#i love reiju. character of all time perhaps

[wobubling]

with a taste of your lips i’m on a ride

[melonteee]

About Sanji being feral with men/older men, I remember reading once in a fanfic how an OC or SI (I can't remember which ^^; ) suggested that the reason why Sanji is nice to women and rude to men is because of his family. That at a young age he formed the mindset that women tended to be good people while men tend to be bad people because when he was young only women (his mom and to an extent his sister) were the only ones to treat him with kindness while the men in his life (his brothers and father) treated him like shit.

That kind of makes sense and I can no longer unsee it.

I'm so sorry this got so long because I have so much to say about Sanji and his perception of gender so read under the cut LMAO

Anon the SECOND his WCI story was revealed, that was the literal first thing I noticed. As always, Oda has an incredible show don't tell ability - and while it is implied (and maybe Oda didn't have the intention), there's certainly an idea that Sanji puts women on a pedestal due to how men abused him.

But considering Reiju helped Sanji, and how there were maids around Sanji who were also kind to him, along with his own mother, I'd say it's extremely intentional. Reiju also isn't exactly the nicest person either, like she's presented as a total grey area. It's not that Reiju was kind to Sanji just because she was a 'nurturing' big sister, but because she was the only one who didn't have her emotions literally programmed out of her. Reiju still gave Sanji a tough time, and still didn't help him unless it was behind Judge's back, but she still showed him more kindness than Sanji's father or brothers EVER did.

While there's an obvious misogyny in Sanji, and it IS undeniable, it certainly slides much further up on the misandry scale. When he was first brought into the world, the only people nice to him were women. His first memories and first acts of care and love came from women. He was allowed to cry around his mother, he was allowed to let his guard down around Reiju, and he was allowed to be his 'emotional' self with the women that surrounded him. It is undeniable Sanji has elevated women up to a being higher than men, and much higher than his OWN existence. This has all mixed and formed inside him due to his time with the Vinsmokes AND his time with Zeff.

After all, combine Sanji's first and only real acts of affection coming from JUST women, with Zeff's ideology that women are NOT to be harmed, of course you're going to create a boy who idolises women as this holy deity.

Not to go a bit off track, but it's why this idea that Sanji HATES himself, and why he has ZERO self worth, is ALSO something people tie to his gender. Does Sanji take pride in being a 'manly man', or does he think that's what he needs to be for women? Does Sanji compensate his hate for his own self by being this extremely overdone, heteronormative gentleman? By projecting his love onto beings he believes he can never be nor measure up to?

When of course, these 'beings' are just women. Just people, like himself.

The discussions surrounding Sanji and gender, combined with his abusive male environment and this clear confusion/hatred for men, is WHY there are many who have picked up this idea Sanji perhaps does not want to BE a man. It can be called a stretch, or wishful thinking, but it's something people within the queer community have seen nonetheless.

After all, we have SEEN Sanji's happiness upon being perceived as a woman - TWICE.

Sanji quite literally has a deadname he refuses to be referred to as.

And now, with his current mutation happening, he is becoming afraid of - and displaced IN - his own body.

Sanji is such a weird and complicated character to fathom, honestly. It could VERY well be these were all things Oda just accidentally tripped and banged head first into, but WCI as a whole had a pretty big focus on not JUST familial roles, but expectations and roles of GENDER as well.

Katakuri's need to be stern and emotionless as an older brother, Pudding's abuse due to the fact she wasn't 'pretty' enough, Big Mum's daughters being married off unless they proved they can serve some OTHER purpose, Sanji's brothers forcefully cold and emotionless, Reiju needing to bottle her own emotions with fear of being bullied, SANJI'S bullying due to being an emotional boy, Judge HIMSELF being made fun of for his crying.

Combined all with Reiju telling Sanji "You're a boy, don't cry!"

WCI was fucking RIDDLED with gender discussion and gender expectation that comes with blood family, but this idea is pushed to the side due to the themes of familial abuse being the most prominent. Yet a BASE of familial abuse IS expectations of gender roles that comes WITH a nuclear family.

As much as people don't want to see it or CAN'T see it, Sanji's character and arc includes areas of toxic gender norms JUST as much as it covers blood family abuse. It's just something that's taken to an extreme in this hyper fiction setting, and thus, it can become invisible beneath the surface. But I see it! And obviously, you see it too anon!

Sorry for the rant I am just VERY passionate about Sanji's complicated relationship with gender LMAO

[trixree]

Hi! I really love your writing and fics and I was wondering whether you have any thoughts on AFAB Sanji? Because so much of him is based on trying to fit a standard of manhood that changing that to a standard of womanhood would likely get you a very different character on the surface. Seeing her take on these ideals like not harming women despite being a woman could be very interesting but that also goes against the social expectations Sanji seems to want to fit

Per my last post, I'm catching up on old Asks, AO3 comments, and messages received during my hiatus! (Psst, go do my Fanfic Poll)

Thank you so much!

I have LOTS of thoughts about AFAB Sanji, both as a cis character and as a trans man. I've separated my thoughts about the two below:

AFAB CIs Sanji - I think AFAB cis Sanji would be much the same as my take on AFAB cis Zoro; the interesting bit of characterization to play with would be how the socialization of womanhood interacts with the canon character's dreams and backstories. (Sanji's dream of finding the All Blue wouldn't be impacted by a gender swap, imo, so I'll turn my attention to the later). I'll admit that I haven't watched WCI and have only read bits and pieces of the manga here-and-there for context because Sanji's backstory hits Very Closely to some of my own childhood trauma, so I tread carefully. That being said, as far as I'm aware, Reiju wasn't treated too terribly differently by Germa in terms of her potential as an assasin given her sex. But, Reiju wasn't an experimental failure like Sanji was... So I can see there being a novel tension between AFAB-Cis Sanji and Reiju as sisters: the "successful" sister and the "failure" sister. It adds a whole new spin to the arranged marriage bit, too! Perhaps expectations of child bearing would come into the picture (more so than in canon). As far as how Sanji's character would be impacted by this gender swap, I could see Zeff training Sanji to take No Fucking Shit from ANY man, let alone a pirate - I can see Zeff deciding "my daughter will not be spoken to like most pirates speak to women, I'll make sure of it" and raising a very self-confident, assured Sanji that knows her worth.

AFAB Trans Sanji - I'm gonna be assertive here and state that Zeff would be the most supportive father figure to a trans!Sanji EVER. Much the same as I can see Zeff getting hella protective about having an adoptive daughter, I don't think that that child being trans would change his attitude all too much. It's still life on the sea, they're still pirates, and any kid of his is going to know how to protect themselves and cook a damn fine meal, too, regardless of how they identify. I think the interesting bit to explore here would be internalized misogyny and hyper performative masculinity of the sort that we see in canon with the added layer of gender transition for context. It also adds Deliciously Angsty Layers to the time skip, turning it perhaps into a journey of self-acceptance, and IN MY ROTTED LITTLE TRANS BRAIN, it makes even more sense for Iva-San to be Sanji's mentor.

[frosteee]

Three Sanji fic ideas that I must put down before I go insane.

Summary:

Idea 1: Beauty & The Beast (fantasy au)

Idea 2: All Blue Chef (modern au)

Idea 3: Rule of Six (Rule of Rose au???)

[Details under cut.]

Idea 1: Beauty & the Beast (fantasy au)

A witch disguised as an old woman knocks at the door of the Germa kingdom's king, Judge, and asks for shelter. The cruel king turns her away and three of his five children mock and pelt her with things. For their mistreatment, the witch puts a curse on the household, a curse than can be lifted by true love's kiss.

Different from the original story, the curse does not immediately turn the Germa family into beasts, but instead makes the process mirror their characters. The Germa king and three sons are immediately transformed into beasts, although they maintain their reason. They try to use their newfound bestial abilities in warfare, but their rotten characters combined with animal instincts make them wild and dangerous, causing all four to be locked inside their own castle until a cure can be found.

Sanji and his elder sister Reiju are relatively unaffected by the curse, although similar tendencies and traits cause symptoms to appear on their bodies. As the eldest, Reiju leaves the castle in search of a cure, leaving Sanji in the care of their servants.

