jani

But in all seriousness, the reaction from Japanese One Piece fans to people using the Straw Hat Jolly Roger in protests has been genuinely pissing me off. So many of them are more concerned about people bringing One Piece into real-life politics, calling it dangerous rhetoric and worrying that the series could get banned in certain countries, than they are about WHY people are even using it in the first place. And I think this perfectly highlights the disconnect between Japanese fans and international fans. For some of them, One Piece is a manga they love and want to protect from controversy. For a lot of us, its themes of oppression, corruption, government tyranny and the fight for freedom hit a little closer to home. Some of us have lived through these things. Some of us have watched our families and loved ones suffer and die because of corrupt governments and injustice. They can afford to treat these themes as fiction because they don’t necessarily have to relate them to their own reality. But when people who have experienced these things firsthand see the Straw Hat flag as a symbol of resistance and freedom, why is they’re first reaction to police how other fans use it rather than understand why it resonates with them in the first place? And that’s what bothers me. Instead of trying to understand why people from completely different backgrounds see themselves in this story, they’re dismissing it as dangerous political rhetoric that might get one piece banned in these countries