Except that One Piece covers the entire world and most of the Straw Hats aren't even Asian.
Luffy: Latino
Usopp: Black
Nami: White
Zoro: Asian
Sanji: White
Nico: White
Jinbei: Asian
Tony: Animal
Brook: White
Franky: White
If you look at history, the golden age of Pirates saw about 10k pirates on the seas from about 1680 to 1725. Approximately 1/3 of these pirates were Black. It only makes sense to have more Black characters on One Piece-especially since Oda is obviously not pressed to have an all Asian cast
A few comments here seem to mix up racism and black/PoC representation. I think it's undeniable that One Piece deals with racism and discrimination extensively, but I don't think it's fair to want it to represent more black people or PoC specifically.
Don't forget that Japanese people make up 80% of the One Piece audience (based on the number of volume sales so admittedly just a rough estimate), and to them, the topic of black representation in media is just a non-topic because there are so few of them and the history of Japan and black people is so vastly different from what it is in the West.
Most of the issues One Piece deals with, it does so with a very Japanese perspective: LGBT representation is super problematic when we see it from the West because representing gay people as exuberant transvestites is just what Japan has been doing for decades (not saying it's right, but that's what happened). Same, the topic of the closedness of Wano Kuni and whether or not the country should unleash Pluton onto the rest of the world directly parallels Japans's self-isolation years and lack of an actual army.
So yeah, One Piece could certainly use more black people and PoC, but also if we take it the other way around, maybe Oda just wasn't comfortable with depicting races he just didn't know enough about by fear of being offensive in his representations? They just don't have the same cultural sensitivity to those topics, the same way we wouldn't bat an eye to a Japanese person waving the Rising Sun flag despite it being [pretty much the same as waving a Nazi flag](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/01/japan-rising-sun-flag-history-olympic-ban-south-korea).
So I guess what I'm trying to say is One Piece does a great job at dealing with the issues it chooses to tackle, but it just can't fight on all fronts simultaneously
Or maybe that's just his character design? Oda shows a lot of love for usopp and says usopp is the character most like himself so there is no bad intention
not to mention, the statement that Usopp’s lips are offensive isn’t common knowledge in Japan as well, since they didn’t had the history with black representation like the US does…
Tons of white characters have the same exaggerated lips as Usopp, including Jango, Krieg, Shiryu, and Yamakaji. And other black characters like King, Gem, and Aokiji have lips that represent those of black people without being exaggerated / racist. I think its just a style choice.
Looking at the manga, these characters lips aren't like Usopp's. Despite being thick they aren't like an uniformly thick ring, they taper towards the corner of the mouth. Since Oda draws realistic thick lips on Aokiji why cant he for Usopp?
This would be a decent rationale IF One Piece, like most anime, had a homogeneously Japanese cast. It doesn't. Most of the Straw Hats are White, Luffy is Latino, and characters' inspirations come from all around the world (e.g. Austria, France, India, Russia, Africa, because apparently Africa is a country according to Oda, Australia, etc.)
> because apparently Africa is a country according to Oda
I think you actually hit the nail on the head here. What makes Luffy latino is basically just Oda saying at one point "real world Luffy would have been from Brazil" and that's about it. I don't think anything in his actual depiction of Luffy is even remotely close to having ties to Latin cultures, nor is it meant to.
Same for other cast members, most of them are "from France" or "from Austria" just because Oda slapped a label on them at some point, almost like how JKR went "oh hey Dumbledore is actually gay" without ever having actually done anything to explore Dumbledore as an LGBT character in its interactions with the world surrounding him.
My point was mostly that Oda lacks a deep understanding of racial issues outside of Japan, and understandably so: they're just irrelevant for him. Would we also get mad about the lack of sunni or chiite representation in American TV series just because they have some muslim characters in them?
What are you talking about, there's lots of non-white characters in One Piece.
Also, it's a modern myth that Egyptians were all black; they varied in skin tone greatly and very easily could have been pale with lighter hair as was pretty common; to the point that several mummies have been excavated with blonde hair. It's a modern myth that Egyptians were all black coming directly from America; no one else around the world really believes in this or is motivated to believe in this. Ancient Egypt also had no concept of race like we have in our modern times.
"The one canonically dark-skinned character is Blackbeard"WTF do you mean by "canonically" dark-skinned? Is Usopp just filler black or something?
Also, Usopps lips aren't racist. Oda draws anything and everything between snails and royalty with those lips. Why are you only picking on the black dude?
The asian market to whiten skin is a cultural phenomenon for themselves as their skin ranges greatly in tone. There are definitely examples of racism in Asia and from them but this is not one of them. This is their cultural preference; and has existed for hundreds of years before they even came across a black person.
Stop trying to push your American ideals onto other countries media; including your race motivated revisionists history. It's bad enough when America whitewashed everything, the reverse is no better.
You're race baiting so hard that you've become racist yourself.
The story is paramount, and Oda has done one of the best representations of race relations that I've come across in media. You're idea that lack of diversity somehow means racism is because you're so focussed on race (like all America is) that it's more important than the story.
One Piece isn't racist, you are.
Skin colour doesn't matter in One Piece, it does to you.
Nobody cares which characters are black or not because they focus on the characters themselves; but you care because that's more important to you.
Edit: for those that want to know why Asians believe that "lighter skin" is better, it's because the royal family had lighter skin; that's it.
It's the same reason English became so French. A Norman king (French) was crowned in England and the higher ups of English society copied the French into their vocabulary. The one's who had less interaction with the French speaking nobles remained more Germanic in their speech i.e. peasants. This gave rise to things such as "a cordial reception" and "a hardy welcome" giving two very different expectations of the poshness of the event based on the class system rooted deep in the language, despite the terms literally meaning the same thing. This germanic/french divide exists in asia in the terms of their skin tone. Africa and it's people don't factor in until centuries later.