Years later, Pudding, a princess from nearby Totto Empire, is sent to the Germa castle. Her mother, Empress Linlin, always viewed her daughter as a monster, and so found it fitting to marry her off to one.

All this time, Sanji has kept almost exclusively to the castle, not daring to venture outside for fear of hurting others. Pudding, convincing the prince to let her stay, initially decides to use the situation to her advantage when she sees how unbeast-like he is. She begins to think that she could manipulate the vulnerable prince to do her bidding and become a powerful monarch to spite her mother, but as time goes on the pair begin to slowly fall truly in love with one another.

(I haven't decided who the 'Gaston' character will be in the story, if there should be one at all, or if I should replace him with the monstrous Germa father and brothers instead. This is all I got so far!).

Idea 2: All Blue Chef (modern au)

In this modern au, Sanji is a young man of mixed German/Japanese descent who escaped his abusive household and after years of training and hard work became a chef and scraped enough money together to found his own restaurant - the All Blue. He also has a girlfriend - Pudding, but not named Pudding in this AU perhaps, maybe Charlotte instead?

The only noteworthy thing about this AU in terms of story is that one evening while working late, Sanji discovers a baby girl abandoned in a dumpster outside his restaurant, whom he fosters with Pudding and eventually adopts. Because we all need wholesome Dad Sanji ^-^

Idea 3: Rule of Six (Rule of Rose au???)

Back to the angst! This idea came from the Rule of Rose video game storyline. Bear with me here!

In 1950s West Berlin, Sanji is young trainee chef still haunted by the memories of his past.

His father was a high ranking general in the Wehrmacht who married Sora, a Japanese woman of high birth. He took her to Germany and they had five children. Sanji was bullied by his siblings and his father for not being able to meet his militaristic standards.

Despite the general's status and protection, a enemy bombing struck the family home, killing Sora and injuring the general so badly he was forced to resign. He was assassinated soon afterwards, leaving the five children orphaned.

The orphanage they were sent to was poorly managed and run by several abusive figures, most notably the headmaster. Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji quickly established a cruel hierarchy among the children, with themselves at the very top rung as the Three Generals, ranked as follows: General (Ichiji), Lieutenant-General (Niji) and Major-General (Yonji). As a woman, Reiju received the title of Wehrmachthelferin, Female Wehrmacht helper, in charge of relaying messages from her brothers to the other children, administrative duties, nursing and espionage, among other things.

Sanji received the lowest rank of Private, and was treated as such by his brothers. His only solace was cooking, and he often cooked for his playmates as well as wild animals he came across. Hearing this, his brothers forced Sanji to cook for nobody else but them.

Pudding also features as the 'Empress', having manipulated the boys into making her their leader. She is attracted to Sanji, but her emotional instability and trauma lead to her hurting him more.

The aftermath of his experiences in the orphanage leaves Sanji even more alone than before. Germany's defeat leaves him starving and near death before he is saved.

(Initially I wanted the story to end as Rule of Rose does, but I'm not sure if I want that or how that would come about exactly, and other details.)

[sanjiafsincedayone]

One Piece 902 - Review/Thoughts

Chapter 902 – End Roll - What an emotional chapter… I really liked most of it, but I think it was a little bit weird. I’ll just jump in and give my main thoughts about what happened this chapter.

First, I loved the scene with Sanji thinking about Pedro and the kind of solemn expression Oda drew. I am so glad for all the serious moments we have gotten with Sanji this arc.

Then Carrot coming along to comfort him. It is probably the sweetest moment we’ve seen this whole arc and I think it says a lot that Sanji doesn’t keep on blaming himself after Carrot talks to him. It feels like progress to me, even though Sanji does blame himself, he still understands that it’s not really his fault so to speak. 

Carrot crying after trying to comfort Sanji just went straight to my heart. It’s also really cute with them patting each others heads for comfort. A genuine moment that just makes me wish for two things; 1. That Carrot stays with the crew, if not forever at least in a similar manner to Vivi or Law. 2. That Sanji could act like this more often, especially with women. I love his soft side, and I think we have gotten to see it more often this arc due to the seriousness of the situations that Sanji has been in.

Either way I really loved their interaction and both characters are so soft and sweet it makes my heart ache. The scene is really emotional and it was probably my favorite part of the chapter if I’m being honest.

Then we get to hear Big Mom and her homies sing a song, as we see an overview of what’s going on. 

Amongst others we get this´scene of Sanji and Purin, which is mostly build-up for later, it’s all very bittersweet actually. Especially since we have Sanji with Carrot seemingly having mentally left Purin behind, while she obviously is still thinking a lot about him. It’s a weird kind of romantic angst for Oda to write, but more on that later.

I’m not going to lie but I am so tired of Big Mom at this point… She’s back to normal and nothing changed, they’re still going after the strawhats and basically Oda spent years of the manga writing a plot that only delayed Big Mom. Of course I think Oda has some purpose left with Big Mom, and it’s possible the whole divine cake thing will be relevant again then, but at this point I feel like we spent a lof ot time dragging a plot that didn’t make much of a difference. Honestly, things changed so fast between last chapter and this chapter I almost got whiplash. Is the crew suddenly all safe and ok now since they are out of the territory? I can’t be that easy right?

Not to mention both Germa and the Sun Pirates are still fighting, so it feels off to see the strawhats being all content and happy at the same time.

Anyways, moving on to emotional scene part 2 in this chapter. Purin gets a flashback, and we see some of her inner struggles throughout the arc. I genuinely feel bad for her, but I still wish Oda would have played things a bit differently for her. I understand that she was bullied and felt horrible about herself, and I do sympathize with her, but some of Oda’s decisions when it comes Purin’s story actually feels a bit rushed and forced. I think Oda wrote some scenes for her that mostly just complicated things without any real purpuse in the end... Especially with her doing unnecessary damage to Reiju just for a dramatic effect when it didn’t really lead anywhere in the end, and also how long the time of the readers not being able to trust her was. I don’t know, I really like how Oda has written her after a certain point, but it was so much harder to enjoy her character when I didn’t know where to place her. Personally I wish Oda wouldn’t have used her so much for shock value so that I instead could have developed a better understanding and bond with her sooner. I understand her switch, but it all happened really fast and especially if this is supposed to be genuine romantic development it’s been way too rushed for it to develop a strong foundation.

Either way I think Oda has written Purin and Sanji’s relationship with some odd decisions. I still don’t know where this is going, or if it’s now the end of it all together. Somehow this really feels like an end, but at the same time it would be weird for Purin to just disappear crying like this. I like how Sanji’s kindness was highlighted again, to make a change in Purin, just like it did in Gin so many years ago. But at the same time if Oda truly wants Sanji and Purin to happen I think he should have handled it differently, mainly because Sanji has been so strangely detached and unresponsive to a lot of Purin’s interest in him. I don’t really know why Oda would do that if he really wanted to develop Sanji and Purin as a true romance. So, that leaves two options, either Purin’s part in Sanji’s life is over and she will now go on a journey of her own to discover the world isn’t as cruel as she might have thought. Or two, she will come back, but to me a setup for Purin to come back and perhaps be Sanji’s true love-interest in the series I think Oda should have handled a lot of things differently. But enough about general Sanji and Purin discussion and back to the chapter.

I feel the kiss was pretty obvious, and also Purin taking away the memory of it, since Sanji had no reaction earlier. I feel bad for Purin, but that being said, it really does feel like the end for this plot… At least for now.

Also, just a small side-note… I really hate the nickname “Jiji”. It’s what Sanji usually call Zeff (only with shitty added before it), so I don’t see why Oda would pick that name for Purin to call Sanji. Unless it’s with the intention to draw some strange parallel to Zeff, but that in itself is such an odd idea… It’s basically her calling Sanji “Old man”. No, I’m kind of hoping there is something wonky with the translation on this one. Moving on to emotional part nr. 3!

Now, I did not expect this scene with Katakuri and Brulee, but I really liked it a lot. It’s a sweet moment between them and I loved the quiet support and understanding from Brulee and the highlighting of their bond. Seems like yet another case of enemies possibly turning into allies of the strawhats later on too.

