Personality Bleed: One Piece

Last time I wrote one of these, it focused on the probable type of the author. I’m not sure if I’m going to go that route in this one, but I’ll probably suggest my theory by the end. I mostly plan to focus on the functions that I see taking a forefront in this series. I’ll try not to make this post seem too rambley, but to be honest, this is probably just going to be me talking out loud. (Or writing out loud? verbalizing my thoughts? XD Whatever.)

Cognitive Functions in One Piece

Ne:

This is by far the strongest displayed function for the entirety of One Piece.  The show is fantastical, random, and quirky. The crew pretty much just travels around with no specific goal in mind other than to have fun and get stronger. (Obviously, there’s the King of the Pirates and the One Piece thing, but these aren’t really goals with a clear and set path to follow.) In order do so, they generally aim for the next big location (Grand Line,  the New World.. or whatever), yet allow themselves to be diverted here and there by random events. There are islands in the sky, cities under water, random abilities gifted to people by eating wacky looking fruit, loss of the ability to swim upon eating said devil fruit, mermaids, sea monsters, giants, fairy-like people, sea trains, submarines, man-made islands, magical power called “Haki”, and etc. You name it, and the author of One Piece has probably included it somehow. The bad guys (and most characters really) have odd personality quirks that define them. For instance, a majority of the villains have an odd (and usually very annoying) laugh. I just got through the Punk Hazard Arc recently, and the villain Vergo was always getting large pieces of food stuck to his face…and never seemed to notice. Really?! Zoro is always getting hopelessly and pathetically lost, to the point where he seems to not even know the difference between left and right, and can’t follow someone who’s right in front of him! I could go on, but it would take up way too much space to run through all the weird, One Piece stuff. I do wonder though, if this is why the big confusion about Luffy’s type exists. (And this is not me trying to argue my opinion either.) But, he’s in a role that is stereotypically Se, yet being strongly influenced by an Ne author.  So, does that make him an ENFP or an ESFP? I can respect either opinion.

Ti:

Everything is explained… somehow. The explanation doesn’t always make complete sense, but there is always an attempt to logically explain everything that goes on in One Piece. The mechanics behind the sea train, the Sabaody Archipelago, the strange weather patterns, the magnetic fields(?) connecting the islands which subsequently requires a device called a “log pose” for navigation rather than a normal compass, and etc. Of course, having Ti over Te just supports the show’s… weirdness and lack of a clear path forward, most of the time. I also noticed that Ti users are depicted relatively well in this show, which isn’t very common, from what I’ve seen. For instance, I’ll put forward Franky as an example. Nobody argues that Franky is an aux Ti. (At least, I’m pretty sure nobody argues that point…  I suppose there always has to be someone… O_O) Anywho, I have seen some very solid Ti statements come out of Franky’s mouth. A lot of shows try to put forward Ti characters that I would deem… “surface” Ti users. Meaning, they have the initial appearance of Ti (stereotypical Ti), but if you’re really paying attention (especially if you’re a Ti user), you’ll realize that something isn’t quite right or seems to be missing. I don’t get that feel from either Franky or Zoro.  (Although, Zoro does confuse some people, but it’s because he doesn’t actually verbalize his thoughts very often, not because he lacks Ti.)

Fe:

Have you noticed that the characters in One Piece are generally very emotionally expressive? I mean, check out Franky again. Sometimes I just wonder about him, because he can appear so emotional, in spite of being a T. Also, there is an over-abundance of characters in One Piece that people try to type as SFJs. Once again, this is not me putting forth an argument about any one character’s type.  My arguments can be read in other posts.  But, I’ve noticed that Sanji, Usopp, Nami, and Luffy have all been called dom Fe users by someone because of how emotionally expressive or turbulent they are. Brook is typically recognized as an Fi user (dom or aux is debated), yet he is frequently seen publicly crying and getting emotional as well. Sanji, who is usually brash and logical, loses all focus and self-control the moment a girl walks into the room, and turns into a ridiculous blog of flattery. Honestly, the only members of that crew who aren’t emotionally expressive are Robin and Zoro. The fact that the feelers in this show are so hotly debated and confused, suggests to me that there is an Fe influence on the show. In addition, while values are being clearly displayed in the show, they don’t seem quite as solidly Fi to me as other shows like Naruto. Meaning, Naruto constantly ran around the show proclaiming who he was, what his ninja way was and etc. Luffy just declares that he’ll be King of Pirates, and otherwise just keeps the rest to himself for the most part. He’ll get angry for some injustice that he’s seen, and will take action, but I haven’t really noticed him running and around and proclaiming values. (After all, heroes have to share the meat. :P)

Si:

And my last few thoughts on this subject are related to Si. One Piece has a lot of “surface” Si users. I’ll be watching the show, lock on to one of the characters, and go “Oh, that’s an Si user.” But then, I try to come up with a solid non-stereotypical argument as to why, and I have a hard time producing one. On the surface, however, the character looks very Si. I’ll get online and read people’s opinions, and many will agree that the character is an Si user. Yet, I’ll struggle to produce a good argument. You might argue that I’ve simply typed the characters wrong, but that would imply that there are no Si characters in One Piece, because it’s that way for all of them. For Si, I look for detail orientation, however, you don’t see a lot of that in One Piece. You see reliance on the past lessons which they bring up on occasion, which is usually what I have to lean on for evidence. However, you don’t see that meticulous, detailed nature of the Si dominant or auxiliary being displayed in One Piece. Although, I will say, that Trafalgar Law is probably the best example of an Si user that I’ve seen the show produce yet. Perhaps the author is improving. (I’m not trying to knock the author though -One Piece is an excellent anime, with a lot of great, well-rounded characters that are honestly far better developed than many manga-based anime out there.)

In Conclusion…

I could have written a few thoughts on Ni, but I’d mostly just be saying that the Ni displayed in One Piece is fairly stereotypical. It leans heavily on terminology like fate and destiny. Admittedly, that does make the Ni users easy to peg. Regardless, based on everything written above, I’d suggest that we have an ENTP written anime here. Obviously, don’t take this conclusion too seriously. I’m just following this logic train for fun, and wouldn’t bank anything on it. I haven’t researched the author. I just enjoy attempting to reverse engineer the personality type that has been imprinted onto some of these shows. Let me know if you have any thoughts, questions or an alternate viewpoint.