Time and again, “One Piece” creator Eiichiro Oda has been implored, primarily by female readers, to include romantic developments in his globally popular work. But to date, they have been waiting in vain. A Twitter user explained the reason based on a statement by the mangaka.
One Piece: No romantic developments
In a recent survey conducted by “Shonen Jump” magazine, which also publishes “One Piece,” it surprisingly turned out that women actually make up about half of the readers of Eiichiro Oda’s popular manga series.
And that’s despite the fact that the work, with its many fights, belongs to the “Shonen” target group and is thus aimed at young, male readers. But that in no way stops female fans from regularly asking Oda to allow for romantic developments. The statement from 2009 already gave a resolute refusal to these requests a few years ago:
“I don’t draw romantic scenes because ‘One Piece’ is a manga series for boys. Female fans are always begging me to draw a love story, but if they want to see something like that, they should read a shoujo manga. That’s not my job. I don’t care how many women fall in love with Ruffy, but I don’t like it when he returns the love.”
A few years have passed since that statement, but it looks like Oda is undoubtedly sticking to it. What do you think about it? Would you like to see a romance in “One Piece”? Or would it be completely out of place in your opinion?
Via Twitter (@sandman_AP)