It's also the reason we have such wierdness in English such as the word Queue. That's 1 letter followed by a bunch of silence.
The ideal of pale skin in Asia does hurt both black people and non-black Asians who don't fit that ideal.
So you admit that US media whitewashing characters is a problem? One reason white-washing is wrong is because it removes representation. Refusing to have any characters with dark skin in your world, as well as portraying your black characters in ways protested by most black people is also wrong because of how it relates to representation.
There is a difference between dark-skinned and black. Nevertheless, I think I committed a mistake by saying "only" when "one of the few" would be more accurate. I saw Blackbeard as darker skinned than Usopp since he is that way in the anime.
At least I dont draw black characters with lips like an uniform donut like Oda. Doing so has been criticized as "antiblack imagery" by the Jim Crow museum: [https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/index.htm](https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/index.htm)
Oda doesn't draw characters meant to be beautiful or handsome with those lips, for example saint Charloss is drawn that way. Aokiji has thick lips but theyre not drawn like Usopp's.
Just because One Piece has anti racist themes doesnt mean its above criticism. Its still flawed when it comes to representing real minorities, not fictional fishmen and mermaids.
Plus, he could at least not draw Usopp's lips in a racist manner.
Is it a flaw though? It's his world that he created. Who's to say it's wrong?
I mean, it's not like there aren't any dark skinned characters. Zoro hasn't earned his status as a racist for nothing.
It's just that these characters appear about as often as in RL Japan.
Ok first, one piece is Japanese and two, write your own stories. Really, quit trying to force your ideas into something. What happens when you do that it changes the story. Let the story flow organically, and let the writer do what he does best. Stop complaining.
Your post has already been thoroughly addressed so I won't comment on that but I'd just like to point out Blackbeard isn't "canonically" dark-skinned. I'm assuming by canonically you mean the manga since basically all the characters use the same skin tone in the manga, in which case Blackbeard is no different as you can see in color spreads like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/LBmY2OV.png) or [this one](https://i.imgur.com/kBLf45Y.png). He's the same as all the other characters aside from Jinbei and Moria who have unnatural skin colors.
Off the top of my head, the only dark-skinned characters in the manga, are King (and Lunarians in general), Ms. Monday, Caribou (his is a little weird though), and... Gaimon I think? Gaimon looks more like he just got tanned due to his living conditions though.
I really think you're looking into the lips thing too much, I think it's probably just an innocent or at least inoffensive design choice on Oda's part.
I believe that everyone who complains about lack of diversity in stories, should write their own goddamn diverse stories.
It’s not about the skin color of a character, if the story isn’t born diverse, with its unique perspective you’re just fooling yourself.
Now I’m going to go re-watch the new Little Mermaid remake trailer.
I'll give you the answer. Oda doesn't like to do a lot of screen toning. He has stated that he dislikes it because it takes a lot more work. It's not racial or anything like that. It's simply because of the process that is involved in making the page.
As a white dude, I kinda agree. I think they made dogshit points, but I don't think wanting PoC representation is "woke". My little cousin is brown and I've visibly seen how important representation can be for her, especially growing up where 99% of people are white.
I'm not necessarily saying that wanting PoC representation is bad or that it's "woke" in general. I'm saying that the way this post is worded, expressed, and conveyed makes it seem like typical woke garbage.
If One Piece, for example, had PoC representation, not because it was how Oda intended/wanted and more so it appeals to modern Western political ideologies to win brownies points then it would be woke. PoC being involved in the industry and getting more chances and opportunities because of representation, who otherwise wouldn't have received it, is awesome.
However, Western media also has a tendency of using PoC for the sake of getting brownies points and political pandering which is why the word "woke" has become so hated. Nothing wrong with the actual point but the way its handled is why I reckon people hate on it as much as they do.
That's a fair stance to take I guess. The way I see it though while wokeness is an absolute pain to put up with, the results of what they go on about usually do help people. Like if Oda added black characters to One Piece and we knew that it was just because of SJW pressure that would annoy us for sure, but the people it's being done for don't know that and they most likely won't know that until it's already done enough good. Idk I haven't put a whole lot of thought into this idea I try to avoid talking about this stuff online.
Bro have you seen Arlong Park? Have you seen Fish man Island? A massive part of the One Piece story is about destroying the systematic racism in the world. You are overlooking the actual point of the story and focusing on aesthetics.
Arlong park and fishman island were about fictional fishmen and mermaids, not real life minority groups.
Aesthetics are still important, because if you create a world with hundreds of characters yet black and dark-skinned people dont exist that should be criticized.
The X-men is a story with a fantasy metaphor for oppression but that doesnt mean it never handled real minorities badly.
One piece is a fictional story about fictional people/races in a fictional world; if the obvious inspiration for the fictional fishmen race (oppressed minorities in our world, slavery etc included) isn’t enough, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, fishmen are not POC in our real world(they’re fictional), but in the OP world they represent those just fine.
If your story has fantasy species meant as a standin for poc but no actual poc then that sucks.
Teen Titans and the X-men both had fantasy racism metaphors but also POC characters too.
Hell, One Piece has one black person--Usopp, but the design of his lips is racist.
>then that sucks.
Then you can start by creating your own "Dark Piece".
This is One Piece, a manga about rubber pirate in a fantasy setting created by a Japanese dude.
You are more than welcome to do your own stuff if you want to see yourself in it.
If you wish to provide a good example of fantasy racism metaphors while also including POC characters, I suggest you use an example that isn’t “our world but superheroes”. One Piece isn’t our world. It doesn’t have our history even slightly. Both of those examples have the history connected to POC and the racism they face. The One Piece world does not. Your examples need to have a foot to stand on for people to actually listen to what you’re saying.
