATIC OLD WOMEN??😂😂..there are Kureha and Shaky..it is not he CANNOT draw it,,he simply CHOOSE not to
I really love that you noticed Oda has a trend to kill or not show mothers for the characters.
I don't know where I heard this and if it was something you said in one of your videos I apologize. But I heard someone say that Oda targets mothers in particular because if there were mothers in one piece there would be no adventure. And not in a sense that "Oh mothers are just boring and overprotective and won't let their child do anything of worth" but in the sense that mothers love for their childs is just so powerful that there wouldn't this much tragedy in the world.
Aside from Big Mom most mothers in one piece that we're shown die because of the love towards their child, and I think Oda thinks that in a world where all mothers were to be alive and well would be a world where adventure would be difficult because because most people would be protected and happy.
Oda probably loves his mom and I found that very cute.
"in the sense that mothers love for their childs is just so powerful that there wouldn't this much tragedy in the world." that is such a nice way of looking at it. I do wish every children in the world gets a proper caring nurturing mother.
Well, at least we have Dadan. She may not be a model mother but she sure loves her boys and most definitely Ace. Her grief was a gut punch.
One of the most powerful characters in One Piece is a mom, and not just some mom, Big Mom, the ULTIMATE mom, so yeah, the idea of moms being fucking OP actually might be his beliefs
Was almost crying at some points. I love hearing your thoughs about One Piece and putting things into words that i feel myself but am unable to articulate! You also point out things that I never even noticed, like Hiyori having a crush on Zoro, I didnt realize it at all lol
amazing essay, thank you for doing all this work
As someone that developed boobs very early in life, seeing everyone treat characters with big boobs as "inappropriate" really hurt me. I was basically hearing all the time that my 12 year old body was inappropriate. So I think having big boobs in children's media is not bad. But the problem lies in 2 aspects:
1) Lack of variety, like you said. We need to represent different types of bodies, or else we are doing to other kids what has always been done to me. I hate that other body types are reduced to gags of being seen as ugly. I don't want kids to feel like they are ugly or bad.
2) It the fact that characters in story sexualize bodies. The big thing that made me feel ashamed as a kid was that I was aware that Cup C boobs were "sexy", so just existing implied my 12 year old body was sexualized. I couldn't feel pretty or happy about my body because I had to hide. My boobs were always either used as a joke or as a way to sexualize me.
One thing I like about the OP fandom is that most people do agree the pervy jokes are not funny. If the characters existed without the jokes there would be no problem
I feel the same way. It made 12 year old me uncomfortable. That was around the same time I first started watching one piece and I didn’t understand why it was like that. Ofc now I know
The big boobs in OP are all circular upright and "perfect". Not even remotely a variety.
I also developed early and mine have never been round, upright or perfect.
Every character's backstory made me cry, but I only remember Robin's declaration of will to live. I thought that Nami's mental breakdown was my weepiest point, but, boy was I wrong! I hear "I want to live!" and I start sobbing, like, how relatable can you make a character?!
Her entire story and that moment are the reason Ennies Lobby is still widely considered the best and most iconic arc to this day, even with decades of brilliant writing surrounding it.
I can’t watch even a 3 minute clip of that scene without tearing up. The way the story brings her to life as a 3-dimensional human makes me relate to her as if she was my own sister or friend going through all of that.
AAH !!
I love your videos so muuch ! I love so much how you analyse One Piece and characters generale !!
💕💕
Wonderful video. Thanks💛
As a father I find it crazy that my daughter who is a one piece fan cant get any of these good female characters from one piece as action figures i understand these shows are pushed towards boys but theyve gotta realise girls read them /watch them too. But I love that these strong female characters are good for my daughter.
There's lots of figures in Japan of One Piece characters male and female. I don't think action figures are big in Japan but figures are huge,you should watch anime figure videos VLOGS on UA-cam
Yee
Nami's fights are always my favorite in every arc. She always has the most fun and creative ways to win her fights
Her weapon is also really cool as well. How Usopp made that thing is a mystery.
she rarely has any tbh
@@san6984 she's not a fighter by design, she'll only fight if she absolutely has to. Fights don't make a character relevant.
