#ive been watching non-OP shonen lately and its been hitting me that for all of them

[bayleafpaprika]

thinking about how Oda chosing Luffy, a pirate, to be the protagonist of One Piece may be one of the most brilliant story moves by any shonen mangaka ever. by virtue of its main character being an in-world criminal, OP naturally lends itself to becoming a story about the exposure of a society festering with corruption for what it really is, and the dismantling of a dystopia and its propagandist facade. you simply do not get a story like that with a shonen protagonist who conforms to or tolerates the shitty system they're born into

#one piece #luffy #monkey d luffy #ive been watching non-OP shonen lately and its been hitting me that for all of them #ALL OF THEM #their protagonists' hero journey is about climbing up the ranks of an established social structure #where that established structure in question is considered the 'good guys' in universe #and the protagonist more or less does not push against the structure no matter the consequences of that structure's actions #like yeah they'll question a moral quandary here or there but for the most part they're like #'this is how things work *shrug*' #im convinced that if OP is just another shonen its main character would've been Koby #anyway this is why OP is best shonen thank you for coming to my tedtalk