I felt like writing up my reasoning for why my top five favourite characters in One Piece are my favourites. So I'm doing that.
1. ZORO
Zoro is my favourite character mostly because his character was basically written for me. Zoro is written as a character who is driven by ambition in its purest form, which is ambition for the sake of Ambition. This is different from Luffy whose ambitions mean something specific like freedom or proving something to Shanks. Zoro ambition exists because he decided it was so and it means nothing more. And thats why he's constantly questioning his ambitions the most. He choses to be WSS so that he can keep fighting Kuina. Then she dies and he choses to still pursue this goal for no specific reason in her memory as if that was some dying wish or regret of hers. Yet it wasnt. Then he pledges to help luffy be pirate king and immediately flops against Mihawk who tells him he has to travel the world way before he can hope to challenge him. And then of course he learns swordsmanship is about cutting nothing and later he proclaims his dream is worthless if his strength can't protect luffy against Kuma.
Basically Zoro is written similar to guys like Saitama where the pursuit of strength or ambition in itself is presented as lacking if it doesn't have specific meanings and Zoro has to keep looking for this meaning to give his ambitions substance. That's why Mihawk is presented as Zoro's final opponent since he's the closest analogue to Saitama. He's the only person in the story about Dreams who has currently achieved their actual dream and yet thats not enough anymore. Zoro is supposed to be different from Mihawk in that by the end of the series, he has found a cure for this Saitama syndrome of reaching the top and not finding fulfillment in that.
This is the primary character aspect of Zoro that makes him my favorite since this is a struggle of mine as well. Trying to find some meaning in the stuff I work for outside of just accomplishing the thing. And of course Zoro's a badass who uses swords and he's loyal man so there's those other things that I love as well.
2. LUFFY
Luffy is my second favourite because he is the best Main character I have ever seen in anime. And I mean even counting manga or seinen or shoujo or whatever. I have never seen a main character who can hold a series together so well. He is REMARKABLY consistent in his characterization even 900 chapters in and Oda goes to great lengths to make the story around him appear fresh and new while keeping Luffy consistent and it's amazing.
One very surprising RECENT example I've seen of this is Luffy convincing the Plague ridden prisoners in Udon to follow him. This situation caught me by surprise especially because this plot point wasn't my favourite and yet it ended so well with luffy pulling out another classic moment out of nowhere. Luffy taking the disease of the prisoners in a big hug and then tossing them back and fodderising the prison warden with future sight claiming he's tough shit and then passing out from the disease soon after so Chopper has to save him. This IS A PURE CLASSIC in my opinion and it just snuck up on me to remind me why this man is the MC of this story and it STILL WORKS.
Literally the main reason he's not my number one is again Zoro was practically written for me personally.
3. LAW
This is the most anime character in One Piece and I love it. I always found a way to distinguish One piece from other anime or manga whenever I talk about it. Like I would say X is an Anime thing except One piece or Y is a One piece thing not an anime thing. That is until the Dressrosa saga. This saga is the most Anime story Oda has written down to the point that it literally has a TOURNAMENT ARC subplot snuck in there just for the extra anime-ness. And of course I mostly attribute this anime-ness to the most Anime character in this story, Law (plus the most Anime Villain in One piece, Doffy)
Law is the edgy emo trash I literally recoil from in other series but Oda just actually made it work by adding the most heart to this tired ass trope I have ever seen. Like I'm not joking, I hate this trope of a character all the way from Sun eater to Sasuke to Hie to Ray. And the main reason I hate this trope is because there's NEVER a good enough emotional core for it. Such a character is almost exclusively always emo edgy for the most superficial reasons imaginable like "I'm just too intelligent" or "I have cursed blood" or some real Boring thing like that and Oda knew it. Oda knew that edgy emo types are too intelligent like law and have cursed blood like Law again with the White lead disease and the Will of D but he did something unprecedented, he made Law NOT WANT TO BE LIKE THAT. An emotional core of trying to grow out of this edgy emo shit despite the same old origin of "cursed blood" or whatever.
