Chopper is the first member to join the Straw Hat Pirates in the Grand Line. Over the course of One Piece, his design has changed significantly. The reindeer has become a cute mascot, even though Oda originally did not intend that.
How has Chopper changed? While Chopper has always been a reindeer, over time his appearance has become increasingly childish. Especially the time skip of 2 years has made Chopper not older, but rather younger:
- His big eyes became even larger and developed eyelashes
- His upper body has shrunk even more, making his head look larger
- To make his head appear even larger, he swapped his top hat for a round hat
- He no longer has such a big snout, but rather a small, delicate mouth
X-User DrapplePiece compares the two Chopper forms. On the left, you can see the old design, and on the right, the new design:
In between the two images, Chopper had several intermediate stages. For instance, he was a bit rounder even in Water Seven. In an interview with Gosho Aoyama, the manga artist of Detective Conan, from Weekly Shonen Jump magazine number 34, Oda revealed why his appearance changed (via X).
You can see Chopper’s old appearance in the following One Piece film:
Chopper’s appearance was changed because of the voice actress
Why did the author change the design? According to Eiichiro Oda, the manga artist of One Piece, Chopper’s drastic appearance change is not due to the time skip.
Rather, he changed the appearance because the voice of Chopper’s Japanese voice actress in the anime is so cute. In the original Japanese, Chopper is voiced by a woman named Ikue Otani.
She has experience with cute mascots, as she has also voiced Pikachu from Pokémon and Morgana the cat from Persona 5. Oda liked her squeaky voice so much that he changed Chopper’s appearance specifically for her.
What do fans say about it? Some fans found Chopper’s old design to be much better. Under the X post, user BraggingPagan writes that Chopper has become just an unserious mascot to boost merchandise sales.
For many, a different form would be much more appropriate. The Horn Point after the time skip, with smaller horns, is an excellent form for Chopper. However, keep in mind that this only reflects a part of the community’s opinion.
All the more interesting is the question of which representation the creators of the Netflix series will choose. One Piece has a live-action series that will soon start its second season. In it, Chopper will be seen for the first time, presumably as a real human. We already know what one of his forms looks like: One Piece: The cast for Chopper in the Netflix series is settled – at least part of it
