Do you care about politics?
Or maybe I should rather ask, do you care about politics in your favourite show or series?
Regardless, whether you answer this question with yes or no, you may not be aware of HOW
big a deal thoughtful political writing can be in storytelling.
Because the truth is: Deep down, we all DO care how things are being run in the world
our heroes live in, and also by whom.
This is ESPECIALLY obvious for stories where the political system is unfair or straight
out evil.
And political structures can give a story world a level of colour and realism, that
makes it INCREDIBLY easy to engage with.
But, when I talk about politics, I in no way mean focusing purely on political manoeuvring.
After all, most of us don’t want every story to be a House of Cards.
Much rather, good political writing usually is SUBTLE and only throws us small bits and
pieces of the overarching structure of the society our heroes live in.
While modern television has discovered the value of political intrigue and action, Shounen
manga might not exactly be the FIRST genre that comes to your mind in this context.
And yet, one of the reasons One Piece has managed to become as POPULAR as it is today,
is the political aspect Oda has increasingly integrated into his story.
In fact, one character in particular has enriched One Piece in a NUMBER of ways, that might
not be obvious at first glance.
Because Vivi is a wonderful example of political writing done right.
With her introduction to the story, Oda also introduces a proper political system for the
first time, that made the overall story more entertaining, and successfully distinguished
it from other Shounen mangas competing with it over the years.
Vivi´s character arc shows her growing into a great political leader, and gives us an
idea of Oda´s own political values.
Not only does Vivi trigger important character and story development by teaching Luffy to
become a better leader himself, but she also enhances our perception of the straw hat crew
in GENREAL by clearly contrasting what makes them so unique in the One Piece universe.
And I think that this power of political writing, especially in the sub-genre of Shounen manga,
is worth taking a closer look at.
Because bedding their adventure in a sense of realism, allows our heroes to break out
of these every-day conventions we are familiar with, and thus in turn help US escape from
our everyday lives.
What makes Vivi so different from any other character that we have met in the story up
to this point, is that her character arc is not the story of a pirate, but the story of
a leader.
After the introductory arcs of the East Blue, meeting Vivi is the beginning of the first
REAL saga in the straw hats’ adventure, spanning over multiple different arcs.
Getting to know the princess of Alabasta and witnessing her struggle to free her country
from the grasp of one of the seven Warlords of the sea, introduces a conflict on a much
larger scale than anything we had gotten up to this point.
Being a compassionate and brave young woman, that cares deeply for her people, it quickly
becomes clear that her task is not to get physically stronger in order to take down
her political opponent crocodile, but rather to become a better politician herself.
To do so, right from the get-go, Oda already equipped her character with a number of traits
that show us her true potential as a leader very early on in the story.
Even as a kid, Vivi already shows a notch for politics and diplomacy.
When slapped by an angry Wapol, she keeps her cool not to cause a major international
incident for her father and country.
She also befriends a group of common kids, including the young Koza, who later would
lead the rebellion in the civil war staged by Crocodile.
And in general, far from being authoritative and tempered, Vivi fulfils the trope of the
kind and adventurous princess, that is brave and determined to take action for her country’s
sake.
Thus, she doesn’t hesitate to infiltrate Corcodile´s Baroque-Work agency at the age
of only fourteen and works her way up the ladder over a two-year period, in which she
even learns how to fight.
Further, she is also CLEARLY able to deal with pain, be it physical from being shot
in the shoulder, or psychological from loosing Igaram.
So, when she meets Luffy, who very quickly comes to acknowledge her determination, she
already shows enormous promise to become a great leader in the future.
However, Crocodile manipulating her country into famine, and ultimately civil war, proves
to be too much for her to handle and she suffers deeply under her people’s hardship.
Falsely believing that she has to carry her country’s burden all on her own, it takes
a quite emotional brawl with Luffy, to show her that she needs to believe in her friends
and let them share in on her load.
Still, in spite of Luffy´s speech she once again tries to end the bloody battle between
the royal army and the rebells all by herself.
Not only does she fail to be heard, she also fails to stop the bomb planted by Crocodile
in the middle of the city.
This is the low-point of her character arc.
However, Luffy defeating Crocodile and finally returning the rain, as well as Pell sacrificing
himself by carrying the bomb away from the city, finally help Vivi in overcoming her
biggest weakness as a leader.
Thus, in her coming of age speech, we finally see a future Queen that has grown significantly
through her shared adventures with the straw hats.
In contrast to the power-focused pirate battles we had seen up to this point, Vivi introduces
a political level to the story that up to this day helps distinguishing it from other
Shounen.