The flashback was nice too, though I think we already recieved the message of “being loved for who you are” both in Katakuri’s and Purin’s story even prior to this chapter and even though it was unexpected to be shown their childhood like this, I did like Oda’s inclusion of it. Oda deciding to develop these characters more now when it’s seemingly the end of the arc just makes it all the more likely that they have future roles to play.

And then we are back to Big Mom’s song again and showing the battle still going on… Seriously Oda, it makes me feel really uneasy to end an arc like this. Big Mom is still a huge threat and their allies are fighting for them, so it’s just weird to have the strawhats really be out of the picture when everything isn’t over… The jump to the strawhats on the next page makes it even worse.

I mean, it’s nice to have some lighthearted crew interaction again, I’ve really missed it. And it’s also nice to have Sanji be truly happy again and the parallel with Zeff was a nice addition and I loved the line of father and son. It’s just a little out of place in my opinion. The ending of this arc was just too rushed, especially compared to how Oda has really dragged some portions of the story this arc. To me Oda is making it seem like the arc is over when it can’t be over. I am looking forward to Wano and not having to deal with Big Mom for a while though (hopefully).

So, all in all lots of great moments this chapter, and plenty of emotional scenes, some of which truly touched me a lot. But the timing just seems off, and with the sweet and touching scenes being mixed with crazy Big Mom and the fight still continuing this chapter is just and odd mix which leaves me feeling a bit uneasy about the development and pacing. 

So, an ok chapter with some really great moments is probably my final verdict. Thanks for reading, hope you had fun and feel free to discuss further and explain your thoughts on the chapter!

[pernanegra]

Thoughts on Whole Cake Island arc and chapter 902

The Whole Cake Island arc is finally coming to an end.

How do I feel about it? Well... I have mixed feelings. I thought the first half was really great, it had almost everything I could hope for: a real sense of danger, interesting villains (especially Pudding tricking everyone), new characters, inner conflicts and dilemmas... everything was leading to a great climax, and since this is One Piece, everyone thought that the fights (and perhaps new powers) were granted - it wasn’t.

Instead, Oda decided to make some choices that I can’t help but feel like he wasted a lot of potential. Starting with the “fake” handcuffs: it seemed like a cheap way to get rid of a problem he created but regreted later. In my opinion, the Strawhats inflitrating the castle, like a heist, could be really interesting and could give us an emotional reunion with Sanji while they open the handcuffs. 

The fake mask Sanji was wearing to hide his wounds was also a missed opportunity to make the Strawhats know about Sanji being a victim of abuse or even his entire past. It could be also an interesting scenario because Nami slapped his face without knowing about it. It seems like the only purpose of the mask was to make Pudding mock his injuries.

We ended up getting a funny heist to save Brook and the emotional reunion with only Sanji and Luffy (which was great), while Sanji communicated later with the rest by mirror shards - which lessed a lot the impact imo - but still was a nice scene. Oda skipped the group reunion immediately to show Capone’s plan. 

Knowing about the plan was really anticlimactic to me. It was clear that it wouldn’t work as intended. The mother Carmel picture seems like just a set up for Elbaf, but back then it felt out of place and a really random condition to make Big Mom go “berserk”.

Which was also really disappointing as the yonkou was played like a fool by Nami, Brook and the others while she was chasing the SHs. The whole point about the cake being necessary to stop Big Mom was proved to be counter-effective. It seemed like she was really close to be defeated by lack of energy and while the cake really distracted her, it restored her strength. All the panels with Sanji and the cooks making the cake feels odd now. Despite Sanji being confirmed to be an extraordinary cook, the reaction the readers were expecting from Big Mom wasn’t really delivered by Oda.

Luffy was the only one that shined through fights, by defeating Cracker and Katakuri, two sweet commanders. It’s expected from the protagonist, but him being the only one, while the rest of the crew worked mostly as distractions and fought or clashed lesser opponents, was really bad to me. But it wasn’t only the good guys, Smoothie especially didn’t do anything relevant as a villain. The Germa also had few panels to show something, but at least they had some cool moments.

That said, let’s talk about Pudding, the most controversial character of this arc. She started as a sweet girl who seemed to be a perfect match for Sanji. Since she was supposed to be his bride, it made sense to make her exactly like that. It’s fair to create a certain narrative tension by making the readers wonder if Sanji would really tie the knot or not. If Pudding was immediately despicable, there wouldn’t be any tension, Oda wouldn’t pair one of the main characters with someone bad.

Then, the plot twist happened with Pudding being a great actress and a savage, by shooting Reiju and mocking Sanji in one of his most hopeless moments. She was supposed to be his “ray of hope”, which made her betrayal even more cruel but still epic from a narrative standpoint. It felt like a great and a progressive decision from Oda back then. There were several lessons we could take from that chapter, but one that I think it would be great is that appearances can be deceiving, and that not all girls are innocent. That could be really an interesting point for Sanji’s character as he tends to idolizes women and receives a lot of criticism in the fandom for that.

It happens that Oda didn’t want that, he basically rewrote Pudding’s character (adding the infatuation caused by a ludicrous compliment about her third eye) and last chapter seems some sort of a retcon of her actions, by making all her cruel deeds somewhat justified by the way she was raised. She ended up being another victim and a less interest character to me, despite all the depth. It seemed like Oda regreted making her evil or he wasn’t sure what to do with her character (actually the second half of the arc looked like he didn’t know the direction he wanted). Certainly, most if not all villains have a sad past that explains how they became the person they are. Doflamingo and Arlong are great examples of that. Pudding, however, was redeemed and it’s really likely that we are seeing her again and this time, it has great chances that she will be a damsel in distress by the vibes of this chapter, if she is not escaping.

Regarding her romantic feelings, we had the goodbye kiss, like it was expected, and it came from Pudding (she “stole” it), she is the one really sad about parting ways. Sanji was ready to say goodbye and didn't think twice about her. This doesn’t look like someone who is parting ways with someone he loves:

Sanji finds Pudding attractive and he is grateful for everything she did, but it’s just that. To me, their relationship looked really one sided, even knowing that Sanji was with heart eyes after the kiss, but that's the usual Sanji and I can see him reacting like that if Kalifa or Viola kissed him. He is still a perv. xD I think Pudding knows that Sanji won't return her feelings:

Since she was an important character and the bride of this wedding themed arc, I think Oda decided to gave her a proper farewell. But it wasn’t only her. This chapter also showed Katakuri. I think Oda was making a parallel with the people Luffy and Sanji “converted” from the enemy side. Pudding is obvious, but we also get to see Katakuri smiling after knowing that Luffy escaped. Other parallel is Jinbei and Germa staying behind to defend the Strawhats. They are also doing this because of Luffy and Sanji, respectively. This arc was heavily about Sanji and Luffy. So, more than just a Sanji and Pudding moment, I think the intention behind this chapter is to show the human side of Pudding and Katakuri and how Sanji and Luffy affected them. They are both characters that had childhood problems, with the SHs accepting them the way they are, unlike many of the citizens of WCI.

Back to Pudding, it seems to me like this is the end of a romance that wasn't really meant to be, given the circunstamces of an arranged marriage. There is, of course, still the possibility of them meeting again in the future and I admit that the ship has more depth now and Pudding's feelings are genuine. It’s fair to say it’s a stronger ship now, but at the same time it feels to me like it’s destined to be tragic rather than canon. I just think that it's really difficult to imagine why Sanji discovering about this kiss would change anything from his side or how he would end up discovering it to begin with, as I don't think Pudding has the intention to reveal it:

Sanji still remembers everything except the kiss, and it doesn’t seem like Pudding really impacted him that much as we didn’t see Sanji thinking about her. I think the kiss will remain as Pudding's own memento of her bittersweet end - it was a last wish after all. Hopefully she will find someone like she hinted when they first met her at the café.

That said, I certainly don't blame people shipping them now because the angst was real from Pudding's side and people might want her to be happy with the guy she loves. It's unfortunate that Oda is really giving moments to ships, including SaNa, knowing that some of them won't happen in the end (perhaps none of them will happen). I really don't like this kind of bait and all sides can feel legit betrayed in the end after all the "tease".

