One Piece and Hope
All Shonen anime revolve around a pretty similar idea of the good guys winning and the bad guys losing. The underdog protagonist who will save the day through grit and determination with the power within or whatever. We know when we start the show that the protagonist probably isn’t going to die, and in all likelihood will get the chance to achieve their dream. That was what I thought when I was going into the seemingly long slog that is One Piece.
In 2024 when you start a show with the stature of One Piece you know that the main character is never going to be in a real sense of moral perel. It’d be pretty awkward if the show's protagonist died so early on in the series with so many episodes left. Like everyone was putting up a facade that the series is longer knowing the hero dies in the second season. But when you begin your journey out to sea with Monkey D. Luffy, you feel that the character is in no real danger. The wackiness of the villains, how casual the destruction is, and the team rocket blasting off again exits to most of his early enemies makes you start to wonder what the hype is around the show.
Sure you can appreciate the craziness of it all, the weird abilities and silliness juxtaposed with some killer serious moments makes it seem charming but still very camp. Then we get to an arc known as Arlong Park. One of our kinda crewmates, Nami, has seemingly betrayed our 5 man band making off with their ship The Going Merry. When they catch up to her it is revealed that she is secretly part of a group of Fishmen Pirates who despise human beings. They have been using her for her skills in drawing maps and stealing gold since she was a child. She hates these people but does it out of fear of what they would do to her village if she did not comply.
Our four other crew members arrive on the island with one goal in mind, get back their navigator and friend. Nami protests, saying she was never on their side, she was just using them and they should leave. She is too afraid of losing someone else, or what the fishmen will do to her and her village so she does not even fight for her own salvation. Our other crew members refuse to listen, simply walking towards the enemy ignoring her warnings. This is when she breaks down and finally does ask them for help with tears in her eyes. Luffy looks at her and places his hat down on her head in what is one of the greatest and most iconic frames in manga/anime history.
This to a lot of people is the turning point of the show, if you don’t like it at this point you won’t like the rest. But why is it considered so pivotal? On the Baratia in the arc before this we saw a similar threat: just replace the chefs with the village people and what’s the difference? If that is all you see at this moment then you are missing the point. Luffy gives Nami hope. Hope that things can change for her and this chance meeting of the strange rubber boy in the straw hat was the one thing that was missing from her life to change it. Luffy not only gives her hope, but becomes the embodiment of hope from here on out. After an amazing spectacle they win the day over the Fishmen Pirates, and Nami joins the crew for real this time. From this point on in the show we see how much Nami trusts Luffy and puts her faith in him no matter what the situation or how stacked against them the odds seem. Because he became her hope.
This does not only apply to Nami however. Across the Grand Line everywhere Luffy goes he becomes a shining light of hope. Whether that is for Vivi after laying it all on the line for her kingdom, for the people of Skypiea in the clouds, or for his other crew member Nico Robin when she finally decides she wants to live. Luffy changes the lives of all these people by being the brute force of hope in their lives. He gives them the courage to live on and fight just a little more. And that is what gives him such appeal to his audience 25 plus years after his debut.
Luffy is not very smart. He never outwits his opponents or has a long convoluted plan to defeat someone stronger. He only knows one way through an obstacle and that is head on. We can see him having a problem like a country being taken over by an evil mastermind and the only way to stop that is by punching that guy really hard in the face. There is an appeal for simple solutions to complicated questions that gives not only the characters in the story but us the reader in the real world hope. Whatever problem you are facing, Luffy teaches us that it will not be easy but to face it head on with everything we got. It inspires us to change, to stop planning and thinking about all outcomes and just go forward, even if we fail. Because the thing about the hope Luffy gives is that he does fail.
Most of the time Luffy loses the first fight, only to come back stronger after not giving up and facing the problem head on again. He never loses hope even if he has to tear his arms off or break himself down and rebuild to do it. Only once in the series does he feel despair at his failure and he forgets for a moment what he is. When we lose something that is important to us we get this feeling of being paralyzed, unable to move forward. Luffy is the same way after (spoiler) Ace is killed right in front of him. But wisdom from his mighty fishman friend Jimbie tells him all he needs to do is remember what he still has, and find that hope again.
Luffy teaches us to never say die, to always come back, and that no failure is forever. He inspires us to not wait for change but to be that change, to go head on into the brick wall and give it all we got. The rubber man teaches us that even though we may look weak and small, that the odds are stacked against us, we still might just win. If we just hold on to our hope, and steady our convictions, anything is possible.