One Piece Heroines Doesn’t Deserve To Be Forgotten

Despite the ongoing discussion around how One Piece has treated its women for decades, or how Eiichiro Oda has depicted women throughout the greatly-famed saga that’s spanned across manga, anime, and movies. As One Piece continues to build on its seemingly endless world, One Piece novel HEROINES has earned its own animated adaptation, which will spotlight the series’ leading ladies in their own stories that allow them to regain their own sense of importance.

The official solicit for One Piece novel HEROINES describes the series as “A collection of stand-alone prose stories that focus on fierce female characters from the world of One Piece.” The summary adds that “From Ghost Princess Perona’s battle over the last bottle of wine with Zolo and Mihawk, to Reiju’s misadventures in the kitchen as she gains a new appreciation for her brother Sanji’s cooking skills, One Piece‘s ladies bask in their long-overdue limelight.” Their “long-overdue” basking in the limelight is still shared by One Piece‘s most prominent characters, though their ability to truly stand alone is still overshadowed. One Piece Heroines may be sharing the same fate as its print counterpart.

One Piece Heroines Is Fighting For Relevancy

One Piece must ensure that it focuses on its female leads just as dedicatedly as it places emphasis on Monkey D. Luffy and others’ significance in the long-running series. Decade over decade, One Piece has attempted to give Nami, Nico Robin, and Princess Vivi fair storylines among other women that may stand out in the anime and manga’s universe. There’s forever been a concern about how Oda has depicted women due to unrealistic and unobtainable character design, and how fully fleshed-out he allows the women of One Piece to be. Their narrative importance and respect ebb and flow depending on each arc, and while Oda has made an effort to apologize for where each story lacks through One Piece novel HEROINES, the anime has been left to fight for relevancy.

One Piece Heroines has hit streaming at a significantly competitive time. Not only is the anime vying for the attention of One Piece fans amid the anime’s more compelling arcs, but with a remake on the way, it’s a challenge for the new series to thrive. One Piece Heroines isn’t just battling One Piece titles for dominance; it’s taking on the entire anime industry, where oversaturation reigns supreme. With anime reaching an all-time high in social acceptance and consumer demand, One Piece Heroines is left to prove its worth and watchability on its own.

It’s a bit unfair that One Piece Heroines isn’t being given the proper treatment that it deserves. Perhaps it’s out of the anime’s control that it’s gone overlooked to such a disappointing degree, though at the same time, an audience would stream and support One Piece Heroines if there was a genuine want to do so. It’s not completely baffling that One Piece Heroines would so quickly be forgotten, denied the potential success that the mainline series has been promised. With One Piece‘s namesake garnering some form of attention to any degree (such as the One Piece TCG becoming wildly popular), it’s greatly frustrating that One Piece Heroines is left fending for its own right to even exist.

One Piece Heroines Being Forgotten Is Predictably Ironic

It’s not a surprise that One Piece Heroines was simply ignored by the masses. A significant lack of marketing and fan support for the One Piece spin-off automatically deprived One Piece Heroines of any self-given success, and it’s a shame that Toei Animation could be so neglectful when allowing its next venture into the One Piece universe to slip by so unnoticed. The animation studio isn’t completely to blame, but they do hold some responsibility in attempting to make sure their work meets its target audience. One Piece Heroines serves as an extension of the One Piece universe; the reality of the anime being forgotten upon release is beyond ironic, though not a terribly large shock.

Predictably, One Piece Heroines has become such an afterthought for One Piece fans and anime watchers alike. Even upon its announcement, there was a cautiousness around Toei Animation’s desire to bring One Piece Heroines to life, to an extent. In concept, it’s an admirable idea, especially when considering the perception that women in anime have been viewed so far. Though One Piece does somewhat align with divisive understandings of how women should present themselves in anime, a series placing women at the forefront is being disregarded, which can be seen as unequal. It was assumed, though, that from the very beginning, One Piece Heroines would struggle more than One Piece‘s mainline series. It was a risk in itself for One Piece to dedicate an entire series to its women; animating the novel was another bold choice.

It’s not uncommon for an audience to demand more stories to be told, and then simply turn a blind eye to titles such as One Piece Heroines. They cannot beg for something that does not align with their own expectations. Some may choose to forego One Piece Heroines because of its decision to prominently feature women; others may genuinely not know of the anime’s existence to begin with. However, there’s still hope that One Piece Heroines won’t be forgotten forever.

One Piece Heroines can be streamed on Crunchyroll.

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