One Piece Fans Back Yamato After Anime Questions Their Gender Identity

With June now into the swing of things, pride is at a high for the LGBTQ community as they celebrate their self-love and identities. Of course, this means queer media is taking a step forward, and One Piece fans are lifting up Yamato in light of the celebrations. After all, Kaido’s kid openly identifies as a man, but a special anime cameo has the fandom defending Yamato after their gender identity was put into question online.

The whole situation began in light of Yamato’s big anime debut. The hero was shown ever so quickly in the anime’s newest arc. As you can imagine, fans were hyped for the shot, but the cameo lacked any context of Yamato’s gender identity. This blip paired with the new chapter of One Piece led some to question how Yamato views their gender, but fans shut it down fast.

As you can see below, the evidence showing Yamato as transgender is very abundant. Not only does the hero use traditional male pronouns, but so does Luffy and all the Straw Hats at request. Even Kaido and the Beast Pirates can do it, so you know Yamato has to be serious about their gender identity. And if you cannot refer to Yamato by their correct pronouns when Kaido can, well – that’s a big yikes.

Yamato is far from the only transgender character to appear in One Piece, but his overtly feminine looks still throw fans off. Manga readers have had time to normalize Yamato’s identity, but the anime fandom has not. Based on looks alone, anime fans could easily mistake Yamato as a woman, but that is not the case here. And if you want to push back on the hero’s gender, how about we let Yamato decide that on their own?

Does Yamato rank high on your list of favorite One Piece characters? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.

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