@Kaworu:
I think he would have a fear of it because I'm sure he gets reader comments about it. But for me as a fan it's not a big deal because I just theoretically go to other series for badass females, though it's not something I specifically look for. I understand why it's a complaint for people though.
That's actually a good reading between the lines. Not much else to say! I must say as an aside though, that if there were a particular time to be hung up on female badassery, I personally would not think it'd be right after the Big Mom arc. Kinda odd. I enjoyed her showcasing a lot there.
I'm a simple dude, you summed it up for me with that last sentence. Shonen gonna shonen. Though I will say that big boobs imply mightiness to a LOT of creators haha. Think Xena, Wonderwoman, etc. In the ideal world yeah vary it up more, because as an author you do have to factor in how the audience can relate, so you can cast a wider net. Though that can be, and is, quite a slippery slope.
I do get that. In our adventure-battle manga, yeah. Android 18 was a stroke of genius in my opinion. I really was a fan of the Android's designs, menacing yet alluring. A nice change of pace after all the rough aliens of the Namek arc. Again, ideal situation is have (in a series this long, anyway) varying ladies being badass. But again, the timing of all this is just a bit weird to me, since last arc you had Big Mom, Amande, Nami, Carrot, etc.
This place is straight-up 'afternoon tea gathering' levels of polite now compared to how acerbic it used to be lol.
Yeah AP is prettty neighborly overall.
And yes, the most recent arc had several cool, action oriented female characters, but it also further proved to me that Oda’s level of resistance to letting women get into serious duels like the males is akin to trying to make two identical sides of a battery meet. Name ONE other story arc where Luffy fought the main antagonists right hand person instead of the main antagonist themselves. Now of course having Luffy best a Commander before a Yonkou was important to the battle progression, but it was certainly no mistake or coincidence that the plot was framed neatly in order for Luffy to not engage with Big Mom. Could still happen of course.
Course no one BUT Luffy got a decent duel this arc, so I guess you’re right that this isn’t the best time to resurrect the “sexism in One Piece argument.” I guess the sexism in OP just always seemed so obvious to me that I’m thrown for a loop when I’m actually trying to point it out.
Screw the fight thing for a second - Sanji and Smoker disrespecting Nami and Tashigi’s bodies was lame, Hancock, Tsuru and others are given passive feminine powers, Kuina died falling down stairs (or DID SHE?), Absalom molesting Nami during Thriller Bark, Zoro scaring Monet into defeat. You could argue that some of these things are characters just being themselves, but all together on top of Oda’s “draw two circles and an X to draw women” schtick, it rubs me wrong.
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@HeartOfDarkness:
Isn't it funny that amongst these type of posts, nobody likes to talk about the actual characters, or how Oda should create complex and humanized female who have personality and characteristics instead of simply boiling it down to "me want badass female fights".
Read Fairytail if you want to see female fighting despite the characters themselves being extremely garbage.
Sorry to double quote you. I reread your post and was curious: are you saying that you think Oda does create good female characters and the critics should be happy about that or are you saying that he doesn’t, and that should be the bigger gripe?