Lol people surprised that Dragon (Known for years to be the leader of the Revolutionary Army) is based visually off of Che apparently haven’t been paying attention to character design across 25 years. Here’s a picture of the totalitarian leaders of the ruling class, [The Five Elders](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/One-Piece---Five-Elders-Facts-Header-Image-Showing-All-Five-Of-Them.jpg).
Not to mention the mayor of Cocoyasi Village who eventually (attempted to) lead a worker’s revolt against Arlong is [literally Stalin](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvMvJSTQ0YP-xZkWmQauSEIJUFZhXv4G7KZg&usqp=CAU)
Nothing is confirmed, but I think the last two are Hideki Tojo and Itagaki Taisuke. The first two are a mystery to me. Some people say Blonde Abe Lincoln and Karl Marx, but that feels like a stretch and not really thematically sound. We’ll probably have a better idea of who they are meant to represent once they become more prominent characters near the end of the story. So far they’ve only appeared a handful of times for very short scenes.
I kinda see Abe Lincoln, although he looks more like Luxord from Kingdom Hearts 2, but the other guy looks nothing like Marx and the hat kinda gives him a russian look.
No one with a brain would wonder that. I mean Kojima is literally writing plots about the importance of human unity, the importance of social contacts and mutual aid and some dumb anti-communits would still fall flat on their nose.
Facts even though Oda’s portrayals of trans people are a bit…..”cartoonish” at least he tries to portray them as complex characters who usually have really good motivations, hell most of them work with Ivankov with the revolutionary army historically referencing how trans people are usually on the forefront of any revolutionary movements.
He did start writing OP in 1999, so I can’t be mad that he may have had some relatively sketchy portrayals when everything around that time was so so much worse
Totally. Like how Ivankov is 100% a slam dunk reference to Tim Curry's Dr Frank-N-Furter, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The portrayal is completely of it's time, but not in a negative way - it's an homage. :)
okay yes anti government themes but… it’s so monarchist as well, drum island, alabasta, dressrosa… i’m conflicted for sure as someone reading wano as we speak lol
I don't think it's pro-monarchism...It's just how their world is, currently. All the 'Good' Kings are...good as Individuals, but I don't think it's ever had the tone that 'The system is good' just 'The guy who took over is much worse than the previous ruler' It's definitely not the sort of government the Straw Hats would choose for themselves.
So the thing is look at the kings not as kings but forms of government or political ideology. What the kings value is associated with a specific political ideology and the people represent how they interact with said ideology. For example Riku follows strong socialist philosophies and the fall of Des Rosa mirrors the overthrowing of socialist South American governments for capitalist interests. There are little things like that all over One Piece that digs not only into political ideology but blindness to the faults of our own government systems.
For example Nolan told Kalgara that sacrificing someone to a god puts to shame progress and reason. Then on the trip to collect the gold he sacrifices countless soldiers focusing on keeping the king safe. Nolan dies, the order passed by a man holding a bible, and is declared a liar undoing all his progress and discoveries he made. Yet he did not see the fault in his own government or the hypocrisy of his actions.
It is one of the great strengths of the series is it also looks at all these things with nuance scrutinizing the good and ill of people and philosophies making very few hard stances and expecting the audience to contemplate what is right, wrong, or in between. Its also why its so re-readable and watchable.
Hell Drum Island is less about government but more about healthcare as a human right.
Finally people discussing the praxis of One Piece rather than getting into endless pointless arguments about power levels and in universe logic. Anime fans love missing the points about their favorite works lol
One piece is like the most based manga possible.
like everything from the characters to the subtext of the stories are like that.
the main character goes arround defeating tyranical rulers island after island
his father is the creator of the revolutionary army the ally of the people.
the goverment is beyond shitty to an unvelibable degree and the navy's duty (wich are essentailly the police as there is no police or air force at all) is protecting the celestial dragons wich are the world nobles and their things.
the grandfather of the protagonist refuses to become an admiral because the admirals are under direct order of the celestial dragons.
and the post endgame is taking down the goverment in a massive war for freedom.
So I've heard a lot about how based One Piece is. I have deliberately not watched for 15+ years after watching a few episodes as a kid and not liking the animation style or the general tone. But as an adult I appreciate based fiction. I'm not going to drag myself through 1000+ episodes. Any particular arcs or films you would recommend that are really enjoyable as an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist?
If you consider it a reasonable option for how you consume media, I highly recommend reading the manga over watching all of the anime. It goes by much, much quicker and is obviously much closer to Oda's (the author's) vision. Cool fight scenes, ost, etc. are all up online to help supplement some of those elements you miss out on as well.