@@queencancerous5332 yea but same goes for Sanji, Brook, and a lot of other SH and they still fight a lot. idk i just hate when this excuse is used for Nami and Robin bc yes while they may not be fighters fr they can fight and i hate having to wait decades in between them getting one. Nami’s last fight before Wano was in Ennies Lobby & Robin’s before Wano was in Skypeia, that’s like 20 years apart
@@san6984 One on one fights, maybe, but Robin and Nami are constantly shown bodying mooks. They have great AoE attacks and _use them_. Also, Nami beat the stuffing out of invisibitch in Thriller Bark and she was in the same boat as Sanji/Chopper/Brook after then - no fights because elsewhere. Then she went on to Wano, undercover. No-one but dumbass Zoro was fighting in that group.
Thanks for this video. You seem a good story teller as I got a tear in my eye from this video
There’s quite a few not mentioned but Makino, Dadan, Kureha & Bellemare definitely deserved a mention. Oda just loves his characters even the smallest ones
22:55 I think Robin is strong because she became strong to survive, but after timeskip she had no reason to get stronger and she can focus on her dream. She knows her crew is there to save her. I think
This video was nothing but Facts!!
Exactly! I also love how silly she became around the strawhats. You can tell she really feel at ease for once in her life.
Robin is one of my favorite characters, often number one. She is not really a fighter, primarily, and I dont give a shit about that. It's her knowledge and comportment that's so badass to me. Like when she just completely shrugged off the illusion mist in Wano. Not fooled for a second. Not even enraged to have her dead loved ones visages used against her. Just a smile and complete dismissal of it all before defeating them. She feels like a character that has been through her character development and is now complete.
And the way she smile in the opening 24, just made my heart melt after everything she has gone trough
It is absolutely unacceptable how many bangers you've put out this past year!🎉
FOR REAL
dude you're awesome. im so happy the algorithm blessed me with this channel
Straight up! your avatar gets me every time it's perfection, peak 10/10 design
I wanna point out another thing you didnt really mention but touched a bit: Emotions and Odas realisation of womens strengh and freedom in emotions. While men in media are often displayed to be hard boiled and not allowed to cry (best example might be Zoros "nothing happened"), women especially in One Piece are allowed to show the whole rainbow of emotions. And im sure many of us love this show for its emotions.
To this day i havent met a single person who hasnt teared up at Nami or Robins storys, but rarely at Brooks despite it more often being announced as the saddest backstory. Because they work thru it, they explain the roots of the emotions and let it out more; it feels heavier and more relatable. This is another big problem in media, tackling male mental health but even here One Piece shines from time to time (best example imo is Sanji Germa story and crying at whole cake). (would love a vid on this toppic btw, the sacrificial nature of Zoro and Sanji was already a good start tho thx)
And while women in media often are displayed as "crybabys" its mostly due the "need rescue trope". in One Piece we understand those emotions and the ones that are crybabys have all the reasons to be (despite Rebecca but thats a personal opinion) and still its verry rare here as women are so much more. Oda does great work, not perfect but im sure itll leave a mark on medias approach.
I fucking broke down sobbing at brooks backstory. Literally I was crying so much it hurt. So anyone who says they didn’t are probably lying lol I’ve actually seen many people say the same on the subreddit as well
@@howdidigethere9061 Cmon man dont do that. Dont be the "everyone who reacts diffrently than me must be lying" guy. Thats the mentalit i try to remove from the subs
@@InsaneBasti i meant that its a common reaction people have to his back story. Sorry if i came out too strong, i didn’t mean to invalidate anyone else’s experience. I was kinda joking and exaggerating when i said “they must be lying”
Nah, Id cry
I’ll have to very much disagree with labelling Zoro’s “nothing happened” as the “men can’t show emotions” trope, personally i think that’s a big misinterpretation of its meaning. And especially in One Piece, men are extremely emotional: we see them sob left and right, act like silly boys, laugh wholeheartedly, etc. (and the same goes for women, we quite literally have the full spectrum of emotions equally distributed).
