[ SECRET POST #3777 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3777 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Early for once!

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 44 secrets from Secret Submission Post #541.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Designated bad guys

[(Anonymous)]

pull up a chair, F!S, and let me talk to you about One Piece.

864 chapters in, and there have been only two actually evil irredeemable bad guys, one of whom is mostly in the background and will probably stay a background villain until the very final arc (that being Blackbeard). Donquixote Doflamingo is an absolutely terrible person, but rather than fall into either "evil for the sake of evil" cardboard tropes or "but's he's really just misunderstood!" tropes, he's so ridiculously complex that while he's terrible, you don't know how to feel about his terribleness. He was born a bit psychotic, raised in a culture that treated him as a literal god, then brought down and shown the real pain and suffering of humanity. Rather than learn humility like his brother, he clung to his nature to be evil...and also had it encouraged by his lackeys. Oda crafted the most complex villain I have ever seen and while I personally hate Doflamingo, I tip my hat to stellar storytelling.

I suppose by that right you can also consider Doflamingo's crew to be 100% bad guy irredeemable bastards, but at least two of them had complex reasons for being as they are and one deserted him, so...

That said, it's a series about pirates and for the most part, nearly everyone is shades of gray, both protagonists and antagonists. And then antagonists become protags and you don't know what to think. During their story arcs you hate Crocodile, Enel, Arlong, and Caesar, but then Crocodile assists in saving Luffy's life, Arlong turns out not to be the worst fishman that ever existed with complex reasons involving racism and slavery for turning out nasty, and Caesar becomes useful - and also comic relief. Full-on enemies become the crew's friends. Marines themselves are not treated as unimpeachable good guys, there are corrupt ones and ones who have simply let their worldview taint their morals. Even Big Mom and Kaidou, who may arguably be just as irredeemably bad as Doflamingo, have become what they are through a complex mix of background, personal desires, and the way the world has treated them. The Vinsmoke children have been genetically engineered to be emotionless badasses and yet you can't tell if they're bad guys or just victims. On top of all of that you have the main cast - they're pirates. They kill, steal, cause destruction, and live to break the law and defy the government.

I admire Oda for making it so that outside of just a couple of villains, you constantly have to question what constitutes a villain and what makes someone "bad." He constantly makes you struggle with questions of blood, upbringing, influence, politics, and relationships. I actually like that bad guys change based on the story's POV, there's nothing wrong with deciding that you like Crocodile a bit now or can't tell if Akainu is supposed to be considered a villain. The only "bad guys" played for laughs are tertiary-level characters who are just filling out a roster in an arc's baddy's crew who get humiliated by the main cast, and even then, it happens a lot less than you'd think in a shounen story about pirates.