Another day, another round of terminally online Western keyboard warriors running to virtue signal over fictional characters, this time as a number of such individuals have leveled death threats at a One Piece animator due to nothing more than his working in animating a recent scene centering on the series’ resident glutton pirate, Jewelry Bonney.
The eponymous captain of the Bonney Pirates and the youngest member of the series’ Worst Generation of rising superstar pirates, upon her debut in Eiichiro Oda’s seminal series, Jewelry Bonney originally appears as a voluptuous woman whose age, based on her appearance, numbered somewhere in her late teens or early 20s.
However, it is soon discovered that she is the wielder of the Age-Age Fruit, the effects of which have granted her the ability to manipulate the age of any given person or object – including herself, as it is subsequently revealed that not only is her current adult form the result of her powers, but also that her real age is roughly 12-years-old.
In light of this information, many Western fans have taken to treating Jewelry’s character as a literal child, even going so far as to hysterically accusing any individual who finds her aged-up appearance attractive of being a pedophile.
Enter the One Piece anime’s 1090th episode ‘A New Island! Future Island Egghead’.
The controversial scene in questions occurs just after Luffy, Chopper, and Bonney land on Egghead Island following their rescuing from the jaws of one of Vegapunk’s massive robot sharks by the Straw Hat Crew’s latest recruit, Jinbe.
Therein, her clothes soaked from her recent trip overboard, Bonney proceeds to take off her shirt and wring the water out of it – a slight hint of her breasts able to be seen behind her arms – before eventually putting it back on.
Following the episode’s airing, one of the scene’s key animators, known only by their online handle @KDAAartist took to their personal Twitter account to both proudly reveal that he had “participated as a key animator in #ONEPIECE1090” and share his hope that audiences “enjoyed Bonney’s scenes!”
Alongside this tweet, the animator also shared a celebratory piece of artwork featuring Jewelry Bonney, as seen post-Jinbei-rescue, alongside the words “Thanks for watching! One Piece #1090″.
“Oh btw, thanks to Suzuki-san and every staff members, didn’t had time to finish every nigen ( that’s why there is maybe some errors in the clean version from cleanup artists ) but even with that little mistake,” they added. “They did a great job!”
In a follow-up tweet, after being met with @AnimeAjay’s praise over the fact that he had produced “Criminally horny work”, the animator noted that “while animating her , I didn’t have a single clue of her age. No cap.”
Yet, while @kda_artist basked in the glow of a job well done, the aforementioned Western critics – some who were not even One Piece fans – deluded themselves into believing that it was their moral duty to protect this ‘over-sexualized child’ by any means necessary.
@my_chigettda clutched their peals, “‘He doesnt know’ as if this is a good way to portray any female character regardless of age???”
“They gonna beat you with sticks bro,” @NinjaaaDigit tweeted.
@feeblescholar69 proclaimed, “You should be beat with large rocks and a hammer”.
Taking things to the next level, @orbitsasylum warned the animator, “We will corner you in a dark alley.”
@mistabbygirl outright threatened “I think we have to kill this guy with hammers.”
@gxrlwonder declared “Ni–a said I hope u enjoy the bonney scenes???? You will die”.
However, rather than kowtow to the outrage mob’s threats, @kda_artist instead shared an animated GIF of series villain Donquixote Doflamingo laughing and declared, “Me reading the comments and replies.”
Further poking the bear, the animator sarcastically concluded: “Also, for the « sexualizing » controversy. I’m sorry for drawing Jinbei shirtless.”
