More Shonen Anime Should Have Their Own ‘One Piece Heroines’ Style Spin-Offs

Watching shonen anime is similar to viewing the world through a magnifying glass. The moment you peer beyond the rim, the world outside of its confines becomes harder to perceive. Only here, the confines tend to be male-centric stories where women in the hero’s ensemble play only a supporting role in the grander story. That’s not to say there are no strong female characters dominating the genre. Even in anime as sacrosanct as the “Big Three,” a woman’s big hero moments tend to come with a “finally” as they rise up to the feats of their comrades—though never shoulder-to-shoulder as to steal their limelight. It’s happened to Sakura Haruno in Naruto ; it’s happened to Orihime Inoue in the latest episode of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War , and it’s happened even more often to the ladies in One Piece .

Thankfully, One Piece Heroines is a TV special that rectifies the sausage-party phenomenon of shonen epics by giving the Straw Hat ladies a much-needed night out as the heroes in their own spin-off story, and more shonen would do well to follow suit.

We’ve said it once but it bears repeating: whether you’re watching the OG anime and reading the manga ‘s 1,000+ episodes and chapters, watching Netflix’s live-action series , or waiting for WIT Studio’s leaner remake , now is a really good time to get into One Piece . If Toei Animation’s previous special for Eiichiro Oda’s long-running series , One Piece Fan Letter , was the fandom’s version of the heartwarming anime film Look Back , One Piece Heroines is as close as the series has gotten to The Devil Wears Prada and The Phantom Thread . Based on Jun Esaka and Sayaka Suwa’s light-novel spin-off, the special sees Nami and Nico Robin join forces for a heist at a fashion show.

On the surface, their tale sounds as pedantic as woman-led stories can be. But the inciting incident to their rare team-up is a pretty clever, almost shower-thought-provoking one. Light spoilers for that. Turns out Nami bought some shoes from a bougie fashion brand that specializes in making footwear that meets every woman’s needs. Said brand is very popular with women who take to the high seas because their fancy footwear is also fashion they can fight in. When Nami hurts her toe while wearing what’s essentially a fast-fashion version of the esteemed brand, she meets a female cobbler who works as an assistant to the brand’s owner, who wants Nami to model his brand on a runway.

Turns out the dude is behind a string of pirate jewel robberies, whose recent caper was the Straw Hats’ own ship and Nami’s own stash. Nami, being the Sapphic charmer that she is, convinces her crewmate Nico Robin to join her on an Ocean’s Eleven -style heist while also lifting her newfound friend, in whom she engendered self-confidence, to not only craft her new footwear to fight in, but to fly under her own flag, as it were.

The whole special, which clocks in at a lean 23 minutes, is an utter delight to watch.