#i was literally like ‘WE POPPIN THE BIGGEST BOTTLES WHEN YAMATO JOINS THE CREW!!!’

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

RANTING ABOUT YAMATO D. ONE PIECE

This turned into my most obnoxious rant of all time.

…So I logged on because I was gonna go on this rant about how Yamato D. One Piece is not a fucking trans man. But tons of people smarter than me have already explained this.

I feel uniquely qualified to speak on this because I am transgender. I’m half White, but I know a thing or two about Japanese culture… 

It is so fucking cringe that people think BOKUKKOS are trans men!!!

It’s all white people too!!! I’m not judging trans people in the Japanese diaspora (or, from an Asian country that Japan colonized). But the white people are really not helping… A lot of them aren’t even trans too!!

Do I really have to explain why Yamato D. Hottest Bokukko in Fiction would be a terrible example of a trans man? 

How much more obvious do you have to make it that you think trans men are women?

If you want to see an actual good example of a trans man in manga, look no further than Sechs D. Battle Angel Alita:

This dude disappears for a bit and when he comes back later, he’s a guy now. 

Nobody gives a shit because it’s the future. 

Also, gender transition is really good in the future… He has a fully functioning dick, balls, and Y chromosome now… He was under 5’ before this, now he’s over 6’... He is arguably the real protagonist of Battle Angel Alita Last Order… This man really is living the dream!

…But as I say this, I also think it is totally fine to theorize that Yamato is transgender. 

How I do explain this? 

I think it is really toxic to insist that Yamato is trans in canon, but that it is equally toxic to put people down for theorizing that she is trans. 

Literally… the most memed thing in the entire One Piece fandom is the insane fan theory that Sir D. Crocoboy is secretly female-to-male transgender, and he gave birth to Monkey D. Luffy. Boys, I’m not even agnostic on this one… I’m just fully atheist. I think this is the craziest, most noncanoniest theory ever, but because it’s One Piece anything is possible… There is a nonzero probability that the Crocomomists are actually right.

With this in mind, is it really that crazy to speculate that Yamato will later turn out to be transgender? Imagine this: At the very end of One Piece, we find out that Yamato met up with Emporio D. Ivankov off-screen, and she’s just a guy now. Would anyone really be that surprised by this? The same fandom that memes the shit out of Crocomom and thinks everyone is secretly Rocks D. Xebec’s son… Is this really that insane of a theory? 

I just think people need to stop insisting that Yamato “is” trans (as in, “is trans in canon; you’re transphobic if you disagree”) but it’s totally fine to make theories, or non-canon headcanons.

* * *

It just dawned on me that I genuinely do have a potentially “interesting” perspective on this, given that I am transgender and also familiar with Japanese culture. I worked for a Japanese company for several years!

…Well, I’m going to reiterate points that smarter people have already made, but here goes:

Being a radically different culture from the West, Japan has different media tropes related to gender. 

Yamato is the trope called “Bokukko” (ボクっ娘): https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%9C%E3%82%AF%E3%81%A3%E5%A8%98 

If you cannot read Japanese, here is an English language description of the trope: https://the-dere-types.fandom.com/wiki/Other:Bokukko 

Yamato is also the trope of “girl raised as boy”. This is a very common trope in Asian media.

One of the most famous examples of this in Japanese media is Rose of Versailles. 

The main character is named Lady Oscar. She is not transgender, but a woman who was raised as a boy. 

Compare Lady Oscar

With Yamato

Don’t their hairstyles look a little similar? 

When Yamato first appeared, I thought to myself, “Is it possible that Yamato is inspired by Lady Oscar?”

She actually is!

On June 6th, 2019, Oda actually confirmed that he took inspiration from Rose of Versailles. 

“I finished reading Glass Mask, so now I’m reading Rose of Versailles. Oscar was a woman?!”

Yamato was revealed in 2020. 

This is why I refer to Yamato as “she”. It is not to “misgender” her. She is not transgender, but Oda’s take on “Lady Oscar”!

I think people outside of Japan have this perception that the Japanese fandom is transphobic, but this is not true! Well, not entirely true… Of course, there is a side of the Japanese fandom that is transphobic, but this is also true in the West. Much like the Western fandom, there is also a side of the Japanese fandom that is LGBT friendly!