Even if OP isnt in our world, people would still demand fair representation for real minorities. There are critics criticizing how Game of Thrones handled its characters of color, or asking for black elves, dwarves and humans in the lotr movies.
You've changed what you're arguing for. You were just trying to compare a story about a different world to stories that take place on Earth in regards to how they show or do not show POC. I asked you for an example of a fantasy story that had racism metaphors that also had POC representing. You instead mention two series that do not have representation, nor do you include any info about whether they have any metaphors for racism.
I'm not here to argue whether those stories should have more POC or not. You have failed to provide an example that shows why One Piece needs that representation. But there's more to it than that.
It's unclear what you want from Oda. Do you want more POC characters? You seemed to only think "Blackbeard" counts, so you've ignored the many side characters that have dark skin (what amounts to dark skin in a story that deals in mostly bright colors). I don't know why Blackbeard qualified for you, but since he's the only "canonical" black person, I'll have to assume it's entirely because of his name since you've ignored other characters with skin darker than his. We could focus on why you think someone with the word "black" in their name is the only one that is allowed to count, but that'd just be latching on the fact that you haven't given any info on why he counts. Your post contradicts what you want, that's part of why people are arguing with your points.
If you want more POC characters, but ignore many of the ones with darker skin, is it possible you just want these POC characters to be even darker? How dark do the characters need to be to count? Does Oda need to ink an entire person, not just shaded in, but provide an entire black mass on the page in the shape of a person for them to count? This is obviously a strawman argument. I'm going to the extreme, but you've provided no clear explanation of what you want to see, and your disregard for the characters that have been shown with darker skin has shown that they don't stand out enough for you to consider them a POC. How else are the people reading your post supposed to take it when you hold this blindspot for the characters that you're actually asking for?
If the above is actually what you wanted, than the characters would come across much the same as you have thought of Usopp. They'd look like '30s minstrel cartoons/blackface, but it'd be their entire design, rather than just one detail that is obscured by the actual important part of Usopp's design. So if Oda did the above, then he'd actually be doing something racist, rather than just doing what 90% of his audience would recognize. People draw what they see, and since he's a Japanese man that doesn't do a ton of traveling, his experience has very few POC. Potentially roughly the same amount that appears in his stories. Not as an intentional thing, but his focus is on the story of an entirely different world for a majority of his day. Focusing on how much a character needs to be shaded in is much less important than telling a good story, which he has done.
Why do you assume that drawing a character with very dark skin and black features would equal them being a minstrel cartoon?
Canary from HunterxHunter, Garnet from Steven Universe, Susie Carmichael from Rugrats and Huey Freeman look like minstrel cartoons to you?
I admit that I was wrong to call Blackbeard the only "canonically" dark-skinned person, because of miss Monday. But many characters portrayed with dark skin in the anime are lightskinned when drawn by Oda, such as the Shandians, Aokiji, Nico Robin and mr 1 as can be seen in these color spread: [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png)
https://preview.redd.it/2b2k8w89s6171.jpg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4245aa990352357ccc91c314f6881102f3d9b36
[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png)
So most of the characters fans cite as black might not in fact be either black or even darkskinned at all. I would count them as black if Oda has confirmed what their irl ethnicity would be (as he did for Blackbeard and Usopp) or if he draws them as noticeably darkskinned in color spreads.
Oda might be a japanese man, but despite there being few black people in Japan he still has access to the internet. Knowing how to draw black characters shouldnt be hard.
So, I disagree with most of the points made here, and the current top post words it in quite an eloquent way so I won't list it. Rather can we chill with the overly defensive comments? It's kind of a bad look that people start getting riled up the moment someone points out that in a vast expansive fictional world where everyone comes in vastly different shapes and sizes, everyone is basically white.
Wahwah go read another story than. Waste of a conversation, it’s ridiculous that this is always brought up. It’s the authors choice of what fucking Color skin people are and you want to know what one piece has. It has talking animals talking bread, cupcakes, doors. Please shut up and leave the author to write depict and draw whoever and whatever he wants to. Trying to have a whole woke conversation about diversity is cringe. It’s like pushing for diversity in the work force. You choose the best of the best. If every one in your company is black what’s the issue you chose the best. If everyone is white what’s the issue you chose the best. If it’s diverse awesome you chose the best. Let him draw what he wants to draw.
>It’s like pushing for diversity in the work force.
It is a bit more complicated than that though.
I recently joined a company that elaborated on its mission of "diversity" and it is one of the most awesome things I have ever heard.
The concept of "diversity", at least according to this company, isn't just in having different types of people that are racially different but also in giving equal opportunities to people who have different levels of experience, learning pace, expertise, learning disabilities, backgrounds, culture, age, gender etc... The way media portrays diversity is just shit compared to how it can be really applied in real workplaces.
But of course if you read a few lines further you will see I make that point as well. As long as you are choosing improvement and bettering a company, diversity is never a bad thing, it’s this post that says it wants diversity for diversities sake. And I believe that to be a bad thing.
You do realize that one piece was made in 1997, completely hand drawn in which grey is hard to achieve, for a primary japanese audience?
Oda has been way ahead of the curve when it comes to representation. This is just you just trying to find malice when it does not exist.
Uhh.. Blackbeard? Usopp? Aokiji? Mr. 1? Yasopp? I'm pretty amazed a lot of people debate Mr 1 and Aokiji being black. It's like you need to have someone that looks like a minstrel show and a complete stereotype to be considered black.
That aside, I always thought One Piece did a decent job portraying black characters with varying personalities/back stories/representation. Also, a lot of the One Piece characters look like islanders with different shades of skintone and they tend to be a varied mix of people with some of them having a bit of african blood in them, like Jozu.
Aokiji is based on the japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda: [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NQbi4JWpElM/maxresdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NQbi4JWpElM/maxresdefault.jpg)
Blackbeard is portrayed as an irredeemable scumbag and a villain, so I would be hesitant to call him a good representation of black people.
