30 Days of Women: Day 5

[kirin85]

Day five: Favourite female character on a male-driven show

Nami (One Piece)

Like most shounen series, One Piece tends to revolve around male characters but it certainly doesn’t lack likeable or well-developed in both senses of the words female characters. Oda’s handling of gender issues isn’t perfect by any means (and unfortunately, it seems to be getting worse as he gets older) but imho, One Piece is the best of the Big Three (Bleach, Naruto and One Piece) when it comes to the way female characters are treated.

This brings me to my favourite female One Piece character, Nami (although Robin is a close second). She’s feisty, determined and highly intelligent. She’s had a very hard life but has managed to overcome many of the obstacles that stand in her way, despite all the crap Arlong and company put her through. There are times when she needs to rely on her friends but she’s just as willing to stand by them as they are to stand by her. She’s come a long way over the course of the series and I hope Oda makes more use of her during the upcoming chapters.

It’d also be nice if she got more opportunities to fight (and beat) male sub-bosses as well as female ones. After seeing what Nami’s body was capable of after being body-swapped with Sanji, I really don’t think Oda’s got much of an excuse for keeping her out of major fights, even if she’s better at tactical/weapon-based fighting than she is at brawling.