The anime adaptation of Oda’s One Piece manga premiered in 1999 and as of today, it’s one of the longest-running anime in history. It is also one of the most popular. The adventures of Luffy’s Straw Hat pirates are known and popular around the world, which is why we’re wondering – are they appropriate for children? With One Piece being one of the most important anime series in history, we have decided to tell you whether the series is appropriate for kids or not.
One Piece is categorized as TV-14 in the United States; in Japan, the show is listed as being G. One Piece is a very family and kid-friendly show and is a typical representative of the shonen genre, which is why there is absolutely no doubt that it is appropriate for all audiences who can follow the plot. Some scenes might be more exaggerated, but they don’t influence the overall tone of the series.
In the paragraphs that follow, we are going to elaborate on this answer and give you some additional information on the show’s content. You’re going to find out whether One Piece is appropriate for children, how scary and gory it is, whether there is sex, nudity, and profanities, as well as what age it is appropriate for. This is going to be your ultimate parents guide for One Piece.
What age is One Piece appropriate for?
As per the official ratings, One Piece is rated as “14”, which means 14 years of age. That standard is defined as follows: This program contains material that most parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age. Japan lists the series as a 16+ one, whereas most other countries have it listed in similar age categories (12-16, depending on the country). No countries have applied a stricter standard for One Piece, which says enough about the maturity of its content.
This means that One Piece is a show that is appropriate for teenagers and older fans. Children under the age of 14 should not be able to watch the series, as there is content that might be inappropriate for them as per the standard. This is the official rating for the show and we are now going to observe how things stand in several different categories.
One Piece: Sex & Nudity
As we could have seen, the series has a very mild level of nudity and some very benign sexual references, but over the course of the series, there haven’t been many such scenes and they were – in most cases – shown in a very comical context. Here is an example of some scenes involving nudity and/or sexual references:
- Nami, one of the protagonists, usually wears bikini tops, revealing a lot of her body.
- Numerous female characters have revealing outfits and clothes.
- Nudity is shown to a small degree and rarely.
- There are frequent sexual innuendos in the series, although no sexual activities have been shown.
As you can see, this is really not much, and while some scenes might be a bit suggestive, they are very limited.
One Piece: Violence & Gore
The violence of the fights in One Piece has also been described as moderate in general, although there are certain scenes that are both milder and more violent than others, which is why certain moments would definitely earn a PG rating, the number of such scenes is very small and limited overall; the uncut version has more of them, but as stated, it’s nothing over the top. The fight scenes are epic, and violence is depicted in the show as per the plot, but it’s nothing over the top and it’s not particularly graphic or gory.
Most of the violence portrayed in One Piece is cartoony and you won’t have any trouble with it, and neither will your children. There are scenes that suggest some deeper violence, but they are mostly comical. As the series progressed, the violence and the fights become more intense, there is more blood and even some bizarre elements, but it’s still not over the top, and it’s part of the series’ inherent realism.
One Piece: Profanity
As far as profanities are concerned, they are not heavily featured in My Hero Academia, although they are present. Examples of words that can be heard are “son of a bitch”, “sh*t”, “hell”, “damn”, and “bastard”, and we can hear the word “bitch” used several times; the second dub has more such words than the first one. Now, this might bother some viewers and it is something that children shouldn’t really repeat, but it adds to the realism of the show, doesn’t it?
First of all, we have to emphasize that the characters of One Piece are pirates and other scoundrels who sail the seas pillaging villages and other ships, and people don’t really tend to watch their language in such situations; it’s simply not natural. It would be silly if these characters didn’t curse from time to time, wouldn’t it? This is only realistic and the series adds to it by adapting the language to be appropriate for a specific situation.
So, profanities are certainly present in the show but we don’t think it’s something bad. It simply adds to the show’s realism and it helps the viewers to better understand the characters, the world, and the complete setting. Anything else would be completely out-of-character, which is why we can only praise the authenticity of the show. And, on top of that, they are really not heavily featured and are not severe.
Should you allow your kids to watch One Piece?
One Piece is one of the more child-friendly anime series, despite all of its bizarre elements, you can find today, and is a remnant of the old anime generation. The show focuses on adventure and is a typical example of the shonen genre. This is why there is nothing overly exaggerated in One Piece, as all three major categories – sex & nudity, violence & gore, and profanity – are generally mild, with some moderate violence present in the fights, but it’s not over the top. The series focuses on adventures and the daily struggles of its protagonists.
Settings such as One Piece‘s are nothing strange when Japanese art, even if this is a more Western setting than most anime, is concerned, and there are many other manga and anime that portray such worlds and that is why the shonen genre is so popular around the world. One Piece is quite faithful to the original material and there aren’t many filler episodes, which is a great thing for anime fans who don’t like filler content. So, should you allow your children to watch One Piece?
Well, the official ratings do suggest that children under the age of 14 should not watch One Piece but it all comes down to your parental approach. We at Fiction Horizon honestly don’t think that there is anything bad in watching such animated shows (yours truly has personally grown up watching Dragon Ball, where he was exposed to a fully naked kid Goku, blood, characters piercing other characters’ bodies, and whatnot), and One Piece doesn’t really cross any borders which would make it overly inappropriate for children (for example, there is no cannibalism involved, no mutilations, no torture, no sexual violence, etc.).
Children under the age of 13 might be a tad confused if they cannot follow the plot, but we don’t think that those older than 13 or 14 will have any problems with the show. If your younger children can follow the plot, they can also watch One Piece because they could also learn a lot about friendship and heroism. So, in our opinion, One Piece is appropriate for all ages and for children of all shapes and sizes. So if your child wants to watch it – we absolutely support it – and not just that, One Piece is so important that we actually encourage you, as parents, to introduce your kids to One Piece because they’ll definitely love it.