As in Law is the first of these types of characters I've seen who actively tries not to be edgy and emo and I love that. This was the missing ingredient in this type of character that I never knew I wanted. Law's backstory is literally about GIVING HIM A HEART and that's exactly what Law proclaims Corazon gave to him after feeding Law a HEART SHAPED FRUIT to cure that Edgy emo "cursed blood". Like fucking amazing symbolism right there.
Law is in my top three mainly because Oda subverted my expectations so hard on this to make me love such a character trope and now I'm forced to show off Law in my favourites to show all those other series how to do this edgy emo archetype properly. (You can argue Killua does in fact follow a similar arc as law but I saw Law first and Killua's arc isn't even as well done as law's)
4. USOPP
Usopp has my favourite dream in One piece. In this story about dreams there's no person whose dream I love more than Usopp's. I relate more to Zoro's struggle for his dream, and I'm more curious about how Luffy accomplishes his dream (since his is the point of the series) but Usopp's dream is the one I love the most from a conceptual level of what it is. And I love this conceptually because of how it fits Usopp and the Entire world of one piece itself
Usopp is a liar and his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea BUT HE IS INTRODUCED AS A PERSON WHO LIES ABOUT ALREADY BEING A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA. The reason why his character changed to the former is because the world of One piece itself forced him to.
Usopp lied about finding a goldfish that pooped islands and then the World showed him that his wildest lies and imagination were nothing compared to the real deal when he does find said Goldfish in real life and it proceeds to get obliterated by giants to symbolise that that's not even a big deal.
Usopp witnessing the limitations of his imagination and lies is what gives him the belief that his original lie, that he was a brave warrior of the sea, can be achieved. The world is so much whackier and ridiculous than he could've imagined to the point that his whacky and ridiculous lie that he was a BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA can actually become a thing he can strive for as a dream that's achievable by the laws of the world. And as we know, Usopp's lies do come true so that's how we know he will indeed become a Brave warrior.
This to me is the best melding of character, dreams and the world I've seen in One piece. Like for example we can discuss Zoro's goals using examples like Saitama but I cannot discuss Usopp in any other context but One piece. I cannot find a character whose only goal is get braver for no apparent reason than the romantic notion of bravery outside of maybe simple children's books and fairy tale. And yet Oda pulled it off by plucking a children's book character and putting them in this massive world that itself can be a children's book.
5. DOFFY
The most anime villain in One piece. As I said before, Dressrosa is the most anime arc in one piece I've seen and Law is the most anime character in One piece. So it stands to reason that Doffy is the most anime villain to match. And surprisingly, he's also my favourite villain in the series.
I've described Doffy before as an Agent of destruction and this here is the most anime thing I've seen in One piece. A character who wants to actually destroy the world. I don't think I had ever felt that Luffy or anyone was fighting such an unreasonable and dangerous man until Doffy. Most of the times you'd find guys like Enel who are insane bordering on delusional or Lucci who was just bloodthirsty. I had never seen a villain in one piece who was an arc villain yet he kept talking about the literal end of the world and goals beyond the island they are on. He was talking about celestial dragon secrets and manipulating Admirals and CP-0 and he had plans to attain immortality and he even had plan to become pirate king WITHOUT FINDING THE ONE PIECE. Like according to him, he required immortality and personality switching ability of laws fruit and the treasure of mariejois and he would've become pirate king. THIS GUY WAS SO DANGEROUS THAT HE FOUND AN ALTERNATE PATH TO THE END OF THE FREAKIN SERIES. I was reading all this and wondering how in the hell such a character was lurking in this world all this time.
Doflamingo is the main reason I continued to read one piece weekly. I caught up at the end of Punk hazard and I was switching back and forth from following weekly and waiting to binge after a few months until Doffy first arrived in punk hazard and used Conquerors haki. Every single time he would appear from then on it was pure fire and I had to read the next chapter immediately to see if he was there. Dressrosa remains the only arc in my opinion that has the big twist of the arc like literally 10 chapters in. When Doffy says he's a celestial dragon, there was nothing else that arc that sent shivers down my spine even CLOSE to that twist. Not Fujitora, not Gear fourth, not Sabo(I've never cared about this guy from day one), nothing. Doffy was pure anime menace like Griffith or Hisoka and it was fantastic.