It’s up to Oda, like always. But I’m glad that Sanji is back with the crew and that we are moving on from this arc. There are still many years to come from One Piece and we can take a lesson from this arc: a chapter can change everything, so until the end, there is hope for everyone. ^^

[kingcocoabutter]

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

I saw a video recently discussing the merits of Whole Cake Island and Sanji’s character arc within said story arc and there was a word that caught my attention. Intentions. The author asserted that Sanji is willing to forgive Pudding for shooting his sister and he was willing to place himself at BM’s mercy because he felt that their intentions were good. It is a fascinating idea and one I want to explore in more depth in this editorial. Fair warning that this editorial will be somewhat lengthy. It is going to explore a range of seemingly diverse topics but I swear that they are all interrelated. Let’s start with the easy stuff.

What You See Is What You Get?

If you were to ask fans what the central “theme” of Whole Cake Island (insomuch as it has one) you’d probably get answers like: parenting, family, race relations, self-discovery, and acceptance. Fair and true. But it is also an arc about dealing with personal pain and overcoming trauma. After all it’s the main defense that fans use to support Sanji’s actions during this arc. Sanji’s “self-sacrificial nature” is a result of the endless years of abuse at the hands of the people that were supposed to love and support him come hell or high water: his family. And while Sanji may have managed to escape that hellhole and learn the true meaning of love and family he’s never really addressed his conflicted feelings about his “real” family or confronted his abusers. But more on that later.

I’ve said it before in a previous editorial but I understand why Sanji made the decisions he did at the start of this arc. I don’t think any of the other Straw-hat would have behaved any differently when protecting their friends from harm. Especially when that Strawhat, as we have been repeatedly told, is so kind. I even understand why certain key events in this arc played out the way they did.  Especially Pudding and Katakuri’s character arc’s, which really are a central lynchpin around which so many of the events of this arc revolve around. But first please permit me a brief digression.

Most fan expectations for this arc skew towards the idea that the Charlotte Family and the Straw Hats conflict will be resolved by having them end up as allies by the end of the arc (whatever shape that may take). I know some fans are opposed to this because of the belief that one cannot know an author’s intentions before the story is complete and that setting strong expectations can only inevitably lead to disappointment. Fair. That said I land firmly in the camp of The Charlotte’s will be allies for a number of simple reasons:

1)    Oda cannot realistically expect to convince me that half of the SH crew were able to storm an Emperor’s territory and defeat all their forces, no matter how unusual the circumstances. I’m putting aside arguments regarding the expectation of running away from the clash or other related arguments because they are not relevant to the contents of this work. If I feel they are relevant to the arguments I’m making then I may address them later on.

  2)    The way Oda has structured the relationship between the two prominent main characters on both the SH’s and Charlotte sides (Luffy/Sanji, Katakuri/Pudding) leaves me no doubt in my mind that there will be no protracted conflict between the two groups. Again maybe a discussion for further in the editorial.

So many fans whose analysis of WCI I read bring up pretty much the same arguments and defense of the characters. All of them see Pudding/Sanji/Katakuri as sympathetic and relatable characters and it’s not hard to see why. Each of them has had expectations placed on them regarding behavior since the day they were born in spite of the fact that their personalities seem to run counter to said expectations. Sanji was supposed to be an apathetic killer working in the service of his father to restore the glory of a fading nation. Katakuri is…well we ASSUME that he has spent a lifetime striving to achieve a state of perfection so…perfect, so that he can compensate for his relatively minor “flaw” despite it not being perceived as such by his family. Pudding is much the same in she puts on a mask to plays the role of the perfect daughter who is a pawn in her mother’s machinations (much like all her siblings) to gain power/alliances that will allow her mother to achieve her dream of creating a utopia for all races.

We are also shown how tenuous the bonds of blood that bind the Charlotte family together seem frail and frayed in the presence of a family like the SH’s whose bonds have been forged in the fires of love, friendship, conflict, and perhaps most importantly choice. Given that it makes sense then why the crux of this arc relies on us understanding that the reason Katakuri/Pudding are swayed by Luffy/Sanji is because they are genuine people with good intentions who have shown them something they have never gotten from their family: kindness. It’s most likely the reason Sanji so strictly adheres to Zeff’s teachings and code is that he was one of the first people to show Sanji kindness. He was the person that selflessly gave of himself so that Sanji could live. And for a kid who has spent his entire life being told that he was worthless, a mistake, and an embarrassment, that is a powerful action indeed. So let’s talk about that Pudding eye scene.

The single most “powerful” defense of the Pudding scene is the idea that Sanji saw a kindred spirit in Pudding, much like Zeff did in Sanji all those years ago. That the sentiment behind his exclamation of the beauty of her eye was grounded in something deeper, something empathetic, and something…genuine. And given that we know Sanji is doing his best to model himself after the man he admires, maybe Oda’s intentions with that scene were to capture that same feeling. After all Pudding has basically been stuck in a situation similar to Sanji for far longer than he had without the possibility of escape. And given what we what we know of the Charlotte family, it would seem kindness is not a trait they value. So when seemingly confronted with someone that shows her something she has never experienced before what else would Pudding do? Especially when it’s directed at a perceived flaw that seems so trivial when compared to the whole.

It all seems so perfect doesn’t it? Sanji was born into a family that saw his kindness as a weakness until a man showed him that his perceived flaw was not something to be ashamed of but rather should be carried as a mark of pride. Then when he comes across someone in a similar situation to his he emulates the actions of the man he so admires to lift them up much like what was once done for him. All these pieces fit together so well it almost seems like WCI should be one of Oda’s better arcs. So why don’t I feel it? Well that’s probably because that while Totland, may seem like a Utopia from a cursory examination, a closer look would reveal all the hidden cracks and imperfections that mar its flawless façade. And what better place to begin examining its structural flaws then with one of its mightiest pillars: Sanj’s character arc.

You Are The Weakest Link! Goodbye.

Is Sanji shallow? I heard a fan ask once why other fans (mostly women) were bothered by Sanji’s preferences regarding women. Why were they trying to shame him for being physically attracted to a certain “type” of woman? Well…it’s complicated but I’ll do my best to give input.

One reason it’s so problematic is how Oda embraces a problematic cultural trend that has been emblematic of a societal problem that has plagued us for centuries. We have been fed a media diet that has conditioned us to recognize certain body shapes as being the model of attractiveness, and Oda has taken that to an EXTREME with his female characters. Any DESIREABLE WOMAN in the series has a certain body shape and they are almost always meant to be perceived via “The Male Gaze”. Chapter 898 being a perfect example, with all the Vinsmoke brothers being drawn in dynamic action panels and yet when we see Reiju attack it’s with a nice front row seat to her ass. Or even consider the infamous bath scene in Capone’s hideout. It is very telling that Oda only draws Nami/Carrot “naked” in the bath and has Chiffon sitting off to the side fully clothed. Saying “well Chiffon was holding Pez” is an excuse and an example of how good Oda is at illusion, and misdirection. He believes that Chiffon isn’t attractive like the others and so he shunted her off to the side. What does this have to do with Sanji? I wrote an entire editorial about this but to reiterate: What does Sanji love about women? Answer: He loves their looks.

Now I know fans will want to bombard with me all manner of “That’s not true” and “he loves Pudding” and maybe even a “So?” I’ll address the latter but with regards to the former the only question I’ll ask is: Does he really though? What exactly does he love about Pudding? I haven’t been as attentive to the events of this arc due to my lack of emotional investment and so maybe someone will prove me wrong, but off the top of my head I cannot remember Sanji ever stating what exactly he loves about Pudding. And I mean something specific apart from she’s sweet/kind. Mostly because that was a façade she was putting on but also because those are very generic character traits that can be broadly applied.

