Netflix’s One Piece remake accused of whitewashing after new concept art
Netflix/WIT StudioThe new One Piece remake has already found itself in the middle of a controversy, as some fans believe production is whitewashing the main characters.
The One Piece remake is easily one of the biggest upcoming anime projects. Made through the collaboration of Netflix and WIT Studio, the new anime is adapting the first One Piece saga: the East Blue Saga. Meaning, the anime show is focusing on Luffy and his crew’s journey to the Grand Line.
On August 11, the makers revealed the staff of the project (which includes one of Attack on Titan’s directors) and released a bunch of concept art, including the character designs of the first five Straw Hat crew: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji.
While most fans are overjoyed and impressed with these, few have found one specific problem. Many are taking to social media to point out that some characters look whitewashed, particularly Usopp.
One Piece always made it clear that all of the Straw Hats are from different ethnicities. Out of the first five members, only Nami and Sanji are portrayed as white. While Zoro and Luffy have darker skin tones, Usopp is clearly shown to be a black person.
However, the One Piece remake artwork shows their character designs to be of much lighter shades than in the original series. This has many fans irritated, and they’re not holding back their opinion about this change.
As one X user wrote: “If you’re too much of a loser to acknowledge the whitewashing, at least acknowledge that all of them having the same genshin a** pale skin tones just looks bad. They don’t even look pale, just gray.”
“He’s literally as white as Nami wtf,” another commented on Usopp’s new character design. A third shared, “But what’s wrong with us wanting Usopp to have darker skin tone cause he is CLEARLY A BLACK CHARACTER!”
“This is insane. Usopp is paler than ever before. I’m honestly shocked???? His hair is just as dark. Like it’s paler than him in the anime right now (which has already been super white washed!!!)” joined a fourth.
However, a lot of fans are also pointing out that these are only early concepts of the One Piece remake. The actual anime – and the characters portrayed in it – may show the original skin tones of the characters.
“Imagine using a rough unrendered sketch and comparing it to the fully rendered anime opening. Different mediums, different levels of completion. It should be illegal for children to post opinions online,” commented one user.
“The medium used favors lighter colors though, this isn’t a fair comparison. It’s the reason why they all have white highlights on their skin as if they were covered in a coat of oil. Half of Robin’s face is just stark white ffs,” pointed out another.
Given that Eiichiro Oda has publicly revealed how the Straw Hats would’ve belonged to different countries and ethnicities if they were from the real world, it’d be really strange if the One Piece remake ignored this fact and whitewashed the main characters.
What really is the case will be revealed when we get a teaser or trailer of the One Piece remake. Until then, check out what happens in One Piece Chapter 1123. You can also find out which change in the remake fans considers “perfect”, and the One Piece anime’s new world record.