I will also disagree that Brook’s backstory is not/less heart-wrenching. Both from my own experience as well as friends’s and from chapter/episode discussions it’s evident that countless people have cried to Brook’s story.
It always makes me mad when people write off Nami as fanservice (Robin as well, but I feel that's a bit less frequent). She's like legit in my Top 3 favorite characters in the series and it's so hard to tell people that without them thinking I like her just cuz of her design.
Ironically that's kind of sexist in of itself, when people dismiss a female character just because she looks like eye candy instead of actually reading the story to see there's more to her then meets the eye.
Top 3 is a bit crazy but I get it she is goated
same!! romance dawn trio are my favorites in the entire series! the sheer amount of times I had to defend nami to someone always made me question whether we were even watching the same show. its always ‘nami only cares about money’ ‘shes so selfish’ ‘shes so irrelevant’ ‘shes so weak’ the first and the last one make me particularly seethe. men think that female characters are only strong if they can fight well and that they can only respect and like a female character if they can fight well. its absolutely insane. and the fact that ppl still to this day think nami would pick money over her friends make me laugh bc that just tells me they were only paying attention to her boobs or getting a boner for the guys fighting scenes the whole time. her entire obsession with money came about bc she realized very young that money meant life or death. she started collecting money to save the people she loved. she would easily give up everything she had and go back to her thieving ways if it meant she could save someone. she literally does so for camie who she only knew for couple of days. you’re calling nami selfish?? bitch she is one of the most selfless character in the series. she is always one of the first characters to befriend someone (aside from luffy ofc) especially the girls and always the main one to openly show empathy. I even admire how she uses everything shes got to manipulate and trick people into accomplishing her goals. she understands that in this world, she already gets objectified and leered upon by just existing so she might as well take advantage of that to help herself and her friends. I love that about her. Im glad I grew up watching her as a young girl.
@yourhonorr5439 for real, Nami's the ultimate girl boss and we love her for it!
@ryan0823smith Yup. An actual likeable Girlboss I might add.
Man this channel is so good I need to hurry up and finish the show just so I can watch all these videos
Glad that somebody mentioned this, I also want to add that Robin and Chopper have definitely been nerfed from pre-timeskip and timeskip. When we first saw Robin in Alabasta she was much more feared and more known for her power let alone devil fruit. She definitely seemed more stronger and independent before she joined the crew. And timeskip Chopper just feels like a mascot for One Piece because he is adorable when he can literally fight but oh well
Still they sometimes get some cool scenes like man chopper took one on one a fucking yonko to save his friends
"Who are the most important crew members in one piece?"
Non one piece fans: Obviously the boys, the girls are just eye candy like any shonen.
One piece fans: Nami and robin are literally the only ones required to the story, everyone else's job can be done by basically any random person. Also brook, gotta have a musician...
Yeah brook is a necessity, gotta hear that yohohohoho every day Haha
Facts. Im honestly flabberghasted this view still exists. But as Melon said, it just screams "i havent actually watched the show and the girls"
My take on Zoro's misogyny vs Sanji's and why the story treats the two differently is that it comes down to conviction. Sanji has resolved himself never to hit a woman, no matter what, even if that costs him his life and his other dreams. In his mind, if he can't uphold that code, there's no point to him being alive, something he proves by getting the absolute shit beaten out of him by Kalifa without retaliating.
Zoro, on the other hand, does not have this iron code. When a bounty hunter disguised as a nun ambushes him, he hits her with the back of his blade, so it 'doesn't count'. When Miss Monday attacks him with her prodigious strength, he takes her out with his bare hands instead of with his swords, so it 'doesn't count'. When confronting Monet, he cuts her logia form without using Haki, so it 'doesn't count'. In contrast to Sanji, for Zoro not fighting women is all about his own convenience and protecting his own complicated feelings about Kuina. There is no code or special resolve underpinning it, which is why he's so wishy-washy when putting it into practice. For Zoro, it is a character flaw he is going to have to confront on his way to his goal of becoming the strongest swordsman. For Sanji, it is a core belief that, while silly, he is wholly and utterly devoted to, and for that he gains Nami's begrudging respect.
