Final Fantasy X laughing scene

An infamous scene in Final Fantasy X centering on Tidus has become known as the "laughing scene", where Tidus pretend-laughs at Yuna's encouragement for him to appear happy even when he isn't. The scene has gained notoriety among fans.

Story
Tidus is a citizen from Dream Zanarkand who has ended up on Spira, a world terrorized by a colossal monster known as Sin. After reconnecting with his mentor Auron in Luca, having last seen him when Sin attacked Zanarkand and he was swept away to Spira, Tidus learns Sin is supposedly his father Jecht who disappeared from Zanarkand ten years ago. Confused and unwilling to believe this apparent impossibility, Tidus becomes depressed and draws Yuna's attention.

Yuna is a summoner on a quest to kill Sin. Tidus is helping her both to save Spira and for hope he would find his way home, as Zanarkand is the eventual destination of Yuna's pilgrimage. As Yuna's party is about to leave Luca after Tidus and Auron become her new guardians, she notices his depression. She explains that summoners and guardians exist to bring hope to the people of Spira, and that's why she has practiced looking happy even when she feels sad inside. She encourages him to first smile and then laugh out loud.

Tidus goes along with Yuna's coaxing and "laughs" loudly until Yuna asks for him to stop. He doesn't, and Yuna decides to join him. The two burst into genuine laughter over the silliness of the situation while the rest of Yuna's party looks on in confusion, Wakka commenting he thought the pair had gone mad.

Development
The localization director Alexander O. Smith has commented the scene being just as "weird and stilted and out of place" in the Japanese as it is in English. Smith has praised Tidus's voice actor, James Arnold Taylor, for his performance for the scene, and considers it equally awkward in both versions and thus a successful localization. Taylor himself has commented that the laugh is supposed to be "awkward, goofy and dumb".

Alexander O. Smith agrees that the scene is ridiculous, but funny. He has said he hadn't really sat back and thought about the scene's emotional impact as the lead-up to Yuna saying she wants her journey to be full of laughter. It's a melodramatic thing to say, and thus quintessentially Japanese. When localizing Japanese games Smith usually strives to rein things in and make them more realistic, but with the "laughing scene" it was impossible. Smith had asked the main writer, Kazushige Nojima, about the scene, and learned that forced laughter was something Nojima had been doing when taking acting classes.

Allusions

 * The in-game letter that delivered the item to obtain Tidus's Abes outfit in Final Fantasy XIV alluded to the scene, saying the gift would help the player forget the "echoes of Tidus's maniacal laughter".
 * In the English version World of Final Fantasy Lann mimics Tidus's iconic laugh in an Easter egg scene upon arrival in Besaid, saying the weather is so lovely he wants to laugh out loud. Reynn says she doesn't know how to react and that she will thus ignore him. The scene is different in Japanese.

Trivia

 * The scene is repriced voicelessly in Final Fantasy X-2 when Yuna reminisces of her time with Tidus in Luca when chasing after a phantom moogle.
 * A mod for the game's Steam version exists that replaces all of Tidus's dialogue and parts of the music with the laughter. It was made for Twitch streamer MonotoneTim, who joked about the idea, and then some outlets caught on to it.