- [Male Voice] Here is a picture of Nefertari Vivi
looking all thoughtful and pondersome.
Now here is a picture of Rebecca doing the exact same thing.
And here is a picture of Viola doing it as well.
And here is one of Hiyori.
No way, that's just Vivi again.
And let's not forget Pudding either,
but what are these princesses looking at?
Well, obviously it's the subscribe button
for the Grand Line Review, the pressing of which grand slim
and their kingdoms regular One Piece content
uploaded straight into their YouTube feeds.
And being the refined ladies they are,
they even press the bell as well
to ensure that they do not miss any big news.
Hello and welcome to the Grand Line review,
your source for everything One Piece.
Today I would like to discuss what I believe is one of
the greater flaws in the series.
The series, that is One Piece,
because that's what I talk about.
Now, this channel despite being created
due to an immense love of virtual art,
this work has never been afraid
to be critical when it is cold full.
Which I do quite frequently in chapter reviews
and various other discussions content,
at which point I'm often met with comments like, "Shut up."
And sometimes those comments even get expanded to,
"Shut up, you're not a true fan."
And I would generally say, "Yes."
That's exactly why I spent close to three years of my life
making over 651 One Piece related videos
because I am clearly not a true fan.
I guess we just have different definitions of fandom then.
Because in my eyes, a true fan
is someone who is able to recognize both the greatness
of a series, but also take into account
and to be able to truly discuss its shortcomings
because they do exist in every series.
There is no such thing as a perfect manga or perfect anime.
One Piece does come quite close though,
which is why this whole channel exists.
But it most certainly has its detrimental features
and to begin discussion on this topic,
I first want to play a little game with you.
Here's how it works,
I'm going to describe a character from One Piece,
and I want you to guess who that character is.
Sounds fun.
Oh well, even if you don't think so I can do it anyway.
So this character is a fairly young woman
who was quite important in the grand scheme of the world,
as well as an integral element of their specific arc.
They spend that early time in the series acting one way
but soon enough they have a complete 180 degree flip
and become the exact opposite.
As well as form the center of an intended emotional payoff
and are consistently being relegated
to needing to be saved by the straw hats.
Who is this person?
I'll give you a few more seconds to think about it
as I sit here and fill for time.
(Humming)
All right, well done.
Great.
So if you said Rebecca, then you are correct.
And if you said Viola, then you are also correct.
If Vivi popped up as a thought, you're still correct.
Furthermore, if your mind went to Charlotte Pudding,
then I simply cannot deny how correct you are.
And if any of you thought of Wano act two spoiler character,
Then welcome to the winners club,
because you will also bang on.
One Piece has a huge problem and that problem is princesses.
Less the concept of princesses though,
and more how they are implemented
by our Lord and savior, Eiichiro Oda.
And for manga readers, this whole script
was actually written prior to...
How shall we say certain events taking place on Wano?
And I suppose we'll call them Wano act three
spoiler character, not to be confused
with Wano act two spoiler character.
And Amir only fans, I hope you appreciate
the incredible lengths I go to,
to keep you moderately spoiler free.
But this princess problem is nothing new to the fan base
because arc after arc, at least in the post time skip era,
we are faced with a very similar type of character
popping up to the extent where they serve
an almost purely technical purpose at this point.
Like a princess cogon some sort of kingdom arc machine.
And the story of One Piece has become very synonymous
with Oda's, archetypal princess.
But do you know what's actually really
interesting to think about?
Despite the abundance of princesses in this series,
when you actually stop and think about it
in the pre time skip era, there was only one princess.
Quite literally just one permanent princess in the series,
and that was Vivi.
How insane is that to think about
given how intrinsically linked the very concept
of a princess is to the monthly series?
So this whole formula has, without a doubt,
being a product of the New bold era.
As every major mega arc with the notable exception
of punk hazard, has featured either a literal princess
or someone with an assigned princess role.
And that distinction is important
because they don't need to literally be called a princess
in order to fit this arc type.
It just so happens that many of them are.
But it doesn't matter because these characters
serve the same function either way,
with tiny flares of individuality
and bits of payoff here and there.
But by and large, these princesses are also incredibly
poorly written as well as implemented.
And the reason for that is because they exist
to serve as a device rather than a fleshed out character.
They're beautiful, I am pleased it to captivate
the overwhelmingly teenage male Margarita's
and a character who is able to inspire other characters
around them to fight, as well as generate sympathy
with their inevitable princess tears.
And generally they don't actually do much of anything else.
They have no real role in the story
other than to be a platform
and motivation for other characters to shine.
And so I'm going to try and coin a term here
being the princess prop.
Because there is very little functional difference
between many of them and a typical film of theater prop.
I mean, for example, if you're shooting a scene
and the script says you need a gun,
then well, we need to source a gun.
The gun itself has no character of its own.
It's just there to be used for a narrative purpose.
And in One Piece when orders insert new world arc,
needs a princess prop because the story takes place
in a kingdom or kingdom like structure,
well then we need a princess to fight for.
