god can i stop going thru it for five fucking minutes?
Crowley vibes
So I’ve been trying to get into a new anime and had to force myself to go through the first three episodes because the protagonist did not sit well with me. Nothing bad about him, he’s just not the kind of intelligent bastard character I prefer.
And that got me thinking. I’ve been obsessed with Luffy for two years now. He’s my favorite One Piece character. He’s one of my favorite characters in all media, period. I adore him.
But, and I think we can all agree, he is very much not the sharpest crayon in the box.
Usually, I would hate this type of character. In fact, it was one of the reasons it took me so long to watch One Piece
– I was one hundred percent sure Luffy would bore me. I saw the fandom joking around about his idiocy, and didn’t really look more into it before deciding that 900+ episodes is too long of an investment when I knew the main character is exactly the kind of protagonist I hate. The fact that I actually started One Piece was a total fluke, and I did it despite everything I saw and read about Luffy.
Here’s the thing. I still hate the stock shōnen characters. But I love Luffy, and I think that the main difference here is that Luffy is, before anything else, competent.
He is not a stupidly naive, bleeding-heart hero trying to see the best in everybody and having no actual connection to the real world. He does not bumble around, being tossed around by forces bigger than him and only resolving an impossible situation thanks to luck or being able to throw a bigger punch (though the punching bit does play a significant part). Luffy is always the instigator, the one in charge of the plot, the one driving the whole thing forward
– the plot does not happen to Luffy, Luffy happens to the plot.
He’s not the smartest. Often, he’s not the strongest even. But when something needs to be done, when someone needs to step up and resolve the problem, he knows what to do. And he does not hesitate to do it, often in the most surprising of ways. He is a very simple thinker, but that simple thinking lets him see a clear line from a problem to a solution, without taking any detours a more intelligent character might have taken. It’s not just about who punches the strongest. It’s about pulling the right emotional lever (Robin in Enies Lobby), or finding a hidden weakness (Crocodile), or even about concocting the most outrageous solution that would resolve the situation immediately (destroying the Baratie, anyone?)
Also, he might not be the cleverest person around, but his insane emotional intelligence ensures that he does not have to be. He has friends for that. He surrounds himself with people who are smart and strong and just as competent as he is. His nakama do what he cannot, and so even this personal drawback is eliminated.
Luffy is just straight-up competent, in every way and situation possible. He does what needs to be done, always and without hesitation. And he does it well.
In his own way, he is just as effective as my personal favorite intelligent bastard characters. He’s just so much simpler about it.
One Piece Ep.166
It's both hilarious and heartbreaking that Robin was genuinely expecting a serious response here
Bonus:
this is me with yagi centric fics
Thinks about shape language thinks about shape language thinks about shape language again thinks about shape langu
Everyone read my ramblings. 👇
u ever remember one of your fandoms "oh yeah thats right im into this too" and then dive head first into the rabbit hole again
the crushing guilt of being unproductive vs the exhaustion of being burned out. fight.
#aaaaand its listless dissociation with the steel chair!!!
*stamps this as peer-reviewed*