Some scenes are better without humor.
Summary:
- One Piece puts humor where it’s inappropriate sometimes.
- Villains are not taken seriously if they’re made fun of.
- A number of fans actually enjoy goofy characters more.
One Piece is probably one of the most famous anime in the world, and that’s not without a reason. Its engaging story, charismatic characters and adventurous vibe makes us keep watching the series even after 1000 episodes. But today we’re going to talk about One Piece’s humor.
Don’t get us wrong, the series has some great comedic moments and we actually do like its humor. But there’s an appropriate time and place for all the hilarious moments, and unfortunately, One Piece doesn’t always “read the room”.
Humor during serious scenes
When humor is used during serious moments, it can completely ruin the immersion for the viewers. And this is what happens in One Piece sometimes. Fans specifically mention the Wano Arc, where inappropriate humor happened on more than one occasion. For example, Kinemon's "death" was rather emotional until a dumb comedic scene occurred.
A couple of villains have also been done dirty by the humorous effect. Big Mom has plenty of unserious moments and that’s why fans can’t take her seriously. They also mention that other villains were not like that. Despite his outrageous and eccentric appearance, Doflamingo was never made fun of, and the viewers felt truly threatened by him. Which leads to the fact that the author knows how to achieve this effect, but doesn’t always do that.
This all just ruins the experience for some viewers, and they can’t help but feel unamused by the comedy. It doesn’t mean that they hate the humor in the series, it just means they want it to be placed more appropriately.
Some truly enjoy the comedy
However, there are different types of moments and villains. And as we’ve mentioned before, Oda knows when to become serious and stop with the humor. It’s his writing choice to make some villains goofy or some situations hilarious. One Piece is not an existential drama, and it’s allowed to be funny.
On top of that, a number of fans mention that they actually enjoy the unserious vibes that the series is giving at times. Humor makes everything better, and while comedy cutting through some serious scenes is not the best writing decision, it’s okay to have a couple of villain gags and dumb jokes here and there. Moreover, some viewers even point out that goofiness IS the reason why they can like certain characters, and that’s also okay.