What do you think of the way women are portrayed in OP?

[kappa-san]

I like how some of you complained about boob and fanservice shots when it hardly happens in OP.

LOLwut? Thriller Bark is full of fanservice boob shots, which is worse in the anime. I can't believe they actually animated the almost-rape scenes but not Law and Sanji giving a finger. Seems to me that people flipping off are a lot worse than women getting sexually abuse. Oh Toei logic.

[Vongola_Boss_XI]

I don't think Oda was trying to push any agenda whatsoever with Bon Clay, Iva, and the newkamas. They're just characters, bizarre in their own way, like everyone else in one Piece. That's what I like...it's not like oda was trying to prove something or promote something. The characters are just there and not trying to force me to believe or accept something. What I'm comparing to is American tv etc. which tries to promote / push things for a purely political purpose. Oda / One piece does nothing of the sort. Bon isn't an okama to promote okamas...that's just the character he is.

As for women, sure he draws them with big boobs etc. and objectifies them in some situations. I think it's not as noticible or significant because they have such strong and independant personalities. Part of it also fits with Oda's art style of exaggerated characteristics. Really all characters in Op are far outside the realm of realistic body proportions. His muscular characters often have literaly no neck. Kuma has a gigantic upper body and tiny little sticks for legs. Unless they're the gelitanous blobby fat characters all males pretty much have perfect abs.

[Hisoga]

Some people are never satisfied until a story fits their view of the world, but a story is told by an author and Oda is not getting influenced by any pressure group and always surprises us, much like how GORRM does with the Game of Thrones series. That is the only way a story can truely be enjoyed.
I believe Robin and Nami have awesome, moving story lines and are shown to be able to handle themselves well in a world dominated by violence and strong men.

totally agree with your opinion.. totally awesome

[Sick_Fool]

LOLwut? Thriller Bark is full of fanservice boob shots, which is worse in the anime. I can't believe they actually animated the almost-rape scenes but not Law and Sanji giving a finger. Seems to me that people flipping off are a lot worse than women getting sexually abuse. Oh Toei logic.

Oh yeah Thriller Bark!

Those FEW panels of Nami having a shower and almost getting raped!

That arc is so full of fanservice, I tell you.

And how is the anime relevant to a manga-related discussion again?

As for women, sure he draws them with big boobs etc. and objectifies them in some situations. I think it's not as noticible or significant because they have such strong and independant personalities. Part of it also fits with Oda's art style of exaggerated characteristics. Really all characters in Op are far outside the realm of realistic body proportions. His muscular characters often have literaly no neck. Kuma has a gigantic upper body and tiny little sticks for legs. Unless they're the gelitanous blobby fat characters all males pretty much have perfect abs.

This. You'd think after years of reading OP people would've already realized this, but no.

[TheCrystalShip]

This. You'd think after years of reading OP people would've already realized this, but no.

Readers are not obligated to take the same thing away from the manga that you do...
I personally feel like the manga is brimming with objectification, it's just less blatant.

[Sick_Fool]

What I'm saying is that instead of crying about trivial things like uneven, unrealistic body proportions, people should be talking about Oda not giving his female leads 1v1 fights since Enies Lobby, giving feminine fruit powers to female characters, etc. I liked that discussion alot, not this trivial shit that people should've already been used to.

IMO if anyone's bothered by Oda's exxagerated portrayal of the human body then they're reading OP for the wrong reasons.

[Nolus]

I personally have no problem with for example Tsuru having the Washing fruit. I see her whole character as a "Marine-mom" (I may be wrong though). She's experienced and made it far without any sign of being a warrior of some sort. Also, the others seem to respect her. I imagine that her word weighs a lot.

I also found it hilarious how she just washed a bunch of pirates. Maybe she even did that with Sengoku or Garp when they were younger.

[TheCrystalShip]

people should be talking about Oda not giving his female leads 1v1 fights since Enies Lobby, giving feminine fruit powers to female characters, etc.

Has Robin EVER had an in-depth 1v1 fight? Yama was curbstomp, Hammond was curbstomp...

[Densuke]

Has Robin EVER had an in-depth 1v1 fight? Yama was curbstomp, Hammond was curbstomp...

What about the curb she bit while Spanda was trying to pull her across the bridge? That was an intense 1v1 if you ask me..

[DarkFalcon]

Ironically, Ivankov is based on Dr. Frankenfurter, a British character. xD

Dear, dear, thats true, but he is also modeled after Norio Immamura. Oda have met Immamura and was under such impression he decide he wants strong okama in his story (SBS vol. 58, I think).

[Vongola_Boss_XI]

To be fair, most of the significant 1 on 1 fights go to Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji. Usopp and Chopper have a decent amount. Nami, Franky, Brook, and Robin all could use a major battle or two more.


