The Japanese TV channel TV Tokyo aired a new episode on March 25 of their weekly show J.U.M.Police, a show aimed at young readers of Shueisha manga series. The episode featured a segment where some Weekly Shonen Jump characters had their palms read by a professional palm reader named Mr. Shimada.
One of the Jump characters who had their palms read was One Piece main character Monkey D. Luffy.
During this segment, the first question was if it is even possible to read a fictional character’s palm. As it turns out, it can be done as long as you have a drawing of their hand and know their birthday.
As you can see above, the average hand has three major lines: a Life Line (生命線
, a Head Line (頭脳線, and a Heart Line (感情線. Apparently the length, shape, and thickness of these lines are what make the basis of palm reading.
Looking at Luffy’s hand on the volume 40 cover,
Mr. Shimada noticed that Luffy actually only has a Life Line but was missing the two separate Heart and Head Lines. Instead, Luffy has what they call in Japanese a “Masukakesen” (Simian Line, if I’m not mistaken in the English terminology). People with this ironically named “Simian Line,” are said “to have good luck and own a lot of charm with which they attract people.” Furthermore, this line is also called the “Hand Line of those who will rule over the earth,” which manifests itself in (strong?) leadership capabilities. Warning: these meanings don’t seem to be the same across the globe.
However, when looking a bit closer to Luffy’s hands,
Mr. Shimada noticed that Luffy’s palm lines changed after the timeskip, and his Life Line had increased in thickness.
He wondered if Eiichiro Oda had done this on purpose to indicate the changes Luffy had undergone during his two year training period. Oda was contacted via the messaging app LINE, and here’s what he said:
“Mr. Shimada, you go as far as reading (manga) characters’ palms? That’s some occupational disease you’ve got there (lol)”
"(To be honest) I, myself, wasn't worrying (about the characters' palm lines) when drawing the lines"
“As for Luffy’s hand lines, I always look at my own hand when drawing his,”
“So perhaps, it was my own hand lines,”
“that changed after the two year training.”
Taking into account that Oda has a Guinness world record under his belt, and is still drawing one of Weekly Shonen Jump’s most popular series for almost 19 years now, I’d say that the palm reading is pretty spot on!
People born on Luffy’s birthday, May 5, “have a strong ability to take action, are positive-thinkers, brave and have a great deal of curiosity.” In 2017, these people will have an increase in their personal connections and experience their period of heightened popularity, known in Japan as “Moteki."
Mr. Shimada said 2017 will be the year that the Straw Hats will get a new crewmate to join them.
Is he right? I guess we’ll have to wait for at least 9 more months to be sure!
