FoxxFireArt (Level 25)

Did Wonder Woman inspire a story in one of Japan's most popular manga series?

In the world of manga and anime, you have to realize that just because the culture is across the Pacific from us that it's not an entire world away. The American culture has been influencing events and sometimes characters in anime for years. Sometimes these worlds collide to make something pretty amazing.
 
One author that has been slipping parodies of western culture into his works has been author and artist Eiichiro Oda. Browse though the list of characters, events, and locations for his series One Piece. You can find a lot interesting jokes. Emporio Ivankov is an obvious parody of the character Dr. Frank N. Furter from the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"(1975). The villain Jango dresses like Micheal Jackson and even moonwalks everywhere. The island filled with zombies was named Thriller Bark. Even the latest story of Fish-Man Island has names from the Japanese folklore "The Tale of Urashima Taro". What may surprise many who aren't into both manga and comics. A story arc in the One Piece series bares some remarkable similarities to the original story from one of DC Comics big three, Wonder Woman. Not to say they are identical. It's just hard to not see some subtle yet interesting similarities.
 

The Islands

In Wonder Woman there is an isolated island of Themyscira, and Diana(Wonder Woman) is the princess of the island. In One Piece the princess of Amazon Lily is Boa Hancock. Though I wouldn't really go comparing Hancock with Wonder Woman too much when it comes to personality. Themyscira is isolated from the rest of the world and no men are allowed on it's shores. Amazon Lily is located in a special stretch of sea called the Calm Belt. It has no tides of wild so sailing there is impossible. Only special boats can reach the island, but no men are allowed.
 

Amazons

Wile the origin story has changed throughout the decades. The amazons of Themyscira were at one time slaves who fought for their own freedoms. They were granted an unaging life on this isolated island and all are warriors of great pride and strength. On Amazon Lily, they don't seem to live forever. The story is that occasionally the Kuja Amazons may leave the island and return with child, but for some reason are all born women. They value strength as beauty.
 
Themyscira is an island based around Greek mythology, but so far the Kuja Amazons haven't shown much connection to that culture. Here's another tidbit. The three sisters of the Kuja Pirates are call the Gorgon Sisters; Hancock. Marigold, and Sandersonia. Boa Hancock has the power to change people into stone. It's believed that the three sisters defeated the a Gorgon monster and were cursed with it's mark. Most of the Kuja Amazons have never heard of the Devil Fruits, the real source of Hancock's powers to turn people into stone.
 

The Landing

In the original story of Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor crash lands on Themyscira. He's healed by Diana and she wins the tournament set up by her mother to win the right to return him to Man's World so he can return to the war. Now, let's look at the Amazon Lily Arc from One Piece. It was at Sabaody Archipelago where the entire Straw Hat Pirate crew suffered their greatest defeat. Bartholomew Kuma used his unique powers to scatter the crew across the world and on a variety of islands. The Island the captain, Luffy, was Amazon Lily. Luffy crash landed. He's found on the island by the Kuja Amazons. Most had never even seen a man before, so they mistook him as a villager. He was brought back and healed. Once he as revealed to be a man, he was put into a jail until they decided what to do with him. Luffy's goal was to return to his crew.

Tournaments

In Wonder Woman's story, Diana Prince disguises herself in a tournament in a Greek inspired coliseum. That's how she gained the uniform and her iconic gauntlets, tiara, and golden lasso. She takes Trevor home and joins the war. In One Piece, Luffy is brought to a coliseum for his execution where he fights alone. In the manga, the chapter was even titled "Coliseum". First he fights the giant-killer panther then the Gorgon Sisters, Marigold and Sandersonia. The battle only ends when Luffy puts himself at risk to protect a secret the sisters would die to keep.
 
After Luffy shows that he's unlike any other man they have known, Luffy makes friends with many of the amazons. Such is his innocent and goofy charm. While they are enjoying a party, Luffy gets word that his older brother, Ace, has been captured and is scheduled for execution. Luffy is allowed to leave and Boa Hancock escorts Luffy on his journey to rescue his brother and they both get involved in the war between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Marines.
 
They are very different stories, but it's interesting to see some of the things they share.

See for Yourself

If you are curious about this story, you can check it out for yourself. Most of the story is published in One Piece Volume 53. The entire story arc can also be seen on HULU.

• One Piece Episode 408 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 409 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 410 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 411 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 412 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 413 HERE 
• One Piece Episode 414 HERE
• One Piece Episode 415 HERE  
• One Piece Episode 416 HERE
• One Piece Episode 417 HERE

 
-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for lesson updates: @ animevice / @ FoxxFireArt