Worstgen

Cinera

> Her being Kaido’s daughter doesn’t really mean anything to me. She’s just another silver spoon brat. Any other kid could cosplay Oden. Substitute her for a blow up doll that occasionally spits out Oden fanboyism and there’s no difference.

It underpins her relationships and role in the story.

Den_Den_Mushi

The character whose agency has entirely been removed by plot, the character who has no life, no achievements nothing, just sat on their ass waiting for our heroes to come along, that character archetype shoulda died in the 1800s. That’s not a character, that is a hollowed out shell of ink and paper.

Den_Den_Mushi

I mean that’s like saying Robin being the poneglyph translator MacGuffin underpins her relationships and role in the story. Does it? Of course. But she has no personality. You could legit replace her with a talking fleshlight with the same abilities and powers and nothing would change because she is blander than unsalted tofu.

Cinera

* Her conflict and relationship with Kaido
* Her friendship with Ace and their promise
* Her relationship with Luffy
* Her relationship with Momonosuke (for a while, the only child of his Father's nemesis was his protector)
* Her relationship with the other Beast Pirates
* Her role as an ally

Cinera

I also think the imprisoned princess is a core component of Yamato's character. It came up a lot in her interactions with Luffy and with Ace.

Den_Den_Mushi

Yamato is a Robin type MacGuffin. She’s this princess high and mighty type that needs our heroes to come save her, but you can replace her with an Oden cosplaying muppet who’s also Kaido’s daughter and has huge tits and this would not make a difference. Robin used to have a morbid personality at least, and had her Ms All Sunday persona. Yamato is just a cosplayer and not a good one either.

Den_Den_Mushi

If she’s an imprisoned princess that by definition makes her a bad character. No agency, no notable life accomplishments, just a generic I wanna be free dream that all gets nicely solved thanks to our heroes. The only decent character in this category is Fiona from Shrek who at least is funny.

Cinera

> The character whose agency has entirely been removed by plot, the character who has no life, no achievements nothing, just sat on their ass waiting for our heroes to come along, that character archetype shoulda died

I agree that characters that have been stripped of agency are very distasteful. Thankfully, Yamato was only stripped of agency in her backstory and not in her actual presence and interactions on panel.

Den_Den_Mushi

I don’t think she has any agency even now. If you live your life based on someone else’s personality and dreams, you have no agency of your own. You outsource your thinking to a ‘what would Jesus do’ stock standard mentality. You’re just method acting at this point and have no identity of your own. Like a human Barbie. It’s grotesque.

Den_Den_Mushi

Human barbie has no agency. All she thinks about is how to be more like Barbie the character who exists only in her mind. Yamato never knew Oden personally, she’s just lost in a Barbie fantasy at 28 which is gross af. She needs to grow the fuck up already.

Den_Den_Mushi

Having a backstory with no agency also makes a badly written and boring character. You mean to tell me that this person has not been able to make any meaningful choices, has never done anything meaningful until this group of randos shows up in their life? That’s not a real person. That’s a caricature, a blank slate that exists only from the point in time that Luffy landed in Wano.

Den_Den_Mushi

Even in circumstances where the character has limited freedom, they can still demonstrate agency. Katniss hunted for her family in defiance of the law from a young age. Rebecca trained in a pacifist style to balance her mother’s philosophy with her need to be strong. They can still do stuff, be well rounded without the presence of the MCs in their lives.

Den_Den_Mushi

Not to mention the sheer sexism in this trope. Would a male character have a backstory in which he has almost zero agency? Of course not. Yamato’s character is a mishmash of sexist tropes, just goes to show that in Oda’s world, there is Never a Self Made Woman.

Cinera

> If you live your life based on someone else’s personality and dreams, you have no agency of your own. You outsource your thinking to a ‘what would Jesus do’ stock standard mentality.

I don't agree with this. I don't think trying to emulate someone strips you of agency. And I say this as someone who has lived appreciable parts of my life trying to emulate someone.

Cinera

I don't think Yamato is conceptually unagentic. Yamato was forcefully stripped of agency by her circumstances. She did fight back. She repeatedly kept fighting back at Kaido, and whenever she did, Kaido beat her up.

Cinera

This is not a character that's conceptually unagentic. This is a character that was forcefully stripped of agency by their circumstances. The relaxation of the artificial constraints on them will restore their agency.

Cinera

When Yamato decided that she shall not choose between Momonosuke or Shinobu. That she refuses to compromise, that she would definitely protect both of them, that was Yamato exercising agency.

Cinera

When Yamato took down Ulti and rescued Luffy, that was Yamato exercising agency.

Cinera

When Yamato kidnapped Luffy and fought him until he listened to her despite his impatience and stubbornness, that was Yamato exercising agency.

Cinera

When Yamato declared that she shall no longer consider Kaido a father.
When Yamato declared: "I'm not on your side anymore. Let my father die" that was Yamato exercising agency.