The One Piece Remake Usopp Controversy Explained

During the celebration of One Peace Day in 2024, an annual event for new announcements for the One piece franchise, new details of the upcoming reboot, The one piecewere finally released. While there isn’t a trailer or a release date yet, the staff at Wit Studio finally spoke at length about what they’re trying to do with the series, and more importantly, concept art for the series has finally been released.

The concept art for The one piece It was met with largely positive reception, with most people praising it for faithfully recreating Eiichiro Oda’s art style, but a major point of conflict arose with Usopp’s design. Usopp’s design also captures the basic aesthetic of Oda’s art style, but beyond that, Usopp’s skin tone in The one piece was depicted in a way that drew accusations of racism from fans and critics..

This is not the first time that the franchise has been met with these sorts of criticism, and the issues surrounding it are much more complex than one might think.

The one piece is the latest series accused of whitewashing Usopp

One of One Piece’s biggest controversies continues

One of the signature hallmarks of Usopp’s design has always been his dark skin tone, with Eiichiro Oda even stating that Usopp would be African in the real world. for the most part, One piece has consistently depicted Usopp with darker skin than the rest of the Straw Hats, most of whom would be from Western or Asian countries if they existed in real life according to Oda, yet surprisingly, The one pieceThe concept art depicts Usopp with noticeably pale skin that isn’t much darker than anyone elseThus accusations of whitewashing and racism were thrown at the series.

What makes things worse is that this isn’t the first time that these sorts of criticisms have been leveled about the anime’s depiction of Usopp. While Usopp is usually depicted with darker skin than the rest of the main cast, there have been many times when Usopp’s skin tone has been inconsistent, the most notable and recent example being One pieces Egghead Island arc depicts Usopp as extremely light-skinned from the start. The one piece is just the latest example of something like this happening to Usopp, and unfortunately, it’s unlikely to be the last.

One piece’s long history of allegedly whitewashing its image

Usopp isn’t the first time One Piece has been accused of whitewashing

Usopp’s accusations were whitewashed in the One piece Anime are bad, and they are far from the only example. A rather infamous example of this is how Nico Robin was depicted with dark skin in the anime for years, but after the timeskip, it was completely erased and she was depicted as pale skin in all the years to follow. answered, The change in Robin’s skin tone was the One piece Anime correcting the original change they made to her characterBut it’s still a very terrible example that undoubtedly caught many longtime viewers off-guard.

A more straightforward example comes from the Seraphim introduced in the Egghead Island arc. The Seraphim were created part of the lineage factor of King, another character with dark skin, and while the Seraphim also have dark skin, One pieces anime consistently depicts S-Snake with lighter skin than the other seraphim, although they are all drawn with the same skin tone in the manga Because they were all created from King’s genes. This example is always shown when the sheriffs stand next to each other, and with each new episode it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore.

Why the issue of Usopp’s skin tone in one piece is so complicated

Usopp’s skin tone isn’t as cut and dry as people think

On the surface, everything around Usopp would appear to be a part of One pieces long and unfortunate history of whitewashing its image, but the issue is much more complicated than that. Although Usopp is typically depicted with dark skin in colored illustrations, not only is it never to the extent of the anime, but in the regular black-and-white pages, Usopp is drawn with the same skin tone as the majority of characters in One pieceDespite being a canonically black anime character.

Another point to consider is Usopp’s in-universe heritage. While Usopp is consistently depicted as a dark-skinned character, Usopp’s mother, Banchina, has white skin in both the anime and the manga, so Usopp should canonically have lighter skin than other dark-skinned characters in One piece And anime and manga, in general. Because of this, No instances of Usopp being depicted with white skin in One piece May stem from his canonical biracial heritageBut it goes too far with this, either way.

With how Eiichiro Oda draws Usopp, The one piece It’s not technically wrong to depict Usopp with lighter skin, but it’s an odd decision nonetheless. Not only is Usopp explicitly stated to be African, however The casting of Jamaican actor James Gibson in Netflix’s live-action One piece Reinforces the idea of ​​Usopp being a black characterAs well as the casting of South African actor Chante Grainger as Banchina. It’s become harder and harder to deny Usopp’s African roots, and that makes the times when he’s not portrayed in a way inconsistent with that all the more strange.

Why Usopp’s alleged whitewashing is a problem for one piece

Whitewashing will never be an issue in media

Usopp is whitewashed in The one piece And other media is a major problem for several reasons. For starters, there is an inconsistency with Usopp, Robin, S-Snake and other characters not having consistently dark skin, while characters like Isopp, King, Kuzan and Blackbeard, with Blackbeard being Somali according to Eiichiro Oda, are consistently depicted with dark skin Skin. skin since their debuts. That creates the idea that One piece reinforced the idea that it is wrong for a main character in a story to look too darkAn extension of colorism that is unfortunately far too common in the modern day.

Another problem is how the whitewashing runs contrary to one of the main themes of One pieces history. Since the early days of the series, One piece went to great lengths to celebrate all the cultures of the world as tastefully as possible through artwork and allusions, and the western influence of many of the characters has always been a big part of that. Because of this, The One piece Anime repeatedly downplaying Usopp’s canonical status as a dark-skinned character goes against the international themes of the storyAnd it’s always disappointing to see that crop up.

Usopp is a rare example of a black character in an anime being a main character and treated respectfully from their debut, something that was especially uncommon in the 90s, so One pieceUsopp’s habit of whitewashing erases one of the series’ most progressive elements for reasons that are hard to see as anything but negative. Whether there was any ill intent with The one piece And other media doing this is unknown, but regardless, this is a major problem that is unfortunately unlikely to be solved anytime soon.