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The Otherness of Heroes: The Shonen as Outsider and Altruist in Oda Eiichiro's One Piece

2011; International Research Society for Children's Literature; Volume: 4; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3366/ircl.2011.0026

1755-6201

Sasada Hiroko,

Japanese History and Culture

The shonen hero in One Piece, a popular fantasy battle manga for boys, is described as a complete altruist although he longs to be the King of Pirates, that is, the top of ‘others’ in the social mainstream. Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, called the ‘Straw Hat Pirates’, seem to be derived from traditional Japanese heroes in period films or from the manly virtue called otoko-date in the Edo period: the outsiders who carry out ‘poetic justice’ by assisting the weak and resisting the strong, even at risk to their own lives. To be more powerful than those whose right and status is determined by birth and nature in this fictional world, others, who are usually adventurers, have a special opportunity to find and eat ‘Devil Fruit’ and thus obtain superhuman power and become others within others. Moreover, there are other means whereby Luffy may become a genuine hero, not by luck but through effort: King's Ambition, and Conqueror's Power. The latter can be attained by genius only, by one person in a million. In this article, the gifted shonen hero with the superhuman power of One Piece is analysed in terms of otherness and altruism.