I am not going to judge someone for taking physical appearances and traits into account when choosing a partner (stones and glass houses as it were) because that’s how we’re programmed and it’s something we have had jammed down our throat for years. There’s a trend starting recently that’s starting to make a move away from that with body positivity but it’s hard to undo centuries of mental conditioning so easily. So I’m not saying Sanji is shallow for being attracted to certain kinds of women but I will totally call him shallow for that being the only DEFINING trait that he claims to LOVE about women. And it plays into one of the biggest problems I have with this arc: The pudding eye scene.

My question to fans would be: Would Sanji have reacted the same way if Pudding was not a conventionally attractive woman? What if instead of her it had been Chiffon that he was to marry? Would he still be able to convince himself that he would be happy? Would he still have reacted the same way to any potential third eyes she had? Yes? Bullshit. I don’t buy it for a second and none of Sanji’s actions throughout the series have convinced me otherwise or even given me cause for reasonable doubt. The reason that the Pudding eye scene falls so flat for me is that Pudding is GORGEOUS. There is no believable world in which Sanji’s reaction to her eye would be anything BUT positive. Especially given his reputation for being a horn dog and ESPECIALLY when considering the kinds of women he finds attractive. A cynical person might even note that maybe that’s the reason Oda has spent so much time this arc reiterating how Sanji is KIND.

I know some fans will justify it by saying that Sanji could have seen something in Pudding that gave him insight into her inner turmoil. After all we as readers are not privy to every single event that the Straw Hats are involved in because they aren’t relevant to the story. Something could have happened during all the time that Sanji was with Pudding while we readers were preoccupied with one of the other groups on Whole Cake Island. Fair. But it’s not enough. That scene serves as a central crux of this arc and its importance means that reading between the lines and general assumptions aren’t enough. And given everything we know about Sanji that runs counter to what we’re supposed to believe I don’t think it’s unfair to ask for more. Which brings me to the core of this editorial.

The Missing Link

I’ve been privy to a number of conversations recently regarding “villainous” characters and how fans don’t understand how or why someone could like someone so heinous. The prime example of this being Bakugo from My Hero Academia. I’ll provide a quick refresher/primer for those that are unfamiliar with this character. Bakugo was basically the golden child, that was naturally gifted with a powerful superpower and whose arrogance was fanned by the flames of admiration.

He develops a dislike for another child (Midoriyia) whom he perceives as weak (because he lacks a “quirk”) and he relentlessly torments him and bullies him for much of his childhood. Bakugo is seemingly an irredeemable asshole. That said a core part of the story focuses on Bakugo’s development as he comes to terms with his past behavior so that he can set himself on the path to becoming the person he wants to be. He’s a kid that’s some done some horrific shit because that’s what you do when you’re a kid. You’re focused on your wants, your desires, and your pain. It’s basically all what can the world do for me and I deserve this. But the lesson most people learn is that actions have consequences and some of them may unintentionally or ignorantly cause harm to others because you don’t know better. A person’s past should not define their future but neither should it be wholly discounted. And that’s one of the things that kind of bothers me about Luffy.

Fans have questioned before why Luffy never pays attention to the backstories of his crew or the people he befriends and I feel like it’s because he doesn’t care about their past. Luffy only cares about what actions a person takes now because what’s done is done and there really isn’t much you can do to change that. It’s even easier to ignore when you consider that Oda has written someone like Luffy to be able to instinctually tell (much like Sanji this arc) what someone’s intentions/personality are like. And much like Sanji that has NEVER backfired on him. But more than that it also means you either don’t want to consider what terrible things a person has done or you don’t think it’s important. And that is problematic.

I’m not going to go dive into speculation about whether the SH’s are good people or not because that’s a mighty big rabbit hole to fall down. So instead let’s focus solely on the actions of the characters on Whole Cake Island and how it ties into the broader theme of empathy.

Empathy at its core is simply the ability to relate to another person’s perspective. To put yourself in their shoes. It’s the basis for “The Golden Rule” i.e. treat others how you’d like to be treated and phrases like “walk a mile in her shoes”. It is also, as Mihawk so observantly noted during Marineford, one of Luffy’s greatest weapons. It was also brought up more recently when, during a flashback, Luffy told Rayleigh that he felt a person’s personality was important to him in regards to predicting the future and observation haki.

I’ve speculated on this countless times but to summarize: I believe the inherent power of Observation Haki is basically Oda turning empathy into a superpower. Consider all the most powerful observation haki users we’ve seen in the story thus far: Otohime, Asia, Coby, Madame Shyarly (potentially), Sanji, Luffy, Katakuri. When you consider all their personalities it would seem that they are all extraordinarily empathic/sensitive to other people’s emotions/auras. The sole “logical” and “powerful” argument in defense of the Pudding eye scene relies heavily on the reader’s assumption that this was why Pudding reacted so strongly to Sanji’s comment. The same could be said for the end of the Katakuri/Luffy fight when Luffy covered up Katakuri’s fangs with his hat. And I would further argue that we as readers are supposed to assume that since Luffy/Katakuri were both pushing their observation to the max, they gained some sort of insight into each other’s character that led to them developing “mutual respect”.

Empathy is so inherently important to so many of the events of this arc that I’m surprised that so many fans don’t bother mentioning it by name or acknowledging it’s importance. But here’s the thing about empathy. It doesn’t make you omnipotent. It doesn’t let you read someone’s mind. Observation haki may let you read someone’s aura/spirit/chi whatever you want to call it but in the end the observer is essentially making assumptions based on a number of minutiae (body language, tone of voice etc.) to determine how someone is FEELING. And thinking about it so much of this arc rides on the assumptions people are making without realizing how problematic that is. Cause here’s the thing about intentions/assumptions: they are flimsy. They are insubstantial. And we place far more weight on them than they can bear. Yet despite that they’re wielded like shields and swords to deflect or detract from a number of troublesome behaviors. 

An argument I’ve heard repeatedly again and again is that “X character doesn’t need a reason to do Y” or my favorite “X character having a flaw doesn’t make them a bad person” or my favorite “X character’s flaw is part of their personality and you should learn to accept it because it makes them who they are”. And that last one especially is a doozy, but let’s start with the simple stuff first: reasons. Let’s take the example of two people brought in for the crime of stealing medicine. One because they can’t afford to pay for it and their child is very sick and one because they want to get high off the fumes. So does this mean:

a)     Both of them should be charged and receive the same sentence or;

b)    The one stealing medicine for his daughter should face a lenient sentence if any because of the circumstances around their actions?

Would reasons matter in this case? Should they matter? Can we even be sure either one is telling the truth or should we just take them at their word? The road that people pave during the journey of life is a complexly interweaved web of the choices they’ve made and the circumstances/situations they’ve faced that has made them whom they are. And empathy is an ability that allows you to untangle that web to try and understand the how and the why. It’s easy to judge a broad group of people by measuring them against a single standard. It’s much more complicated to judge a group of people individually and tailoring the judgement after considering all the divergent paths they’ve faced and the ones they’ve chosen that led them to where they are. It’s a problem that Sanji has and something I’ve addressed before in that he tends to tailor his actions towards groups of people rather than considering their individual merits. Hence why he treats an entire marginalized group so poorly and why he will not harm a woman regardless of how heinous the acts she has or may have committed. Pudding shot his sister, gloated about how she was involved in a plot to assassinate him and his “family”, mercilessly mocked him, and yet Sanji will not hold that against her. Why? Because he is “kind”.

But the thing about kindness is that it is none at all to turn a blind eye to someone’s heinous actions. There are any number of reasons that Pudding may have done what she did. She was scared of BM. She was made this way because she was bullied. She was “acting”. But none of that excuses the actions she took no matter what her intentions were. A true kindness would be to help someone understand why they act out this way and help them become the kind of people they want to be. And that brings me back to the point I made above regarding flaws. Because it’s one thing to acknowledge that you have flaw. A person may be able to look at an aspect of their personality and say “yeah this is my weakness” and as long as it doesn’t hurt someone that’s fine (for the most part). But what if your flaw is something dangerous that could put the people that you love in danger?