Yamato’s gender even caused confusion in the Japanese fandom. In the side that is LGBT friendly, there is some discourse surrounding whether she should be considered “transgender” (トランスジェンダー) or “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). 

The general consensus is that Kikunojo can be considered “transgender” (トランスジェンダー), while it is better to describe Yamato as “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). 

Why Kikunojo is “transgender” (トランスジェンダー): 

This phrase “I am a woman at heart” confirms that her gender identity is female.

This is reflected in her Vivre Card: 

The Vivre Card reads:

性別:男（心は女）

Literal translation:

Sex: Male (Heart is female)

心 literally means “heart”, but in this context it means gender identity. 

This is how the Vivre Card confirms that Kikunojo is transgender.

Why Yamato is not “transgender” (トランスジェンダー): 

Rather than saying “I am a man at heart” or “I am a man!”, Yamato says “Kozuki Oden was a man, right? So I became a man, too!!"

Yamato does not properly have a male gender identity; rather, she literally identifies as Kozuki Oden. 

Oda also describes Yamato as Kaido’s daughter (娘), and her first person pronoun is “boku” (僕). This is noteworthy, as most of the male characters in One Piece use the pronoun “ore” - including Kozuki Oden! This makes Oda’s intent obvious: Yamato is not “transgender”, but a “bokukko”.

This too is reflected in Yamato’s Vivre Card: 

The card simply reads: 

性別:女

No difference from any other female character.

If Yamato was transgender, it would say this instead: 

性別:女（心は男）

We can also tell that Yamato is not transgender from the way she is drawn.

Here is Yamato standing next to Kikunojo:

Oda draws male characters differently from how he draws female characters, not just in terms of body type but also face. Because he is respectful of transgender people, he makes this decision based on gender identity (心). You can discern a character’s gender identity through the visual language of the manga.

Kikunojo’s eyes and facial structure are drawn like a female character. It is a very respectful portrayal. 

Yamato’s eyes and facial structure are also drawn like a female character. If Yamato was a trans man, this would be disrespectful. But because she is not transgender, this is how Oda visually communicates that Yamato is a woman.

A lot of people point to the Vivre Cards as definitive proof that Yamato is not transgender, but I also think the comment regarding Rose of Versailles is definitive. If you’re familiar with Japanese fictional tropes, it’s pretty obvious that Yamato is not transgender. 

Rather than being transgender, Yamato can be described as “genderless” (ジェンダーレス). “Genderless” (ジェンダーレス) doesn’t exactly mean the English word “genderless”; rather, it describes a Japanese cultural trend where people defy rigid gender norms without being part of the LGBT community. It isn’t LGBT representation, but this “genderless” (ジェンダーレス) representation is also important in Japanese media.

Let’s compare Yamato with Sechs (Battle Angel Alita).

Unlike Yamato, Sechs can be described as “transgender”. 

Previously I showed what Sechs looked like in his new body, but this is what he looked like at the beginning of the manga: 

In terms of appearance, it is obvious that he is physically female. But his style, movements, facial structure, and even body structure all appear more masculine. 

His speech is very aggressive and masculine, including his first pronoun “ore” (オレ) which is actually written in katakana to convey the roughness of his personality.

When he reappears a few volumes later, he looks like this:

He changed his body to match his gender identity. Nothing about his pattern of speech changes, because he always had a male gender identity (心は男). Yukito Kishiro was WAY ahead of his time with this one...!

As I’m writing this, I can totally see why this confuses people, especially if you can’t read Japanese. But if you’re going to engage with Japanese media, I highly recommend learning Japanese. Japanese is such a different language from English, a lot gets lost in translation.

At the same time, I don’t think it’s inconceivable that Yamato might change her gender later on. This is gonna blow your mind, but writers can change their mind about a character in the middle of writing a story. It is clear that Oda did not originally plan for Yamato to be transgender, but he could change his mind about this.

If fans were describing this as a fan theory, I would be supportive! That’s actually a fun and interesting theory.

Really, what I object to is this weird “fandom tyranny” that happens on both sides. It’s harmful to be like “You are transphobic if you don’t think Yamato is transgender” but equally harmful to be like “You’re so stupid and not allowed to think Yamato might be transgender.”

Both of these sides contribute to negative perceptions of transgender people in Japan!

Can we just respect each other’s opinions without trying to impose our own?

Thanks for coming to my TEDx Talk!