How much psychology can you put into a manga?
If I were to ask this question to Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, his answer would
probably be: Everything.
Or at least something along that line.
In fact, I would argue that the psychology behind Oda´s characters is the single biggest
reason that his story appeals to such a broad audience up to this day.
And I mean that quite literally; Regardless of where you´re from or how old you are.
You can enjoy the story as a teenager, looking at it through innocent and excited eyes.
Enjoying the fights, cheering for the characters, and feeling the impact of the major emotional
moments of the show.
However, a lot of the major characters in the story also have their subtleties that
aren´t immediately noticeable without a certain amount of personal life experience.
Such nuances have been constructed in such a way that they add a subtle, but impactful
portion of realism and depth that make them more and more relatable throughout the years.
These characters especially reflect parts of the human mind and persona that might be
picked up upon only by someone who has had a similar experience, or have had enough life
experience to consciously, or even unconsciously, pick up on these subtle underlying themes
of some of these characters.
Psychology is intertwined all throughout One Piece and can be found distinctly for each
character.
Today, however, I want to explore with you the thematic mind of one person in particular;
to examine what impact his theme has on the audience and to demonstrate how psychology
can cleverly be made visible in a medium like Manga or Anime.
Let´s talk about the purple tiger.
Let´s talk about Marine Admiral Fujitora; his blind justice and why it makes him the
best developed admiral out of the lot.
Fujitora, or as he is truly called, Isshō, is a broadly built, middle-aged man that has
been recruited into the ranks of the marines after the time-skip.
His most prominent features are the deep scars over his eyes that mark the spots where Isshō
blinded himself with his sword after having witnessed something truly horrific.
His character design is dominated by his samurai-like appearance, that have made it easy to speculate
that he has some connection to Wano.
Same as the other admirals, Fujitora´s character has been based on a Japanese actor.
In Fujitora´s case, this is Shintaro Katsu or more specifically on his role as Zatoichi,
the blind swordsman.
Both characters share a number of distinct similarities: Both carry a shikomizue, a cane
sword that they use for both walking and fighting.
Both share a love for gambling, a theme that is especially pronounced with Isshō, who
not only likes to gamble literally but he also likes to roll the dice when it comes
to fights and important decisions.
He literally does so, when torn between duty and moral, having to decide whether or not
to assist Doflamingo against the Straw Hats.
We can also see this in his standoff with Law and Doflamingo, where he brings down a
meteor without certainty who or what it would hit.
Also, both Isshō and Zatoichi share a strong sense of compassion, putting the interest
of the people before their own.
They both try to help the people out of their misery as best as they can.
In that sense, both of them are also extremely humble, not taking a lot of pride in themselves.
Especially compared to some of his colleagues, Fujitora certainly does not see himself as
superior or as a force of authority to others.
Notably, while he has enjoyed more screen time than most of the other admirals in the
story, there is not much we know about Isshō´s past.
We DO know that he was born somewhere on the Grand Line - possibly Wano - and that at some
point in his life, he decided to blind himself after being overwhelmed by the cruelty of
the world.
A possibility in this regard is that this event had something to do with Wano and the
horrific execution of Oden by Orochi and Kaido.
Should he actually be from Wano, there would certainly have been enough reasons to explain
his painful past.
However, whatever the trigger for this tragic decision might have been, we can be sure that
Fujitora has suffered through a lot in his life.
It is a pain literally made visible to the audience through the scars on his face.
They serve as a constant reminder of his suffering and hardship and the trauma it must have left
in his heart.
Despite being a Marine Admiral and, in that sense, an antagonist to Luffy and the straw
hats, it becomes clear very fast that Isshō is not meant to be an enemy to the crew.
Right from his introduction, Oda makes it clear that here we are dealing with a very
kind and emotional man, who does not realize he is being cheated on by Doflamingo´s men
during their gambling.
His kind heart and the respect he shows towards our protagonists makes it very easy for us
as the audience to empathize with him.
When he stops Zoro from attacking Doflamingo, he literally apologizes for his behavior after
having been helped by the crew earlier in the casino.
In general, every major confrontation Fujitora has over the course of the Dressrosa arc involves
some sort of moral and emotional dialog with his opponents.
No matter if it´s sharing his concerns over Dressrosa with Sabo, stopping Doflamingo from
killing Law, or even his short clash with Luffy.
At no point do we perceive him as a threat.
Much rather, we see him as someone with good intentions who is opposing Luffy and Co. based
on his responsibility as a marine.
This however does not mean that Isshō is not intimidating.
Just the opposite, Oda makes it painfully clear just how powerful the Admiral is.
His skills as a swordsman as well as his powerful gravity devil fruit make it very obvious why
Fujitora holds the rank of a Marine Admiral despite having been drafted into the Marines
merely two years ago.
But as we all know, power alone only seldomly makes for a fascinating character.
And Fujitora in particular is a wonderful example of how real human psychology can be
incorporated into a fictional character, creating a distinct and relatable emotional response
in an audience.
In order to be able to dissect and understand the true power of Isshō’s personality from
a storytelling perspective, we have to start with his wound.
However, counterintuitively to the general perception of Shounen manga, we are not talking
about the scars on his face or any other physical wound Fujitora has suffered over the course
of his life.