And that princess is the all important princess prop.
And for the most part, the use of these characters
make up arguably the weakest aspect of every major arc
they appear in and since the new world era,
they appear so often that it is a lingering detractor
of One Piece as a whole.
They fully hop into some more depths
and I do wanna make it clear
that despite mentioning her earlier,
I do not consider Nefertari Vivi to be a princess prop.
Vivi is actually a very rare example of a princess
implemented extraordinarily well in One Piece.
And I know that a lot of people do find her annoying
and whatnot, but well, I don't care.
She drove the action of the Alabasta saga,
not just the arc, the entire saga.
Vivi was not there just to be saved by the straw hats,
she was every bit as active as the rest of them
and her drive is most prominently on display
during the climax of Alabaster where she with no other
options available, just continues to shout and shout
and shout for the armies to stop fighting.
Vivi was always the center of the action and the drama.
And never at any stage on the sidelines, just watching.
She is a character that we got to know to the core
and without her, Alabaster would be nothing
but a pile of sand.
And it is none impossible to say the same about
a modern princess, who we barely get to know,
and to be perfectly frank,
their presence in the arcs they feature in are incidental
at best and near pointless
and completely forgettable at worst.
So let's take an example of the former
by zeroing in on one Rebecca.
Royalty of the Riku family on Dressrosa.
Now she gets a fair bit of hate in the fan base,
a lot of which I think is undeserved primarily
because it is not the fault of the character themselves,
but it is an unfortunate truth that Rebecca
is a princess prop masquerading as a gladiator
whose entire purpose on Dressrosa is to serve as motivation
for her father Kyros, an actually fleshed out character
with a story of his own.
Meanwhile, Rebecca also serves as some sub motivation
to two key extra hunts being Luffy and of course, Robin.
The latter of which is assigned the task
of protecting Rebecca in the final conflict,
thus eliminating any chance of the princess prop,
actually having a profound moment of her own.
So as a result of this,
I would pose to you all the question of,
what would happen if Rebecca
was removed from the Dressrosa arc?
And to be perfectly frank,
I think there would be very little functional difference,
despite the trifecta of motivation she provides.
Kyros would still hold a grudge
and fight against Dee and Montay because he killed Scarlet.
And meanwhile, Robin and Luffy were going
to fight against the don't care (indistinct),
so them meeting Rebecca changes absolutely nothing.
Rebecca was not a catalyst for that action.
That role fell primarily to Trafalgar law actually,
who was a far better princess on Dressrosa,
and you know what, if anything, removing Rebecca
may have actually freed up Robin to take on
some more prominent action during Dressrosa,
because this draw had pretty much just turned
into Rebecca's babysitter for the most climactic segment.
I will say there is one thing that does go missing
without Rebecca in the picture, which is the feeling
of profound sympathy towards cures,
due to the heartbreaking, flashback scenes of him
in the toy soldier form with Rebecca.
Those are super, super effective.
But once again, this only goes to show that Rebecca exists
almost exclusively to serve the character of Kyros
rather than herself.
Rebecca is no Vivi to say the least.
She is holler royalty, and a princess propped
to be used as a purely technical and functional source
of drama that arguably isn't even necessary.
Sticking to Dressrosa though,
let's take a look at another about princess Viola,
because Dressrosa did it double princess style
because one prop was not enough
for the madness of this particular arm.
So Viola first up fits the physical stereotype.
A generally attractive woman, at least in the manga,
because, look, let's be real.
The anime did her very, very dirty.
Sometimes making her look like
an alien wearing a viola costume.
But in any case Viola follows
very stereotypical princess prop path.
Where she is actually introduced as an antagonist,
who very shortly after becomes an ally.
And while we'd not seen that before now,
it's not as if Nami, Robin, Vivi, Pudding,
or Hanako Kun, all followed that path.
And you know what in fact,
even Rebecca was also kind of an antagonist to begin with
because she did try to assassinate Luffy.
Well, Dressrosa also had baby five,
who followed this bad to good model,
but we'll leave her out of this.
The point is, we'd seen it before
and we were going to see it again.
In any case, I'll have to (indistinct)
abrupt change of heart, she then went on to do...
Pause for dramatic effect.
Very little, if anything at all.
And once again, I have to ask the question,
if Viola had been removed from Dressrosa,
what would we have lost from the arc?
Yes, you would have had to forgo some (indistinct), comedy
and some exposition because Viola did primarily served
to tell the audience what was happening on the battlefield
due to her incredibly overpowered,
but incredibly under utilized, (indistinct).
And everything that Viola does serve in this regard could
have been accomplished just by using artists narration.
Much likey does in every other arc.
So Viola does very much exist as a another princess prop.
But Dressrosa is definitely the worst of it.
To be fair to any other character
that I would label as a princess prop,
they do tend to have a lot more meat
allocated to their existence.
