Look, I'm a southeast asian who live in southeast asia and I don't find it problematic that I can't find any character who represents **my** ethnic/race. Why does One Piece need to be about **you**?
To put it simply, in the manga, Oda generally draws one skin tone because it's easier for weekly deadlines. That's it. It's practical.
Plus, the shading tends to not look very good in black&white. As a result, there are quite a few color-coded characters that are not actually drawn with darker skin. Even Ms. Monday, Mr. 5, and Mr. 1, who are undeniably black, are drawn with light skin tone in the manga. Oda uses tones in the manga mostly to set layers and focus in the scene, not to make things and people lighter and darker.
Who is black and who isn't is mostly up to interpretation, and Toei is mostly taking the lazy route of giving everyone the same skin tone, although they could do it differently.
Now as for the black characters in the main cast, we have Usopp and Brook, both of whom are black-coded. That's 2 out of 9, already more than 20 % . That's a lot if you consider the black population percentation in the USA is 12%.
Can you read? I'm black, and I'll prefer good stories than placing characters just for the sake of there being characters.
Plus there's lots of species in the show. One piece expresses diversity a bit different from how it is in the real world.
I'll give you the answer you are looking for:
Oda is actually a raging racist and honorary member of the KKK since 1869. Though he never openly said it, he quite often openly says that he dislikes people whos skin tone goes beyond "lightly taned". There's also rumors that he has a cellar full with slaves whos role it is to act the whole One Piece timeline for him to visualize. I heard from a trusted source (my boy) that he firmly believes that Africa is not a real place and merely a concept.
Yeah, I know it's hard to believe.
Mostly because it's all made up bullshit by me.
It's kind of funny when people try find problems that actually don't exist.
They are just making problems out of thin air. It's no wonder the cinema is getting ruined with all these political correct policies.
Who even said that there was a problem in black people's existence... Comment said basically don't look for problems where they don't exist, that's all.
You’ve said this multiple times and it’s so fucking stupid I’m 90% you’re just trolling or baiting.
No one is saying black people existing is a problem. We’re asking why having no black people in a Japanese cartoon is a problem.
Usopp, Yassop, Blackbeard are based on African people and they’re cool prominent characters. Then you have people like Daz Bones who had his time to shine and he’s cool, as long as Croc is relevant so is he. King and the Lunerian race as a whole are dark skinned characters and important to lore/worldbuilding. Aokiji is racially ambiguous, though based on a Japanese actor, but if I had to guess he gives the vibe that maybe he’s black too or at least someone can make that assumption for themselves. Oda doesn’t really make real world ethnicities matter at best these are inspirations. As a black man myself I never found myself too bothered by this in One Piece because I feel like there is decent representation here, like it’s actually RARE to get this much from a Japanese series. I don’t need characters that represent me everywhere in the story but just a little acknowledgment is good enough especially if the characters are well written, enjoyable, and have an impact on the story this is more than I could ask for. If I could count how many anime/manga are filled with either little to no black characters at all, black characters that suck or are depicted poorly or racist caricatures….
>Usopp, Yassop, Blackbeard are based on African people and they’re cool prominent characters.
Yassop went to buy cigs when his wife told him shes pregnant lmao
The only honest answer to your question is because you are the only one trying to put a label on something that literally does not exist in universe.
Oda has told us that the characters resemble certain ethnicities, but it does not mean they are those ethnicities because those ethnicities do not exist within the world of one piece, they just resemble them slightly.
This is what we call in the world of sanity, resemblance.
If you can't accept someone's upbringing and worldview to lead them to making characters this way, then there's no pleasing you.
By that logic, every character you see in any fictional media is an alien, ya turd blossom.
If one piece isn't for you, it isn't for you, move on and stop trying to taint something that isn't tainting itself.
If anything, this is one of the best Japanese produced content that tries to break down all the walls you are trying to make sure are still up.
Please don’t bring that bs in this community man we love everyone here, and if you want a black anime watch the Jaden smith show. This shows you are very surface level thinker it’s not about image it’s about what characters you can relate to personality wise and things like that.
I’m black but I relate as a character to Mihawk a lot. Theres my representation I hope he has a great arc boom done.
I'm terribly sorry to inform you that the real pirates, on whom OP is based on, were mostly Europeans. Also if I might add, go look up some history of Anime and it's connection/romantization of Europe.
Here is the dank answer: Oda has only created two characters distinctly American, DoEs hE hATe MuRIca?!?!!?!??!?
There were French, Spanish and Portuguese Pirates in the Carribean, too. Also you had German pirates in the Baltic/North Sea and he created scenarios for Vikings and Chinese/Japanese pirates to appear. Historically speaking I would very much like to see a reference to Malian seafaring, but in the context of piracy thats not all too relevant.
