It is easy to say that the anime industry has one of the most diverse audiences in the world of entertainment. This is due to the fact that while most anime target a younger audience, anime as a whole has so many options and variety that every kind of audience consumes anime content, whether it be someone male or female or young or old.
One Piece is one such franchise that is said to have a diverse audience, despite the fact the creator of the series, Eiichiro Oda has earlier stated that the series is targeted more towards the male audience, he has been known to put some extra effort into coming up and maintaining the female characters in his series.
How Eiichiro Oda Develops Female Characters In One Piece
The creator of One Piece is adored by millions around the world for his ability to build the story as well as character development, and it seems like no discrimination is done when it comes to female characters in the franchise, as most often all of them have their own proper development, sometimes even better than the main characters of the show.
When we particularly dive deeper into the female characters of the franchise such as Nami, it is easy to observe how Oda has managed to give her own purpose and challenges in life. She is also one of the main characters and is often shown to be filled with motivation to chase her dream, a dream that does not relate to the main protagonist, Luffy at all.
The same is the case with characters such as Vivi and Nico Robin, who have been shown to have their own goals and motivations and require nobody else’s assistance in order to survive and chase their dreams.
What Inspired Eiichiro Oda To Create Strong Female Characters In One Piece
Explaining what inspires him to be unique and create female characters never seen before, Eiichiro Oda spoke with the New York Times, saying
“In the manga I read as a kid, there was always a point where the heroine existed just to be rescued. That didn’t sit well with me; I didn’t want to create a story about women being kidnapped and saved. I depict women who know how to fight for themselves and don’t need to be saved.”
What Oda essentially meant by this statement is how traditionally female characters have always been used for one particular role where they would always be abducted and be rescued by the main character.
This is something that did not feel right to Oda, so in an attempt to bring a change to the traditional way of storytelling, he made strong female characters who could hold up for themselves in a fight.
Source: New York Times
