YMMV / Mokku of the Oak Tree

• Angst? What Angst?: In the fifth episode, Mokku gets over his friend killing an innocent kitten in a fit of rage really quickly.
• Awesome Music:
  • The original Japanese ending theme
  • The opening song "Whoah, Oh, Pinocchio" from the Harmony Gold dub.
  • The two-parter about the magical violin has some great music, which got changed in the Saban dub but kept in the Italian dub, like the rest of the anime's original score.
• Heartwarming Moments: The ending of the series, where Pinocchio (Mokku) becomes a real boy.
• Jerkass Woobie: For all his jerkiness, Pinocchio (Mokku) could cause some sympathy to the viewers when he suffers from misfortune, particularly when he gets shot in the last episode.
• Tear Jerker:
  • In this version of the story, both Pinocchio (Mokku) and Gepetto constantly suffer abuse and misfortunes. While the series has become infamous for its unexpected creepiness, it also had plenty of sad and tragic moments.
  • In episode 39 an old dog, Debbo, traveling in the balloon with Pinocchio ends up stranded on a raft in the middle of the ocean and the heroes are unable to rescue him. In the end Pinocchio and his companion spot the mainland and hope that perhaps the current will take Debbo's raft to shore, but it doesn't make Pinocchio being forced to abandon old Debbo in the ocean any less heart-shattering, especially due to how prolonged the desperate attempts to reach Debbo are, and him eventually accepting of his fate and wishing good luck to Pinocchio.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • In the unedited version of episode 5, Johnny earned the hatred of the cat who tricks Pinocchio into almost killing him not by supposedly throwing a rock at her offscreen, but by killing her kitten because he was angry about an argument he had with Pinocchio. He never acknowledges this action for the rest of the episode or shows any regret, making his peril a bit more difficult to care for.
  • From the same episode, in the uncensored version, Johnny's father openly expressing disappointment at having a weak son and actually encouraging Pinocchio to go ahead and take his son's heart if he wants to as a Secret Test of Character. Regardless of the father thanking Pinocchio for sparing his son's life and he and his wife having a Heel–Face Turn, teaching his son to value his own life through giving Pinocchio the possibility to kill him is pure Values Dissonance that one would not consider to be good parenting.
• Values Dissonance: In episode 21 Geppetto slaps Pinocchio during an Anger Born of Worry moment. While this wasn't something audiences would bat an eye at in the 1970's, when this series came out, such forms of child discipline would go on to become more and more controversial in the following years.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: This is probably one the darkest adaptations of Collodi's novel. Even in the dub, which cut out most terrifying and violent scenes, the eerie atmosphere is still there.

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