How unnecessary fan service could be bad for One Piece anime, explored

One Piece anime is the perfect blend of almost all genres the Shounen demographic has to offer. Although the series is mostly known for its focus on adventure (world-building) and drama (touchy moments), the series has more than just these two genres portrayed in it.

Where the series isn't considered a mystery-genre anime, the origins of Imu, the secret of the Void Century and so many other aspects of the One Piece anime make it look more like a mystery novel. Where the series has no close relationship with the romance genre, the story of Senior Pink and his fans portrays what true love is.

But there is a genre known as the Ecchi, which comes in the form of unneeded, unnecessary fanservice.

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Character designs in One Piece anime could be problematic

Nami as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

One Piece anime is a Shounen anime series that is the anime adaptation of a manga series of the same name, written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series started airing in October 1999.

Fans would think the fanservice in the series couldn't have arrived from its start, but it could have started in the first couple of episodes. From the start of the series, there was one major flaw: the designs of the female characters.

The character design of most of the female characters looked inappropriate, which made the series not look much like an anime meant for young adults.

The series didn't include revealing outfits in the first half, at least not in the canon episodes. Then, in episode 517, the time skip happened, and after that, the fanservice reached a new level.

Nami as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

After the time skip, most female characters introduced in the series wore revealing outfits, with emphasis on, arguably, the most popular female character in the series, Nami. Her attire in every arc after the time skip was revealing, which could have made it hard for One Piece anime fans to recommend the series to others.

The series' narrative could have also changed in certain situations where the female characters weirdly explained situations, for instance, the time Nico Robin was talking about the meaning of D.

Nico Robin talking about the meaning of D (Image via Toei Animation)

Surprisingly, the source of this series has close to no fanservice or weird camera angles focused on female characters. The reason behind this could be pretty simple. As the manga is still (has no motion), there is no chance for the writer to include a full scene and he has to break it apart into scenes. This could be the reason why the manga doesn't have any fanservice.

But this could escalate in the upcoming episodes of the One Piece anime. The Egghead arc is the first arc of the final saga and fans could expect more fanservice from the upcoming episode, according to Eiichiro Oda's statement on how he has enhanced the character designs of the female characters.

This could lead to the studio of the series putting more emphasis on the female character than before, thus diverging One Piece from its original narrative of telling the tale of Monkey D. Luffy as he aimed to become the next Pirate King.

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The difference between fanservice in One Piece anime and Ecchi anime

Yamato as seen in the anime (Image via Toei Animation)

For most fans, the fanservice in One Piece anime could hardly be even considered fanservice as it doesn't involve explicit nu*ity. Each genre has standards it has to follow and the standards of fanservice also apply to each genre.

The fanservice in One Piece is not unexpected, as it is within the limits of its demographic. It isn't the over-the-top explicit fanservice that is featured in Ecchi anime.

The problem with the fanservice in One Piece anime could come from the way it is introduced, leading to most fans calling it unnecessary and unwanted. Removing fanservice from the One Piece anime could be a problem as fanservice (mild) is still a key part of making the audience happy. So, to somewhat resolve this issue, the production team could make the fanservice less frequent.

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