Toei makes radical change to old One Piece character, and fans aren’t happy
CrunchyrollToei Animation Studio faces criticism from fans after they changed the color scheme of a One Piece character.
One Piece Episode 1116 features Sabo’s reunion with the Revolutionary Army. His status remains unknown for a while after the annihilation of the Lulusia Kingdom. Luckily, Sabo wasn’t on the island, and he made it back to the Revolutionary Army headquarters.
The episode features a lot of the members, including Ahiru, the deputy commander of the East Army and Belo Betty’s assistant. In the original coloring of the manga, she has brown skin, a green coat, and brown hair. Additionally, In Shueisha’s official coloring, she has dark hair color and complexion.
However, in the latest episode, she has a fair complexion which doesn’t sit well with other fans. Furthermore, Toei showed her original color scheme previously, in Episode 885, but now they’ve changed it.
While sharing frames from the episode, the leaker Pew calls Ahiru a “new Revolutionary girl” but later finds out she’s been introduced before. Fans are not happy with the “whitewashing” since every colored version of Ahiru shows her with brown skin.
“Crazy how One Piece is built on the concept of exploring a world with a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds and yet it has some of the most egregious whitewashing in anime that I can think of,” writes one fan.
Another shares, “Toei stole that melanin like swiper the minute they realized she’ll become a prominent character.”
“Robin I can defend because Oda never intended her to have dark skin in the first place, she’s meant to be Russian. This… this is the complete altering of a character for no real reason,” adds another.
One Piece manga is currently heading towards its highly anticipated Elbaf Arc, teasing Usopp will have a major role. For more from One Piece, look at Iron Giant’s name and our ranking of the strongest Straw Hats.