One Piece
One Piece
The mangaka who created it has become a multimillionaire since it is the best-selling manga in recent times, and although it was initially created and published at the end of the last century by the legendary youth magazine Shōnen Jump, it was during the beginning of This 21st century when the manga has taken on cruising speed, and to this day, periodic comics continue to be published, therefore it is one of the longest-running mangas in the history of that medium as well.
Set in a world of pirates, the protagonist will begin the search for the mythical treasure known as One Piece and which will give whoever finds it the status of the best pirate. It has many similarities with a manga that we also know well around here, it is Dragon Ball (based on The monkey king, the Chinese story, which is also similar to the characters mentioned). The protagonist of One Piece, Monkey D. Luffy, shares certain similarities with the protagonist of the aforementioned Dragon Ball manga, Son Goku, and these similarities are highly appreciated in Japan and the Asian world for the protagonists of a series. This is a boy who knows he is a winner and superior to the rest of mortals, therefore he laughs and has fun while fighting against his enemies. This is a classic archetype that, as we say, is very popular in the East, and it seems like the "living forces" of manga in Japan, including the magazine where the manga is published, as well as the production company in charge of making the animated television series (Toei Animation), together with the creator, have decided that it was time to launch a new hero of these characteristics to flood the aspirations and ultimately the hearts of the youth as a whole.
This hero archetype has a certain resemblance to Harry Potter, the protagonist of the eponymous saga, with the difference that the latter is not known a priori as the winner, even if he is. In the case at hand, and as we have already mentioned, the protagonist of One Piece knows and is a winner, and to repeat ourselves once again, this fact is highly appreciated for a protagonist in Asia.
In short, there remains a social phenomenon, a pan-media movement that occupies the available spaces to become (almost) ubiquitous.
