Summary

Unique character designs in One Piece are exaggerated and cartoonish, helping characters stand out.
Exaggerated body shapes and strong silhouettes make One Piece characters distinct and recognizable.
Weird character designs in One Piece reflect the strange and goofy world the characters inhabit.

There are many reasons as to why One Piece stands out from other anime. From its interesting world, unique characters, and amazing story, One Piece is at the top of the anime world for a reason. However, these details aren’t the first thing many aspiring fans notice about the series. Instead, what most people see for the first time, rather than the amazing story that lurks beneath, is the surface-level weirdness that sets One Piece apart in the eyes of most anime watchers.

This includes strange environments and weird powers, but most importantly, the first thing many fans notice in One Piece is the unique character designs. With often extremely exaggerated bodies that look far from human, to massive characters that are five times larger than they should be, One Piece plays with character design in a unique way that no other anime has done before

Oda knows how to write very emotional scenes. He explains the importance of the scene with Merry’s death in One Piece

One Piece Character Designs Are Strange

Characters Are Exaggerated With Strange Body Shapes

Looking at the designs of One Piece characters, it’s easy to see what makes them stand out. Oftentimes, the features of characters will be stretched and exaggerated to cartoonish proportions. This helps take certain characteristics of these character designs, allowing Oda to draw attention to certain features, over any other. For a smaller example, the Emperor, Buggy the Clown’s, cartoonishly large red nose is an important part of his character and is often one of the first things that fans notice about him, due to its abnormally large size and red color.

Does my nose look funny to you? – Buggy

However, other One Piece characters take this a step even further, with their whole body being completely and unrealistically exaggerated. A character like Wapol, for example, has very tiny limbs compared to his massive body. Additionally, his mouth takes up most of the real estate of his character design. Other characters, like the powerful former Emperors, Whitebeard and Big Mom, are hugely tall and massively large, despite being normal humans.

Exaggerated Body Shapes Make Characters Distinct

With A Strong Silhouette One Piece Characters Stand Out

A Strong Silhouette Is A Great Basis For Animated Designs
Weird Body Shapes Help Characterize

These types of characters are all a part of the author of One Piece, Oda’s, amazingly unique art style. One of the important principles in designing a recognizable character is to give them a distinctive shape, allowing the character to be identified simply from a silhouette. Although this applies to the bizarre shapes of characters like Wapol and Big Mom, it also applies to smaller exaggerations, like Zoro’s three swords, or Luffy’s iconic Straw Hat. All these tiny details of character design, though they may make a character seem more ugly at first, help the characters stand out.

Although much has been reveled about her mother, who is Robin’s father in One Piece?

However, having a strong silhouette is only the first step, and not a wholly necessary one, in character design. Many of the best One Piece characters also use their unique character design and exaggerations to help give fans an idea about their personality. For example, the former Drum Island king, Wapol’s, large mouth can imply that the character is greedy and hungry, while a ridiculously tall character like Whitebeard emphasizes his power. While for some One Piece characters, the audience shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, many times the designs of the characters are the first important step in analyzing who they are.

Strange Designs Make Sense In The One Piece World

Devil Fruits And Other Weird Abilities Make For Strange-Looking People

Finally, the character designs of One Piece are designed to be so weird because the world of One Piece is so weird itself. The universe of One Piece is extremely strange and goofy, so it follows that most of the people living there would be strange and goofy as well. This is especially true for those living on the Grand Line, where extreme levels of power and weird Devil Fruits have completely changed people from how they formally looked.

You runts aren’t bad. – Big Mom to Law and Kid

While to a potential fan, One Piece characters may seem ugly, most of the One Piece fan base loves how the series’ characters are designed. These weird character designs are just one of the many things that make One Piece such a unique franchise. In fact, many fans have come to treasure One Piece’s strange characters as one of the most interesting parts of the show