As an example of how this would play out in the story, imagine Zoro in Sanji's position during Wano, completely at the mercy of Black Maria. Would Zoro have called Robin for help? No, of course he wouldn't have - he proved on Skypiea that he doesn't have a high opinion of the personal strength of women in general and Robin specifically, and he likely wouldn't see Black Maria as a serious threat in the first place. He'd sooner cut open the entire floor and have all the burning wood collapse onto Black Maria, because that 'wouldn't count' in his mind since he didn't directly slice her. That's why he's treated differently from Sanji - Zoro's a hypocrite, but Sanji, while an idiot, is completely sincere.
That said, there's a whole other discussion to be had about how Oda writes misogynistic elements into his story without acknowledging them, like how Sanji's tendency to perv on women without their consent, especially when they're nude in the bath, is kind of in conflict with his general attitude of respect towards women. But that's not because that's a character flaw with Sanji per se, it's because Oda himself genuinely doesn't understand that these two things are in conflict with one another. See also his weird treatment of trans people, which flip-flops between really cool and respectful and whatever alt-right fever dream Sanji's stay on Kamabakka Island was supposed to be.
Love your analysis. I do wish we would get more very strong swordswomen in the story to force Zoro to confront his flaw. This makes me think of two things, however:
-If Zoro is not interested - or just uncomfortable - about fighting swordswomen to accomplish his dream, why does he react during the scene "A beautiful swordswoman with meat!" in Thriller Bark? if it's all about the "sword" part (and not to fight the wielder), it's also a bit weird because he never seemed super interested in other swords than his own, like he doesn't exactly collect them, it's absolutely not an obsession. It seemed like his interested would be in fighting whoever that is, and not just in the sword itself. Overall it's just played as a gag so it likely doesn't matter at all, though, but I'm noticing it now.
-I am pretty sure there is at least one movie (maybe more) where Zoro's "main fight" is against a woman, too. I just checked and in Film Z, he indeed fights Ain, who is Z's second in command. It would be very interesting to watch it again and see how he handles that fight, because I don't have a lot of memories of it, I don't remember if he wins easily or if he goes seriously at all (think the fight was short).
Movies are not canon but generally, Oda cares enough to not put in them character interactions that wouldn't happen if those characters met in the main manga.
@@doubl2480 I think he'd been looking for a sword to replace the one that got rusted on Enies Lobby, so reacting to just the mention of a sword here makes sense.
Also, I don't speak the language, so I can't prove this definitively, but they could just be separate words in Japanese. Some subtitles translated the line as "beautiful lady swordsman" and that may mean the "beautiful lady" and "swordsman" are separate terms to activate separate monkey brains.
I agree with a few of your points, and wanted to add on. Sanji’s reasoning for not wanting to hit women heavily ties into his backstories - specifically his mother and sister being the only ones to treat him with any kindness. Sanji never views women as weak (he called and relies on Robin and Nami for a reason) - it’s a flaw that he can’t get past (as you and the series say, even as stupid as it is).
Zoro on the other hand is odd. I don’t think he actually views women as weaker, he specifically had no problem fighting Kuina as kids. I think his misogyny is more tied to Kuina’s death and the unresolved feelings he has about it. I don’t think it’s coincidence that Tashigi (who looks just like Kuina) is the one to call Zoro out on this.
Now whether this is a case of the last time he fought a woman seriously she died, and Zoro can’t confront that, or is something else, we’ll see at a later date
there is no ''misogyny'' with both characters. that women in the video is dumb
the def of misogyny is hating women.
