@Kylor:
So… hoo boy. Bit late to the thread (I read chapters based on the official Jump release, not the scans) so I can put down my actual thoughts here, but... okay... I'll just come out and say it...
The treatment of women in One Piece has finally crossed the line for me now. I might drop the series.
It's pretty clear at this point that Oda simply does not see women as being equal to men. There's no other way to look at it. If he respected women, he would not have written his characters this way. These views are not uncommon in Japan, I mean heck I know my own country has a long way to go, but considering Oda's status, and how much women in the manga industry are ignored or shut out for entirely arbitrary reasons, that he also shares this view is horrendous.
Too often now, we're getting the same message, over and over again, in the series. Women are weak. Women can't deal with the same hardships men can. An "evil" woman just needs a man to come along and treat her kindly for her to see that she was wrong. Their role is to be a support, to need saving, to cry. We've seen this with Nami. With Rebecca. With Robin, Shirahoshi, Viola, Tashigi, Hancock, women we were promised would be strong, and each and every time, Oda has lied to his readers. I can't trust him as an author anymore. I just can't.
Now, do I think he's TRYING to be hateful, or send a message to his female readers? Not necessarily, at least I'm not in a hurry to jump to that conclusion. I think he's just being lazy. It's pretty clear just from the storytelling in this arc, Dressrosa, Fishman Island, etc, that he's no longer putting the care or effort into the story that he did when One Piece was at its peak. He's been doing this a long time, and has gotten comfortable with coasting along themes and ideas he's used to. I'm not intrinsically upset by this, but I am disappointed. And his treatment of his female characters has suffered as well. He COULD have character writing on the same level that he had in East Blue, or the Water 7 saga. He just doesn't, because it's easy for him not to. He's already the best selling manga author ever. He has nothing left he needs to prove. It's clear his views have changed, and so have his standards. Fine, that's fine, that's his choice to make, and certainly there's nothing I can do to change them, nor am I going to judge those who do not see this as a fault.
But see, here's what I can't stand. There are girls who read One Piece. Little girls. Girls the same age as my young nieces are seeing this, and Oda is directly telling them, "you are inferior, and this is the behavior that will make you acceptable as a woman." I can't accept that. This is outright wrong, on every level. Again, I can't do anything about this, nor can I help those that Oda is be hurting. But I can choose to not support this series, with my money, my views or my time. I'm done. I can't take this anymore. If not reading it is the only way I can take a stand. I won't read it.
While I was personally disappointed with the developments regarding Pudding this chapter, I think this outrage is a little blown out of proportions. I mean, what happens to Pudding is basically the exact same thing that happened to Gin in the Baratie arc: he was a badass fighter and a ruthless, bloodthirsty demon who was so moved by Sanjis act of kindness that he couldn't bring himself to kill Sanji. It is really the exact same thing, but this time, it's wrong because it happened to a female character? I dislike this development because I loved to hate Pudding as a villain just like I hated Arlong or Crocodile or the Tenryuubitos and I wanted her to get her comeuppance. This obviously won't happen now or at least it won't be as satisfactory. And the reason for that is that Oda decided to make her more of a grey character, a character that is sadistic and evil but she is no longer just a one-dimensional character that is evil because it is fun to be evil, but we now understand how she became this way. Now, her backstory may feel rushed, but it still is a backstory that makes her more of a three-dimensional character, and objectively, that is a good thing.
As Kaido King of the Beasts said, you may not like how Oda treats his female characters, but they are characters and I do feel it is a little unfair to state that Oda is just lazy about writing women. Just look at this arc itself: The most boring, one-dimensional characters this arc have been the Vinsmokes, all males, with Reiju being the exception and the most well-developed one so far. You may dislike that Oda "always" writes his female characters as actually kind-hearted people that "just need to be treated kindly to see they were wrong" but firstly, that still had the effect of turning Reiju and now Pudding into better developed characters, which counts for many other characters, too. Yes, Hancock falling in love with Luffy was a bit annoying, but the initial reveal that she and her sisters were child slaves of the Tenryuubito certainly did not cheapen her character, but instead did the exact opposite and made her more than just a snotty bitch.
Secondly, your statement is just not true and a huge oversimplification. Yes, there have been these kind of female characters. There have also have been plenty of female antagonists that did not turn out to be decent kind-hearted people and got defeated like any other villain. You can't just ignore, like, half the female cast to make your point.
Lastly, I want to respond to your claim that Oda generally displays his women as weak crybabies that need to be saved constantly. So, have you read this arc? Because it actually has featured the biggest cast of actually badass female characters so far in the series. Big Mom, Smoothie, Brulee, Galette, Lady Amande, Reiju (who, you may have forgotten, actually didn't really need any saving and also didn't really break-down and cry so far), heck even Carrot has been shown to be a very capable fighter . And you know, despite becoming nicer and falling in love with Luffy, Hancock actually never needed to be saved and instead easily beat up Pacifistas and Smoker at the Marineford War.
But that aside, does a woman have to be a strong fighter to actually be a strong person? I feel that sentiment is actually really offensive. So Nami and Robin are actually worth less than the other Strawhats because they aren't as strong physically?? They don't count as strong female characters even though they had plenty of strong character moments throughout the series? Maybe it is just me, but if I were to rank the Strawhats according to well-developed their characters are, Nami and Robin would be pretty high on my list. And you are really going to take two of the best moments in the whole story, Nami tearing up and finally asking somebody for help after shouldering everything completely on her own for ten years, and Robin breaking down and screaming that she wants to live, and state that these moments turned these characters into weak crybabies that constantly need saving?! Zoro needed to be saved in the Morgan arc and cried after being beaten by Mihawk; Usopp, Chopper and Brook cry all the time and constantly need to be saved; Franky cries all the time to and had to be rescued in Enies Lobby just like Robin; Sanji: see this arc! Heck, Luffy had his life saved by Reiju, a female character, at the beginning of this arc, too. Oda obviously feels it's not a bad thing to cry and ask for help.
Mind you, I'm not stating that there are not any problems with the writing of female characters at all in One Piece. But I feel like this arc in particular has been pretty good in that regard, and one character failing to live up to your expectations doesn't change that.