Wapol is Based on Donald Trump, says Screenwriter of One Piece Live-Action Season 2
Did you enjoy the first season of the One Piece live-action? Well, some fans are already worried about the second season, as one of its screenwriters mentioned that a villain set to appear next season, Wapol, is based on Donald Trump, who was previously and is now again the elected president of the United States.
Randy Troy is a longtime One Piece YouTuber who joined the writing team for the second season of the live-action series. It must be an incredible dream come true to be a YouTuber dedicated to an anime and end up working on your beloved series after years of dedication.
Wapol is Based on Donald Trump, says Screenwriter of One Piece Live-Action Season 2
However, for many, he’s now throwing his credibility away. On November 8, Randy posted on his Twitter account that the villain Wapol is “based on Donald Trump.”
According to Randy, “In an almost prophetic turn from Oda, Trump’s U.S. policies were/are riddled with healthcare management issues..”
Randy ended up deleting his post after receiving the community note, but before that, he had this exchange with a fan:
“I find this very hard to believe since Trump wasn’t politically relevant in 2000, when Wapol first appeared. I also hate to say it, but Wapol might end up being a good guy (or at least helping the good guys) in the end, so I’m not sure you want to go down that route…”
To which Randy insisted that Oda had been following the US political scene in the 2000s and took inspiration from Donald Trump when creating Wapol:
“(Trump) planted seeds back in 1985, leading to many jokes about him as a US president in pop culture into the early 2000s, when Drum was serialized. Even the famous Simpsons episode “Bart to the Future” referenced this idea before the Drum Arc began.”
And with that reply, he received a wave of criticism:
“This is the kind of post I’d expect from a 14-year-old who discovered One Piece last week, not an adult actually working on the live-action show.”
“That was only known in the US. No way Oda was well-versed in Trump’s morning show antics in 2000.”
“Come on, man. Cut it out. People are going to take this seriously.”
“Fire this guy immediately. He’s directly contradicting the source material and pushing his own politics on us.”
“I wonder how Oda could get this info when internet access was limited in 2000? As an Eastern creator, Western content was mostly seen in books/prints in the early 2000s. Asians only knew about it if you were a popular singer or film actor. And for a non-English country like Japan, that was rare.”
“I highly doubt a Japanese person in ’99 was so invested in Donald Trump to reference him through elaborate interlingual etymology and make him the main antagonist of an arc in a shounen manga.”
“You’ll never convince me that a Japanese mangaka cared about something so insular and niche.”
“I don’t think that’s the case at all. Trump was just a businessman back then. He had no political relevance. You’re overreaching.”
“Can Americans stop projecting their culture and politics onto foreign art? You’re so annoying. If you can’t look at a manga without seeing Trump in it, you shouldn’t be working on an adaptation.”
“Yep, here we have another libtard trying to ‘wake up’ and twist a piece into their personal reference for political or agenda gain. That’s why people hate this woke nonsense.”
“Why did you delete your original post? Because it was stupid as hell?”
“I’m Japanese, and no one in Japan knew about Trump in 2000. You’re an idiot. Don’t think everyone in the world knows American celebrities.”
“How the hell are you working on an anime you clearly know nothing about? Never mind, it’s Netflix.”
Many fans are now concerned that One Piece’s second season might end up injecting American politics due to the actions of writers like Randy, who is openly critical of Trump on his Twitter profile. What do you think of this?
via FandomPulse