ONE PIECE fans upset that Usopp 'isn't black'

This weekend, more details were finally revealed about the upcoming remake of the anime adaptation of "ONE PIECE." Although a promotional video was not revealed, perhaps due to the project being in very early stages of production, some production materials were revealed, with one immediately drawing attention on social media.

One of these materials included the design that will be used for Usopp within this new project. The Straw Hat Pirates sniper and one of Luffy's main officers, he was the third to join the crew and is one of the most popular characters in the franchise. Well, this revelation brought an inexplicable controversy to social networks, with a variety of people criticizing that 'whitewashing' was done in this new remake. Let us remember that this term refers to the action of 'employing white actors to play other ethnic groups', and in this case they refer to the fact that 'Usopp is whiter than he should be'.

ONE PIECE fans upset that Usopp 'isn't black'

If we review the official description of the character, we can realize that Usopp is described as 'a young man with white but tanned skin', which would put him in the same terms as Hayase Nagatoro. However, author Eiichiro Oda also noted in a previous interview that, if "One Piece" were based on the real world, Usopp would be African. Evidently there are also white people in Africa (especially in the southern part), however, this last statement of the author served to make fans claim that 'Usopp is black'.

The latter also had more acceptance after author Jacob Romero Gibson, a person of color, was selected to play Usopp in the live-action series of "ONE PIECE", so in part it is understandable that there is confusion about the fact that WIT STUDIO puts the character without all these characteristics.

Something to remember is that these are only designs and we haven't even seen an animation frame yet (the images that were shared are only sketches, pre-production schemes), so it is possible that the situation will change in the future. However, netizens did not hold back their opinions on the matter:

"Are they really still with those damn lips? If Shaman King could fix it for his anime remake, One Piece could easily do it as well."
"Brother, Zoro is darker than Usopp. What is this world we live in?"
"The fact that Usopp's melanin just disappeared is incredible."
"This is crazy."
"Usopp is paler than ever, I'm honestly surprised! Her hair is just as dark. It's paler than in the current anime (which has already been super whitewashed!)."
"Why is he white?" Usopp is literally like that in the whole damn manga."
"They had the opportunity to make Usopp darker and remove his thick lips, but they didn't."
"Are you kidding me?"
"Who is this random guy next to Nami?"
"Did they somehow manage to make it even more WHITE?"
"They made it whiter than it is in normal anime."