The thing that annoys me about Sanji’s “flaw” is fans accept it as part of his personality and they’re willing to ignore it because he’s got an exceptional group of friends that will help him. After all it’s like Luffy said: I’ll do what you can’t do and you do what I can’t do. Ah! But the key word there is can’t. As in I literally cannot physically/psychologically or whatever do this thing. Sanji doesn’t want to hit women. It’s not something he cannot do. Usopp does not want to place himself in danger. His cowardice is his weakness. And he could do the same thing and say that he can’t fight. And I don’t think the crew would ever hold it against him. YET whenever Usopp exhibits this cowardice and considers running away, fans are very quick to eviscerate him. Yet when Sanji was selfishly unwilling to fight a woman, when time was a critical factor, it was shrugged off. Fans are more willing to accept that Sanji will never hit a woman and that doing so “would ruin his character” and yet they get infuriated that Usopp is “still a coward”. And that’s likely because it’s been instilled in us that hitting women is not something a moral/noble person would do. But you know what? Refusing to acknowledge or even introspectively consider the actions of your weakness and instead relying on your crew to compensate for you is the most selfish and cowardly thing you can do. You know why Usopp’s moment on Arlong Park was one of the most goddamn powerful moments in the series? It’s because Usopp is brave enough to recognize his weakness and strong enough to overcome it because he wants to support his friends. He wants to become the kind of man that would be proud to stand next to them shoulder to shoulder, KNOWING that he has done everything he possibly could have to help them during their journey.

So let me present a hypothetical. What if all the SH’s were otherwise pre-occupied and Sanji was the only one that could have saved Robin? He can’t just pass it off onto Usopp/Nami saying I WON’T hit a woman. I know that Sanji is probably so attached to Zeff’s teachings because he wants Zeff to be proud of him. He want his mentor that he loves/respects more than anything to be proud of the life he’s lived and he doesn’t want him to think that saving Sanji was a mistake. But here’s the thing. Sanji isn’t living his life for Zeff and I don’t think Zeff saved his life because he wanted Sanji to feel obligated to him. Zeff made choice to take a chance on a kid that might achieve the dream that he never could. I don’t think Zeff is the kind of man that would blame/fault Sanji for not being perfect, or deciding that maybe he doesn’t want to find the All Blue after all. And I’m not saying that if Sanji kicks one woman that all bets are off and he should just go around kicking any potential female enemy they come across. See above where I said I want him to stop tailoring his actions to a broad group of people. If Sanji wants Zeff to be proud of him then maybe he should live his life on his own terms. Because at the end of the day that’s all that matters. Is Sanji proud of who he became? When he dies will he die satisfied that it was a life well lived? If he can stand next to Zeff one day and say yes to all of the former isn’t that all that matters? And if Zeff was ever the kind of person that judged Sanji for hitting a woman to save his friends, then maybe he’s not the kind of person he should give his respect to in the first place.

Bakugo has made some shitty choices as a kid either out of selfishness, ignorance, or arrogance. BUT he’s starting to learn. He’s changing himself and his approach to others. And I hope that eventually he makes amends with Midoriya for all the atrocious shit he puts him through. And Midoriya might not forgive him. And that’s okay too. Because the point of the apology is not to make yourself feel better that your intentions were good because you are defined by the actions you take. All you can do is understand how your actions hurt other people and then going forward work to make sure it doesn’t happen again (at least intentionally but again that’s a complicated issue for another time). But this is the big kicker and one of the storytelling elements that’s been weakest in Whole Cake Island. Like I said it’s one thing to acknowledge a flaw and another thing to overcome it. But can a thing really be called a flaw if never results in consequences?

It Ain’t Over Till The Fat Lady Sings:

I’ve always imagined that having the Grand Line being split into Paradise and the New World was reflective of the process of growing up. The first half is the journey towards adulthood where you make friends, set your sights on a goal/dream you want to reach, and learn what your values are. In the second half your CONVICTION in all those areas is tested. Is your bond with your friends/family based on something real or were the connections so tenuous and superficial that they were never there in the first place? Placed in a desperate situation where your values are tested will you still have the strength to hold onto them? What cost are you willing to pay to achieve your dreams? And how many people are you willing to step on to reach that goal if any?

Avid followers of my Twitter theory posts will note that I’ve stated this before but I want the Strawhats to be tested in ways they’ve never been tested before in the New World. After all they are in the big leagues now. We’ve seen how the New World takes in hopeful, optimistic, ambitious rookies and spit them out again as callous, hardened, broken men and women. One of the reasons I love Sabaoady and Marineford so much is that those arcs are the first time that Luffy has ever really tasted defeat. No amount of luck or skill could have saved him from those situations, even though he did his absolute best, because he was weak. In his case it meant that he wasn’t powerful enough and I don’t expect that to always be the case. But in a series like One Piece, where people’s convictions in their dreams are represented by their ability to overpower their opponents it’s something that can’t be ignored. So how do you push people past their limits? You attack their weaknesses (an idea I’ve explored in my other editorial “The Hero’s Dilemma”). If you want to test the strength of a person’s convictions and push them past their limit then you have to place them in a situation where they are FORCED to grow, change, and adapt. But you can’t just place the character at the precipice of the volcano and then pull them back at the ending and let them go on their merry way. It’ll instill fear in them for a little while but then they’ll forget about it because there was no CONSEQUNCE! And it’s something that is especially important in a series like One Piece.

One of the big problems I’ve had with this arc is Sanji’s general attitude and treatment of women. So you can imagine I was a little bit infuriated in a recent chapter when he so easily made light of all of Pudding’s actions up to that point, even thanking her for “playing the role of his bride”. It was first brought up in Water 7 when Sanji told chopper that “a man forgives a woman’s lies” and it’s been heavily played up this arc with Sanji calling out Pudding’s “acting” and questioning whom was she really fooling. Remember how I mentioned that empathy is a not a mind-reading power? Well Oda has been really heavy handed in treating it like one. We are to ASSUME that Sanji somehow has an intimate understanding of a woman’s true intentions because he is “kind”. And quite frankly that’s something that’s very easy for him to do when he is RIGHT EVERY TIME. And it’s even easier for him to do when there’s been no consequences.

Because that’s the thing isn’t it? It’s easy for Sanji to say that he believes in his captain when he has no real personal stakes in the matter. I hate that Oda made the bomb cuffs a red herring and then used the wedding as plot convenience to ensure that Sanji didn’t have to lose anything. . It’s bugged me throughout this arc that Sanji didn’t have any faith in Luffy or the crew being able to help him out of his hopeless situation but as soon as he’s free then he can start spouting all that nonsense again about how his captain will become the Pirate King. And what makes it worse is that Oda has repeatedly dropped hints about it throughout the series. Luffy wants to be the Pirate King because he wants to be a man with unlimited freedom. But that’s not something he can just have for free because other people will fight him for that same right. So he has to have POWER. It can be interpreted as you like: physical power? Authority? Alliances? Weapons? If he wants to be the Pirate King then he needs to ensure that he doesn’t have any weaknesses that can be exploited. And of Luffy’s greatest strength and his greatest weakness is his crew. He would do anything for them, including invading an underwater prison (his brother now crew but they are the same for this purpose), the HQ of a clandestine government organization, or the territory of an Emperor of the sea. But the thing is he can’t do it alone. And I don’t just mean that he can’t do it without the help of his friends (though there is that) but rather the person he’s saving has want to be saved. Fans like to compare Sanji’s actions to Robin’s during Water 7 and Nami’s during Arlong and that’s fair. Fans may not like the comparison but it stand that in each of these cases the lesson they had to learn was that they needed to trust in their friends. There are some challenges they might face alone that they can’t overcome but that there aren’t any challenges they can’t overcome if they work together and trust in each other’s strengths. And Sanji didn’t do that when he was at his lowest point. He only did that after he was unburdened from having to make the choice to lose something he valued the most. And I don’t want to hear arguments about Sanji’s self-worth and all that because it doesn’t matter. At this point in the series there is no excuse for Sanji to EVER doubt in the strength of his crew or his captain and the things that they can achieve for their love of one another.