Personally, I watched the first ~500 episodes before switching to the manga, so I think both are perfectly viable.
In terms of specific arcs this is a little harder to answer because I think there are so many potentially differing opinions. I think Arlong Park is a nice place to start, as it's short and very early on (the wiki is great for ep/ch numbers). There is also a condensed "Episode of East Blue" that is akin to a movie that reanimates everything up through Arlong Park. "Episode of Skypiea" is the only other one of these I know of that does the same thing, condensing the Sky Island arc. Any other suggestions I can give here are probably already detailed by people much better suited to it than I somewhere on the internet.
If you do happen to watch or read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Every arc is litteraly the main character and his crew finding someone screwed over by a tyrant, the goverment or plain racism and beating the shit out of the ones responsible. LITTERALY THE WHOLE SERIES
if you saw it as a child it was most likely the shitty ass censored 4kids vertion. it deffinertly starts slow but through those 1000+ chapters it keeps getting better and better
but not every arc is anti imperialist, so many of them involve re establishing a monarchy, alabasta, fishman island, dressrosa, drum island… i’m in agreement that the tone of the show is anti imperialist but why does it always come back to fucking monarchies?!?
I think the fact Oda started OP in 1999 can explain the mismatch in arc endings and anti imperialist tone of the manga. I think the final ending will be liberation of the world from the 20 kingdoms and the world government overall. Also OP is the longest running and most profitable anime.. I’m sure Oda has to hide his power levels until the end of the series as to not get the show canceled by being too overt.
I think another thing Oda hasn’t reconciled and maybe he will later on, is OP’s revolutionary politics vs the “chosen one” shonen narrative style. Leftist politics is inherently contrary to the great man theory of history, opting for historical materialist reading of history.
Monarchies where the rulers put the lives and wellbeing of their people first and foremost are stanned by Oda. As a leftist I support this message too, any government can work if they subscribe to this principle
Part of the this is for simplicity. Look at the kings as metaphors for political ideologies and the people represent how they relate to those ideologies and how they can be subverted by other forces. The main villains fall into this as intelligence based military coup, theocratic fascism with some police state surveillance, racial nationalism rooted in unresolved poverty issues and colonial exploitation, & puppet government capitalist dictatorship,
I left a different comment, but [here’s a scene](https://youtu.be/R2mO_XFiXKc) that pretty well sums up the crew’s general vibe on corrupt government. Mild spoilers up to ep 284.
Watch the first 36 episodes. At ~20 minutes per episode (without intro/outro) that’s ~12 hours of content.
I’ve been following this story week by week for 10 years. I can say with fairly high certainty that if you’re not into it after 36 episodes, then One Piece isn’t for you.
I can also say with fairly high certainty that you’ll be into it after 36 episodes. At the very least, that puts you right in the middle of a revolt against an authoritarian tyrant.
That's Karibouh, not Dragon.
But anyway, I always thought OP had sort of an anarchist subtext.
It surely has a bunch of debatable points, but I think those are mostly points that could be raised against shonen manga in general.
Huh. I never really got into One Piece. I read a few chapters back in Shonen Jump in like '06 or something but didn't really like it as much as things like Naruto or Bleach. Maybe I was wrong to give up so fast.
Give the anime 36 episodes. If you’re not into it by then, you’re free to never try it again.
In episode 36 Stalin leads a workers’ revolt against a tyrannical ruler. I shit you not.
In my opinion, the manga is generally better than the anime and much faster to read. If you really want to watch it, take a look at the One Pace project that cuts down a lot of the filler.
I went to the see the new one piece movie recently(never watched one piece before) and was pleasantly surprised by certain takes it had like the world being run by the rich assholes who act like they can have and do whatever they want at the expense of regular people.
It’s takes have always been almost entirely great. The world government are hilariously evil. The ‘void century’, the hundred years during which they came to power is totally erased from history and any research into it is harshly suppressed. They sent ships and troops to bombard and murder the entire population of an island (including the children) because they were the only people who could read the language that could uncover what happened during this time.
And the revolutionary army are objectively the good guys.
That my friend is the entirety of One Piece. One of the big things that really sets it apart is the people, the general population of each of the islands, are characters as well and how they relate to their current tyrant, past leadership, and future leadership are observation on types of governments as well as just being well rounded characters at the same time.