Much rather, these scars serve as a visual representation of a much deeper, psychological
wound he has been dealt.
This wound has its origin in unseen, horrible events the samurai had to suffer through in
the past.
No matter what it is that he had to witness, it must have been so terrible that Isshō
felt no other way to deal with his pain other than to mutilate himself to escape from the
cruelty of the world.
Grounded in this emotional wound is the fundamental weakness, that Oda has chosen for his intricate
character.
The weakness of a character can be defined as a lie about the world, a perceived false
truth, if you will, that they wrongfully believe in and thus have to learn to overcome.
For Fujitora, this weakness seems to be the belief that piracy is an evil; that has to
be destroyed in order to bring lasting peace to the world.
This suggests to us, that his past experiences most likely involved the deeds of pirates
in one way or another.
This weakness subsequently reveals to us the psychological need of the character that determines
his character development.
In other words, the need is the solution to the characters weakness that he has to acquire
through his action.
In Fujitora´s case, this clearly is the need to create a more nuanced world view and letting
go of his hatred for pirates in general.
However, to turn the journey towards this answer into a threat of story that yields
true moral insights and experiences for both the character and the reader alike, the psychological
need is usually unknown to the character itself.
Thus, at the beginning of the Dressrosa arc, Isshō appears to have a very clear imagine
of what is good and what is bad in this world.
To mask his emotional wound and avoid dealing with it, he hides it behind a mask.
We can see this in all of the fights and confrontations that he has, where he lets go of his kind
and gentle nature and takes on a hard and determined stance.
As a result, we, the audience, struggle with him as he struggles between the ideals of
the world government, the revolutionaries, Doflamingo and the Straw hats.
His desire after all, is to save and protect the people of Dressrosa.
In that sense, the entire Dressrosa arc serves as an overarching representation of what determines
good and evil.
And Fujitora, who has to figure out who stands for what on this island, serves as a sort
of personification of this struggle.
At the same time, this makes the Dressrosa story arc his central character development
arc.
To put it into the broader context of the other admirals, the change he undergoes is
basically from Akainu to Aokiji, roughly speaking.
To explain this analogy, let us take one step back.
The first step in Isshō’s character development happens before we ever get to meet him.
Joining the Marines to fight the evil that has caused him so much pain already is a major
step for him.
It suggests that, despite literally blinding himself to not see any more of it, he at some
point has decided to face evil again.
How he reached that resolve and determination, we do not know yet.
However, it also shows us that Fujitora believed the Marines to be a force of good, standing
off against the pirates.
Thus, Fujitora´s worldview at the beginning of the arc comes very close to what we know
of Akainu – ideologically, at least.
However, this black and white view is very quickly challenged by the actions taken by
the straw hats and Doflamingo, who is affiliated with the government.
As the events progress, we can see Isshō struggle more and more with his belief until
he finally lets Luffy go.
He breaks through his thought mask, by admitting to himself that Luffy is actually a kind person.
When we reach the end of the arc, we have reached an approach that comes much closer
to Aokiji´s where Fujitora acts based on his morality rather than his duty.
He learns to judge people based on their actions, rather than their flag.
Thus, he allows Luffy to escape, while taking it on himself to abolish the system of the
warlords that has caused so much suffering to the world.
What then is Fujitora´s ideal of blind justice?
To unearth that question, we once again have to return to the fundamental theme of the
admirals: Is everything we call evil, actually evil?
Every one of the admirals has their own answer to this question.
And for Fujitora, I would argue that his sense of Justice is very closely connected to his
character arc, that we have just discussed.
The first thought, when thinking about blind justice, at least for me, is the image of
lady justice.
Often depicted as wearing a blindfold, she represents impartiality.
In other words, the ideal that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power,
or other status.
This description hits really close to home when we think about Isshō’s actions and
ideals.
This of course is further supported by the fact that Fujitora is literally blind.
He physically cannot discriminate against people based on their appearance.
As we can witness over the course of the story, Fujitora decides to serve justice according
to people's deeds and not their affiliation.
Thus, he increasingly conflicts with the world government´s ideal of absolute justice.
To give you a better idea of this approach to justice, let´s look at two impactful moments
for his character.
The first takes place after his standoff with Doflamingo and Law.
After Law is taken out by the warlord, Fujitora steps in to prevent Doflamingo from taking
Law´s life.
The fair and moral thing to do is to capture Law, not execute him.
And his job is to serve the justice he deserves, not any more or less.
He thus protects Law from unjust treatment by Doflamingo.
The second instance is his confrontation with Zoro.
Being aware of the kindness the straw hats showed towards him, he apologizes for standing
in his way and openly verbalizes his internal struggle that is building up at this point.
What this shows us is that Fujitora is willing to take responsibility for his actions.
Even if it means going against Akainu and the Gorosei for letting Luffy go and bowing
to king Riku and thus exposing the world government’s failure.
It is the just thing to do and Fujitora serves it just as lady justice does, blindfolded;
in Fujitora’s case, literally blinded by his own past.
Thus, Isshō’s character truly is psychology made visible.
His scars literally represent his ideal of blind justice.
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