Oden didn’t win me over. Oda didn’t quite hit the mark when it came to his portrayal. His outlandish intro making him to be this ‘larger than life figure’ – really soured me to no end. There was nothing wrong with Oden except being somewhat tactless and selfish. Which is classic ‘Gary Stu’ – where a near perfect character has a so-called flaw which isn’t really a flaw, but is actually a good thing. So that was a turn off from early on.
It's totally fine if you don't like Oden.
But it is a falsehood to claim that Oden is a "Gary Stu". Thats not what a Gary Stu even is nor was Oden ever portrayed as perfect. You are confusing "Larger-Than-Life" characters for "perfect" characters. They are not the same. Most characters in One Piece are larger than life. Luffy is larger than life. He's kicked God's ass in the sky, Frequently saves entire countries without meaning to, Challenged the World to a fight to save one friend etc etc. Whitebeard was also larger than life. He was the World's Strongest Man, He was "the man who shook the world", the Pirate King's main rival, Fought the entire Marine HQ and despite every attack they through his way the Man died standing. Even in death all the world's strongest fighters failed to bring him to his knees.
I only use Luffy and Whitebeard as easy examples here but they are clearly both larger than life characters who have great standing in the world and constantly did over the top epic things. But the narrative has never portrayed them as perfect. Or without flaws. They still fail.
This would also apply to Comic Book Superheroes as well. Superman and the entire Justice League are often portrayed as larger than life. They do amazing things in just about every issue. It doesn't mean that they're perfect.
Him taking on the burdens of Wano by himself or him going off alone trusting in his own strength. All these are not flaws either. But Oden not trusting his Scabbards/friends/allies IS a flaw though, yet Oda will never have any character call him out on it. Not with the way things are now with the Scabbards and the people of Wano idolising and near-mythologising Oden.
This is incorrect. Those are all his flaws. They don't need to call him on it either. Whats important is that it's challenged
by the narrative. Not the characters. What constitutes a flaw in stories is whether or not it actually impedes the character and causes them problems or causes them to fail. It's the trait holding them back. Oden's flaws lead him straight to his death.
Compounding it further Oda had Oden display an astounding lack of common sense, while having massive amounts of gullibility. So much so it took me out of the experience as a reader because it is something one simply cannot relate to. One doesn’t trust someone who is a proven liar
Ignoring the fact that he didn't actually trust Orochi, this is incredibly hypocritical.
It's contradictory for you to claim that Oden is perfect and flawless and therefore don't like him but then turn around and say that he lacks common sense which would be a blatant character flaw. You can't simultaneously argue he's a "gary stu" and then hate him for having a flaw you don't like. lol.
I'd also point out that you're not obligated to relate to every character in every story.