One of my favorite panels from Zou is the one where Pekoms tells Luffy that Big Mom could have the heads of a loved one sent to anyone that declines her tea party invitation because that’s true power. And if Luffy ever wants to claim to be the Pirate King then he has to wield a similar level of power. The sight of his flag flying on an island should inspire the same level of respect that pirates had when they saw Whitebeard’s flag on Fishman Island. Luffy’s reputation should be so well know that no-one would dare harm anyone that claims his protection because the consequences would be DIRE. And that’s the thing I didn’t see Sanji acknowledge. Yes he was stuck in a seemingly impossible situation. He had the best of intentions when he did everything that he did because he thought he was protecting everyone. But he was being selfish. He thought he could/should shoulder his burden himself. He didn’t want to ask his friends for help because he didn’t want them to get hurt. But you know what? They did.

They invaded the territory of an Emperor and started a fight with her at a time they could ill afford to do so. Luffy was brutally beaten, almost had his hand chopped off, and he lost a tooth. The Sunny took massive damage. And Pedro is dead. Except…none of that matters does it?

Luffy almost got his arm chopped off and yet there’s no scar to show for it and it didn’t hinder him in his fight against Katakuri in the least. He lost a tooth, and while the gag was funny the first time, he grew it back again leaving no trace. And the Sunny? Well this isn’t like the first half of the series is it? The sunny will get repaired because they have Franky. Any “damage” it takes is temporary and there’s no reason to pretend that we’re supposed to care because the Strawhat’s do because we know better. We know that the good guys always win in the end. So how do you still make it FEEL like they achieved something? How do you make it look like they changes? That they learned a lesson? That there was a cost? You have consequences.

Empathy is one of the most powerful tools in a storyteller’s repertoire because the easiest way to get you invested in a story is to have you be invested in the characters. Having a sad backstory in One Piece is not something unique. Sure it may set your starting point on the path of life but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a straight one or that you are confined to its borders. And despite Oda being heavy-handed in his use of it during this arc it really feels like he’s just going through the motions. He’s given us a few panels of backstory for Pudding/Katakuri and used his characterization of Big Mom to justify their actions and make us sympathize with them. It feels like we’re supposed to feel sorry for them because they had a shitty past. But does that mean we just assume their actions are justified? That they’ve never once done a single heinous thing in the service of Big Mom. Or are we supposed to sympathize with them because we ASSUME Luffy/Sanji are good judges of character? How great would it be if they turned out to be wrong? If someone they trusted/admired betrayed them and they never saw it coming? Because that’s the thing about reading a series like One Piece. We know the good guys will beat out the bad guys in the end. But reading a story where they always win is boring. It’s more interesting to see them fail and get knocked down. Because then we get to see them climb back up again over and over and over. And each time they get knocked down they would learn something new about themselves. It’s why some of the most powerful moments in the series are just that: powerful. Whether it’s Zoro being cut down by Mihawk, Usopp confronting his weakness, or Nami/Robin learning to ask for help. All these little moments make us cheer that much harder for these characters because we know they’re going through hell but the moment they get their reward it’ll all have been worth it. And that is something I’ve been advocating for either through my criticism of the series or even via the theories I create. And that’s why I can only see WCI really ending satisfactorily in one way.

Because Whole Cake Island is about more than just Sanji learning that kindness isn’t a weakness (or whatever bullshit it was). It’s about learning what being a Utopia truly means, it’s about confronting your abusers and coming to terms with your past, it’s about shattering illusions, it’s about power and family and kindness. But more importantly it’s the beginning of learning exactly what the Strawhats role in the grand scheme of things is. But that’s a theory for another day. Whole Cake Island could be the start of a trend in the way One Piece approaches stories going forward. But it really depends on what Oda chooses to do going forward. I want to believe that Oda has good intentions but that’s just not enough anymore. Show me that you are the great storyteller I know you can be. One Piece has the potential to be the greatest story ever told and just know that no-one wants that to be more true than me. 

[darthchic]

Whole Cake Island Arc - 7.5/10?

Felt like rating and writing about this arc, just to get it straight in my head how I feel about it. 

I wanna give it a higher rating, just from the pure emotions it gave me, especially since Luffy and Sanji are my two favourite One Piece characters, and I’d never really appreciated their relationship this much until now, but I’m with a lot of other critics who were displeased with the torturingly (that a word?) slow pacing in certain chapters. That really hurt (probably still not as bad as Dressrosa’s pacing though). To be fair, the pacing was really only bad during some sections of the Seducing Wood chapters, and then during the chapters 871-886 (til they finally got that damn cake moving!) The Seducing Wood chapters were saved by the Sanji backstory/family reveals, that stuff was great, but I never really cared about the Luffy vs Cracker fight. For me, anime fights can be pretty hit or miss since a lot of the time you feel like you already know who’s going to win, and since this fight occurred quite early on in the arc, it was a foregone conclusion that Luffy was going to win. I mean, what, he’s gonna lose, die and not meet Sanji? Pffft! I just wasn’t invested, but the Sanji stuff = Awesome. Everything between Chapters 844-870, I really loved/enjoyed, but then all the running away, making the cake, running away, and still making that damn cake!!!! ….Feels like that could have been shortened down somewhat, just saying. And I’m pretty sure a lot of other fans got frustrated in the same way as well.

I wasn’t even comforted by the Luffy vs Katakuri fight. I don’t know why. I like Katakuri, really like him, emphasis on like, but I didn’t get into the major hype of his character. I couldn’t tell you why, but I do wish I loved him as much as other fans do. It’s not fair!!! T_T

But maybe this is why I’m not too bothered by the outcome of their fight either, lack of investment. People seemed really angry over the way the fight ended, but I was just glad that it didn’t drag out much longer. I am pretty happy though, after reading Chapter 902, that there’s an implication that Katakuri may have slightly let Luffy win. (Seriously, I really do like Katakuri, the guy’s cool and I respect the dude.) A part of me did want Luffy to either lose or have the fight end ambiguously cause there’s only so many times in fiction where you see this supremely badass character get super hyped up, made to seem undefeatable, only to have the protagonist beat them through sheer willpower or friendship. That’s something that turned a lot of people off ‘Fairy Tail’ after all. Oda can usually pull off these kinds of fights without us rolling our eyes, and the Luffy vs Katakuri was decent, I guess I’m saying that if I had a chance to change things, I would have the fight play out mostly the same but to have the victor be a mystery (and eventually revealed in a later chapter), just to avoid too much major salt. Or, have Katakuri about to win, having Luffy at his mercy, only to let him leave because he really does know (or hint to know) that Luffy will become Pirate King, and he doesn’t want to interfere with that particular awesome future! But only I’d probably be satisfied with that ending.

I do like, for the most part how the arc ended. I’ve seen some people say that there’s a lot of loose ends left, but the only one that really bugs me is the threat against Zeff’s life/The Baratie. Are we to assume that they’re safe now? I don’t know why. All the way back in Chapter 852(?) I was scratching my head when even Reiju was telling Sanji that he doesn’t need to worry about Zeff or the Baratie, but why not? Big Mom was the one threatening Zeff’s life, right? And as we’d seen from a later Chapter (860 I think?), even some small time criminal that had been invited to the Tea Party and couldn’t attend had his father’s decapitated head sent to him (the scene was made into an even bigger deal in the anime), so why did anyone think that Sanji, the groom, running away from the wedding, wouldn’t have to face repercussions? And especially now that he was involved in an assassination attempt on her life, why would the extremely petty Big Mom let this go? Like for real, this all bothers me!!! Maybe it will still get brought up, and result in Sanji going to see Zeff again? Telling him to go into hiding or something? If this little thread is picked up again in any way, I think I’d be happy, cause I clearly can’t just sweep this under the rug.

One other major thing that a lot of people seem pissed about this arc is Sanji himself. Of course it’s the usual shebang: “Sanji is Lanji”, “Sanji be taking more Ls!”, “Sanji didn’t do anthing this arc!”, “Sanji was useless”, and so on and so forth. It’s annoying yet also hilariously ironic. To me, I would not be surprised if Oda based Vinsmoke Judge and Sanji’s brothers on all the fans that constantly rag on Sanji’s character. Look at Chapter 899 for Gawd’s sake, Judge says things like, “Sanji is worthless!”, “Sanji is weak!”, “All he does is cook!”, “He’s good for nothing!” and I swear these are the exact negative things that people have been saying about him. And they can’t see the bloody irony! For me, this arc, or the year of Sanji, was a tribute to Sanji’s character/values, not his fighting ability. We already know he’s an awesome fighter, why does he need to prove this again? Besides, he’s a Love Cook first, a fighter second. If he were given the choice between never cooking or never fighting again, which do you think he’d choose?

