I personally like Yamato as a character but from what I saw a lot of people have a weird understanding of what Yamato represents as a character. I'll try to address to the best of my abilities why I think Yamato doesn't deserve that much hate.
1. I am Kozuki Oden
This one is the biggest one and I always felt people neglected one core part of Yamato which is that Yamato is the victim of abuse ever since she was a kid.
Put yourself into Yamato's shoes. You are born to Kaido, destruction incarnate, your whole life is nothing but seeing people die and suffer just because your father is strong and believes he can have his way with things. That same person ordained you will be what he wants you to be totally throwing away your desire and your freedom. That is your shitty childhood.
Until you saw death of Oden.
Oden represented a figure Yamato desperately needed in her life. A father
Oden represented free will that Kaido took away from Yamato
Oden represented power used to protect people rather than destroying.
Oden represented love and care Kaido never gave Yamato
Imagine yourself, a kid of 8 years - seeing that. Imagine how starstruck you would be. Everything in your life in front of you - and then taken away by the same person that torments you.
Yamato suffered immensely, she wanted to be like Oden, she wanted power to protect, power to have free will, power to make your own choices. She swore to be like Oden, to represent him fully. Combined with Trauma she suffered Yamato developed an Oden complex to keep herself alive.
She took a beating after beating and her spirit never wavered because she truly believed it is her destiny to carry on Oden's legacy.
But where does Yamato go after that?
Well I personally believe that by the end of the arc Yamato will refer to herself as Yamato rather than Oden. She will fulfil her role and duty and once that is done she will not need to be Oden anymore.
2. Yamato's power level
One of the things I noticed is that with every chapter where Yamato shows more power the hate for her grows. Inferiority complex strikes and certain people feel the need to bash the character in order to save their own fav characters. Name calling ensues and a deep and saddening hate starts. Bar Sanji and Zoro i haven't seen such hate regarding someone's power in a long time.
Then there is people saying Yamato being that strong is BS.
Well that is absurdly wrong. We literally learned through out One Piece that person grows most in power when faced with Life and Death.
Yamato literally faced Kaido for god knows how many times, 1 on 1. Beating after beating. Her power level makes absolute sense and we didn't even yet see her ultimate attack and she managed to put Kaido on his knees.
So IMO i think people are just insecure when it comes to Yamato's power level and they feel the need to bash her to feel better.
Overall I think people bash Yamato without truly looking deep into her character. I've rarely saw a criticism that I can consider valid. Most is just screaming into the wind with little to no care to understand the character
1. I am Kozuki Oden
This one is the biggest one and I always felt people neglected one core part of Yamato which is that Yamato is the victim of abuse ever since she was a kid.
Put yourself into Yamato's shoes. You are born to Kaido, destruction incarnate, your whole life is nothing but seeing people die and suffer just because your father is strong and believes he can have his way with things. That same person ordained you will be what he wants you to be totally throwing away your desire and your freedom. That is your shitty childhood.
Until you saw death of Oden.
Oden represented a figure Yamato desperately needed in her life. A father
Oden represented free will that Kaido took away from Yamato
Oden represented power used to protect people rather than destroying.
Oden represented love and care Kaido never gave Yamato
Imagine yourself, a kid of 8 years - seeing that. Imagine how starstruck you would be. Everything in your life in front of you - and then taken away by the same person that torments you.
Yamato suffered immensely, she wanted to be like Oden, she wanted power to protect, power to have free will, power to make your own choices. She swore to be like Oden, to represent him fully. Combined with Trauma she suffered Yamato developed an Oden complex to keep herself alive.
She took a beating after beating and her spirit never wavered because she truly believed it is her destiny to carry on Oden's legacy.
But where does Yamato go after that?
Well I personally believe that by the end of the arc Yamato will refer to herself as Yamato rather than Oden. She will fulfil her role and duty and once that is done she will not need to be Oden anymore.
2. Yamato's power level
One of the things I noticed is that with every chapter where Yamato shows more power the hate for her grows. Inferiority complex strikes and certain people feel the need to bash the character in order to save their own fav characters. Name calling ensues and a deep and saddening hate starts. Bar Sanji and Zoro i haven't seen such hate regarding someone's power in a long time.
Then there is people saying Yamato being that strong is BS.
Well that is absurdly wrong. We literally learned through out One Piece that person grows most in power when faced with Life and Death.
Yamato literally faced Kaido for god knows how many times, 1 on 1. Beating after beating. Her power level makes absolute sense and we didn't even yet see her ultimate attack and she managed to put Kaido on his knees.
So IMO i think people are just insecure when it comes to Yamato's power level and they feel the need to bash her to feel better.
Overall I think people bash Yamato without truly looking deep into her character. I've rarely saw a criticism that I can consider valid. Most is just screaming into the wind with little to no care to understand the character
