Summary

  • One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda's reply regarding Usopp's nationality raises concerns by overlooking the richness of individual cultures and people.
  • Usopp's design, featuring exaggerated lips and a large nose, closely resembles blackface caricatures, invoking racist stereotypes.
  • Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece portrays Usopp in a more respectful and sensitive manner. The character avoids exaggerated physical features, and the diverse world of the series allows Usopp to be a natural fit rather than a token representation.

There are many great things about One Piece, like its unique and detailed setting, for example. The world of One Piece is far removed from real-life Earth, featuring large seas packed full of strange locations and massive monsters. However, this does not mean that the series is immune to real-world controversy with its otherwise stellar worldbuilding. In fact, a question and answer session with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda showed that even something set in a fantasy world may carry real-world baggage with it if handled improperly.

Many volumes of the One Piece manga have an "SBS (Shitsumon wo Boshu Suru)" column, which translates to "I'm Taking Questions." This column features series creator Eiichiro Oda responding to questions and comments sent in by fans, giving manga readers a unique behind-the-scenes perspective on how One Piece was written and drawn. At one point, Mr. Oda estimated where in the real world the Straw Hats would come from if they lived on Earth, and the answer for Usopp raised some eyebrows, to say the least.

Update on September 23rd, 2023 by Louis Kemner: This feature has been expanded to discuss Usopp's portrayal in the live-action One Piece series on Netflix and whether it improves his background or not.

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Usopp's Origins Are Murky

Usopp pushing his hat up with a finger in One Piece.

In the 56th edition of the column, a fan asked what nationality the Straw Hat pirates would be if One Piece was set in the real world. Oda said that "just going off of their appearance," the Straw Hat pirates would be from many locations. Protagonist Monkey D. Luffy would be Brazillian, Roronoa Zoro the swordsman would be Japanese, Nami Swedish, Sanji Vinsmoke French, Chopper would be Canadian, Nico Robin would be Russian, Franky would be American, and Brook would be Austrian. While many fans disagreed and debated the logic behind some of these answers, there was one other answer that made many uncomfortable.

While answering the question, Oda said that Usopp was simply from "Africa." Of course, this ignores the fact that Africa isn't a country but rather a continent -- a continent made up of 54 very different countries, including densely populated, culturally diverse ones like Nigeria and Egypt. Reducing this large and varied continent down to a single country overlooks many different people and cultures and treats them like a singular mass. Treating the African nations this way is often used to deliberately other these cultures, treating them as a "great unknown" rather than a series of developed countries full of individual people with their own lives and beliefs.

Aside from that, giving Usopp an entire continent of origin rather than a specific country made him inconsistent with the Straw Hats, and it suggested that Usopp's origins weren't worth any serious thought. However, no matter his comedic anime antics in One Piece, Usopp is an emotionally deep and engaging character worth the time and effort to develop, both in the actual story and in SBS sessions. Oda likely made Zoro from Japan to match his use of stylish katanas from Wano, and Brook the musician is probably Austrian to match Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was also from Austria. In light of that, it should be no trouble to specify where in Africa Usopp would be from, and give him a meaningful cultural background to match.

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Why Usopp's African Origin Is Troubling

Usopp Vs Luffy in One Piece

When One Piece fans contrast this comment with Usopp's appearance, things start to become problematic. Many readers quickly drew attention to Usopp's large lips, pointing out that this style of large, exaggerated lips was a common racist trope. This trope has been used to mock and dehumanize Black people for many years and is still used today. This, coupled with the large nose, made many people uncomfortable as it made Usopp look worryingly close to a blackface caricature, an abhorrent trope that has also been used to insult and dehumanize Black people throughout history.

Usopp's design, paired with the fact that, based on what he looks like, Oda said he would be "from Africa," is a real issue, even if it was unintentional. While referring to Africa as a country instead of a continent is an unfortunately common mistake, when looking at it in tandem with Usopp's design, it becomes hard to deny that it veers far too close to racial stereotypes for comfort. It is a perfect example of how creatives can unwittingly build off tropes and clichés that have their origins in historical racism if they don't carefully consider their creative decisions.

This incident shows that in a world of global media spread, writers, artists and creators must be very careful to make sure they're not perpetuating offensive stereotypes within their works, even if their own nation is far removed from tensions and conflicts in other parts of the globe. While some manga/anime franchises depict characters of color respectfully, such as Tite Kubo's Bleach, others treat characters of color as cheap token characters, a walking stereotype, or worse. Fortunately, Netflix refreshed Usopp's character with a more elegant portrayal that dodges all of these controversies with a few simple storytelling strategies to set the new Usopp apart from the old.

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Netflix Proudly Represents Usopp As A Person Of Color

Jacob Gibson as Ssopp in the live action One Piece series

Netflix's One Piece is a modern anime adaptation for a modern audience, complete with tasteful and sensitive portrayals of everyone and everything involved. It's doubly important to avoid problematic elements in live-action, since the characters are portrayed by real people who may represent equally real cultures and ethnic groups. Netflix's One Piece did well in this arena, most of all with Usopp himself.

To begin with, there was nothing exaggerated about Usopp's physical appearance, since he was not drawn in a cartoony style and the actor, Jacob Gibson, did not use any prosthetics, makeup, or other effects to alter his appearance. His acting and anime-accurate costume were sufficient to make him recognizable as the beloved Usopp. The character stood out on his own merits, with no problematic facial features necessary to make him a standout member of Luffy's Straw Hat crew. This also means plenty of viewers can admire the new Usopp as a respectable and inspiring hero who looks like them.

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In addition, the live-action version of One Piece's world gives Usopp's character a better context as a person of color. In the original anime, as a character from "Africa," Usopp stood out in a world populated almost entirely by Asian and Caucasian-inspired characters, but not in Netflix's version. That show had a more diverse world with plenty of characters of color, from named characters like Nojiko and Usopp's late mother Banchina to background characters in various crowds. Usopp wasn't the token person of color -- he was clearly a natural fit in a big, ethnically enriched world, where plenty of people looked just like him. Where is Usopp from, fans might ask? The answer is simply "the world," and that's all fans need.

Even if the live-action Usopp didn't comment on it, that probably made him feel more comfortable and welcome on his high-seas adventures, and the characters' possible real-world nations of origin were not commented upon. No longer is Usopp some stereotypical person from "Africa" -- Netflix's One Piece decided to show, not tell, that Usopp came from a world where he is welcome, and he can meet all people as friends.