I’m a huge Vivi fan so I will not shut up about this.
“Arabasta was based of India and Egypt” <- this right here is the main reason for why people are okay with the casting.
So let me tell you this;
1. People only got that info off the data books which aren’t even verified with Oda, or at least there’s differing accounts on it. Some editors say he doesn’t look them over while others say in info has to go through him, so how do we know which one it is for this particular data book?
2. In the manga, (aka absolute canon) the only food mentioned associated with Arabasta was Konafa which is obviously meant to be Knafeh which originated in…Egypt. Vivi’s favorite foods also include pudding, curry (you could argue India for this, but every culture essentially has its own version of curry, how can you tell if this is specifically Indian curry she likes?), and Mulukhiyah and it originated in…ancient Egypt and mainly still eaten in Egypt today.
3. The Nefertari name comes from Queen Nefertari who ruled with her husband in…ancient Egypt. Oda himself said the he found the name in a book on Egypt but didn’t know what it meant. The name Vivi has no connection with either India or Egypt and comes from Latin. Now you could argue “Cobra’s are in India!!” But guess what, Egypt has its own variety of cobras as well! It’s known as the “Egyptian Cobra” and was used in ancient Egypt as the symbol of sovereignty (very fitting for Cobra, the last king of Arabasta).
BONUS
4. “It’s not ARABasta it’s ALABasta from the word alabaster” I got news for you buddy!! Alabaster was either made with gypsum or calcite. Gypsum was used in medieval Europe while calcite was used in.. ancient Egypt because it was also known as Egyptian Alabaster. Furthermore, in Japan, the L and the R are interchangeable. Oda could very well be making a play on words, ARABasta because it’s based on an Arab country and ALABasta for the type of stone that originated from there. ‼️ Notice: Absolutely nothing to do with India.
TLDR: OPLA could have absolutely modeled Arabasta with buildings and other structures to resemble both India and Egypt, but my gripe was casting Cobra and Vivi as Indians. Everything points that they should have been cast as Arab, either Egyptian or someone from MENA because that’s where he specifically took inspiration from. Everything else (like the data book) came afterwards. Arabs already get little to no positive representation, and this could have changed that!!
(I am confident that Netflix and even Oda chose Charithra because she’s a huge name compared to other Arab actresses)
Will I still watch? Yes, because I love Vivi. Will I stop complaining then about the casting? No, because they absolutely should have been Arab and I’ll let the whole world know that. (Also because some idiot really said casting an Arab would be stealing Indian rep…like wtf??)
