Discussion Yamato’s Gender

[modoki]

I’m going to use my best English here.
I’ve been checking reddit and certain twitter pages and this is quite the most sensitive and controversial topic of 2020 so far.
What is going on?

Here in Japan, from the people I know that religiously follow one piece, we are quite confused about how this particular topic became out of hand quickly.

But whatever the truth is, Oda is one of the best writers on the planet!

 

[nik87]

I dont know why people give so much attention to a topic so irrelevant.
Her gender is clear - a woman. She is impersonating someone she likes.
I am sure there are people who would debate it but there is nothing to debate.

 

[Nie Li]

I’m going to use my best English here.
I’ve been checking reddit and certain twitter pages and this is quite the most sensitive and controversial topic of 2020 so far.
What is going on?

Here in Japan, from the people I know that religiously follow one piece, we are quite confused about how this particular topic became out of hand quickly.

But whatever the truth is, Oda is one of the best writers on the planet!

You're from Japan? How do you perceive the character there exactly?

I dont know why people give so much attention to a topic so irrelevant.
Her gender is clear - a woman. She is impersonating someone she likes.
I am sure there are people who would debate it but there is nothing to debate.

Agreedo.

The script hasn't put any weight on her gender other than "I'm male now because Oden was male and I'm Oden". But people who want more LGBT+ representation are eager to see gender issues representation in their enterntainment fictions.

 

[modoki]

You're from Japan? How do you perceive the character there exactly?


Agreedo.

The script hasn't put any weight on her gender other than "I'm male now because Oden was male and I'm Oden". But people who want more LGBT+ representation are eager to see gender issues representation in their enterntainment fictions.

Correct, the first impressions myself and my group of friends (about 4 of us) all had in mind was Nami, breast size dimensions, and who the mom might be.
None of us had the slightest thought of gender confusion, just a character that looks up to another man aside from their own father as a role model.
As far as I know, we transcend phobias that relative to all gender. Does not bother us.
I do know for certain someone here has already or will draft a serious SBS question to Oda about this...

 

[Demonspeed]

I don't understand why it's so debated. Yamato is a woman. The introduction box says Kaidou's daughter(self proclaimed Kozuki Oden Yamato). Now if you want to call her a man or a woman it's up to you.

She is clearly a fangirl.

 

[ShadowHeart]

Well that's modern day in the West where any little thing can be constrovesial. I just see her as a hardcore cosplayer.

 

[HereNThere]

What is going on?

Some view Yamato as transgender, some do not.

There is a bit of discrepancy as the title card for Yamato introduced them as Kaido's daughter, but every other person in the series uses male pronouns to refer to Yamato, including Kaido, The Flying Six, and fodder.

Kaido continually refers to Yamato as his Son.

In the Japanese text, the Flying Six and random fodder refer to Yamato with a specific honorific that is used for the son's of important men.

And, obviously, Yamato uses male pronouns to refer to himself.

There is, to say the least, a lot that could be said about this topic.

It may not seem like a big deal to some, but it is to a lot of people, some of whom may very well relate to Yamato or just be excited about the mere possibility of them being a transgender character. Stuff like that can seriously mean a lot to folks.

There's more to be said about this topic, but, honestly, I'm not the person to do it.

Just keep in mind that folks that relate to Yamato most likely don't appreciate the flippancy in regards to the topic. It may seem inconsequential, but it's very real for them.

 

[Fox666]

Well that's modern day in the West where any little thing can be constrovesial. I just see her as a hardcore cosplayer.

Modern society be like

As you said, Yamato is a hardcore cosplayer. He wants to be seen as a man, but he probably couldn't care less about his sex or appearance, other than acting like Oden.

 

[nik87]

He wants to be seen as a man,

He?
She wants to be seen as Oden.
Not a man.

It happens that Oden was a man.
If Oden was a woman, she would still want to be seen as Oden, gender is irrelevant to her.
She tells Luffy to be Oden if he is a better Oden than her.

People are confused here about her intentions, she is impersonating someone who impressed her the most.
She doesnt want to be a man, she wants to be Oden.
Nothing to do with a man or a woman.

 

[M3J]

I dont know why people give so much attention to a topic so irrelevant.
Her gender is clear - a woman. She is impersonating someone she likes.
I am sure there are people who would debate it but there is nothing to debate.