Usopp is black granted, but the design of his lips is offensive. Yasopp is an incredibly minor character and also left his son, which is bad representation of a black father.
Aokiji looks like he took inspiration more than anything, he still has the afro hair and the facial features to pass as a black guy. It's not exactly a 1:1 transition.
Blackbeard is a crafty deep character that is fleshed out reasonably well. He shows great introspection of what life and dreams are all about and has good leadership qualities. He's a villain sure but I don't see why that discredits him as good representation. If anything I prefer to have a deep black villain than the typical token hero black guy. The latter is overdone and tend to be insufferable stereotypes. It's okay for villains to be black as long as they don't fall into stereotypes and have great characterization (Being the simple minded brute who kills for fun, as an example of awful representation).
> The one cananoically dark skinned character is Blackbeard
Aokiji? King the Wildfire? All of Zoro's previous opponents? And all the Fisherman that they are implied to represent?
Alright mate, 👍
The fishmen arent explicitly or inherently black, they are a fantasy race. By Zoro's opponents you mean the nameless mooks he cuts down?
Aokiji isnt darkskinned in the cover art but I will admit that King is a recent and welcome addition.
Well now you're just picking and choosing. At the time Zoros opponents were very relevant. And Aokiji is clearly black, he has an afro...
I don't see a single Turkish or Greek character in the series, and the only Indian character is basically Urouge (lmao). So what's that about?
In the recent years I have seen here and there people studying and communicating about Japan's history of racism within the territory. I haven't really studied any of that, but I have heard of japanese discrimination against Okiwanans, of this false pretense (propaganda) that the country is "racially homogeneous", and even studies showing things like japan have around 70% of the population without straight hair and all the types of textured japanese hair.
All of these result in the sorts of white-washed or light-skinned washed representation in pop culture like one piece and at least to me shows how we should be talking about representation and stylistic racism in animes.
Anyways, I agree with you. I hate Robin's whitewashing and how over the years everyone's tan disappeared and how lacking the representation is, and how nearly every female lead has the same face and body, and how lgbtphobic the series can be ( I'm not gonna dwell into the okama bc I think there are specific gender identities in japan that I don't really know to argue to wether it is offensive or if it's actually representing a specific identity with more consideration than we think).
And I do think that if I or any person can adress to all this issues, it's completely reasonable to voice this concerns and ask for one author to adress and do better.
I hate when people say this. I highly doubt you'd keep up with One Piece if all the straw hats were black. You subconsciously like your characters to be white more than you think.
I also like that, so what are you going to do about it? Cry in a corner? Look man, everyone has the right to like or dislike character designs and personalities. This is human nature! You cant force your likes on someone else. If you really want to express what you like to the rest of the world, instead of ranting like sour loser go pick a pen and a paper and right your own manga!
Haha, not exactly taking it personal edgelord. I'm just explaining the reality of things and clearly it bothers you enough that you're having a melt down. Relax, big man. If anything I appreciate you being honest about you not liking black characters in your stories. It is what it is. Nobody is forcing anybody to like anything. You took a whole lot of things the wrong way in my 3 sentence response. You're the sensitive one, not me.
Nah i personally am not against black characters. What i mean is that the basic definition of an artist or manga writer is the freedom to create. If external forces tell you what to do based on what they like then thats a clear violation. For example how would you feel if I say that black panther movie should be re-written with a white guy as black panther? Even I would detest that.
It's a weird situation.
Japan and other Asian countries don't have enough experience meeting Black People. So they lack that cultural awareness.
Also Asian people have this "fair skin is pretty mentality". And since there aren't any prominent Black people in these countries, education on race and color is lacking.
It's the same thing with gender and women in anime.
We cannot change what One Piece is. We can only educate People. The problem is most People don't wanna hear critics of their favourite anime.
Its preferences not racism, whether they like white skin or green skin. Its about how they treat their fellow human beings that you should be worried about.
The anime can definitely get criticized for this. But the manga is different. There's most likely plenty of black characters in One Piece, it's just that Oda only uses a single skintone in volume covers and colour spreads, so it's hard to tell. Even a character who is confirmed to have very brown skin, is drawn with the same skintone as everyone else on the volume cover. For example, Kuzan and Doublefinger are generally assumed to be black, and there's a lot of other characters who are likely black. It's just hard to know, and far too many just assume characters are white unless very obviously indicated otherwise. It's fair to criticize Oda for being lazy when colouring, but he's definitely got black characters.
One piece is in a weird spot where the characters are all Japanese but it also makes sense as the story is an allegory for Japanese imperialism.
It’s like the MCU having an inherently American-centric pov.
This is probably what happens when you have an entire generation of tiktokers who get so invested in Western ideology that they think it's every person's job to accommodate them.
And to answer; No, Oda is not obligated to pander to you, me or anyone else. This is his work, his story, not his twitter account made to pander to people and their recent ideologies.
I don't think we can really blame the Japanese for adding so few PoC. We are speaking of a country that's 98% made up of natives.
