Blog Six (Proposal)

The title of the art piece I intend to use for this Argumentative Research Essay is “One Piece”. One Piece is an amazing anime and  manga written by Eiichiro Oda. The manga and anime (animanga) is the longest animanga to date and is argumentatively the best one known to man. The manga began in 1999 and is still on going. At first glance, One Piece appears as a goofy, funny, and comedic show for children. However, after watching the first few episodes you start to realize how deep the show goes. The concepts carried in the stories, the progression of characters and their development, and the issues we see in real life being touched on in the show make the show what it is. It makes every one of the 1043 manga chapter and every one of the 1014 episodes worth the wait and worth the watch. The show touches on many familiar topics such as gender inequality, corruption, racism, slavery, human trafficking, drugs, absolute monarchy, poverty and genocide. It shows how these things affect people and their environment and the main character, Luffy, represents a force that challenges those concepts. Throughout the show we see Luffy, a pirate, travel with his crew across the world in search of a treasure called the “One Piece”. On their journey, their chip lands on a plethora of islands with different forms of civilization. From monarchies to democracies and even tribal settings. In each setting, Luffy and his crew face a new challenge that embodies at least one of the previously mentioned concepts. Luffy and his crew then have to face these challenges and solve the problems that come with them. Aside from facing those issues, there are different parties in the show of One Piece. The show encapsulates the real world in a way where it exhibits numerous parties. Meaning everything isn’t black and white, but rather there are numerous shades of grey that depend on one’s perspective. For example the World Government is a party that controls the media and are seen as the embodiment of “justice” to the average citizen although they are corrupt and do many questionable acts. This is exactly why I chose this art work, because of its complexity and the authors ability to challenge so many topics.

Thesis: “Eiichiro Oda’s manga, One Piece, exhibits social issues and challenges we face in real life such as gender inequality, corruption, racism, slavery, human trafficking, drugs, absolute monarchy, poverty and genocide.”