The heroines of Japanese cartoons: Nami The 'cat thief' from One Piece
Nami, the thief cat. Reward: 66 million Berrys. DEAD OR ALIVE.
This is the notice that can be read on her Wanted Poster, issued by the World Government and scattered on all the islands of the One Piece universe. Among the heroines of Japanese cartoons, Nami is one of the most disruptive: best known as "the thief cat" for her obsession with money, luxury and the treasures of the sea, she is the first (and most important) female protagonist of the series of anime and manga of One Piece, published in Italy by Star Comics and broadcast on Italia 1 since November 2001. Born from the pencil of Eiichirō Oda, the success of the saga is unprecedented: to date, One Piece has over 470 million copies in circulation and it is the manga that has sold the most worldwide.
In all the polls conducted among fans, Nami has often been in the top 10 of the most favorite characters: this is not surprising, given the affection that the author himself has always shown towards her. A first version of Nami, in fact, exists since before the manga was made official: in the drafts of Romance Dawn, the prototype that would later become One Piece, alongside the protagonist Luffy 'Straw Hat', known in Italy with the name of "Rubber" (the usual disasters of the Italian dubbing) you could already glimpse the patterns of a character named Silk, then Ann, who is basically identical to Nami, if not for the blue hair instead of orange.
Who is Nami?
Smart and easy-going next-door girl at first, then femme fatale, Nami is a fundamental member of Luffy's crew. She is a skilled strategist, a navigator capable of predicting the most absurd climate changes, but also a cartographer: in fact, her dream is to draw the map of the whole world. But don’t be fooled by her prosperous physicality (which has often earned its author several criticisms): Nami's real strengths are cunning - thanks to which she can almost always avoid head-on collision - and above all her intelligence. Eiichirō Oda himself said that she is the third most intelligent character of the East Sea (the geographical area of the world of One Piece from which the adventures of the protagonists began). Even her weapon (Sorcery Clima-Tact), often underestimated, is very ingenious: combining the power of a stick capable of emanating hot and cold air bubbles, as well as electrical sparks, with her knowledge Nami is able to change the climate in the surrounding areas, causing lightning and thunderstorms capable of routing entire fleets (a kind of home-made version of Storm of the X-Men).
A curiosity? According to the initial idea of Eiichirō Oda, Nami had pigtails, ripped jeans with a single legging on the right leg, evident scars on the body, combat boots, a single glove that covered her all over the metal forearm and a considerably more ax great of her. A look that was radically less provocative than the final one.
