One Piece "Land of Wano", Eiichiro Oda, 2021
I have decided to make my primary sources for my research project the One Piece anime and the One Piece manga. I have been an enthusiast for this series since I was in middle school and have never lost interest. Over the past week or so, I have been revisiting the scenes that seem relevant to the topic of Animals, People, and Power. There are certain arcs that seem to be more political based than others, while others seem to be more focused on animalization. Trying to find relevant primary sources was really hard as there weren't that many credible sources. However, I stuck with One Piece because of the morals and comprehensive story it provides to us. Even though I did say it was hard finding secondary sources, I did in the end find primary sources for both, the manga and the anime. However, I believe I am going to stick with the anime and not so much the manga because the sources I found seem to strongly based on the anime. I believe the anime does a better job than the manga in portraying scenes of power and dehumanization as we get to hear emotions and attitudes behind dialogue, along with a soundtrack. I plan on trying to find more clips that correlate to my topic of power and dehumanization in One Piece over the next few weeks. After finding these said clips, I want to extensively analysis then comparing the information I get from it with the ideas of the secondary sources I am using.
After continuing my analysis on One Piece I came across a few questions that I hope to eventually be able to answer. Does the political and power side of One Piece correlates to Eiichiro Oda's personally upbringing/life? I question this because there seems to be a great uneven distribution of power leading to corruption and wondered if it related to real life. Another question I have is why many characters in power animalize people below them by calling them "worms" and "pests"?
I want to continue to pursue analyzing the different aspects of One Piece due it being such an important influence in my life. Every Saturday I look forward to watching a new episode. It provides an escape for me that no other show can provide for me. I look forward to continuing the research process and getting even more in depth of One Piece.