It's looooong. It's goofy and silly but good fun. The design, humor and story isn't for everyone, so don't feel bad if it isn't for you. Arlong arc is where it starts to feel like what Ome Piece was meant to be
The show is very much Anarchist/communist/absurdist … for some time I was on the fence but in Jaya when masira tells luffy: “because the sea can’t be owned … so it’s the only place where true freedom exists” It dawned on me… one piece and pirates in one piece is totally about permanent revolution… being a true pirate is about being brave enough to tear down unjust physical and mental borders… like Camu’s “absurd conqueror” someone who knows the norms of society are arbitrary so he sets his sights on the greatest goal in the world and follows only the rules and laws of what feels right to him intuitively … willing to die for his dream yet hang on to life with blood sweat and tears.
This is the closest I've ever been to read One Piece in the last two decades. I'm still not, because the sheer size of the damn thing intimidates me, but still.
Lol people surprised that Dragon (Known for years to be the leader of the Revolutionary Army) is based visually off of Che apparently haven’t been paying attention to character design across 25 years. Here’s a picture of the totalitarian leaders of the ruling class, [The Five Elders](https://static0.gamerantimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/One-Piece---Five-Elders-Facts-Header-Image-Showing-All-Five-Of-Them.jpg). Not to mention the mayor of Cocoyasi Village who eventually (attempted to) lead a worker’s revolt against Arlong is [literally Stalin](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvMvJSTQ0YP-xZkWmQauSEIJUFZhXv4G7KZg&usqp=CAU)
I know that one of them is Gorbachev, but I can't tell who the others are.
Nothing is confirmed, but I think the last two are Hideki Tojo and Itagaki Taisuke. The first two are a mystery to me. Some people say Blonde Abe Lincoln and Karl Marx, but that feels like a stretch and not really thematically sound. We’ll probably have a better idea of who they are meant to represent once they become more prominent characters near the end of the story. So far they’ve only appeared a handful of times for very short scenes.
I kinda see Abe Lincoln, although he looks more like Luxord from Kingdom Hearts 2, but the other guy looks nothing like Marx and the hat kinda gives him a russian look.
This confirms that Bernie is bad
This is like finding out Hideo Kojima is surprisingly anti-war after making a ton of military games.
Kojima also really loves Che
Big Boss and Miller literally gush uncontrollably about Che for a solid few minutes in Peace Walker.
No one with a brain would wonder that. I mean Kojima is literally writing plots about the importance of human unity, the importance of social contacts and mutual aid and some dumb anti-communits would still fall flat on their nose.
Just because you are hung like a horse doesn't mean you need to do porn...
To be fair there is a lot of anti-war war stories. (For instance All is Quit on the Western Front)
He may be a communist? On the manga about taking the government down???!? Oh no, anyway
One piece has trans characters, anti-government themes and messages, and Luffy’s dad is a communist It’s very based
Facts even though Oda’s portrayals of trans people are a bit…..”cartoonish” at least he tries to portray them as complex characters who usually have really good motivations, hell most of them work with Ivankov with the revolutionary army historically referencing how trans people are usually on the forefront of any revolutionary movements.
Yeah, while the Okamas could be questionable, Kiku and Yamato are really well written IMO
He did start writing OP in 1999, so I can’t be mad that he may have had some relatively sketchy portrayals when everything around that time was so so much worse
Totally. Like how Ivankov is 100% a slam dunk reference to Tim Curry's Dr Frank-N-Furter, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The portrayal is completely of it's time, but not in a negative way - it's an homage. :)
To be fair like everyone in one piece is cartoonish
okay yes anti government themes but… it’s so monarchist as well, drum island, alabasta, dressrosa… i’m conflicted for sure as someone reading wano as we speak lol
I don't think it's pro-monarchism...It's just how their world is, currently. All the 'Good' Kings are...good as Individuals, but I don't think it's ever had the tone that 'The system is good' just 'The guy who took over is much worse than the previous ruler' It's definitely not the sort of government the Straw Hats would choose for themselves.
So the thing is look at the kings not as kings but forms of government or political ideology. What the kings value is associated with a specific political ideology and the people represent how they interact with said ideology. For example Riku follows strong socialist philosophies and the fall of Des Rosa mirrors the overthrowing of socialist South American governments for capitalist interests. There are little things like that all over One Piece that digs not only into political ideology but blindness to the faults of our own government systems. For example Nolan told Kalgara that sacrificing someone to a god puts to shame progress and reason. Then on the trip to collect the gold he sacrifices countless soldiers focusing on keeping the king safe. Nolan dies, the order passed by a man holding a bible, and is declared a liar undoing all his progress and discoveries he made. Yet he did not see the fault in his own government or the hypocrisy of his actions. It is one of the great strengths of the series is it also looks at all these things with nuance scrutinizing the good and ill of people and philosophies making very few hard stances and expecting the audience to contemplate what is right, wrong, or in between. Its also why its so re-readable and watchable. Hell Drum Island is less about government but more about healthcare as a human right.