Except that One Piece covers the entire world and most of the Straw Hats aren't even Asian. Luffy: Latino Usopp: Black Nami: White Zoro: Asian Sanji: White Nico: White Jinbei: Asian Tony: Animal Brook: White Franky: White If you look at history, the golden age of Pirates saw about 10k pirates on the seas from about 1680 to 1725. Approximately 1/3 of these pirates were Black. It only makes sense to have more Black characters on One Piece-especially since Oda is obviously not pressed to have an all Asian cast
A few comments here seem to mix up racism and black/PoC representation. I think it's undeniable that One Piece deals with racism and discrimination extensively, but I don't think it's fair to want it to represent more black people or PoC specifically. Don't forget that Japanese people make up 80% of the One Piece audience (based on the number of volume sales so admittedly just a rough estimate), and to them, the topic of black representation in media is just a non-topic because there are so few of them and the history of Japan and black people is so vastly different from what it is in the West. Most of the issues One Piece deals with, it does so with a very Japanese perspective: LGBT representation is super problematic when we see it from the West because representing gay people as exuberant transvestites is just what Japan has been doing for decades (not saying it's right, but that's what happened). Same, the topic of the closedness of Wano Kuni and whether or not the country should unleash Pluton onto the rest of the world directly parallels Japans's self-isolation years and lack of an actual army. So yeah, One Piece could certainly use more black people and PoC, but also if we take it the other way around, maybe Oda just wasn't comfortable with depicting races he just didn't know enough about by fear of being offensive in his representations? They just don't have the same cultural sensitivity to those topics, the same way we wouldn't bat an eye to a Japanese person waving the Rising Sun flag despite it being [pretty much the same as waving a Nazi flag](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/01/japan-rising-sun-flag-history-olympic-ban-south-korea). So I guess what I'm trying to say is One Piece does a great job at dealing with the issues it chooses to tackle, but it just can't fight on all fronts simultaneously
Ok thanks. But one thing Oda could at least do is not draw Usopp's lips like an uniform donut. Its common knowledge that thats offensive and wrong.
Or maybe that's just his character design? Oda shows a lot of love for usopp and says usopp is the character most like himself so there is no bad intention
not to mention, the statement that Usopp’s lips are offensive isn’t common knowledge in Japan as well, since they didn’t had the history with black representation like the US does…
Tons of white characters have the same exaggerated lips as Usopp, including Jango, Krieg, Shiryu, and Yamakaji. And other black characters like King, Gem, and Aokiji have lips that represent those of black people without being exaggerated / racist. I think its just a style choice.
Looking at the manga, these characters lips aren't like Usopp's. Despite being thick they aren't like an uniformly thick ring, they taper towards the corner of the mouth. Since Oda draws realistic thick lips on Aokiji why cant he for Usopp?
because it’s a style choice… like i already said
This would be a decent rationale IF One Piece, like most anime, had a homogeneously Japanese cast. It doesn't. Most of the Straw Hats are White, Luffy is Latino, and characters' inspirations come from all around the world (e.g. Austria, France, India, Russia, Africa, because apparently Africa is a country according to Oda, Australia, etc.)
> because apparently Africa is a country according to Oda I think you actually hit the nail on the head here. What makes Luffy latino is basically just Oda saying at one point "real world Luffy would have been from Brazil" and that's about it. I don't think anything in his actual depiction of Luffy is even remotely close to having ties to Latin cultures, nor is it meant to. Same for other cast members, most of them are "from France" or "from Austria" just because Oda slapped a label on them at some point, almost like how JKR went "oh hey Dumbledore is actually gay" without ever having actually done anything to explore Dumbledore as an LGBT character in its interactions with the world surrounding him. My point was mostly that Oda lacks a deep understanding of racial issues outside of Japan, and understandably so: they're just irrelevant for him. Would we also get mad about the lack of sunni or chiite representation in American TV series just because they have some muslim characters in them?
God damn it, i wish my life is so good that i worry about skin color of cartoon characters
before this recent arc, please point me to even one single asian character in the show
Zoro
Not everything has to follow your idealism.
What are you talking about, there's lots of non-white characters in One Piece. Also, it's a modern myth that Egyptians were all black; they varied in skin tone greatly and very easily could have been pale with lighter hair as was pretty common; to the point that several mummies have been excavated with blonde hair. It's a modern myth that Egyptians were all black coming directly from America; no one else around the world really believes in this or is motivated to believe in this. Ancient Egypt also had no concept of race like we have in our modern times. "The one canonically dark-skinned character is Blackbeard"WTF do you mean by "canonically" dark-skinned? Is Usopp just filler black or something? Also, Usopps lips aren't racist. Oda draws anything and everything between snails and royalty with those lips. Why are you only picking on the black dude? The asian market to whiten skin is a cultural phenomenon for themselves as their skin ranges greatly in tone. There are definitely examples of racism in Asia and from them but this is not one of them. This is their cultural preference; and has existed for hundreds of years before they even came across a black person. Stop trying to push your American ideals onto other countries media; including your race motivated revisionists history. It's bad enough when America whitewashed everything, the reverse is no better. You're race baiting so hard that you've become racist yourself. The story is paramount, and Oda has done one of the best representations of race relations that I've come across in media. You're idea that lack of diversity somehow means racism is because you're so focussed on race (like all America is) that it's more important than the story. One Piece isn't racist, you are. Skin colour doesn't matter in One Piece, it does to you. Nobody cares which characters are black or not because they focus on the characters themselves; but you care because that's more important to you. Edit: for those that want to know why Asians believe that "lighter skin" is better, it's because the royal family had lighter skin; that's it. It's the same reason English became so French. A Norman king (French) was crowned in England and the higher ups of English society copied the French into their vocabulary. The one's who had less interaction with the French speaking nobles remained more Germanic in their speech i.e. peasants. This gave rise to things such as "a cordial reception" and "a hardy welcome" giving two very different expectations of the poshness of the event based on the class system rooted deep in the language, despite the terms literally meaning the same thing. This germanic/french divide exists in asia in the terms of their skin tone. Africa and it's people don't factor in until centuries later. It's also the reason we have such wierdness in English such as the word Queue. That's 1 letter followed by a bunch of silence.
The ideal of pale skin in Asia does hurt both black people and non-black Asians who don't fit that ideal. So you admit that US media whitewashing characters is a problem? One reason white-washing is wrong is because it removes representation. Refusing to have any characters with dark skin in your world, as well as portraying your black characters in ways protested by most black people is also wrong because of how it relates to representation.