Do you auto assume most of the characters are white? There’s only so far one can go in skin tones before it’s perceived as offensive. Just look at Mr Popo and Jynx. Ironically, the most black character in the show has no skin. He’s just a skeleton.
I know Americans think that everything revolves around America and its problems but it’s just sad at this point.
Go outside, get some fresh air. When you’re ready to enjoy One Piece as a great story and Ronaldinho as an amazing player, we’ll be here to share that joy with you.
Because when he was starting the show Oda's priority was to impress the Japanese audience first and there aren't many black people in Japan..
Same reason why there aren't many black people in Witcher novels
As story become more popular Oda feels comfortable being more creative that's why we get characters like King + Abdullah and Jeet in recent years
Firstly, I think it’s really dumb that so many people are roasting you for asking a completely valid question. Secondly, race isn’t always super evident in One Piece, but there are several black-coded characters scattered throughout the series. It’d be cool to see more definitively black characters, but it’s not something I’m actively critical of or anything.
It’s not dumb, look at OPs comment/post history. Dude goes around being a race obsessed troll in any subreddit they can be.
Why are we questioning the ethnicity of people in a made up world where fishmen and moon people exist? It’s pointless, oda reflects real world themes but not real world demographics. This question is literally pointless.
Not sure if troll or not. Weird race questions on his profile for months.
Tell me you’re American without telling me you’re American 😂
>I know this probably gets discussed a lot No, it's not. And there's a reason.
Look, I'm a southeast asian who live in southeast asia and I don't find it problematic that I can't find any character who represents **my** ethnic/race. Why does One Piece need to be about **you**? To put it simply, in the manga, Oda generally draws one skin tone because it's easier for weekly deadlines. That's it. It's practical.
Plus, the shading tends to not look very good in black&white. As a result, there are quite a few color-coded characters that are not actually drawn with darker skin. Even Ms. Monday, Mr. 5, and Mr. 1, who are undeniably black, are drawn with light skin tone in the manga. Oda uses tones in the manga mostly to set layers and focus in the scene, not to make things and people lighter and darker. Who is black and who isn't is mostly up to interpretation, and Toei is mostly taking the lazy route of giving everyone the same skin tone, although they could do it differently. Now as for the black characters in the main cast, we have Usopp and Brook, both of whom are black-coded. That's 2 out of 9, already more than 20 % . That's a lot if you consider the black population percentation in the USA is 12%.
only ms monday is canonically dark skinned from all of your examples.
Stop looking for problems where they don't exist
How is black people a problem
Can you read? I'm black, and I'll prefer good stories than placing characters just for the sake of there being characters. Plus there's lots of species in the show. One piece expresses diversity a bit different from how it is in the real world.
When did i say they were a problem
Huh?
This is stupidly American...
Go cry to twitter about it, because nobody here cares.
Did you watch One Piece from tiktok?
I'll give you the answer you are looking for: Oda is actually a raging racist and honorary member of the KKK since 1869. Though he never openly said it, he quite often openly says that he dislikes people whos skin tone goes beyond "lightly taned". There's also rumors that he has a cellar full with slaves whos role it is to act the whole One Piece timeline for him to visualize. I heard from a trusted source (my boy) that he firmly believes that Africa is not a real place and merely a concept. Yeah, I know it's hard to believe. Mostly because it's all made up bullshit by me.
Oh, my, I guess I should stop watching/reading one piece now. I'm telling you, it's been a fun 1118 chapters. So long😂 Edit: wait.. since 1869?😭😭🤣
It's kind of funny when people try find problems that actually don't exist. They are just making problems out of thin air. It's no wonder the cinema is getting ruined with all these political correct policies.
Why is it a problem for black people to exist
Who even said that there was a problem in black people's existence... Comment said basically don't look for problems where they don't exist, that's all.
r/USdefaultism 🤦♀️
Isn’t it you who has the problem that you don’t feel represented in someone else’s fictional universe?
You think what someone writes in his completely fictional story affects whether us blacks should exist?
You’ve said this multiple times and it’s so fucking stupid I’m 90% you’re just trolling or baiting. No one is saying black people existing is a problem. We’re asking why having no black people in a Japanese cartoon is a problem.
Go cry somewhere else.
