General & Others Details you may have missed in One Piece designs
- Thread starter Charlotte Horchata
- Start date
Hey guys! So after a while I come back with some new details you may have missed. I hope they make up for the wait!
Kawamatsu's main design trait is his kasa hat. This hat shares its etymology with "umbrella" in Japanese, and as you can infere it was especially used to protect yourself from the rain; this is why the Red Scabbards are all wearing kasas under the storm in the port they were supposed to set sail from to Onigashima. But why is this detail in Kawamatsu so interesting? He passes as a kappa, which are Japanese demons who needed to keep the hole in their head filled with water or they would die. This makes Kawamatsu's design quite ironic, because nothing would be more stupid than a kappa wearing a hat that prevents his head from getting wet.
The tips of Charlotte Nusstorte's bicorn are curled so they rhyme with those of his mustache.
The wrinkles of Kaido's face may work as a link with his dragon form since they remind of the reliefs on his dragon face.
The pattern in Moria's trousers strongly resemble some illuminated windows. This may be a hyperbolic resource to convey his huge size, in a way that he's compared to a building through the idea that his own body is so big that it has "windows" on it.
Luffy's straw hat probably is a reference to Japanese kids who wear such hat when they catch bugs. This is an image strongly associated with naivety and childhood, and Oda may have chosen it to stress his protagonist's childish personality. In fact, Luffy is a great bug-catcher as we saw in Skypiea:
Jinbe's clothes always have some orange element. This could point to his color as a Straw Hat, making a nice connection with Nami if we take into account their whole past with Arlong and the fishmen.
Doc Q uses a hanging rope as necktie, a creepy twist that fits his death theme.
The reason why Vergo uses a bamboo stick and was defeated by Law comes from a Japanese tale in which the tiger (Torao, Law's nickname) overcame his own difficulties as symbolized by how he cut a bamboo forest. Considering Vergo's role as a big obstacle in Law's life, that makes perfect sense.
Nami's hair is orange in reference to her tangerines.
Queen's color scheme (strong pressence of yellow and black) plus the shape of his dark glasses and the black stripes of his head may intend to convey the image of a bee and/or wasp following his "queen" theme. Personally, I think it could represent a Japanese giant hornet, a big, dangerous wasp that is called "Great sparrow bee" in their language (so the "bee" idea remains even though it is a wasp). This image depicts said insect; you will notice how the black, inclined eyes resemble Queen's glasses and how the black lines crossing its face reminds of the Disaster's black head stripes:
So that's it for today! I hope you liked these new details, don't forget to comment!
Kawamatsu's main design trait is his kasa hat. This hat shares its etymology with "umbrella" in Japanese, and as you can infere it was especially used to protect yourself from the rain; this is why the Red Scabbards are all wearing kasas under the storm in the port they were supposed to set sail from to Onigashima. But why is this detail in Kawamatsu so interesting? He passes as a kappa, which are Japanese demons who needed to keep the hole in their head filled with water or they would die. This makes Kawamatsu's design quite ironic, because nothing would be more stupid than a kappa wearing a hat that prevents his head from getting wet.
The tips of Charlotte Nusstorte's bicorn are curled so they rhyme with those of his mustache.
The wrinkles of Kaido's face may work as a link with his dragon form since they remind of the reliefs on his dragon face.
The pattern in Moria's trousers strongly resemble some illuminated windows. This may be a hyperbolic resource to convey his huge size, in a way that he's compared to a building through the idea that his own body is so big that it has "windows" on it.
Luffy's straw hat probably is a reference to Japanese kids who wear such hat when they catch bugs. This is an image strongly associated with naivety and childhood, and Oda may have chosen it to stress his protagonist's childish personality. In fact, Luffy is a great bug-catcher as we saw in Skypiea:
Jinbe's clothes always have some orange element. This could point to his color as a Straw Hat, making a nice connection with Nami if we take into account their whole past with Arlong and the fishmen.
Doc Q uses a hanging rope as necktie, a creepy twist that fits his death theme.
The reason why Vergo uses a bamboo stick and was defeated by Law comes from a Japanese tale in which the tiger (Torao, Law's nickname) overcame his own difficulties as symbolized by how he cut a bamboo forest. Considering Vergo's role as a big obstacle in Law's life, that makes perfect sense.
Nami's hair is orange in reference to her tangerines.
Queen's color scheme (strong pressence of yellow and black) plus the shape of his dark glasses and the black stripes of his head may intend to convey the image of a bee and/or wasp following his "queen" theme. Personally, I think it could represent a Japanese giant hornet, a big, dangerous wasp that is called "Great sparrow bee" in their language (so the "bee" idea remains even though it is a wasp). This image depicts said insect; you will notice how the black, inclined eyes resemble Queen's glasses and how the black lines crossing its face reminds of the Disaster's black head stripes:
So that's it for today! I hope you liked these new details, don't forget to comment!
Hey, guys. Just wanted to share something interesting with you all and, why not, up the post a little bit so it isn't ignored.
