So, is One Piece the most progressive anime ever?

[EyeReaper]

Like seriously. One Piece is the most inclusive anime, or maybe even show in general. No I'm not joking. Look(Warning and heads up, I'm flooding with pictures down there)

Spoiler: It features a variety of women who do not fit conventional beauty standards

Spoiler: Characters with a variety of skin colors

Spoiler: Conservatively dressed women

Spoiler: Body Positive men too

Spoiler: Has a variety of transsexual characters

And it even passes the Bechdel test just to top it all off. Is there anyone who is excluded from the world of One Piece? It even has Physically and mentally disabled characters with the likes of Franky and Mr. 4. I honestly think this series is the apex of Inclusivity.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Now, I've never seen this show, so maybe I'm way off, but this...

Spoiler

...and this...

Spoiler

...look more like attempts at ridicule. Like 'Look at those freaks! LOL' Maybe I'm completely wrong, and these characters actually play an important part in the story and are taken seriously and whatnot, but at first glance it just looks like it's actually making fun of those non-conventions.

 

[Zontar]

I don't know, the anime medium has quite the progressive lean to it.

I mean think about it: Psycho-Pass, Neptunia, Queen's Blade, it's no stranger to female protagonists or large female casts who are the leading actors of the plot of their stories.

 

[Elfgore]

Huge One Piece fan, but I really can't agree with any of this. All of those ethnicity and heavy people are villains for the most part and some are barely minor characters too. The heroes are pretty much all white, the girls have impossible figures and wear skimpy clothing, and the guys are all muscle bound.

The shows interpretation of transgender folks could be a translation issue, but they're commonly referred to as queers and freaks on Hulu, which isn't very progressive in my book. I'd honestly prefer for an actual transgender person to watch the scenes with said characters and decide on their own.

Now, One Piece does handle racial issues pretty well. The Fishman island arc is something every racist should be made to watch to see how it hurts the world.

 

[Queen Michael]

Now, I've never seen this show, so maybe I'm way off, but this...

Spoiler

...and this...

Spoiler

...look more like attempts at ridicule. Like 'Look at those freaks! LOL' Maybe I'm completely wrong, and these characters actually play an important part in the story and are taken seriously and whatnot, but at first glance it just looks like it's actually making fun of those non-conventions.

I've only read the first 63 volumes of the manga, but the thing about One Piece is that with very few exceptions, every single character is designesd to be at least a little bit funny. It's just how everybody's treated in that series.

 

[madwarper]

So, is One Piece the most progressive anime ever?

One Piece is the most inclusive anime, or maybe even show in general.

I don't know about being progressive or inclusive, but it is one of the MOST anime. As in, it's been on fucking forever.
So, of course it's going to have a variety of characters, else it would have gotten stale a long time ago.

However, merely going by your list, I'd suggest up an alternative that a) only 26 episodes, b) existing prior to One Piece, c) just being an all around better (if not /the/ best) anime; Cowbow Bebop.

a) Women not featuring conventional beauty standards? Annie, Maria Murduck, Sally Yung, VT.
b) Variety of skin colors? Laughing Bull, Punch, Abdul, Coffee, Elektra, Katerina, Lee, Miles, Piccaro, Rashid, Udai
c) Conservatively dressed women? Julia, Annie, Maria Murdock, Sally Yung, VT
d) Body "Positive(?)" men? Fatty River, Piccaro, Whitney
e) Transexual? Gren (albeit, not voluntary), Julius (not sure if transexual, or just drag queen)
*Bonus* - Two unnamed men having sex when Faye breaks in to get information while hunting Piccaro

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What, the one where the leads are conventionally trim 10/10 and their supple DDs hang halfway out?

Yup, super progressive show.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I recall a villain named Bon Kurei who looks like this:

Spoiler

...and who's supposed to be gay/transexual/crossdresser/all of them simultaneously.

He's incredibly flamboyant, speaks in a constant screech, is completely prissy, entirely effeminate and of course a ballerina.

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty proggressive

 

[Scarim Coral]

Err some of the characters are supposed to be exaggerated than to define a sterotyped.

I mean sure it has transgenders character but they portrayal is somewhat sterotyped and portray them in a humourous way (ok sure they're still badass but still I have yet to see a gay character who just look and act like a normal person than to be flanboyant about it).

Also now I think about it, they don't have a black character in it and yet Naruto Shippuden does. Well ok yes the OP images of ethnic background characters still count althought is it fair to class Jinbe in it when his race (fishermen) are frictional? I mean I don't recalled seeing a race of blue skinned people in real life.