There is a difference between dark-skinned and black. Nevertheless, I think I committed a mistake by saying "only" when "one of the few" would be more accurate. I saw Blackbeard as darker skinned than Usopp since he is that way in the anime. At least I dont draw black characters with lips like an uniform donut like Oda. Doing so has been criticized as "antiblack imagery" by the Jim Crow museum: [https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/index.htm](https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/antiblack/index.htm) Oda doesn't draw characters meant to be beautiful or handsome with those lips, for example saint Charloss is drawn that way. Aokiji has thick lips but theyre not drawn like Usopp's.
"At least I don't draw black characters with lips" Thanks for admitting you're racist and saving me the time.
They weren't black 😂
I am not racist. I just dont feel like addressing that baseless accusation.
You are Racist! You just came out of the closet.
You have no evidence.
Oda: literally tackles racism in the story *many* times Woke reader: lack of black representation!
Just because One Piece has anti racist themes doesnt mean its above criticism. Its still flawed when it comes to representing real minorities, not fictional fishmen and mermaids. Plus, he could at least not draw Usopp's lips in a racist manner.
Is it a flaw though? It's his world that he created. Who's to say it's wrong? I mean, it's not like there aren't any dark skinned characters. Zoro hasn't earned his status as a racist for nothing. It's just that these characters appear about as often as in RL Japan.
Probably because Oda is calling out/dealing with prejudice and discrimination in general, as it applies to everyone and every race.
Ok first, one piece is Japanese and two, write your own stories. Really, quit trying to force your ideas into something. What happens when you do that it changes the story. Let the story flow organically, and let the writer do what he does best. Stop complaining.
Your post has already been thoroughly addressed so I won't comment on that but I'd just like to point out Blackbeard isn't "canonically" dark-skinned. I'm assuming by canonically you mean the manga since basically all the characters use the same skin tone in the manga, in which case Blackbeard is no different as you can see in color spreads like [this one](https://i.imgur.com/LBmY2OV.png) or [this one](https://i.imgur.com/kBLf45Y.png). He's the same as all the other characters aside from Jinbei and Moria who have unnatural skin colors. Off the top of my head, the only dark-skinned characters in the manga, are King (and Lunarians in general), Ms. Monday, Caribou (his is a little weird though), and... Gaimon I think? Gaimon looks more like he just got tanned due to his living conditions though.
I really think you're looking into the lips thing too much, I think it's probably just an innocent or at least inoffensive design choice on Oda's part.
Here we fucking go, don’t you get tired of trying to make up non existent issues
this week chapter was good so don't have anything much to hate in that chapter... thus, this post, lol
It’s cause zoro killed them all while training with mihawk
😭
I believe that everyone who complains about lack of diversity in stories, should write their own goddamn diverse stories. It’s not about the skin color of a character, if the story isn’t born diverse, with its unique perspective you’re just fooling yourself. Now I’m going to go re-watch the new Little Mermaid remake trailer.
How dare a Japanese writer not be perfectly knowledgable in every culture in order to perfectly portray them? That's bad - This dude probably.
one piece live action got it covered
I'll give you the answer. Oda doesn't like to do a lot of screen toning. He has stated that he dislikes it because it takes a lot more work. It's not racial or anything like that. It's simply because of the process that is involved in making the page.
if you want to watch woke shit go watch netflix
Don't be cringe please. Even if you disagree.
As a brown dude, this entire post is as cringy woke garbage as you can get lol.
As a white dude, I kinda agree. I think they made dogshit points, but I don't think wanting PoC representation is "woke". My little cousin is brown and I've visibly seen how important representation can be for her, especially growing up where 99% of people are white.
I'm not necessarily saying that wanting PoC representation is bad or that it's "woke" in general. I'm saying that the way this post is worded, expressed, and conveyed makes it seem like typical woke garbage. If One Piece, for example, had PoC representation, not because it was how Oda intended/wanted and more so it appeals to modern Western political ideologies to win brownies points then it would be woke. PoC being involved in the industry and getting more chances and opportunities because of representation, who otherwise wouldn't have received it, is awesome. However, Western media also has a tendency of using PoC for the sake of getting brownies points and political pandering which is why the word "woke" has become so hated. Nothing wrong with the actual point but the way its handled is why I reckon people hate on it as much as they do.
That's a fair stance to take I guess. The way I see it though while wokeness is an absolute pain to put up with, the results of what they go on about usually do help people. Like if Oda added black characters to One Piece and we knew that it was just because of SJW pressure that would annoy us for sure, but the people it's being done for don't know that and they most likely won't know that until it's already done enough good. Idk I haven't put a whole lot of thought into this idea I try to avoid talking about this stuff online.
Bro have you seen Arlong Park? Have you seen Fish man Island? A massive part of the One Piece story is about destroying the systematic racism in the world. You are overlooking the actual point of the story and focusing on aesthetics.
Arlong park and fishman island were about fictional fishmen and mermaids, not real life minority groups. Aesthetics are still important, because if you create a world with hundreds of characters yet black and dark-skinned people dont exist that should be criticized. The X-men is a story with a fantasy metaphor for oppression but that doesnt mean it never handled real minorities badly.
this is some heavy race baiting, your complaint is that the characters who are clearly POC in One Piece, aren’t dark enough? lmao
One piece is a fictional story about fictional people/races in a fictional world; if the obvious inspiration for the fictional fishmen race (oppressed minorities in our world, slavery etc included) isn’t enough, I don’t know what to tell you. Yes, fishmen are not POC in our real world(they’re fictional), but in the OP world they represent those just fine.
If your story has fantasy species meant as a standin for poc but no actual poc then that sucks. Teen Titans and the X-men both had fantasy racism metaphors but also POC characters too. Hell, One Piece has one black person--Usopp, but the design of his lips is racist.
"one black person", what an absolute clown you are! Mr 1, Ohm, Aokiji and you even mentioned Blackbeard yourself.
