For more than a quarter of a century, people from around the world have been following the adventures of a young boy who desires to be the King of the Pirates in Eiichiro Oda’s best-selling manga series One Piece. The journey of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy who gained the power to turn his body to rubber is still going strong in the anime world to this day with no signs of stopping in the near future as the tale of the Strawhat Pirate still continues.
Ever since it started airing way back in 1999, people have widely regarded the series as one of the most unique and dynamic anime to have graced the audience with no stones unturned at any step of the way. But it has also been through its fair share of controversies thanks to its nature to not hold back from tackling diverse characters and issues, one of which happens to be the most recent one where the internet is divided about its character’s identities.
Toei Animation Confirms Yamato Is A Transgender Man?
Apart from being popular as one of the longest-running anime in history, One Piece also boasts of being one of the most well-written and executed pieces of literature, becoming one of the very few works of fiction to have sold a whopping 500 Million copies and counting. But with this, the manga series also features a very diverse cast that consists of different species of sentient and intelligent beings and many from the LGBTQ community, something many other mangas tend to steer clear from. This in turn has created many controversies surrounding these characters, and one of them happens to be the “son” of Kaido of the Animal Kingdom Pirates.
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The debate relates to the fact that many fans believe that Yamato, who appears as a female in the series, is actually a transgender male as they refer to themselves as men, which is also how their father Kaido addresses them as. This argument has been fueling debates between fans of the series and transgender activists ever since Yamato’s introduction in chapter 984 of the manga. But with a recent tweet by the studio that creates the One Piece anime, people have started to wonder whether the follower of Kozuki Oden may be a transgender man. Toei Animation recently tweeted about the then-upcoming anime episode, where they referred to Yamato with he/him pronouns.
Yamato rages against his father to free Wano! Catch the latest episode of #OnePiece, streaming now on Crunchyroll! pic.twitter.com/XTS1evs3I5
— Toei Animation (@ToeiAnimation) January 27, 2023
This lead many to believe that the age-old debate about Yamato’s identity was finally revealed. But unfortunately, this is no clear indication that a character is actually a Transgender man.
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Reasons That Prove Yamato Is A Female Character
In the past, all of whom have tried to prove that the Oni Princess is a female character have been shot down by Transgender activists as being a transphobic individual when there have been numerous signs that point to the fact that she’s a girl. The most compelling evidence stems from her introduction in the manga, where she’s referred to as Kaido’s daughter, who had been treated harshly by her evil father and brought up as a boy even though she was biologically a girl. Another reason why she refers to herself with he/him pronouns is that she’s a great admirer of Kozuki Oden, who was biologically a man.
Furthermore, the author of the series Eiichiro Oda himself has confirmed that Yamato is a female character in one of his Vivre cards. Thus, the tweet can simply be chalked up to Toei Animation referring to her as she refers to herself rather than the objective reality.
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One Piece, streaming on Crunchyroll
Source: @ToeiAnimation