I'd much rather have the fights the way they are in OP. The only reason certain characters haven't each had 1 on 1 fights is because Oda does not fit his villain teams to all be perfect foils of the Straw Hat Pirates. Aside from Enies Lobby, there haven't been any big 1 on 1 fights since Alabasta. Some series like Reborn! do it every single arc. It's better the way fights are done in One Piece....


Let's just look at all the Straw Hat Fights....generally I'd say Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji have the lion's share. Robin and Brook are the lowest. Keep in mind Robin joined later in the series. Skypiea didn't have many major one on one fights. Neither did Thriller Bark. Enies Lobby revolved around Robin and was an excellent story arc / saga in every way. Having her fight a major opponent wouldn't have worked for obvious reasons. Shortly after TB the crew was scattered. Yes, Hammond was a curb stomp...but so were the rest of the NFP. I don't think it's as much sexism as it is a matter of opportunity. Robin hasn't been around for a SHP vs. Major opponent showdown (which Oda uses sparingly; so far only Baroque Works and CP9). She was with the crew for the CP9 fights, but as said, didn't fit in those fights.


Just looking at the major Straw Hat Pirate fights....

Luffy (18) - Buggy, Kuro, Krieg, Arlong, Mr. 3, Wapol, Crocodile, Bellamy, Eneru, Foxy, Aokiji, Blueno, Lucci, Moria, Oars, Boa sisters, Magellan, Hody

Zoro (9) - Cabaji, Butchie and Siam, Mihawk, Hatchan, Daz Bones, Ohm, Kaku, Ryuma, Hyozou

Nami (2) - Miss Double Finger, Kalifa

Usopp (4) - Chu, Mr. 4 & Miss Merry Christmas, Perona, Daruma

Sanji (8) - Pearl, Gin, Kuroobi, Bon Clay, Wanze, Jyabura, Absalom, Wadatsumi

Chopper (6) - Chessmarimo, Miss Merry Christmas & Mr. 4, Gedatsu, Kumadori, Hogback, Dosun

Robin (4) - Pell, Yama, Hogback, Hammond

Franky (3) - Nero, Fukuro, Ikaros

Brook (1) - Zeo

Jimbei (1) - Wadatsumi

Vivi (1) - Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7

Significant team fights that I think should still be mentioned as well:

Luffy, Sanji, Usopp vs. Satori
Straw Hat Pirates vs. Pacafista
Straw Hat Pirates vs. Oars
Robin and Chopper vs. Hogback
Usopp and Chopper vs. Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas
Sanji and Jimbei vs. Wadatsumi

You can clearly see Robin, Franky, Brook, and Jimbei haven't had any real major fights (aside from Franky vs. Kumadori). Nero, Yama, Zeo, Hammond...all curb stomped pretty much.


It's always been clear that Robin is pretty powerful. Oda's also made it clear recently that both Nami and Usopp are a force to be reckoned with. The lack of major fights for Robin at least is a function of the way he's telling the story now more than anything as evidenced by Franky and Brook's lack of major battles. Nami has had 2 major battles. Usopp has had 5...it seems likea big difference, but compared to Zoro and Sanji none of them really have close to the same amoutn. I wouldn't turn Robin's lack of major fights into any form of sexism...because it's not. NFP were not major fights. Nero wasn't a major fight. Nami is the one with the least fights relative to the amount of time she's been in the story...but Nami and Usopp were weak in the first part of the story. Usopp has 1 extra fight for the Arlong Park arc in which he was fighting on Nami's behalf. Another additional fight on Thriller Bark. TB was after Oda made the switch to a few fights per arc... a GOOD change. The matchups were perfect as is so Nami had no room for a 1v1 fight. The arc was already 50 chapters. It couldn't be any longer really.

All that said, I would love it if someone like Erza from Fairy Tail joined the Straw Hats!

[Ace of Spades]

I liked most of your post, but I have to disagree with you on the Erza part. She is a bland and overrated chatacter, and I am glad that she does not exist in OP. The women are treated fine imo, even if they are not the strongest physically, they are a lot stronger in mentality. Out of all the SHs the two females in the crew have the hardest pasts. I prefer this, over the cheapness of 'Titania'.

[sanji499]

Anyone else was really dissapointed that Tashigi was powned so easily by Law ? I sure want her to have a little more success.

I think we need more Hina. Basically, she is a female version of Smoker and I really love her interaction with the vice admiral.

[poopbucket]

Anyone else was really dissapointed that Tashigi was powned so easily by Law ? I sure want her to have a little more success.

I think we need more Hina. Basically, she is a female version of Smoker and I really love her interaction with the vice admiral.

So dissapointed. I think she'll get her redmption during the wano arc though. And I'm betting Hina's a Vice Admiral at G5 now, so hopefully we'll see more of her soon.

