Female Representation in the Amazon Lily Arc of One Piece: A Beauvoirian Feminist Analysis

Abstract

This study analyzes the representation of women in the Amazon Lily arc of One Piece (Episodes 408–421) using Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminist framework, particularly the concept of women as “the Other.” The study employed a descriptive qualitative method with a textual and discourse-oriented approach. The data consisted of dialogues, character interactions, narrative structures, and visual elements from the selected episodes. Data were collected through close observation, scene documentation, and selective transcription, then analyzed using the qualitative analysis model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña, including data reduction, data display, interpretation, and conclusion drawing. The findings reveal that women’s representation operates through three interrelated dimensions: structural authority, relational identity, and symbolic subordination. At the structural level, women are portrayed as politically and militarily dominant within Kuja society. However, at the relational level, female subjectivity is shaped through emotional dependence and narrative alignment with Monkey D. Luffy. At the symbolic level, visual framing and emotional coding reinforce gendered expectations of femininity. The study concludes that female empowerment in the Amazon Lily arc is conditional rather than absolute because institutional authority coexists with relational and ideological limitations. These findings contribute to feminist media studies and critical media literacy by demonstrating how anime narratives simultaneously construct and destabilize gender-based power relations.