Zoro and sanji aint displaying non of that.
zoro saying that she is a women is a true fact. there is no women fighters in the frontlines in ukrain vs russia war. its all men dying all the time
and also, men naturally stronger. its just reality
Technically. THAT ONE TIME Sanji 'sneak' into the bath in Wano and saw Nami naked, it was a MERGED bath. Both men and women are allowed to enter, Nami picking to go and take a bath in co-ed bath is her explicit consent to be naked around men and seen naked around men. Sanji was just being comical. I don't understand wtf is the problem with the fandom when they complained about this bath scene.
another banger video from melon aaaaaa this is so good
Thanks for your work, I love yours POV
Incredible video!
A great example of a female character's impact on the story is when Sugar turns Robin into a toy during the Dressrosa arc. Everyone forgets Robin exists, and when they do, any character development they gained thanks to Robin being a part of their lives disappears along with their memories of her. This is most noticable in Usopp, who turns into his previous cowardly self. Something he started to work on and get over thanks to the Water Seven and Ennies Lobby arcs, which were not only centered around Robin, but only happened because of the choices she made (Even though said choices were done under coercion).
And something that's often glossed over with Nami asking for help during the Arlong Park arc is that Luffy actively makes sure he doesn't undermine Nami's agency in the situation. Sure, he refuses to leave when Nami tells him to. But he also avoids taking on an active role in the ongoing conflict of the arc, up until the point where Nami CHOOSES to put her faith in the crew and asks for their help. Luffy doesn't hesitate for a second to help Nami, but he refuses to make that choice for her.
Luffy wants to help, but he doesn't want to do things for people. His entire character is about freedom, and he would be taking that away if he just did things. He wants Nami to ask him for help, because just helping robs her of that freedom.
God, I love “help me” and “I want to live” so much
Both of these lines are the end of the line for those women. They have tried everything else. They lied, they stole, they killed, just to solve an impossible to overcome obstacle.
Luffy sees how much they are suffering and makes sure they they are aware that they can always ask for help, but doesn’t just solve their problem for them.
So, those women, who have done everything imaginable to solve the problems themselves and failed do the one thing that’s left to them.
Ask for help and admit that they can’t do this alone.
And now, with explicit permission to do whatever he can to help, Luffy breaks everything that harms his friends, leveling powerful institutions and grounding them to dust. Because that is what he can do.
Such awesome moments
What you've described for Nami, Robin and Hancock ("Boa" is her SURNAME, thank you) is really just "The Rules For Writing Good Characters." Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions has what she calls "The Sexy Lamp Test." To whit- a character fails this test if you could conceivably replace them with an attractive inanimate object (the "Sexy Lamp," as it were) and it having no impact on the story whatsoever. Nami and Robin are NOT merely furniture. They're not here to fill some preachy affirmative-action quota, they are not property to be fought over or prizes to be won. In fact... replace EITHER with a sexy lamp, and Luffy's dream to find the One Piece is dead in the water. Sexy lamps can't read maps/weather-forecasts or decipher ancient tongues lost to the ravages of time and the censorship of a World Government that's gotten so full of itself, its policy regarding artifacts of the distant past is "Nothing Existed Before The World Government Did, And We Will WIPE YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE OCEAN IF YOU CHALLENGE US ON THIS."
And of COURSE Zoro thinks women are weaklings compared to him... he's a combat MONSTER who also couldn't find his own ass with both hands and a roadmap. And Nami is perfectly willing to clobber him over the head if he does the "The Battlefield Is No Place For A Woman" routine.
Yeah hancock boa just sounds wrong
>couldn't find his ass with both hands and a map
Okay that got a laugh out of me.
@@Pennythediaperlover And there are THREE Boa Sisters. They're Mari(Marigold) and Sonia(Sandersonia), not... Boa and... Boa.
@@starburst98 And am I wrong? Zoro becoming hopelessly lost is a freaking RUNNING GAG! As reliable as Brook greeting a lady with "Excuse me, miss... but could I please see your panties?"
Girl idk how you do this but your videos make me cry every single timeT-T.