[Waboshi]

For the people complaining about women in One Piece not getting major fights, have you thought about the possibility that Oda doesn't enjoy illustrating women getting beaten?

Because that's the thing about major fights; the hero has to get all bloody and beaten up before "Overtaken" starts playing and the hero starts to use his badass moves.

Just look at all the major fights Luffy, Zoro and Sanji have been in, they have all been beaten up pretty bad before they go into epic mode. Now, would we really like Robin or Nami getting all beaten up in some random 1vs1 fight? Do you really enjoy watching women getting beat up that much? I might just send Sanji and get you!

[Vongola_Boss_XI]

Way to twist wanting to see Robin and Nami get big fights to make it seem people like to see women get beaten =/. Just look at some of Sarah's fights in Chuck, she was badass and awesome.


I'm not disappointed in Law beating Tashigi easily. It has nothing to do with Tashigi being weak and everything to do with Law being powerful. He also defeated Smoker, a character we've seen trounce Luffy pretty thoroughly every time they've met up until this point. She's not a vice admiral, so no she shouldn't be fighting evenly with the Seven Warlords. Hina, yes I think she should be that strong.

[Cyclone_Baroness]

For the people complaining about women in One Piece not getting major fights, have you thought about the possibility that Oda doesn't enjoy illustrating women getting beaten?

Because that's the thing about major fights; the hero has to get all bloody and beaten up before "Overtaken" starts playing and the hero starts to use his badass moves.

Just look at all the major fights Luffy, Zoro and Sanji have been in, they have all been beaten up pretty bad before they go into epic mode. Now, would we really like Robin or Nami getting all beaten up in some random 1vs1 fight? Do you really enjoy watching women getting beat up that much? I might just send Sanji and get you!

Getting beat up from actually fighting and being beaten as in a domestic manner are very different. I like it when the female characters can take on almost the same damage as the males and still fight on. Kongo Banchou has a lot of scenes like this. But Nami and Robin don't fight in that way that they do, so their fights are more about out witting their opponents. I think the last time we really see Nami beaten up was in Alabasta, but that was mostly due to her learning her weapon as she went. The other time was against Kalifa? But her being one sidedly curb stomped didn't last as long. I felt that those fights were pretty epic. I can say Nami rarely gets epic fights lol. So seeing a character over come damage makes me actually feel concern during the fight. "How can they win!?" Sorta thing.

[Superbear 22]

Getting beat up from actually fighting and being beaten as in a domestic manner are very different. I like it when the female characters can take on almost the same damage as the males and still fight on. Kongo Banchou has a lot of scenes like this. But Nami and Robin don't fight in that way that they do, so their fights are more about out witting their opponents. I think the last time we really see Nami beaten up was in Alabasta, but that was mostly due to her learning her weapon as she went. The other time was against Kalifa? But her being one sidedly curb stomped didn't last as long. I felt that those fights were pretty epic. I can say Nami rarely gets epic fights lol. So seeing a character over come damage makes me actually feel concern during the fight. "How can they win!?" Sorta thing.

I'm reading this now, thank you for mentioning it.

[kappa-san]

Oh yeah Thriller Bark!

Those FEW panels of Nami having a shower and almost getting raped!

That arc is so full of fanservice, I tell you.

And how is the anime relevant to a manga-related discussion again?

The anime part is that Toei logic is hilariously bad. Flipping someone off is worse than rape! What the hell.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

For the people complaining about women in One Piece not getting major fights, have you thought about the possibility that Oda doesn't enjoy illustrating women getting beaten?

Because that's the thing about major fights; the hero has to get all bloody and beaten up before "Overtaken" starts playing and the hero starts to use his badass moves.

Just look at all the major fights Luffy, Zoro and Sanji have been in, they have all been beaten up pretty bad before they go into epic mode. Now, would we really like Robin or Nami getting all beaten up in some random 1vs1 fight? Do you really enjoy watching women getting beat up that much? I might just send Sanji and get you!

As a woman, yes, I want to see a woman get beaten up and stand back upand fight back like Luffy. Are you saying that women doesn't look good fighting if they get beat up? That's pretty chivalrous of you, almost borderline sexist. You wanna see women getting beat up, yet still look good and awesome in a fight? Read Homestuck. I can even say that the women of Homestuck are more badass and awesome than in One Piece. The Homestuck girls are not afraid of whoever they fight with- girl, boy or giant monster eldritchs. Got beaten up and lost an eye and an arm? Get back up and murder the person that did that to you. That's how awesome they are.

[Sick_Fool]

The anime part is that Toei logic is hilariously bad. Flipping someone off is worse than rape! What the hell.

There's a reason why this thread is in the MANGA section, so why bring up the anime?

Also I assume you didn't get the sarcasm about Thriller Bark in my previous post.