There are many great things about One Piece. However, one of the best things about the series is its unique and detailed setting. The world of One Piece is far removed from our own, featuring large seas packed full of strange locations and massive monsters. However, this does not mean that the series is immune to real-world controversy. In fact, a question and answer session with One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda showed that just because something is set in a fantasy world, it doesn't mean it can't carry real-world baggage with it.
Many volumes of the One Piece manga have an "SBS (Shitsumon wo Boshu Suru)" column, which translates to "I'm Taking Questions." This column features series creator Eiichiro Oda responding to questions and comments sent in by fans. This column often features trivia about the series that you can't find anywhere else. This includes information about background characters and random details about the main cast, like their birthdates.
In the 56th edition of the column, a fan asked what nationality the Straw Hat pirates would be if One Piece was set in the real world. Oda said that "just going off of their appearance," the Straw Hat pirates would be from many locations. Luffy would be Brazillian, Zoro would be Japanese, Nami Swedish, Sanji French, Chopper would be Canadian, Robin would be Russian, Franky American and Brook would be Austrian. While many fans disagreed and debated the logic behind some of these answers. There was one other answer that made many uncomfortable.
While answering the question, Oda said that Usopp was from Africa. Of course, this ignores the fact that Africa isn't a country but rather a continent -- a continent made up of 54 very different countries, including densely populated, culturally diverse ones like Nigeria and Egypt. Reducing this large and varied continent down to a single country overlooks many different people and cultures and treats them like a singular mass. Treating the African nations this way is often used to deliberately other these cultures, treating them as a "great unknown" rather than a series of developed countries full of individual people with their own lives and beliefs.
However, when you contrast this comment with Usopp's appearance, things start to become problematic. Many readers quickly drew attention to Usopp's large lips, pointing out that this style of large, exaggerated lips was a common racist trope. This trope has been used to mock and dehumanize Black people for many years and is still used today. This, coupled with the large nose, made many people uncomfortable as it makes Usopp look worryingly close to a blackface caricature, an abhorrent trope that has also been used to insult and dehumanize Black people throughout history.
Usopp's design, paired with the fact that, based on what he looks like, Oda said he would be "from Africa," is a real issue, even if it was unintentional. While referring to Africa as a country instead of a continent is an unfortunately common mistake, when looking at it in tandem with Usopp's design, it becomes hard to deny that it veers far too close to racial stereotypes for comfort. It is a perfect example of how creatives can unwittingly build off tropes and cliches that have their origins in historical racism if they don't carefully consider their creative decisions.
This incident shows that in a world of global media spread, writers, artists and creators must be very careful to make sure they're not perpetuating offensive stereotypes within their works.