While Nami is a far better female lead in a shonen show (I mean compared her to Sakura or Orihime) but she is pretty much turned to a fanservice in the post time skipped. Even then the actual good minor/ secondary female character are mostly model-ish figures (now I said most cos of that train conductor woman from Water 7 arc or that Captain of the Roller Pirate from Thriller Bark arc).

Lastly, who give a shit about the Bechdel test anyway??? There has been many great media that has fail the Bechdel test.

This is all coming from a One Piece fan by the way.

 

[BarkBarker]

Okay some of these are very clearly meant to be ridiculed and thought of as freakish and weird, FUCKING LOOK AT THEM YOU FOOL.

 

[Redryhno]

First off, it's One Piece, so no.

Second, you have watched One Piece, right? It's got alot of that stuff, but so does nearly every Shonen. Hell, you wanna talk about progessive, I'm still gonna keep recommending Ranma, the damn thing came out like thirty years ago and it's still got characters that are more than over-exaggerations when it's needed.

Third, No, there's alot of atypical things in anime. One Piece is honestly just a toddler's light show compared to alot of "progressive" shows. God I hate that word, the least of which being the implications....but nevermind that.

Like seriously, you want progressiveness, go look into the Boy-/Girl- Love genres, they've got plenty. Hell, there's even Ore Monogatari has alot of progressiveness put into it and it's currently one of the better romance anime out there, to a point rivaling Kare Kano in alot of ways(which is my personal benchmark for romance focused shows). I mean, there's even Code Geass with Lloyd, who if I'm remembering right is alluded to being gay at one point or another, but it's never really explored beyond a nearly insignificant character detail.

Now, would I say OP is progressive? I mean, it's there, but it's like so is half the other anime out there that people complain of being Japan being too "traditional" and "anti-not straight".

 

[vallorn]

One Piece's characters are about ridicule and humour. As someone who watches it pretty often this is really quite amusing, for example your third "non traditional body type" woman is obsessed with being beautiful to the point where the running joke for her character is that she hears anything as people calling her complimentary things about her apperance, really not very good if you want to try and paint her as a body positive character. Not to mention Baby 5 who'se mental trauma causes her to latch onto any man who says something that she can interpret as him "needing her" to the point where she is exploited by her collegues and offers to marry her enemies because of it.

Hell, that's not even going into This place [http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Momoiro_Island]

PS, the actual word used for the lowest two gender swapping characters is Newkama, a play on the word Okama which means "transexual" or "homosexual", Okama is also used for this guy:

I recall a villain named Bon Kurei who looks like this:

Spoiler

...and who's supposed to be gay/transexual/crossdresser/all of them simultaneously.

He's incredibly flamboyant, speaks in a constant screech, is completely prissy, entirely effeminate and of course a ballerina.

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty proggressive

who despite being nearly every gay stereotype at once, get's a really, really good character arc which has made him one of my favorite side characters of the series.

One Piece isn't about being progressive, the odd body types are mostly down to EVERYONE'S body being heavily exaggerated to some degree, be it in the 'usual' anime fashion as pointed out for Nami and Robin above, or more "rounded".

 

[vallorn]

One Piece's characters are about ridicule and humour. As someone who watches it pretty often this is really quite amusing, for example your third "non traditional body type" woman is obsessed with being beautiful to the point where the running joke for her character is that she hears anything as people calling her complimentary things about her apperance, really not very good if you want to try and paint her as a body positive character. Not to mention Baby 5 who'se mental trauma causes her to latch onto any man who says something that she can interpret as him "needing her" to the point where she is exploited by her collegues and offers to marry her enemies because of it.

Hell, that's not even going into This place [http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Momoiro_Island]

PS, the actual word used for the lowest two gender swapping characters is Newkama, a play on the word Okama which means "transexual" or "homosexual", Okama is also used for this guy:

I recall a villain named Bon Kurei who looks like this:

Spoiler

...and who's supposed to be gay/transexual/crossdresser/all of them simultaneously.

He's incredibly flamboyant, speaks in a constant screech, is completely prissy, entirely effeminate and of course a ballerina.

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty proggressive

who despite being nearly every gay stereotype at once, get's a really, really good character arc which has made him one of my favorite side characters of the series.

One Piece isn't about being progressive, the odd body types are mostly down to EVERYONE'S body being heavily exaggerated to some degree, be it in the 'usual' anime fashion as pointed out for Nami and Robin above, or more "rounded".

He's also

Spoiler

one of the only members of that gang to become a good guy

generally portrayed as likable and sympathetic, just odd.

