One Piece is packed with female characters spanning over decades of storytelling. From Nami to Robin, most One Piece fans can tell whether an anime or manga character is drawn by the legendary Eiichiro Oda. He has a distinct art style for female characters, making it easy for fans to recognize his work.
However, before the Straw Hats set sail in One Piece, one of Eiichiro Oda’s editors made a harsh comment about his female characters. Of course, editors are there to provide brutally honest feedback to improve one’s work, and even the legendary mangaka Eiichiro Oda was not an exception. If it weren’t for this editor, One Piece fans could have been introduced to a different version of Nami, Robin, Vivi, and every other female character in the long-running series.
Eiichiro Oda’s Signature Look for Female Characters in One Piece
Over-the-Top Proportions and Perfect Hourglass Shapes
Eiichiro Oda’s female characters have a signature look.
Most of the female characters in One Piece have hourglass body shapes and exaggerated proportions.
Like any other Japanese manga artist, Eiichiro Oda also has a distinct art style when it comes to female characters. Most likely, any fan can easily recognize Eiichiro Oda’s female characters just by their exaggerated proportions and perfect hourglass shapes. From Nami to Boa Hancock, Oda clearly has a signature style unless a character requires a non-conventional body type, such as Big Mom, Kokoro, and more.
Additionally, Oda also tends to give his female characters large and expressive eyes and a posture to die for. It’s almost as if every female character is runway-ready with their long legs and torsos. The most beautiful women in One Piece also have exaggerated bust sizes, likely to appeal to fans with an idealized fantasy type. Of course, fans are still divided in their opinion about the women of One Piece, with some grateful for the designs, while others think it’s too much.
If you think I’m just another cute girl, you’re dead wrong.—Nami
Beyond body proportions, Oda also tends to put revealing clothes on his female characters. Nami, Robin, Vivi, and Hancock are some of the best examples of One Piece characters who often wear bikinis, crop tops, and low-neckline clothing. To be fair, Oda also has female characters with over-the-top designs just for comedy, and the same goes with his villains and elderly women.
At this point, Eiichiro Oda is now known for his exaggerated art style and over-the-top designs for female characters in One Piece. Every now and then, these female characters also become a part of anime-related lists published on countless websites, like “the most beautiful anime characters” or “the cutest anime waifus,” to name a few. They can also be found anywhere, with images of Nami and Robin becoming icons for social media profiles.
However, before Oda became so good at drawing cute female characters, he struggled to capture the kind of charm and appeal his editor, Kushima, wanted from him. According to Oda, Kushima once told him that none of his female characters are cute at all. Most likely, it was one of the reasons why his older works had difficulty being published in comparison to the works of his colleagues.
Before One Piece began, my editor Kushima told me, “None of the female characters you draw are cute at all !!” I got so mad I couldn’t sleep that night—I just kept drawing girl characters over and over. -Eiichiro Oda
Back then, Oda was still young and stubborn, so Kushima’s brutal yet honest comments about his female characters made him mad. It wasn’t that his female characters were poorly drawn, but they probably lacked the most basic appeal of a manga heroine. It was a turning point in Oda’s career, since he was forced to think and work harder about how he could improve his character designs.
A New Anime Starring Female Characters of One Piece
ONE PIECE Heroines Anime Officially Announced
Speaking of Eiichiro Oda’s female characters, an anime adaptation starring the women of One Piece has been green-lit. During the ONE PIECE DAY ’25 event, the voice actors finally revealed the good news. The upcoming anime will be based on the One Piece novel Heroines, written by Jun Esaka with illustrations by Sayaka Suwa.
So far, the release date of the One Piece Heroines anime is still unconfirmed, so fans will have to wait for more news and announcements over the coming days or weeks. Even so, fans of the most popular female characters in One Piece have more exciting things to look forward to apart from the anime, manga, live-action, and even the remake.