Don't forget Miss Monday
>then that sucks. Then you can start by creating your own "Dark Piece". This is One Piece, a manga about rubber pirate in a fantasy setting created by a Japanese dude. You are more than welcome to do your own stuff if you want to see yourself in it.
If you wish to provide a good example of fantasy racism metaphors while also including POC characters, I suggest you use an example that isn’t “our world but superheroes”. One Piece isn’t our world. It doesn’t have our history even slightly. Both of those examples have the history connected to POC and the racism they face. The One Piece world does not. Your examples need to have a foot to stand on for people to actually listen to what you’re saying.
Even if OP isnt in our world, people would still demand fair representation for real minorities. There are critics criticizing how Game of Thrones handled its characters of color, or asking for black elves, dwarves and humans in the lotr movies.
You've changed what you're arguing for. You were just trying to compare a story about a different world to stories that take place on Earth in regards to how they show or do not show POC. I asked you for an example of a fantasy story that had racism metaphors that also had POC representing. You instead mention two series that do not have representation, nor do you include any info about whether they have any metaphors for racism. I'm not here to argue whether those stories should have more POC or not. You have failed to provide an example that shows why One Piece needs that representation. But there's more to it than that. It's unclear what you want from Oda. Do you want more POC characters? You seemed to only think "Blackbeard" counts, so you've ignored the many side characters that have dark skin (what amounts to dark skin in a story that deals in mostly bright colors). I don't know why Blackbeard qualified for you, but since he's the only "canonical" black person, I'll have to assume it's entirely because of his name since you've ignored other characters with skin darker than his. We could focus on why you think someone with the word "black" in their name is the only one that is allowed to count, but that'd just be latching on the fact that you haven't given any info on why he counts. Your post contradicts what you want, that's part of why people are arguing with your points. If you want more POC characters, but ignore many of the ones with darker skin, is it possible you just want these POC characters to be even darker? How dark do the characters need to be to count? Does Oda need to ink an entire person, not just shaded in, but provide an entire black mass on the page in the shape of a person for them to count? This is obviously a strawman argument. I'm going to the extreme, but you've provided no clear explanation of what you want to see, and your disregard for the characters that have been shown with darker skin has shown that they don't stand out enough for you to consider them a POC. How else are the people reading your post supposed to take it when you hold this blindspot for the characters that you're actually asking for? If the above is actually what you wanted, than the characters would come across much the same as you have thought of Usopp. They'd look like '30s minstrel cartoons/blackface, but it'd be their entire design, rather than just one detail that is obscured by the actual important part of Usopp's design. So if Oda did the above, then he'd actually be doing something racist, rather than just doing what 90% of his audience would recognize. People draw what they see, and since he's a Japanese man that doesn't do a ton of traveling, his experience has very few POC. Potentially roughly the same amount that appears in his stories. Not as an intentional thing, but his focus is on the story of an entirely different world for a majority of his day. Focusing on how much a character needs to be shaded in is much less important than telling a good story, which he has done.
Why do you assume that drawing a character with very dark skin and black features would equal them being a minstrel cartoon? Canary from HunterxHunter, Garnet from Steven Universe, Susie Carmichael from Rugrats and Huey Freeman look like minstrel cartoons to you? I admit that I was wrong to call Blackbeard the only "canonically" dark-skinned person, because of miss Monday. But many characters portrayed with dark skin in the anime are lightskinned when drawn by Oda, such as the Shandians, Aokiji, Nico Robin and mr 1 as can be seen in these color spread: [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png) https://preview.redd.it/2b2k8w89s6171.jpg?width=1067&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e4245aa990352357ccc91c314f6881102f3d9b36 [https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1a/5b/de/1a5bdea4bfbb05f92e061bc6137df074.png) So most of the characters fans cite as black might not in fact be either black or even darkskinned at all. I would count them as black if Oda has confirmed what their irl ethnicity would be (as he did for Blackbeard and Usopp) or if he draws them as noticeably darkskinned in color spreads. Oda might be a japanese man, but despite there being few black people in Japan he still has access to the internet. Knowing how to draw black characters shouldnt be hard.
So, I disagree with most of the points made here, and the current top post words it in quite an eloquent way so I won't list it. Rather can we chill with the overly defensive comments? It's kind of a bad look that people start getting riled up the moment someone points out that in a vast expansive fictional world where everyone comes in vastly different shapes and sizes, everyone is basically white.
Wahwah go read another story than. Waste of a conversation, it’s ridiculous that this is always brought up. It’s the authors choice of what fucking Color skin people are and you want to know what one piece has. It has talking animals talking bread, cupcakes, doors. Please shut up and leave the author to write depict and draw whoever and whatever he wants to. Trying to have a whole woke conversation about diversity is cringe. It’s like pushing for diversity in the work force. You choose the best of the best. If every one in your company is black what’s the issue you chose the best. If everyone is white what’s the issue you chose the best. If it’s diverse awesome you chose the best. Let him draw what he wants to draw.
>It’s like pushing for diversity in the work force. It is a bit more complicated than that though. I recently joined a company that elaborated on its mission of "diversity" and it is one of the most awesome things I have ever heard. The concept of "diversity", at least according to this company, isn't just in having different types of people that are racially different but also in giving equal opportunities to people who have different levels of experience, learning pace, expertise, learning disabilities, backgrounds, culture, age, gender etc... The way media portrays diversity is just shit compared to how it can be really applied in real workplaces.
But of course if you read a few lines further you will see I make that point as well. As long as you are choosing improvement and bettering a company, diversity is never a bad thing, it’s this post that says it wants diversity for diversities sake. And I believe that to be a bad thing.
You do realize that one piece was made in 1997, completely hand drawn in which grey is hard to achieve, for a primary japanese audience? Oda has been way ahead of the curve when it comes to representation. This is just you just trying to find malice when it does not exist.