Oh indeed, and as I said he get's a nice character arc during Impel Down with a fantastic ending to his part in that (Which I shan't spoil). Hell, even during Arabasta he's never really as sadistically cruel or as gleefully evil as the other members of that gang.

He's more than a bit odd but then in One Piece that's the norm rather than the exception.

 

[Fox12]

I don't know, it looks like its mocking people.

I'll put a vote in for Berserk. Characters are black, white, middle eastern, and more. There are gay, straight, and bi characters. there are multiple different religions. And they're all just treated as normal people.

 

[xaszatm]

One Piece is perhaps one of my favorite manga ever (even if the second half has had a mediocre run so far) so I just want to be clear when I say it's not even close to the most progressive manga ever. When there are entire genres of manga dedicated to gay/lesbian relationships (both good and bad), multiple stories involving transexuals and their daily struggles in life, manga that is capable of showing sex and intimacy that actually relates to the story and its not their for titillation (though that certainly isn't in short supply either), One Piece is just a good manga.

 

[Christian Neihart]

I'm more of a Soul Eater person myself. Besides, it's Shonen, so its a mixed bag.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

I came here to laugh my ass off at the notion, but others have already got my points.

So, i'll be concise. No, it's not. I'd go as far to say that none of that is even explored, they're just kinda there.

 

[vallorn]

I'd like to add that the Bechdel test is a pile of nonsense based off a single webcomic strip, it's so useless to any discussion about whether a movie or other medium is "le sexist" or not that I would classify it's overuse as a symptom of some kind of ideological purity test. Though perhaps it's just become another medium of Virtue Signaling instead.

Here is an example of a frankly AWFUL concept for a movie that also happens to pass the Bechdel test.

"Look how progressive we are, our two bimbo 10/10 E cupped women talk about their favorite milkshakes for 30s during the movie! Therefore we pass the Bechdel test! Just ignore the fact that both of them end up being turned into semi nude slaves by the villain and then are carried off by our barbarian hero forcefully since his culture takes uncovered women as lower than canines. We still pass the Bechdel test though!"

 

[Zontar]

I'd like to add that the Bechdel test is a pile of nonsense based off a single webcomic strip, it's so useless to any discussion about whether a movie or other medium is "le sexist" or not that I would classify it's overuse as a symptom of some kind of ideological purity test. Though perhaps it's just become another medium of Virtue Signaling instead.

Here is an example of a frankly AWFUL concept for a movie that also happens to pass the Bechdel test.

"Look how progressive we are, our two bimbo 10/10 E cupped women talk about their favorite milkshakes for 30s during the movie! Therefore we pass the Bechdel test! Just ignore the fact that both of them end up being turned into semi nude slaves by the villain and then are carried off by our barbarian hero forcefully since his culture takes uncovered women as lower than canines. We still pass the Bechdel test though!"

I know I mentioned it in jest, but in all seriousness Queen's Blade, an anime that is literally as close to being hentai as one can legally be without being hentai, or Wanna be the Strongest in the World, a series which is effectively soft core porn which just happens to have a good story tacked on, both pass with flying colours due to the stories being of a virtually all female cast with no real romance to speak of.

When someone uses the Bechdel test, I always love digging up my anime collection to find names of series to use as examples of things which get perfect scores that are also seen as the worst possible thing in the world by the type of people who take it seriously.

 

[cleric of the order]

This is incredibly funny when a friend of mine mentioned how he didn't like the hypersexualization in the more resent issues of the manga(oddly it seemed more like he was more talking about bad anatomy, he's an animator he should know this). Not sure if it's the same for the anime.
With a series going for as long as one piece is, is there any wonder that to keep the show visually interesting they worked in more and more designs.
It seems more as an artist point more than anything nor is it some how new that these things pop up.
There have been many many different shows with different designs that some how mange to hit that progressive checklist
Now i want to make an argument for fist of the north star being progressive. I am not however prone to looking for commies or Jesus in my coffee, anything I do find will be a sort of an ass grab, like how i found subtext of my ideological bent everywhere when I was still very much obsessed.

I recall a villain named Bon Kurei who looks like this:

Spoiler

...and who's supposed to be gay/transexual/crossdresser/all of them simultaneously.

He's incredibly flamboyant, speaks in a constant screech, is completely prissy, entirely effeminate and of course a ballerina.

Yeah, I'd say it's pretty proggressive

Reminds me of the effeminate dude from Gurren Lagan now that i think of it.
My bro loved the shit out of that character.
He was also smoking an unhealthy amount of weed and was thinking of transitioning.
Take of it what you will.