So in chapter 976 Kanjuro used a technique that created ink out of his hair like if it was a paintbrush:
Precisely, one of the details I pointed in my first post stated:
So I guess that Oda didn't shape Kanjuro's hair after a brush just for aesthetics; he actually intended to use it with his devil fruit!
So in chapter 976 Kanjuro used a technique that created ink out of his hair like if it was a paintbrush:
Precisely, one of the details I pointed in my first post stated:
So I guess that Oda didn't shape Kanjuro's hair after a brush just for aesthetics; he actually intended to use it with his devil fruit!
Great content, man. This is very interesting as even many of those already initiated in Oda's art tend to find value only in the "cool" looking designs.
Did you post about the others donquixote pirates' designs somewhere? I'm particularly curious about Doffy since you claim his design is one of the best in the series.
Did you post about the others donquixote pirates' designs somewhere? I'm particularly curious about Doffy since you claim his design is one of the best in the series.
Thank you! What you mention about finding value only in the cool looking desings is, sadly, very common among this fandom. I assume that, since Oda is known by his bizarre aesthetics, a false dichotomy between cool and goofy has been established even though it is useless in practice. Personally it's been a long time since I stopped seeing designs from such biases and I hope my thread helps other people to do so too.
I intend to dedicate my next post here to visual rhymes, which is a tool Oda loves to use to finish up his designs. But since you're interested I will prepare a post about the Donquixote Pirates, who work very well as a whole and I think it'd be interesting to address them at once.
I intend to dedicate my next post here to visual rhymes, which is a tool Oda loves to use to finish up his designs. But since you're interested I will prepare a post about the Donquixote Pirates, who work very well as a whole and I think it'd be interesting to address them at once.
Hi, guys! After quite some time I'm back with more details. I'm sorry it took a bit longer than expected, but I've been kind of busy lately. Anyways, as I said in a previous post the next bunch of details would consist of visual rhymes, which is one of Oda's favourite tools.
A visual rhyme, as you may guess, is a rhetorical device by which we create a parallelism between two or more parts in a design that appear juxtaposed. It helps us reinforce the congruence of the whole and it is great to round up a character's aesthetics. I've already mentioned some visual rhymes in other posts, so before providing new examples I will compilate those from before:
Now, that said, let's see some new examples of visual rhymes in One Piece:
Dobon's knives and his hippopotamus fangs.
Oden's swords and his ribbon when he's performing his characteristic posture, as you can see here:
Fukurokuju's long ears and equally long goatee.
Zeff's moustache and his cook scarf.
Jack's swords, which are called shotels, and mammoth tusks. This hasn't been explicitly seen yet because we're yet to witness his hybrid form, but it's been already hinted by comparing the swords with their sheaths when he faced Ashura Doji:
Post-timeskip Sentomaru's jacket collar and the tips of his hair.
Cracker's hair bangs consist of three tips that rhyme with the tips of the three crackers hanging from his waist.
The tips of Mihawk's moustache point upwards in a way that rhyme with his high-collar vest.
The handles of post-timeskip Izo's guns, when sheathed, rhyme with the collar of his coat:
Black Maria's horns are thin and sinuous just like the hair locks over her face.
Solitaire's hair is shaped in an unnatural way as it curves upwards, which allows it to rhyme with her horns as they both look similar.
The buckles of Kid's post-timeskip belt are very similar to his goggles.
That makes twelve rhymes. There are more, of course, but I wil save them for incoming compilations of details. Did you notice them before? Don't forget to share your thoughts!
A visual rhyme, as you may guess, is a rhetorical device by which we create a parallelism between two or more parts in a design that appear juxtaposed. It helps us reinforce the congruence of the whole and it is great to round up a character's aesthetics. I've already mentioned some visual rhymes in other posts, so before providing new examples I will compilate those from before:
Now, that said, let's see some new examples of visual rhymes in One Piece:
Dobon's knives and his hippopotamus fangs.
Oden's swords and his ribbon when he's performing his characteristic posture, as you can see here:
Fukurokuju's long ears and equally long goatee.
Zeff's moustache and his cook scarf.
Jack's swords, which are called shotels, and mammoth tusks. This hasn't been explicitly seen yet because we're yet to witness his hybrid form, but it's been already hinted by comparing the swords with their sheaths when he faced Ashura Doji:
Post-timeskip Sentomaru's jacket collar and the tips of his hair.
Cracker's hair bangs consist of three tips that rhyme with the tips of the three crackers hanging from his waist.
The tips of Mihawk's moustache point upwards in a way that rhyme with his high-collar vest.
The handles of post-timeskip Izo's guns, when sheathed, rhyme with the collar of his coat:
Black Maria's horns are thin and sinuous just like the hair locks over her face.
Solitaire's hair is shaped in an unnatural way as it curves upwards, which allows it to rhyme with her horns as they both look similar.
The buckles of Kid's post-timeskip belt are very similar to his goggles.
That makes twelve rhymes. There are more, of course, but I wil save them for incoming compilations of details. Did you notice them before? Don't forget to share your thoughts!
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