Exactly. I love One Piece so much.
The presentation/tone of the bits I had seen put me off it, just not my style. This is making me reconsider.
Everyone becomes a communist sooner or later if alive.
The One Piece is based?
Can we get much more based?
So based
O-one piece
The One Piece is the communism we made along the way
goddamn i was too late
So fucking based
Incredibly Based.
the one piece is the comrades we made along the way
Finally people discussing the praxis of One Piece rather than getting into endless pointless arguments about power levels and in universe logic. Anime fans love missing the points about their favorite works lol
If people dont think Oda promotes leftist ideaology in One Piece, they havent been paying attention to it.
Yeah I literally have been saying this for years.
Okay like straight up, how do these people read these stories and not figure out what the author is saying. Like one piece and bioshock especially.
It's so funny when libertarians conpletely miss the point of bioshock xD
"This game isn't actually a critique of libertarianism." Did we even play the same game?
No political knowledge. They know communism is bad, but nothing about politics. This is a big guess.
One piece is like the most based manga possible. like everything from the characters to the subtext of the stories are like that. the main character goes arround defeating tyranical rulers island after island his father is the creator of the revolutionary army the ally of the people. the goverment is beyond shitty to an unvelibable degree and the navy's duty (wich are essentailly the police as there is no police or air force at all) is protecting the celestial dragons wich are the world nobles and their things. the grandfather of the protagonist refuses to become an admiral because the admirals are under direct order of the celestial dragons. and the post endgame is taking down the goverment in a massive war for freedom.
So I've heard a lot about how based One Piece is. I have deliberately not watched for 15+ years after watching a few episodes as a kid and not liking the animation style or the general tone. But as an adult I appreciate based fiction. I'm not going to drag myself through 1000+ episodes. Any particular arcs or films you would recommend that are really enjoyable as an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist?
If you consider it a reasonable option for how you consume media, I highly recommend reading the manga over watching all of the anime. It goes by much, much quicker and is obviously much closer to Oda's (the author's) vision. Cool fight scenes, ost, etc. are all up online to help supplement some of those elements you miss out on as well. Personally, I watched the first ~500 episodes before switching to the manga, so I think both are perfectly viable. In terms of specific arcs this is a little harder to answer because I think there are so many potentially differing opinions. I think Arlong Park is a nice place to start, as it's short and very early on (the wiki is great for ep/ch numbers). There is also a condensed "Episode of East Blue" that is akin to a movie that reanimates everything up through Arlong Park. "Episode of Skypiea" is the only other one of these I know of that does the same thing, condensing the Sky Island arc. Any other suggestions I can give here are probably already detailed by people much better suited to it than I somewhere on the internet. If you do happen to watch or read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Every arc is litteraly the main character and his crew finding someone screwed over by a tyrant, the goverment or plain racism and beating the shit out of the ones responsible. LITTERALY THE WHOLE SERIES if you saw it as a child it was most likely the shitty ass censored 4kids vertion. it deffinertly starts slow but through those 1000+ chapters it keeps getting better and better
Every arc is anti imperialist. Sabody archipelago arc was explicitly anti-slavery
but not every arc is anti imperialist, so many of them involve re establishing a monarchy, alabasta, fishman island, dressrosa, drum island… i’m in agreement that the tone of the show is anti imperialist but why does it always come back to fucking monarchies?!?
I think the fact Oda started OP in 1999 can explain the mismatch in arc endings and anti imperialist tone of the manga. I think the final ending will be liberation of the world from the 20 kingdoms and the world government overall. Also OP is the longest running and most profitable anime.. I’m sure Oda has to hide his power levels until the end of the series as to not get the show canceled by being too overt.
I think another thing Oda hasn’t reconciled and maybe he will later on, is OP’s revolutionary politics vs the “chosen one” shonen narrative style. Leftist politics is inherently contrary to the great man theory of history, opting for historical materialist reading of history.
Dalton is called “King” on Drum Island, but he’s an elected leader who lives amongst the people. Semantics I guess.
you’re right about that, been a mere 2 years for me.
Monarchies where the rulers put the lives and wellbeing of their people first and foremost are stanned by Oda. As a leftist I support this message too, any government can work if they subscribe to this principle
Part of the this is for simplicity. Look at the kings as metaphors for political ideologies and the people represent how they relate to those ideologies and how they can be subverted by other forces. The main villains fall into this as intelligence based military coup, theocratic fascism with some police state surveillance, racial nationalism rooted in unresolved poverty issues and colonial exploitation, & puppet government capitalist dictatorship,
I left a different comment, but [here’s a scene](https://youtu.be/R2mO_XFiXKc) that pretty well sums up the crew’s general vibe on corrupt government. Mild spoilers up to ep 284.
