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What's wrong with you? Flubbing the laws of physics for just a cheap gag.
"Gag Character" (JP) is a term for a character who is able to bend the laws of physics to their will for the sake of a joke. They can be said to be the living embodiment of a joke.
Etymology
Meaning of the Term
Gag Character (ギャグキャラクター) comes from the word "gag" (ギャグ), meaning "a running joke".[1]
History
Early Inspirations
Early instances of gag characters can be found in various cartoon series by Warner Bros. starting in the 1930s, most notably the Looney Tunes. Characters like Bugs Bunny would regularly defy the laws of physics for the sake of a playing pranks on the other Looney Tunes characters.
Rise in Popularity
In Japan, the concept of a gag character was popularized by the 1980 manga series Dr. Slump, and it's main protagonist Arale Norimaki. Arale was a sentient robot who would perform world-breaking acts for the sake of making herself laugh, such as cracking the Sun in half or flying to Jupiter by the power of her farts. She was also notorious for playing pranks on other people, her favorite being causing them to accidentally touch poo. This gag was so popular in Japan that it directly inspired the later design for the poo emoji.[2]
This genre was later further popularized by series such as One Punch Man and Gintama.
Characteristics
Gag characters are characters that are able to bend the laws of physics to their will. They are often referenced as having "toon physics" and will regularly perform acts that are impossible for regular people solely for the purpose of making a joke. With gag characters their imagination truly is their limit.[3] Because of this fact, it is often stated that gag characters are the strongest beings in fiction since they defy all logic or reasoning. They will become stronger than the strongest character in the show purely because it is funny.[4]
Common gag tropes include: gravity not working until you look down, being able to pull anything out of your pockets no matter the size of the object, immediately reviving from deadly injuries, being immune to powerful attacks that normally have a 100% success rate, being able to make drawings into a reality, breaking the 4th wall, etc.[5]
Personality
Gag characters are highly immature and don't take anything seriously. They will break the laws of physics just for cheap jokes or to satisfy their own amusement. When powerful characters show up that frighten most other people, gag characters will laugh at them or not take them seriously.[6]
They will play practical jokes on other people, which often results in them getting physically injured for the gag character's enjoyment. For example, replacing a normal object in someone's hand with a stick of dynamite or using toon force to enter a drawing and letting the other person following them run into a solid wall.
Gag characters will sometimes be capable of breaking the fourth wall for the sake of a gag, such as a character bouncing attacks off the panels in their own manga series or talking to the writer of their series directly. This is oftentimes paired with the concept of a parody character, which makes meta jokes at the expense of other popular series. Such parody characters will replicate popular transformations or tropes of other series in a mocking fashion.[6]
Similar Japanese Archetypes
- Itazurakko: A term for a young character who likes to play pranks and tricks on others.
List of Characters
Gallery
 Arale Norimaki from Dragon Ball Super  Ajimi Kiki from Pripara  Saitama from One Punch Man  Mash Burndead from Mashle  Majin Buu from Dragon Ball Z  Hitori Gotoh from Bocchi the Rock |
References
- ↑ What is Gag Character. Pixiv Encyclopedia. “A character in a work of fiction who is supposed to be a laugh-getter. They may be serious, but their words and actions are out of line with common sense. Depending on the author they may be the strongest meta-killer in the work, easily reviving a person who is apparently dead, or disabling the cheat-like abilities of a powerful enemy without any intention.”
- ↑ The Oral History Of The Poop Emoji. Fast Company (2014/11/18). “It got very popular when a manga called "Dr. Slump" was broadcast in Japan back in the ’80s. Such was not an object to be disliked, but it had a funny meaning. This was a very popular comedy anime where a girl (Arale) played a trick on other people using the poop. It was this funny object to play with, it was never serious.”
- ↑ The Law of Silly Gag Characters. Chaku Wiki.
- ↑ The Strongest Theory of Gag Characters Again!. Magmix (2022/03/09).
- ↑ Gag Embodiment. Superpower Wiki (2018/05/08).