Why Shanks Is The Greatest Depiction of Masculinity
One Piece is full of strong, larger than life masculine characters. However, Red Haired Shanks might be the healthiest depiction of masculinity in all of fiction. Not just in One Piece. Not just in anime or manga. But in storytelling as a whole. This video will change your life for the better. I promise you. Because when you really think about it…What does it actually mean to be the strongest? Different stories give different answers. For Son Goku, strength means constantly seeking stronger opponents. For Guts, strength is survival in a cruel world where weakness can mean death. And in Baki, characters like Yujiro Hanma define strength through absolute dominance — constantly proving that they stand above everyone else. And it’s not just their philosophies either.
In many anime, masculinity is visually represented through impossible physiques. Bodies so exaggerated they redefine what strength is supposed to look like. For example… this is my physique. And let’s be honest. If I showed up in Dragon Ball Z, I’d probably get laughed out of the room. But you get the idea. In many anime and manga, masculinity is often portrayed as the person with the greatest drive to prove their strength, surpass others, and dominate their opponents.
But Shanks is different. Because the greatest lesson Shanks teaches about strength…is that real power doesn't need to prove itself.
With the rise of looksmaxing, gym culture, incels subreddits, and increasing amount of men are feeling insecure. Am I strong enough both physically and mentally? How can I prove that I mog everyone else? How can I get more clout with women? In an era where people have this warped view of masculinity, Red Haired Shanks however challenges the idea of traditional masculinity, and offers the best solution that could change the lives of so many men.
One Piece is a series full of what you’d think of as traditional masculine figures, Whitebeard, Zoro, Kaido, these larger than life figures who pride them selves on how strong they are. Zoro literally wants to be the strongest swordsman, and so he seeks fights, Kaido wants to turn the world into an open battlefield where the strong rule over the weak, Shanks however is like the elephant in the room.
What makes Shanks so different from other strong characters in One Piece? Isn’t Shanks the stronger than Zoro, Kaido and Whitebeard? Isn’t Shanks literally a Yonko that nobody wants to mess with? The man who scared away an admiral with his haki alone? The man who knocks people unconscious just being in his presence? Heck, the man who stopped the marineford war just by showing up? You see the key difference between Shanks and everyone else is he’s okay with being humiliated, embarrassed, mocked and disrespected, and then having the sheer willpower to restrain him self
In chapter 1, Oda challenges what it means to be a coward vs what it means to be a man through Luffy, who the reader is following the story through, Higuma, your traditional man who sees shanks’ restraint as cowardice, and Luffy, who just like many others in the real world, would think what shanks did, after having a bottle of sake smashed over his head and him just laughing, is just flat out lame. Heck, even Loki considered Shanks to be a cowardly pirate.
But this is what Luffy, Loki, Higuma, and the rest of society gets wrong. What Shanks did was not cowardice, no, it was the oppsosite, as Shanks’ core philophsiy is that he will never use his yonko level power to start a fight, or to prove he’s stronger, or because he literally just got humiliated in front of his own crew, no, the only time Shanks will use his power, the only time shanks has EVER over a thousand chapters used his power…. Was for the sake of someone else.
He only fought Higuma when he captured Luffy. He only showed up to Marineford to end any more pointless deaths. He only attacked Greenbull when he threatened Wano. He only clashed with Whitebeard when it was NECCESARY, when it was a fight worth fighting where his life was on the line, unlike someone shanks knows is weaker than him like Higuma.
In essence, Shanks does not feel the need to prove him self, he feels 100% secure within himself, within his own power, why fight a fight not even worth fighting? So what if some nobody smashed a bottle of sake over your head? I guarantee 99% of men who lash out in that same moment, but no, Shanks restrains him self, and laughs it off. THAT is strength. Knowing that you are strong enough to kick this guys butt, but restraining yourself because this man is not worth fighting
So when does Shanks believe it is in fact worth fighting? Only when you hurt those he cares about. In essence, Shanks will never use his power to attack, he will only use it to defend. It means his masculinity isn’t defined by dominance like other characters. It’s defined by responsibility.
The stronger you are…
the greater your duty becomes to protect those who cannot protect themselves.