When you think of the most profitable media franchises on earth, names like Warner Bros., Marvel, and perhaps even Star Trek come to mind. As far as anime go, there are few properties quite as beloved and as profitable as One Piece, which has been going strong since 1997. The manga and the anime haven’t missed a beat in almost three decades. Amy Zhu’s Boa Hancock cosplay is a perfect testament to the passion the series inspires.
Why Amy Zhu loves Boa Hancock
“She’s such a badass,” Amy told PLAYBOY. “The concept of a pirate princess is so cool to me. She’s also such a simp which I can really relate to, but she’s also super confident, which I aspire to be.”
Amy cosplaying Boa Hancock was practically fated, considering how much she resembles the character. To date, it is among her most popular cosplays. Amy even took the costume with her on a vacation to Cancun to take advantage of the summery backdrops that smack of the anime her character is from.
Because of the popularity of this look, she’s already planning to do at least five more Boa Hancock cosplays featuring more of the character’s iconic outfits. Boa’s natural beauty is one of the reasons Amy feels such strong connections to the character.
“She has the power to turn anyone who’s attracted to her to stone,” Amy says. “She’s extremely powerful, and we have the same personality type.”
Who is Boa Hancock?
In a world lousy with pirates, Hancock is a bit of an odd duck, being the only female Warlord of the Sea. Kidnapped and enslaved as a child, she eventually gained the ability to turn both the living and the dead into stone.
While she started out as an enemy of series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, she eventually not only became a staunch ally, but incredibly swoon with the Straw Hat Pirates captain. Currently, she is the reigning empress of Amazon Lily, the home of the exclusively female Kuja tribe.
To see more of Amy Zhu’s cosplay, follow her on Instagram.
Read more of PLAYBOY’s cosplay coverage here.
