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whirlybirdwhat · 5 years ago

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Its been awhile since I Rambled so guess what y'all are getting tonight!

Today’s topic is going to be Family; specifically, the family dynamics/examples in One Piece.

In the first two ‘arcs’, Shells Town and Orange Town, there isn’t a single mention of family beyond ChouChou (a good doggy) and his owner, and even that is less familial and more Pet-owner friendship, obviously. Instead, the arcs focus on introducing characters (Luffy, Zoro, Nami) and establishing world building and themes of the story - This is what the One Piece is, This what the series is all about, dreams and chasing them forever.

It isn’t until Syrup we get a mention of family, and even then its just Usopp’s lack of one, as he has a dead mother, and a faraway father. The most important aspect of this is that Usopp doesn’t really know his father beyond a role model.

It isn’t until the Baratie and Cocoyasi Arcs that we see any importance placed on ‘family,’ which is little over 40 chapters into the series.

And so BOOM - another major theme is introduced into the series, subtly tying into the main theme (Dreams and chasing them) and etc.

I personally however like how it was introduced behind everything else because you eventually become completely blindsided to how important family is in One Piece. And not just any family - the family you choose which is simply awesome!

So lets start looking at these family’s shall we?

All of these families are really diverse in their dynamics, so lets start with the easiest example - Usopp, who has none.

As previously stated, Usopp’s mother is dead, and for all we love Yasopp he pretty much ditched the kid. So - an example of a lack of family and how that influenced Usopp, without him turning into a ‘woe is me, I hate my dad’ character which can be common trope in fiction. Pretty interesting if you ask me.

Zoro can also be seen to have no family, and unlike Usopp, he never appears to have had any in the first place (Wano Arc may explain), and, yet again, doesn’t fall into a common trope for this.

Moving on, the next family relationship seen in One Piece is Sanji and Zeff, which is incredibly heart warming to me. Classic Single Dad trying to get his son to move out trope lol. More seriously, this is another family dynamic that we see -

and very different from the next person, Name, who has no parent at all and when she did, she had a single mother. Bell-mere is an amazing example of a mom struggling to feed her kids and literally willing to do anything for these two girls she found in the wreckage of a battle. Bell-mere is also one of the few examples of some kick-ass moms we see in the series.

While One Piece follows the ‘kill the moms/absent mom’ trope they do make them awesome characters who definitely did not lie down and take their deaths nicely.

Nami’s arc is also the first time we see a sibling and also the first time we see the sibling get wounded in front of another hi ace , and begins to add value to the found family theme.

Because Nojiko chose to be Nami’s sister. Bell-mere chose to be Nami’s mother. Further back, Zeff chose to be Sanji’s father.

And then we meet (rip) Ace, who appears to be a blood relative of Luffy’s, adding importance not only the family we choose but the family we have. Of course, this is debunked later, but it definitely reinforces the ‘I love my family’ thing we have going on (Hey have you seen my baby brother - that's my kid brother - don’t hurt my brother - have I said Luffy’s my brother yet - Ace, Alabasta, pre death)

Oh! And we can’t forget about Chopper’s lovely parents who love him despite the fact that he’s not even human, (I salute you old medical people) and Vivi’s father who clearly adores his daughter and is very proud and supportive of her?

Alright.

And then there were four.

Robin and Franky’s backstories happen at the same time and are vastly different yet incredibly similar.

Robin’s story is about losing family, even the family you had for but a few days (Saul) and eventually reclaiming a family for yourself. She is also one of the few characters who have a biological relative.

Franky’s story is about the continuous gain and loss of the same family. He started out with nothing - his parents threw him overboard for gods sake - but then he gained Tom, Icebarg, and Kokoro, and the frog (I forget how to spell his name oops) and formed a relationship with them... only to lose them again when Tom died and then gained them again along with the Franky Family.

His story is also very cool because, unlike the others, he was the leader of his family and not the one relying on the others. Also unlike the others, he lost his family when he was an adult.

Now - what are the similarities between the two, you may ask? Well, for one, they both inadvertently caused the death of a loved one (Robin, Saul and Franky, Tom). Their biological family was either abusive (Robins Aunt, Franky Parents for throwing him overboard) or absent (Robin’s parents as explorers, Franky’s for abandoning him), yet their ‘first’ found family was people who were part of their career - the shipwrights for Franky and the archeologists for Robin!

Essentially, the message here is your work, your job, your coworkers can be your family too - it doesn’t have to be someone who fills a familial role specifically!

Lastly we have Brook, the Sanji situation and Luffy - Jimbei’s will come at a later date once I get the hang of his backstory and character.

Brook first - he lost it all as an adult. Thats essentially all I have to say, as we know very little of his childhood. But as an adult he lost the family he created, the Rumbar pirates, and Laboon, proving that not only can adults make their own families but they can lose it too - different from the rest of the then teenage straw hats.

His family is also similar to Chopper’s as species doesn’t matter to Brook - he loves Laboon as if he were a dear human friend.

Which is just sweet yknow?

The opposite of Sanji’s biological family, who are assholes. This is great family dynamic because it proves that only the people who you think of as family, are family, and not every family is kind and loving. Which sucks, but is an important thing to realize, as it contrasts all the other messages we have had so far from One Piece!

Then we have Luffy. He is one of the few characters with living biological family - and one of the few who just doesn’t care. Luffy hits the mark of every box in a way - he’s lost family (Ace, Sabo), he has absent parental figures (his mom, whoever she it, and Dragon) actual parental figures (Dadan, if you want, Makino, and Shanks at least as a role model) family by choice (His brothers) abusive yet weirdly loving family (Gramps) and self sacrificing family (Rip Ace)

Whats important though is how it effects him - specifically in Marineford.

He does all of that for family, feels like he would die if he didn’t, and built his own family out of the Strawhats. With Marineford, the theme of family, chosen family, was emphasized and finally hammered in.

tl;dr The Straw Hat Pirate crew and One Piece in general has a wide array of characters with diverse families, all who influence the characters by their absence, presence and actions one way or another, and help bolster the subtle theme of ‘found family is important’ in One Piece, especially with the Marineford arc (Rip Ace). It is also important to note that most of the characters. gave up the family they had to be with their family in the Strawhats, which wow, my heart.

Anyway, that's it, this is long so I'm not checking it for errors, have fun!!! I just needed to say something about how how I love those family dynamics in one piece

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