Summary

• One Piece's female characters are empowering with clear goals and aspirations, not merely objects of fan service.
• The series provides well-rounded female characters while staying true to the shōnen genre for young boys.
• Oda's portrayal of female characters cannot be expected to be realistic, but fans can desire diversity and more wacky designs.

One Piece's portrayal of women has been a hot topic of discussion for many years, and for good reason. Eichiiro Oda's style of drawing women, which he himself has described as "three circles and an X", has been heavily criticized for its extremely unrealistic body proportions. However, a deeper look into One Piece's female cast suggests the series' sexualization of women need not necessarily be as big of an issue as it seems and overshadows just how well-written its female characters are.

There is no denying that One Piece does sexualize its female characters and this issue has only been made worse in the anime, which jumps at any opportunity for fan service. However, portraying a character in a provocative way doesn't necessarily mean they are being objectified, and One Piece manages to stay within this fine line. One Piece's female characters are never reduced to being simply objects of fan service, nor are they treated as objects of desire because of their appearance within the universe of the series (except maybe by Sanji).

The series empowers its female characters by making them assertive and giving them clear goals and irable aspirations, just like the male characters. Women part of the main cast like Nami and Robin are never reduced to token love interests, while side characters like Boa Hancock and Vivi are still irable for their leadership alongside many other empowering female role models in the series.

One Piece's Female Characters Were Intended to Be Empowering

Women in One Piece Are Well Rounded and Crucial to the Story

As a genre targeted at young boys, it comes as no surprise that the shōnen genre severely lacks well-written female characters. Most shōnen series cast aside female characters entirely or include one or two token female characters who do not impact the story as much. These female characters are often one-dimensional and can boil down to one or two common stereotypes where they are either stoic, fierce, uninterested in men, tsunderes, or cheerleaders that serve as a motivating force for the male protagonists. More common than not, women in shōnen are depicted as weaker than the male cast or considered completely useless.

Eichiiro Oda seemed to notice this lack of well-rounded female characters in shōnen manga, as he reveals in the OVER 100 Miracle Talk with the author of Detective Conan, Gosho Aoyama. From Oda's comment, it is clear that One Piece's female cast was always meant to be empowering. This intent is reflected not only in the main cast, but also in several other iconic female characters that have been introduced with every new arc like Vivi, Rebecca, Yamato, Koala, and Ginny.

People seem so ive of couples! That’s something I didn’t really read when I was a kid. During the old days of Jump, there were mangaka that wouldn't even draw women. That’s why I’m one of those that sent submissions with female characters. I did want to draw strong women, and I think characters like Nami were quite rare back in those days.

— Eichiiro Oda to Gosho Aoyama in the OVER 100 Miracle Talk, 2022.

Appearances aside, One Piece's female characters have always been treated the same as its male characters in that they take on significant roles, aren't reduced to mere stereotypes, and are given the same depth with complex emotions, personalities, and backstories that feed their aspirations and actions. Writing good female characters is about much more than simply making them physically strong and Oda understands that well.

One Piece proves it is possible for shōnen to incorporate well-rounded female characters while staying true to the genre.

Nami and Robin may not be stronger than the male crew , but they do pull their own weight. More importantly, they play a crucial role in the series, even having entire arcs focusing on their characters like the rest of the Straw Hats. Even before Nami began fighting alongside the rest of the crew she played the part of the crucial navigator without whom the Straw Hats would never be able to set sail. Meanwhile, Robin is the only one who can decipher the Poneglyphs, without which Luffy will never be able to find the elusive One Piece. As such, they are both indispensable to the crew in their own unique ways.

One Piece proves it is possible for shōnen to incorporate well-rounded, empowering female characters while staying true to the genre and that even series that are targeted at men and boys can have female role models and might benefit from including them. While One Piece's does leave more to be desired in of diversity, its well-written female cast does partially compensate for this shortcoming.

One Piece Needs More Female Diversity

Women in One Piece Are Either Conventionally Beautiful or Completely Ugly

It is worth noting that One Piece's female characters did not always look the way they do at present. Nami in particular looked quite petite at the start of the series and her body proportions could still for realistic, albeit with longer legs than usual. One Piece's art has changed radically since Romance Dawn, and it is approximately around Enies Lobby that Oda's style seems to shift towards more hyper-sexualized proportions.

It was also around this time that instances of fan service became more apparent. An excellent example is the infamous scene of Robin falling down the stairs in Enies Lobby. This overly exaggerated hourglass figure seemingly became the norm for all female characters after the time skip.

Many have argued that Oda's female characters only fall on one of two extreme ends of a spectrum, where they can be either typically beautiful or completely hideous, and there is no denying the statement. It is mostly the villains that fall into the latter "ugly hag" category, like Big Mom, Charlotte Brulee, and Mother Carmel, though there have been a few exceptions, like Kalifa, Ulti, and Black Maria arguing against Oda's villainization of characters that do not conform to traditional standards of beauty.

One Piece's Women Don't Need to Be Realistic But More Wacky

ittedly, only portraying unrealistic body-types can have a negative impact on younger impressionable audiences. However, one might also argue that Oda's female character design is so unrealistic that it is simply time to separate fact from fiction and stop expecting a realistic portrayal from a story with a power as ridiculous as Gear Five.

One Piece's male characters also come in every shape and size, one weirder than the last, but no one expects these characters to resemble real-life men. Similarly, perhaps it is time that fans stopped expecting One Piece's women to look realistic, as it is quite apparent that such a physique is simply unattainable in reality. Instead, it would be much appreciated if the series could be just as creative and wacky with its portrayal of women giving fans more of the diverse, empowering characters that they caught a glimpse of during Whole Cake Island.

One Piece is available from Crunchyroll and Netflix.

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