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Anime as a medium has come under fire from the LGBTQ community, who took to Twitter to raise their voice against the depiction of queer and transgender characters in recent shonen. The heated discussion was sparked by Twitter user @stillgray, who posted an image of the okama from One Piece, whose less-than-flattering depiction triggered people online.
Anime as a Japanese medium of storytelling often diverts from Western ideas, ethics, and gender roles, although its fanbase extends around the world. As such, cultural clashes such as this one is a common recurrence.
Fans react after Twitter user attacks Eichiro Oda's One Piece for its depiction of LGBTQ characters
Ian Miles Cheong posted a picture of one of the famous scenes from One Piece in the Return to Sabaody arc and captioned his post with the title:
"This is how Japanese anime depicts trans people."
The grotesque, intentionally cartoonish features of the LGBTQ okama who aid Luffy and his crew in escaping, do so by horrifying and overwhelming the Navy of the World government through their exaggerated features.
This seems to paint the characters as offensive caricatures laden with stereotypes that real people have to face in the world.
However, other Twitter users soon jumped to the rescue of anime, claiming that such a depiction was in fact more limited to that particular series as opposed to anime as a whole.
User @kdjfile replied to Cheong's post, posting several other pictures to denote how anime is also known for its positive portrayal of the queer community. Yet another user posted a video from an old series, claiming that anime used to be more progressive back in the 90s.
According to @femboy_fujoshi:
"This is how Japanese anime depicts trans people back in 1985. You're 38 years behind my dude.'
Twitter user @noredemptionarc agreed to this, claiming about LGBTQ representation:
"I love 80-90s anime because they weren’t afraid to depict trans and gay characters and not make fun of them."
Yet others, however, had less polarizing opinions.
What the okama in One Piece represent
Despite the appearance of the okama, Oda does depict them favorably. Not only are they allied with Luffy and the Straw Hats, the protagonists of the story, but several of them also have great combat skills and have become fan-favorite characters. Notable among them is Ivankov, the ally of Luffy's father Dragon, the revolutionary.
Another fan-favorite okama is Bon Clay, whose role in the series has changed over time, from being an adversary to an ally to finally even sacrificing himself in the Impel Down arc.