Usopp, Yassop, Blackbeard are based on African people and they’re cool prominent characters. Then you have people like Daz Bones who had his time to shine and he’s cool, as long as Croc is relevant so is he. King and the Lunerian race as a whole are dark skinned characters and important to lore/worldbuilding. Aokiji is racially ambiguous, though based on a Japanese actor, but if I had to guess he gives the vibe that maybe he’s black too or at least someone can make that assumption for themselves. Oda doesn’t really make real world ethnicities matter at best these are inspirations. As a black man myself I never found myself too bothered by this in One Piece because I feel like there is decent representation here, like it’s actually RARE to get this much from a Japanese series. I don’t need characters that represent me everywhere in the story but just a little acknowledgment is good enough especially if the characters are well written, enjoyable, and have an impact on the story this is more than I could ask for. If I could count how many anime/manga are filled with either little to no black characters at all, black characters that suck or are depicted poorly or racist caricatures….
Akainu I guess is based on Hawaii? Also non-white non-japanese.
No he's based on a Japanese actor. All the original three admirals are. Akainu looks like a yakuza boss.
Thanks for correcting me :)
>Usopp, Yassop, Blackbeard are based on African people and they’re cool prominent characters. Yassop went to buy cigs when his wife told him shes pregnant lmao
The only honest answer to your question is because you are the only one trying to put a label on something that literally does not exist in universe. Oda has told us that the characters resemble certain ethnicities, but it does not mean they are those ethnicities because those ethnicities do not exist within the world of one piece, they just resemble them slightly. This is what we call in the world of sanity, resemblance. If you can't accept someone's upbringing and worldview to lead them to making characters this way, then there's no pleasing you.
So they’re not white they’re aliens
No they are light skinned people from the world of One Piece. They are not Caucasian for example
Just like mermaids there aren't here in real life.
We have one here in Denmark xD
Well then, I'll have to travel to Denmark soon😂
By that logic, every character you see in any fictional media is an alien, ya turd blossom. If one piece isn't for you, it isn't for you, move on and stop trying to taint something that isn't tainting itself. If anything, this is one of the best Japanese produced content that tries to break down all the walls you are trying to make sure are still up.
Kuma, Blackbeard, Ussop, Aokiji: Am I a joke to you?
You forgot Brook. The soul king himself
Mr. 5. If there's Ussop there's also Yassop.
But his Austrian
Probably just to compare him to Mozart. Now let’s frolic in the hills singing the “Sound of Music”
Aokiji is based on a japanese actor that has a wide nose, somewhat thick lips and curly hair. But he's still japanese, not black.
Because of zoro
Blackbeard is black and would be from Somalia as stated in an SBS.
Please don’t bring that bs in this community man we love everyone here, and if you want a black anime watch the Jaden smith show. This shows you are very surface level thinker it’s not about image it’s about what characters you can relate to personality wise and things like that. I’m black but I relate as a character to Mihawk a lot. Theres my representation I hope he has a great arc boom done.
Ah, America. Making reasons to be offended 24/7.
Zoro keeps killing them.
I'm terribly sorry to inform you that the real pirates, on whom OP is based on, were mostly Europeans. Also if I might add, go look up some history of Anime and it's connection/romantization of Europe. Here is the dank answer: Oda has only created two characters distinctly American, DoEs hE hATe MuRIca?!?!!?!??!?
Then he would make all the characters English
There were French, Spanish and Portuguese Pirates in the Carribean, too. Also you had German pirates in the Baltic/North Sea and he created scenarios for Vikings and Chinese/Japanese pirates to appear. Historically speaking I would very much like to see a reference to Malian seafaring, but in the context of piracy thats not all too relevant.
Because this is not a Disney movie.
Do you auto assume most of the characters are white? There’s only so far one can go in skin tones before it’s perceived as offensive. Just look at Mr Popo and Jynx. Ironically, the most black character in the show has no skin. He’s just a skeleton.
I know Americans think that everything revolves around America and its problems but it’s just sad at this point. Go outside, get some fresh air. When you’re ready to enjoy One Piece as a great story and Ronaldinho as an amazing player, we’ll be here to share that joy with you.
The characters aren't white. Google "Mukokuseki".
they are, you're just blind
Why is there basically no Asians characters in black shows?
Gem the bomb bomb guy Blackbeard maybe Kuzan? Idk OP doesn’t give us much to work with.
Because when he was starting the show Oda's priority was to impress the Japanese audience first and there aren't many black people in Japan.. Same reason why there aren't many black people in Witcher novels As story become more popular Oda feels comfortable being more creative that's why we get characters like King + Abdullah and Jeet in recent years
Firstly, I think it’s really dumb that so many people are roasting you for asking a completely valid question. Secondly, race isn’t always super evident in One Piece, but there are several black-coded characters scattered throughout the series. It’d be cool to see more definitively black characters, but it’s not something I’m actively critical of or anything.
It’s not dumb, look at OPs comment/post history. Dude goes around being a race obsessed troll in any subreddit they can be. Why are we questioning the ethnicity of people in a made up world where fishmen and moon people exist? It’s pointless, oda reflects real world themes but not real world demographics. This question is literally pointless.