Like Charlotte Pudding, for example,
she is not a literal princess,
but she does have that same narrative role,
standard, attractive auto female who herself takes
very little action and spends pretty much the entirety
of the arc on the sidelines in this case,
falling over Sanji being cool.
Which Sanji has a tendency to do.
But Pudding is better integrated into the story
because as much as I'm not a personal fan
of her split personality, the fact that she was experiencing
that sort of inner conflict is actually sort of interesting
and it does pay off at the very end of the arc.
With the scene of her collapsing
into tears with Sanji's memories.
Absolutely beautiful.
10 out of 10 scene there, even the anime did it great.
That's how good the scene is.
But that is not a large majority of the Pudding experience.
And 95% of her time, is spent either doing this or this
forever depreciating comic effect.
However, Pudding does pass the test
that Rebecca and Viola fail,
because if you were to remove her from Whole Cake Island,
you would need to massively rework the story
because her presence is integral.
Although it can definitely be argued that at the same time,
it's almost purely technical, because she does serve
as the key item to get Sanji or the retrieval team
onto Whole Cake Island to begin with.
So even though she does have a splash of character,
it is granted a genuine moment at the very end of the arc.
Pudding's overall presence
is quite princess prop like in nature.
And heading in (indistinct) now I'm not gonna say anything
because at the time of this recording,
I don't think things have quite happened in the anime yet.
And out of respect for the fact
that the arc has not ended yet,
so there is always potential.
However, what I will say is that if you were at all
expecting anything different from what you've already seen
out a hundred times in One Piece,
then prepare to be disappointed.
Stepping back a bit now ,
you might be wondering why I started at Dressrosa
and skipped over princess Shirahoshi in Fishman Island.
Well, that is because despite her volatile popularity
within the fan base, I think she is a solid example
of an Euro princess who cannot be labeled
as a princess prop.
And that's because as much as she did need some saving
and protection, Shirahoshi took command of her own destiny
during Fisherman Island,
and became the absolute key figure of that arc.
In a similar amount of time, Vivi took charge on Alabaster,
although it did take Shirahoshi a long time to get there.
But Shirahoshi was actually a direct participant
in the out climax and not only that but her importance
and uniqueness, we'll see it into the series,
through the revelation that she
is the ancient weapon beside him.
So as much as some people out there
may not like the character, it is undeniable that she
is in fact a character rather than a prop.
Especially because Shirahoshi's arc is entirely her own.
About her living and embracing the legacy of Altima,
rather than just providing motivation to like, Luffy
or her father, defiant or act on her behalf
while she sits quietly in a corner
waiting for the arc to be over.
But even without Shirahoshi,
you have a series that I would say is dominated
by the presence of princess props.
And if you think that the handful of characters
I've mentioned doesn't match, then well,
let's just think about it this way,
We have literally only had three gigantic
mega arcs featured in One Piece.
Being Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and Wano.
All of whom have shared the princess prop feature,
and collectively these arcs currently make up about
250 chapters of One Piece, a fair bit of mono actually,
and that is roughly a quarter of the entire series.
Which has taken place over the last seven years.
So that is seven whole years in a row
where the princess prop has been a prominent feature.
And if saying it like that,
it may be somehow still doesn't sound so bad.
I mean, so what if Oda sprinkles
in a princess prop after couple of arcs?
Well, the key problem is that it's all entirely weighted
towards one side of the series
being (indistinct) and events.
One Piece went about 700 chapters
without a princess problem.
Yes, there was Vivi and Shirahoshi,
but they were already different as explained.
And even when we did need a useless character to fight for,
Aida branched out and made existences like Tong it,
for example, he would be the quote and quote
princess of long, very long land.
Someone who served a technical purpose,
but because he was designed as no goofball,
rather than a stunningly attractive lady thing,
it left Tong it urban to be used
for excessive and weird comedy.
A role which he performed quite brilliantly.
But for the last seven years,
Oda has very much adopted this princess archetype
and it now seems inescapable so much so that within
three arcs, the very word princess has become
a source of size from the One Piece fan base
who are exhausted with exploring,
or I guess more accurately attempting to explore
this kind of character and almost never receiving
a narrative reward for their existence.
And who knows, there may still be more princess props
to come following Wano.
I mean, if we're visiting any kind of kingdom
for a longer than zero period of time,
then I would bet large quantities
of Australian currency on it.
And as per usual with my more negative discussions,
I do want to end by saying
that this is not a series breaking feature.
Luckily Oda excels in so many other areas
that we can more or less choose to ignore this,
but me being me, I just want One Piece to be that little bit
better and addressing this arc type,
would be one way to achieve that,
as we may very well actually be seeing currently on Wano.
But what do you guys think?
Please do leave your thoughts in the comments below,
or even join my discord server.
And if you'd like to see more videos like these,
then please do go and check out some of my other content
or even subscribe to the channel.
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uploaded straight into your YouTube feeds.
But for now this has been the Grand line review,
and I'll see you next time.