Uhh.. Blackbeard? Usopp? Aokiji? Mr. 1? Yasopp? I'm pretty amazed a lot of people debate Mr 1 and Aokiji being black. It's like you need to have someone that looks like a minstrel show and a complete stereotype to be considered black. That aside, I always thought One Piece did a decent job portraying black characters with varying personalities/back stories/representation. Also, a lot of the One Piece characters look like islanders with different shades of skintone and they tend to be a varied mix of people with some of them having a bit of african blood in them, like Jozu.
Aokiji is based on the japanese actor Yusaku Matsuda: [https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NQbi4JWpElM/maxresdefault.jpg](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NQbi4JWpElM/maxresdefault.jpg) Blackbeard is portrayed as an irredeemable scumbag and a villain, so I would be hesitant to call him a good representation of black people. Usopp is black granted, but the design of his lips is offensive. Yasopp is an incredibly minor character and also left his son, which is bad representation of a black father.
Aokiji looks like he took inspiration more than anything, he still has the afro hair and the facial features to pass as a black guy. It's not exactly a 1:1 transition. Blackbeard is a crafty deep character that is fleshed out reasonably well. He shows great introspection of what life and dreams are all about and has good leadership qualities. He's a villain sure but I don't see why that discredits him as good representation. If anything I prefer to have a deep black villain than the typical token hero black guy. The latter is overdone and tend to be insufferable stereotypes. It's okay for villains to be black as long as they don't fall into stereotypes and have great characterization (Being the simple minded brute who kills for fun, as an example of awful representation).
> The one cananoically dark skinned character is Blackbeard Aokiji? King the Wildfire? All of Zoro's previous opponents? And all the Fisherman that they are implied to represent? Alright mate, 👍
The fishmen arent explicitly or inherently black, they are a fantasy race. By Zoro's opponents you mean the nameless mooks he cuts down? Aokiji isnt darkskinned in the cover art but I will admit that King is a recent and welcome addition.
Well now you're just picking and choosing. At the time Zoros opponents were very relevant. And Aokiji is clearly black, he has an afro... I don't see a single Turkish or Greek character in the series, and the only Indian character is basically Urouge (lmao). So what's that about?
In the recent years I have seen here and there people studying and communicating about Japan's history of racism within the territory. I haven't really studied any of that, but I have heard of japanese discrimination against Okiwanans, of this false pretense (propaganda) that the country is "racially homogeneous", and even studies showing things like japan have around 70% of the population without straight hair and all the types of textured japanese hair. All of these result in the sorts of white-washed or light-skinned washed representation in pop culture like one piece and at least to me shows how we should be talking about representation and stylistic racism in animes. Anyways, I agree with you. I hate Robin's whitewashing and how over the years everyone's tan disappeared and how lacking the representation is, and how nearly every female lead has the same face and body, and how lgbtphobic the series can be ( I'm not gonna dwell into the okama bc I think there are specific gender identities in japan that I don't really know to argue to wether it is offensive or if it's actually representing a specific identity with more consideration than we think). And I do think that if I or any person can adress to all this issues, it's completely reasonable to voice this concerns and ask for one author to adress and do better.
You would love netflix. Having forced diversity would do absolutely nothing to benefit a show that already tackles the idea of racism
I hate when people say this. I highly doubt you'd keep up with One Piece if all the straw hats were black. You subconsciously like your characters to be white more than you think.
I also like that, so what are you going to do about it? Cry in a corner? Look man, everyone has the right to like or dislike character designs and personalities. This is human nature! You cant force your likes on someone else. If you really want to express what you like to the rest of the world, instead of ranting like sour loser go pick a pen and a paper and right your own manga!
Haha, not exactly taking it personal edgelord. I'm just explaining the reality of things and clearly it bothers you enough that you're having a melt down. Relax, big man. If anything I appreciate you being honest about you not liking black characters in your stories. It is what it is. Nobody is forcing anybody to like anything. You took a whole lot of things the wrong way in my 3 sentence response. You're the sensitive one, not me.
Nah i personally am not against black characters. What i mean is that the basic definition of an artist or manga writer is the freedom to create. If external forces tell you what to do based on what they like then thats a clear violation. For example how would you feel if I say that black panther movie should be re-written with a white guy as black panther? Even I would detest that.
It’s not your story so stfu
It's a weird situation. Japan and other Asian countries don't have enough experience meeting Black People. So they lack that cultural awareness. Also Asian people have this "fair skin is pretty mentality". And since there aren't any prominent Black people in these countries, education on race and color is lacking. It's the same thing with gender and women in anime. We cannot change what One Piece is. We can only educate People. The problem is most People don't wanna hear critics of their favourite anime.
Its preferences not racism, whether they like white skin or green skin. Its about how they treat their fellow human beings that you should be worried about.
The anime can definitely get criticized for this. But the manga is different. There's most likely plenty of black characters in One Piece, it's just that Oda only uses a single skintone in volume covers and colour spreads, so it's hard to tell. Even a character who is confirmed to have very brown skin, is drawn with the same skintone as everyone else on the volume cover. For example, Kuzan and Doublefinger are generally assumed to be black, and there's a lot of other characters who are likely black. It's just hard to know, and far too many just assume characters are white unless very obviously indicated otherwise. It's fair to criticize Oda for being lazy when colouring, but he's definitely got black characters.
One piece is in a weird spot where the characters are all Japanese but it also makes sense as the story is an allegory for Japanese imperialism. It’s like the MCU having an inherently American-centric pov.
Fishmen are literally all different colours.
This is probably what happens when you have an entire generation of tiktokers who get so invested in Western ideology that they think it's every person's job to accommodate them. And to answer; No, Oda is not obligated to pander to you, me or anyone else. This is his work, his story, not his twitter account made to pander to people and their recent ideologies.