One Piece and Zen
One Piece is my favorite anime, and quite possibly one of the greatest works of fiction, ever. Fight me.
I have so many thoughts about the importance of its themes that I struggle to write them down. While its anarchist themes are fairly self-evident, this video’s Buddhist interpretation is very interesting (glossing over any technical inaccuracies), and, I have to say, complementary to the political views espoused here.
There’s a lot more I could say about politic themes in One Piece. But for now I will direct readers to this excellent discussion of One Piece’s recent break out into the real world as a symbol of global youth rebellion.
https://www.onepiecepodcast.com/podcast/oneprotest
Particularly interesting to me is the idea that One Piece’s popularity as a symbol of freedom and rebellion is that it explicitly does not talk about political ideology and theory. Instead, it embodies them. It always shows, rather than tells. Most people don’t live in that heady space of abstraction, but nonetheless possess a keen intuitive understanding of what freedom feels like. It feels like the beat of a boundless heart, an inheritance of will, a voice echoing incessantly throughout history like a drum:
freedom, freedom
No Selves, No Masters 