I'd actually agree here. In any case, my curiosity was based on the theory of Kaidou getting his offspring married to Big Mom's.

 

[modoki]

I'd actually agree here. In any case, my curiosity was based on the theory of Kaidou getting his offspring married to Big Mom's.

IT might be me, but Black Maria has horns very similar in appearance as Yamato.

 

[McNuss]

I can only repeat what I have said in the chapter thread. The reason why Oda brings up this various gender identities is because the story that defined the binary system is the story about the Devil's fruit as well. Genesis.

One Piece is some kind of crazy "pagan" bible, and the chapter that introduced Oden is named as such.

Oden's journal is the story of finding One Piece and as such the in-story equivalent of the Manga itself. Which makes Yamato the reader (notice how the name, aside from forming a nice contrast with Kaido, also represents Japan?). We have fervent Zoro and Sanji fanboys here on this board and everywhere , Zehahaha sometimes roleplays as Blackbeard, on Reddit you have people frequently cracking skull jokes or are all "Suuuuper" like Franky.

I have been following One Piece for around 20 years now, and can tell you that it is impossible not to get influenced by it one way or another if you read it like this. Because it is meant to be.

In Yamato's case you can use any pronoun you like. Yamato is essentially role playing Oden, so you can either adress Kaido's daughter or the role of Kozuki Oden. Yes that is confusing and yes that is meant to be confusing.

Now what is really interesting is that Genesis itself is already in defiance of older myths that defined a very different role for the females. Also some of the Sumerian-Semitic deities preceding the tanach either had a sex change somewhere down history or the ability to change their gender...

 

[kkck]

I will make the same point I made in the chapter discussion: Yamato is a woman. And insane woman who made a conscious decision to be a man because of how violently she fangirled over oden. What yamato is doing has literally nothing to do with her own gender identity. At best she is a gag character doing a bit for us the readers (get it? She wants to be oden so bad she'd call herself a man over it trolololololol) and at worst she is attempting the saddest identity theft ever. I like the description of her as a cosplayer, that checks out very well. But what yamato is not is an lgbtq character. People need to remember that this manga is japanese and people over there have a different perspective over these things (one which I don't quite get nor can explain for that matter).

 

[King Moe]

Is there really huge debate on this? I don't see it much on other formats, but then again might not be that all surprise on Twitter and Reddit at times though. I feel you can address her on either gender or call Yamato 'they/them' to be respectful on both sides if that is the case. We got see later on how Oda work character on what he is pushing, but with characters like Kiku and the Okamas like Bon Clay (Even though sometimes can be somewhat stereotypical, but could be learning given Kiku and maybe Yamato as of late on LGBT), it's not out of reach to say Oda doesn't mind putting an LGBT character in ways, but shouldn't be push to fighting and hateful stuff over it now.

 

[Sachsenhesse]

Correct, the first impressions myself and my group of friends (about 4 of us) all had in mind was Nami, breast size dimensions

Stay exactly like this. More a Robinguy myself but these are the real question we should discuss.

 

[TitaniumOxide]

Ivankov probably visited Wano. And now the plot thickens...

 

[King Moe]

Ivankov probably visited Wano. And now the plot thickens...

I mean he is high ranking member in RA and can even be said to be Third-In-Command of RA behind Sabo and Dragon given how their second HQ is on his island. Ivankov is much greater force than people realize not just in power, but influence too.

 

[M3J]

Ivankov probably visited Wano. And now the plot thickens...

What could Iva have done? If Yamato wants to be Oden, then she'd want to be or stay as a man, not be a woman.

 

[hokageji]

i think the complication is because people dont understand these issues and dont wanna be seen as offensive, but in terms of the storyline, there isnt much to discuss. whether its a he or she doesnt matter as long as people are discussing in terms of the story.

 

[catagon87]

The interesting thing to me is the name "Yamato".
People mentioned that it's gender neutral, but I disagree. I'm half Japanese, lived there 10 years of my life, and my wife is Japanese. I've personally never met a female named Yamato. I guess it could be possible, just like in America I've worked with a man named "Ashley", but I've just never witnessed it. My wife agreed, too, that Yamato is at the very least, an incredibly rare name to give to a female. So it's odd to me that Kaido's "son" named Yamato is actually a beautiful woman.

Was he in denial about her biological gender?