Right. Those are some of my reasons for why I love these characters. Of course there's other reasons for each but I picked the main ones.
1. ZORO
Zoro is my favourite character mostly because his character was basically written for me. Zoro is written as a character who is driven by ambition in its purest form, which is ambition for the sake of Ambition. This is different from Luffy whose ambitions mean something specific like freedom or proving something to Shanks. Zoro ambition exists because he decided it was so and it means nothing more. And thats why he's constantly questioning his ambitions the most. He choses to be WSS so that he can keep fighting Kuina. Then she dies and he choses to still pursue this goal for no specific reason in her memory as if that was some dying wish or regret of hers. Yet it wasnt. Then he pledges to help luffy be pirate king and immediately flops against Mihawk who tells him he has to travel the world way before he can hope to challenge him. And then of course he learns swordsmanship is about cutting nothing and later he proclaims his dream is worthless if his strength can't protect luffy against Kuma.
Basically Zoro is written similar to guys like Saitama where the pursuit of strength or ambition in itself is presented as lacking if it doesn't have specific meanings and Zoro has to keep looking for this meaning to give his ambitions substance. That's why Mihawk is presented as Zoro's final opponent since he's the closest analogue to Saitama. He's the only person in the story about Dreams who has currently achieved their actual dream and yet thats not enough anymore. Zoro is supposed to be different from Mihawk in that by the end of the series, he has found a cure for this Saitama syndrome of reaching the top and not finding fulfillment in that.
This is the primary character aspect of Zoro that makes him my favorite since this is a struggle of mine as well. Trying to find some meaning in the stuff I work for outside of just accomplishing the thing. And of course Zoro's a badass who uses swords and he's loyal man so there's those other things that I love as well.
2. LUFFY
Luffy is my second favourite because he is the best Main character I have ever seen in anime. And I mean even counting manga or seinen or shoujo or whatever. I have never seen a main character who can hold a series together so well. He is REMARKABLY consistent in his characterization even 900 chapters in and Oda goes to great lengths to make the story around him appear fresh and new while keeping Luffy consistent and it's amazing.
One very surprising RECENT example I've seen of this is Luffy convincing the Plague ridden prisoners in Udon to follow him. This situation caught me by surprise especially because this plot point wasn't my favourite and yet it ended so well with luffy pulling out another classic moment out of nowhere. Luffy taking the disease of the prisoners in a big hug and then tossing them back and fodderising the prison warden with future sight claiming he's tough shit and then passing out from the disease soon after so Chopper has to save him. This IS A PURE CLASSIC in my opinion and it just snuck up on me to remind me why this man is the MC of this story and it STILL WORKS.
Literally the main reason he's not my number one is again Zoro was practically written for me personally.
3. LAW
This is the most anime character in One Piece and I love it. I always found a way to distinguish One piece from other anime or manga whenever I talk about it. Like I would say X is an Anime thing except One piece or Y is a One piece thing not an anime thing. That is until the Dressrosa saga. This saga is the most Anime story Oda has written down to the point that it literally has a TOURNAMENT ARC subplot snuck in there just for the extra anime-ness. And of course I mostly attribute this anime-ness to the most Anime character in this story, Law (plus the most Anime Villain in One piece, Doffy)
Law is the edgy emo trash I literally recoil from in other series but Oda just actually made it work by adding the most heart to this tired ass trope I have ever seen. Like I'm not joking, I hate this trope of a character all the way from Sun eater to Sasuke to Hie to Ray. And the main reason I hate this trope is because there's NEVER a good enough emotional core for it. Such a character is almost exclusively always emo edgy for the most superficial reasons imaginable like "I'm just too intelligent" or "I have cursed blood" or some real Boring thing like that and Oda knew it. Oda knew that edgy emo types are too intelligent like law and have cursed blood like Law again with the White lead disease and the Will of D but he did something unprecedented, he made Law NOT WANT TO BE LIKE THAT. An emotional core of trying to grow out of this edgy emo shit despite the same old origin of "cursed blood" or whatever.
As in Law is the first of these types of characters I've seen who actively tries not to be edgy and emo and I love that. This was the missing ingredient in this type of character that I never knew I wanted. Law's backstory is literally about GIVING HIM A HEART and that's exactly what Law proclaims Corazon gave to him after feeding Law a HEART SHAPED FRUIT to cure that Edgy emo "cursed blood". Like fucking amazing symbolism right there.
