One Piece key animator, popularly known as KDA on SNS, recently put out a tweet revealing his participation in episode 1090 of the anime. This said tweet involved a picture of Jewelry Bonney sitting topless at a bath.
Fans were quick to get riled up about the scene and also how Bonney was sexualized in the latest episode, pointing out that the age of the character was just 12. This resulted in the animator getting hate from a certain section of netizens.
Comments against the animator ranged from calling them an Epstein disciple and plain curses being hurled at them for the depiction of Bonney.
However, majority of the fans defended the animator saying they were just doing their job, and if people really had an issue with how Bonney was portrayed they should be taking it up with Oda.
Editors Note (with spoilers): For those unaware, Bonney’s devil fruit allows her to change her age (very basic explanation). So she can look like an older person, even though she is just 12 years old.
Interestingly, the animator responded to the controversy by taking the criticism in their stride. First off, they apologized for the whole sexualizing debate, but not for how Bonney was depicted, but instead it was for animating a shirtless Jinbei in the same episode.
This quip was well received by the fans.
Additionally, the animator also replied to one of the comments in his post, stating that they were genuinely unaware of Bonney’s age.
This is understandable because Bonney’s backstory and her real age were only revealed in the recent chapters, and One Piece episode 1090 could have been in production from much before.
This is not the first time that the One Piece community on SNS has riled up a controversy surrounding the depiction of characters. Before Bonney, Yamato was the character in focus for numerous discourses that spawned on Twitter and other platforms.
The One Piece anime is currently in the Egghead arc, which started airing on Jan 7, 2024. It marks the beginning of the final saga of the series.
The premise of the arc is as follows:
After the raid on Onigashima ends, the Strawhats bid farewell to Wano and follow their log pose to reach the mysterious island of Egghead. This futuristic island is where the renowned genius Dr. Vegapunk resides. As our heroes get to know more about Vegapunk, trouble is slowly brewing and approaching the island.
One Piece anime, produced by Toei Animation, premiered on Fuji TV in October 1999. Additionally, Toei has developed fourteen animated feature films, one original video animation, and thirteen television specials.
One Piece manga series, written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, has been serialized in Shueisha’s shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump since July 1997, with its individual chapters compiled into 107 tankobon volumes as of November 2023.
Source: Twitter