Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece chapter #1084One Piece's Wano arc when Yamato took a bath with the male characters, thus affirming their gender identity as male.
Despite the issue of Yamato’s gender seemingly being resolved, One Piece chapter #1084 has revived the issue in full force. Chapter #1084 opens with a color page of many of the prominent female characters in the series, and Yamato is included among them, once again calling their gender identity into question. This is only the latest in the long line of issues that birthed the controversy, but with Yamato out of the story for the foreseeable future, it could very easily be the biggest and most controversial.
One Piece Includes Yamato in a Lineup of Female Characters
Even before One Piece #1084, it was clear that the series was always contradicting itself with Yamato’s gender. Despite being referred to as male in their introduction and for the rest of the Wano arc, the text box that accompanied Yamato in their introduction specifically referred to them as Kaido’s daughter, so the issue was present from the very start. Worsening the issue is how Yamato’s entry in the One Piece Visual Dictionary designated Yamato as female and referred to them with female pronouns, which is a clear contrast to how explicitly trans characters like Kiku and Morley had their entries go out of their way to clarify their genders.
Another problem is how often One Piece makes a joke out of Yamato’s gender. Yamato’s insistence on being Oden is the heart of the discussion of their gender, but it’s used as a joke more often than not, leading to some people viewing it as not mattering for their gender. Yamato having a curvaceous figure despite being referred to as male is also used as a joke, and while Yamato did bathe with the male characters, that could have simply been a joke about a woman being naked around men. Yamato’s gender identity has never been fully resolved, and chapter #1084 just offers the latest contradiction regarding it.
Will One Piece Ever Resolve Yamato’s Gender Controversy?
One Piece chapter #1084 has only served to exacerbate Yamato’s gender controversy, so it begs the question of whether or not the issue will ever receive a definitive resolution. The Wano arc ended with Yamato staying in Wano to help protect the country from external threats, so there’s no way of knowing if they’ll ever appear again in a significant capacity, especially since there isn’t a reason for Yamato to be involved in the final saga at the moment. With that in mind, it’s unlikely that there will be a chance for the story to address Yamato’s gender again, so the series could easily end with the issue being unresolved.
Another issue is that the controversy surrounding Yamato’s gender might already be seen as being resolved in Japan. As previously discussed, Yamato’s entry in the One Piece Visual Dictionary was worded in a way that designates One Piece's Yamato as female and lacked any of the language used for explicitly trans characters like Kiku and Morley, so at least in Japan, the issue might be seen as already being resolved. None of this invalidates any alternate interpretations of Yamato’s gender, but it still stands that some countries might not see Yamato’s gender in the same way as others, and that, unfortunately, only adds to their gender controversy in One Piece.
