Controversial One Piece's Politics

Is One Piece woke?


  • Total voters
    14
#3
One Piece can be seen both as progressive or conservative,and of course also anarchich:

-Why progressive: Anti-racist themes

-Why anarchic: Praise for the thematic of freedom with the figure of pirates

-Why conservative: There is clearly a criticism on the idea of having a "World Government" so this could be interpreted as a criticism on Globalism. Also there are many royality figures that are represented in a positive light.

About the Revolutionary Army: They could be seen as progressive,but maybe also as anarchist! It depends on what idea of society they do have after they get rid of the World Government: What kind of world they want after that? We dont know that.
 
#6
One time i've read a thread of a "woke" fan on X who complained about Fishman Island accusing it of being a conservative/racist arc,because according to her the arc was too much about the Fishmen (aka blacks or other miniorities) getting evil for their revenge and not about the humans (aka white people) being racist. So people will always complain and accuse One Piece of racism or something.
 
#8
One time i've read a thread of a "woke" fan on X who complained about Fishman Island accusing it of being a conservative/racist arc,because according to her the arc was too much about the Fishmen (aka blacks or other miniorities) getting evil for their revenge and not about the humans (aka white people) being racist. So people will always complain and accuse One Piece of racism or something.
So basically she was complaining because they were portrayed as actual people with different perspectives and accountability, who need to take matter in their own hands and find solutions to their problems by dealing with their internalised demons as much as with their oppressors (who of course need to change) rather than glorified puppies/children who need to be saved and protected.
For supposedly standing for equality they surely get really pissed off when the « minorities » are portrayed are such. The more i delve into contemporary identity politics the more my appreciation for that arc grows.
 
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#9
You guys don't have a clear definition of "woke"

If your question is if One Piece advocates for left wing ideas with some caveats here and there? the answer is a resounding yes.
 
#10
luffy doesn't care about the "commonwealth" or the "ummah". he doesn't bow down to the elders of his village, or god. he believes in himself. a few extraordinary people like him determine the fate of the world, not the irreleveant and weak masses. even if all peasants revolted, a few top tiers could defeat them in a blink of a second with coc. genso and the other villagers had no chance against arlong. when all of kaido's underlings had been defeated, a cp0 agent remarked that it is all for naught as long as kaido and big mom are up. only a tiny number of people, powerful in spirit and body, count. alot less than 1%. they derive their power not form money or popular support, but from their ability to commit violent acts. they act for personal reasons. luffy didn't had the freedom of the alabastian people in mind, he just wanted to help his friend vivi. when luffy knocks out an evil king, he is not replaced by a parlament, but by a good king. monarchy is good, as long as a benevolant and competent king is on the throne.
 
#11
luffy doesn't care about the "commonwealth" or the "ummah". he doesn't bow down to the elders of his village, or god. he believes in himself. a few extraordinary people like him determine the fate of the world, not the irreleveant and weak masses. even if all peasants revolted, a few top tiers could defeat them in a blink of a second with coc. genso and the other villagers had no chance against arlong. when all of kaido's underlings had been defeated, a cp0 agent remarked that it is all for naught as long as kaido and big mom are up. only a tiny number of people, powerful in spirit and body, count. alot less than 1%. they derive their power not form money or popular support, but from their ability to commit violent acts. they act for personal reasons. luffy didn't had the freedom of the alabastian people in mind, he just wanted to help his friend vivi. when luffy knocks out an evil king, he is not replaced by a parlament, but by a good king. monarchy is good, as long as a benevolant and competent king is on the throne.
I think we should see more about Nika and Imu before we definetively say that that's the case,
 
#13
Woke is a bit of a buzz term with no clear meaning, but the answer is absolutely yes.

While One Piece sometimes simplifies certain context, it clearly explores racial discrimination, including how systemic racism works even if people are on paper equal (through Fishmen at Fishman Island arc), which is considered pretty woke.

It has multiple characters who don't identify with their biological sex
1) Bon Clay, who identifies as both man and a woman, which (ironically) got censored in anime and English manga
2) Ivankov, who can change hormones as he wishes, becoming either gender, which tied into "Freedom" theme of One Piece and more specifically, Luffy.
3) Kiku, who is described in Vivre Card as being "a female at heart" and bathes with women
4) Yamato, who honestly just LARPs, but is still referred to as male by multiple characters and was put in bathroom with men.

It delves into the corruption and how authority positions are occupied by people who abuse it for their benefit, at the expense of the people they pretend to protect. Those who are born rich will occupy same areas of land (e.g. Holy Land), segregating themselves from the poor ones (e.g. Kuma backstory) which leads to extra exploitation of those who are not born rich.

Additionally, the greed of the rich countries has worldwide side effects, which affect those from poorer countries the most. The sinking of Lulusia leading to the rise of sea level which will eventually lead to fight for the resources as the rich ones have the safe haven while the poor are left to die is a blatant commentary on climate change.

So yes, very woke.

There is clearly a criticism on the idea of having a "World Government" so this could be interpreted as a criticism on Globalism.
I don't see where is the criticism of the IDEA of World Government. It clearly provides scientific progress and the protection of people from pirates and the other criminals. It's just that the World Government itself is corrupt, but a reform could make it a definitively positive thing.


Also there are many royality figures that are represented in a positive light.
And there are many who are in negative light.
Oda is saying how a good leader is better than a complex government which is better than a bad leader.

So basically she was complaining because they were portrayed as actual people with different perspectives and accountability, who need to take matter in their own hands and find solutions to their problems by dealing with their internalised demons as much as with their oppressors (who of course need to change) rather than glorified puppies/children who need to be saved and protected.
For supposedly standing for equality they surely get really pissed off when the « minorities » are portrayed are such. The more i delve into contemporary identity politics the more my appreciation for that arc grows.
I feel like you are missing the point.

The only time we see pov of fishmen villains is when they admitted to not having a reason to hate the race portrayed as an oppressor. This CAN be seen as being a badly executed theme, since it implies that the discriminated race is just making the problem up without a valid reason...

Though I obviously disagree with such interpretation.
 
#14
One Piece is Odas was of saying that the winners of World War 2 were not really the good guys and that the winners are actively hiding information about that time to keep the population of the world under control while commiting further attrocities.
Whitebeard, a representation of freedom, was supposed to have a "manji" (nice cop out, lol) as his crest

I am not even kidding here.
The analogies with Ancient Weapons and Atom bombs and the Void Century (a topic that is forbidden to talk about by law) is too strong to deny.
 
#15
One Piece is Odas was of saying that the winners of World War 2 were not really the good guys and that the winners are actively hiding information about that time to keep the population of the world under control while commiting further attrocities.
Whitebeard, a representation of freedom, was supposed to have a "manji" (nice cop out, lol) as his crest

I am not even kidding here.
The analogies with Ancient Weapons and Atom bombs and the Void Century (a topic that is forbidden to talk about by law) is too strong to deny.
Manji =/= nazi swastika though
 
#20
Manji =/= nazi swastika though
i always have to explain that to people when they see my tattoo. i just have it because i am a huge tokyo revengers fan.

Bro, Nazis are 10 years in thousands of years of history.
the austrian painter is the only famous historical person that comes to mind, who overtook jesus once in mentions https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Einstein,Hitler,Jesus,Caesar,Plato,Socrates,Augustus,Newton&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3&case_insensitive=false
 
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