Alabasta and the Baroque work saga are the first real taste of political intrigue and
conflict in One Piece, way before arcs like Enis Lobby or Dressrosa, that are even more
centred around political themes.
With crocodile, for the first time we encounter an antagonist that cannot simply be beaten
by pure strength alone, but rather has to be approached in multiple steps over multiple
arcs, requiring the skills of the ENTIRE crew.
This brings an entirely new level of complexity and tension into the story, that not only
make the story less predictable, but also requires more thoughtful and creative action
from our heroes.
Similarly, the political level of Alabasta, also enlarges the entire story world we had
known up to this point.
For the first time, it becomes clear that the One Piece world does not only consist
of small islands with quiet villages, as we exclusively have seen in the East Blue.
Much rather, we learn that many islands consist of entire kingdoms, with their own political
systems that have existed for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
This insight broadens our view on the world immensely and prepares us for the overarching
conflict with the world government.
Thus Vivi´s character enables important story development over all.
But I think it goes even further than this.
Because she also triggers important character development for the entire crew, and especially
so for Luffy.
See, while Luffy teaches Vivi about the importance of trusting in your friends and sharing a
burden, Vivi in turn teaches Luffy a CRUCIAL lesson about leadership.
After leaving Little Garden, Vivi convinces the crew to make a detour for the severely
ill Nami and find a doctor on Drum Island.
Upon arriving at a small village on the islands shore, the villagers, lead by the future king
Dalton, surround the ship and beckon the crew to turn around.
In the course of this tense situation, Vivi is shot in the shoulder.
Seeing his friend being hurt, Luffy, as he always does, starts charging at the villagers.
However Vivi stops him in the last moment and bows down to the villagers in apology.
She calls out Luffy for his rash reaction that might have cost Nami´s life.
In this moment, Luffy makes a graspable leap in his character development.
He bows down himself and asks for help to save his navigator.
The IMPORTANT lesson, that Vivi taught Luffy here, is that some situations cannot simply
be solved through fighting alone.
Some situations call for diplomacy, strategy or even humility.
This ultimately helps Luffy to become a better leader himself.
And we can actually see his growth from this scene in later arcs.
On Sabaody for instance, Luffy actually orders his crew to flee, realising that fighting
against an admiral is futile at this point.
And on Jaya, he and Zoro do not fight back against Bellamy´s men, just like Shanks did
not fight back against the bandits back when Luffy was a kid.
Thus, Luffy has gotten a step closer to Shanks’ ideal of a great pirate, all through learning
from Vivi´s words.
And aside from her personal influence on Luffy and the others, her character benefits US,
the readers, even more.
Vivi is a character that is caught in the gruesome normality of the One Piece world.
No matter how hard she tries to take things into her own hands and change them with all
her might, she doesn’t seem able to escape the grasps of the powerful forces at work
in her country.
And while it is easy to confuse her normality, helplessness and frustration as something
of little importance when looking at it through the lens of typical Shounen stories, what
Vivi´s character ACTUALLY does for us, is contrasting how unique and special Luffy and
his crew are in this unforgiving system.
How they are actually physically and mentally strong enough to take on these major forces
at work in the One Piece world.
This is the TRUE secret of the success Vivi has brought to Oda´s story.
She allows us to widen our focus and shows us that Luffy, Zoro and Co. are indeed NOT
normal.
This makes their adventure just the more exciting, as we now know just HOW unique they actually
are inside this complex political web of powerful and influential people.
Being able to carry out this fundamental change in his approach to story-telling in such a
seamless way, is part of the genius of Oda´s writing.
Subtly integrating such conceptual layers beneath the main plot line, and thus being
able to share a richer and more vivid world with us readers, is what I find truly thrilling
about One Piece as a piece of literature.
After all, writing a character like Vivi takes not only a lot of creativity and skill, but
also a signifiant portion of bravery, in a genre that otherwise has been heavily dominated
by ever-repeating power-struggles.
However, far from making One Piece LESS exciting or intense, political characters like Vivi
actually ENHANCE and CONTRAST the protagonists, and help bring out the best in them.
So, in the end, you may think that you don’t care about politics in your favourite story
- until you find out that you actually do.
Maybe just not quite in the way, that you expected to.
Hey everyone, thank you so much for watching.
What are your thoughts on Vivi and her role in the story?
And what character would you like to see me discuss next?
Share your thoughts with me in the comments below.
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I hope to see you around next time.
And.
Until then.
Stay safe and have a wonderful week.