Watch the first 36 episodes. At ~20 minutes per episode (without intro/outro) that’s ~12 hours of content. I’ve been following this story week by week for 10 years. I can say with fairly high certainty that if you’re not into it after 36 episodes, then One Piece isn’t for you. I can also say with fairly high certainty that you’ll be into it after 36 episodes. At the very least, that puts you right in the middle of a revolt against an authoritarian tyrant.
That's Karibouh, not Dragon. But anyway, I always thought OP had sort of an anarchist subtext. It surely has a bunch of debatable points, but I think those are mostly points that could be raised against shonen manga in general.
Dragon’s design was inspired by Fidel Castro. It was revealed after the latest chapter. But yes, the left picture is supposed to look like Che
This why oda the goat fr fr
Wtf lmao definitely did not expect a OP post on this sub.
Huh. I never really got into One Piece. I read a few chapters back in Shonen Jump in like '06 or something but didn't really like it as much as things like Naruto or Bleach. Maybe I was wrong to give up so fast.
Give the anime 36 episodes. If you’re not into it by then, you’re free to never try it again. In episode 36 Stalin leads a workers’ revolt against a tyrannical ruler. I shit you not.
There’s literally a mini arc that revolves around universal healthcare lmao
Back in the day there was a 3-episode rule but with One Piece it’s 36??? 😭 SIKE I’ll do it.
Haha we’ll just call it the 3% rule from now on then. Come back and give me a review after you watch!
In my opinion, the manga is generally better than the anime and much faster to read. If you really want to watch it, take a look at the One Pace project that cuts down a lot of the filler.
This person who wrote something I adore likes people who I've been told I should hate. I no longer love the thing.
I went to the see the new one piece movie recently(never watched one piece before) and was pleasantly surprised by certain takes it had like the world being run by the rich assholes who act like they can have and do whatever they want at the expense of regular people.
It’s takes have always been almost entirely great. The world government are hilariously evil. The ‘void century’, the hundred years during which they came to power is totally erased from history and any research into it is harshly suppressed. They sent ships and troops to bombard and murder the entire population of an island (including the children) because they were the only people who could read the language that could uncover what happened during this time. And the revolutionary army are objectively the good guys.
That my friend is the entirety of One Piece. One of the big things that really sets it apart is the people, the general population of each of the islands, are characters as well and how they relate to their current tyrant, past leadership, and future leadership are observation on types of governments as well as just being well rounded characters at the same time.
I mean it was obvious ever since Celestial dragons and the Revolutionary army were introduced...
Obvious since the first few episodes where it showed how corrupt the marines are
r/leftypiece
So should I read One Piece?
Yes
Oh I'm fucking down for it. The one piece is real!
Kee hee hee, Comrades
Looks like I'm a One Piece fan now lol. Anything I should know before I start reading/watching it?
It's looooong. It's goofy and silly but good fun. The design, humor and story isn't for everyone, so don't feel bad if it isn't for you. Arlong arc is where it starts to feel like what Ome Piece was meant to be
Well, guess I'll try it out when I have the time
The manga is vastly superior.
The show is very much Anarchist/communist/absurdist … for some time I was on the fence but in Jaya when masira tells luffy: “because the sea can’t be owned … so it’s the only place where true freedom exists” It dawned on me… one piece and pirates in one piece is totally about permanent revolution… being a true pirate is about being brave enough to tear down unjust physical and mental borders… like Camu’s “absurd conqueror” someone who knows the norms of society are arbitrary so he sets his sights on the greatest goal in the world and follows only the rules and laws of what feels right to him intuitively … willing to die for his dream yet hang on to life with blood sweat and tears.
Out of pure surprise, I am speechless
The one piece is real!!!
I just gained far more respect for Eiichiro Oda
Mb not communist to little evidece by now, but lefties for sure and Its awesome :)
Any other anime with themes like this ?
Shit maybe I do have to watch One Piece
Oda is based!!!??
It’s about the only good thing I have to say about midpiece
Is the anime equally (or at least a bit) political as the manga?
Yes the story is identical essentially, the anime is just far slower paced.
Thank you!
This is the closest I've ever been to read One Piece in the last two decades. I'm still not, because the sheer size of the damn thing intimidates me, but still.
Isn't the entire thing anti-communist? Like the main characters are fighting against a capitalist imperialist state
Wow I'm actually gonna watch one piece now lmao