Law is in my top three mainly because Oda subverted my expectations so hard on this to make me love such a character trope and now I'm forced to show off Law in my favourites to show all those other series how to do this edgy emo archetype properly. (You can argue Killua does in fact follow a similar arc as law but I saw Law first and Killua's arc isn't even as well done as law's)
4. USOPP
Usopp has my favourite dream in One piece. In this story about dreams there's no person whose dream I love more than Usopp's. I relate more to Zoro's struggle for his dream, and I'm more curious about how Luffy accomplishes his dream (since his is the point of the series) but Usopp's dream is the one I love the most from a conceptual level of what it is. And I love this conceptually because of how it fits Usopp and the Entire world of one piece itself
Usopp is a liar and his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea BUT HE IS INTRODUCED AS A PERSON WHO LIES ABOUT ALREADY BEING A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA. The reason why his character changed to the former is because the world of One piece itself forced him to.
Usopp lied about finding a goldfish that pooped islands and then the World showed him that his wildest lies and imagination were nothing compared to the real deal when he does find said Goldfish in real life and it proceeds to get obliterated by giants to symbolise that that's not even a big deal.
Usopp witnessing the limitations of his imagination and lies is what gives him the belief that his original lie, that he was a brave warrior of the sea, can be achieved. The world is so much whackier and ridiculous than he could've imagined to the point that his whacky and ridiculous lie that he was a BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA can actually become a thing he can strive for as a dream that's achievable by the laws of the world. And as we know, Usopp's lies do come true so that's how we know he will indeed become a Brave warrior.
This to me is the best melding of character, dreams and the world I've seen in One piece. Like for example we can discuss Zoro's goals using examples like Saitama but I cannot discuss Usopp in any other context but One piece. I cannot find a character whose only goal is get braver for no apparent reason than the romantic notion of bravery outside of maybe simple children's books and fairy tale. And yet Oda pulled it off by plucking a children's book character and putting them in this massive world that itself can be a children's book.
5. DOFFY
The most anime villain in One piece. As I said before, Dressrosa is the most anime arc in one piece I've seen and Law is the most anime character in One piece. So it stands to reason that Doffy is the most anime villain to match. And surprisingly, he's also my favourite villain in the series.
I've described Doffy before as an Agent of destruction and this here is the most anime thing I've seen in One piece. A character who wants to actually destroy the world. I don't think I had ever felt that Luffy or anyone was fighting such an unreasonable and dangerous man until Doffy. Most of the times you'd find guys like Enel who are insane bordering on delusional or Lucci who was just bloodthirsty. I had never seen a villain in one piece who was an arc villain yet he kept talking about the literal end of the world and goals beyond the island they are on. He was talking about celestial dragon secrets and manipulating Admirals and CP-0 and he had plans to attain immortality and he even had plan to become pirate king WITHOUT FINDING THE ONE PIECE. Like according to him, he required immortality and personality switching ability of laws fruit and the treasure of mariejois and he would've become pirate king. THIS GUY WAS SO DANGEROUS THAT HE FOUND AN ALTERNATE PATH TO THE END OF THE FREAKIN SERIES. I was reading all this and wondering how in the hell such a character was lurking in this world all this time.
Doflamingo is the main reason I continued to read one piece weekly. I caught up at the end of Punk hazard and I was switching back and forth from following weekly and waiting to binge after a few months until Doffy first arrived in punk hazard and used Conquerors haki. Every single time he would appear from then on it was pure fire and I had to read the next chapter immediately to see if he was there. Dressrosa remains the only arc in my opinion that has the big twist of the arc like literally 10 chapters in. When Doffy says he's a celestial dragon, there was nothing else that arc that sent shivers down my spine even CLOSE to that twist. Not Fujitora, not Gear fourth, not Sabo(I've never cared about this guy from day one), nothing. Doffy was pure anime menace like Griffith or Hisoka and it was fantastic.
Right. Those are some of my reasons for why I love these characters. Of course there's other reasons for each but I picked the main ones.