And besides, I don’t understand why anyone thinks that Sanji did nothing useful. Or didn’t achieve any wins. Here’s a list: Saved his friends from Bege & Co. (This may have happened before the arc officially started, but I’m still counting it), Discovered he’s in fact the ‘Success’ of his family rather than the ‘failure’ that his shitty family (and shitty fans) labelled him, Using just his sheer ‘Sanji-ness’ to prevent a bloodthirsty girl from murdering him, Saving his family/abusers and proving he’s a better man than his father (which we already knew anyway), Pioneering a cake that stopped Big Mom from completely destroying the Sunny, killing his friends and killing islands of people, and thanks to him being awesome and saving his family in the first place, he and Luffy got away from the Big Mom Pirates with their lives. Germa couldn’t have had their moment and swooped in to save the day if he hadn’t swooped in and saved them to begin with. To me, it feels like Oda really wanted to show Sanji’s kindness and passion for cooking saving the day, instead of him just using brute force/fighting ability, which someone like Judge prized above all else, but it’s Sanji’s ‘weak and useless’ qualities that come in the most handy in the end. So again, just seeing these certain fans act like real-life versions of Judge…. You just gotta facepalm man. Well done you guys (you know the ones), you would make great best friends with a man whose chin looks like a set of testicles.

So yeah, it’s really frustration that brings the rating down for me on this arc, and also wishing a few things here and there were written a little differently. It’s definitely an arc that everyone has differing opinions about, it’s not a universally loved arc like ‘Ennies Lobby’ or ‘Marineford’, or even a rather hated one like the ‘Fishman Island” arc. I’m still hoping we’ll get more discussion between the Straw-Hats about the Sanji beating Luffy incident, and I wanna know if Sanji’s face has healed or if he’s still wearing that mask. Only time will tell. Well, perhaps around May-time will tell, since we are technically on break now, right?

[pernanegra]

Sanji in chapter 880

It seems that many people are celebrating the moments between Sanji and Pudding this chapter, like it settles the deal about Sanji’s future love life (it’s not a coincidence that many of those already celebrated several times before, just to have Oda denying it in the next chapter, due to the unpredictable pace of the narrative, especially revolving Pudding). 

I understand that many people are eager to see Sanji finally getting a girlfriend or a wife, for many reasons. Some people legit like them together, others simply want Sanji x Nami to sink, for shipping reasons, despite not caring if that would be good for Sanji, Pudding and the plot. 

Honestly, this chapter gives us a taste of how a relationship between both characters would work. I would probably have found their dynamics really funny and cute if Pudding didn’t have shot Reiju or tried to kill Sanji and his friends (something that she still didn’t apologize for).

That’s the main thing that rubs me in the wrong way regarding these antics, it’s like Sanji doesn’t remember chapters 850/851 or Pudding gets a free card for being pretty, which is really shallow but Oda can’t help himself:

Sanji is acting like he is usual lustful self again. The same thing he did during the wedding, after Pudding flirted with him as a bride. Which is something he does with all pretty women, as we know.

Moving forward, since the cooks know that Sanji is an enemy of Big Mom, Pudding altered their memories so they think they got married, but surprisingly, Sanji doesn’t seem that thrilled (unlike Pudding):

No heart eyes, no Sanji being lovey dovey or anything like he would normally do with probably every pretty woman. Just remember how Sanji was all happy and blushing when he was acting as Viola’s bodyguard in Dressrosa. Of course, they are in a somewhat serious moment now, but even then, Sanji just replies with “I see.”, and quickly becomes serious towards his task:

Then we have this cook being a supportive “shipper” and points something that would probably make Sanji react the same way Pudding is behaving now:

But he grins and lies (he is not blushing). He is acting as the “husband”, following his role and scratching his head.

Notice that Sanji ignores Pudding for the rest of the scene (and that her third eye appears when she is in her “evil” mode):

Yeah, that middle finger kinda ruins the romance moment. Oda is certainly having a good time playing with Pudding like this. I don’t know what he is planning to do with them, but, so far, I see Pudding infatuated with Sanji, but still very instable and being treatead as a gag, while Sanji is still not getting any real feelings over her (more like he was lusting because she was wearing the cook outfit). 

We had already Pudding clearly falling for Sanji and he didn’t react to that. Actually, he did, this was his reaction:

Now we have everyone calling them husband and wife and he didn’t seem to care about that. Which is interesting if we compare to how excited he was when he thought Nami was proposing to him:

Perhaps it’s the moment, but it doesn’t look like Sanji is really in love with Pudding. In other hand, it looks like Pudding is willing to let Sanji and his friends escape without regrets. Still unsure about the extension of her crush/feelings on Sanji, we know that Pudding saw him with Nami in the tea party, but she doesn’t seem to regret him leaving and escaping with her:

Would she get jealous if she sees Sanji with her again? Or maybe, when she is being serious and not a gag, she believes Sanji and Nami like each other and she accepted it, like Viola apparently did in Dressrosa? I am still waiting for Oda to explain the meaning of Pudding and the Sannami carrying scene.

Apparently, it seems that Pudding will remain as an ally until the end of the arc. She genuinely cares about Sanji and wants to save him and his friends. That’s good for the people who ship them, and it helps to redeem Pudding for everything she did, making them a possible couple.

But as a Sanji fan, it’s still hard for me to forgive this and it’s more baffling that apparently Oda forgot that he ever draw this:

Yeah, it’s interesting that Pudding got some “karma” out of this. She humiliated Sanji but now she is the one “in love” with him and behaving completely pathetic. That could end there and work as some sort of “Sanji’s way to defeat Pudding with kindness”. It’s clever and I’d be glad with that. However, that can be a boost to some shippers that like that kind of story and irony, I understand. But honestly, even if she helps him now, I don’t think she deserves to be with him. It cheapens all that happened during those chapters, and I’m sure all Sanji fans got emotional when they read those pages back then.

It would seem like Pudding is being rewarded for all her evil deeds with the kind man she mocked and humiliated, just becase she had a sad past. But what Pudding did to Sanji other than help to fix the mess she created?

Of course, real love isn’t about merit, but Oda has the control over his story and he could make something better with both characters instead of making them a thing just because of gags and because both are cooks. I wouldn’t have anything to complain if Oda didn’t have to go so far to make Pudding evil and disgusting, just for the sake of a twist that felt forced.

[sanjiafsincedayone]

One Piece 862 - Review/Thoughts

I haven’t done a review in a while, but I kinda want to talk about a few things regarding this chapter. So, this is just some of my thoughts on chapter 862 – The consummate thinker

First of all, I thought it was a pretty good chapter, nothing spectacular, but still fun to read. The chapter definitely had its ups and downs though.

Spoilers under the cut!

I thought the part with Jinbei trying to wake up Luffy was pretty funny, but it also feels a little out of place to have right before the ceremony. I mean, they came all this way and then they could potentially screw it up because Luffy is sleeping. I mean, I get it and it’s a very Oda thing to write… I just felt like it didn’t fit with the pacing that well I suppose? That being said, I always love when Oda draws his characters with the innocent eyelashes.

Then we move to the ceremony, and well, I have mixed feelings.

My least favorite part was Sanji’s lewd expressions. I just hate when Oda draws him like that, always have and always will, so that was so cringy for me to read. I mean, it’s part of Sanji’s personality, but personally I just don’t find it that funny. I did like how he drew Purin though.

Also I’m not fond of Sanji actually being so affected that he can’t concentrate on the plan fully. I mean, again, it’s not unexpected because this is just the type of things Oda like. It’s just not something I like and it kinda makes Sanji look stupid. Sigh.

Sanji keeps being spaced out and Purin keeps wishing for Sanji’s death and the cake itself is the altar. I should have seen that coming considering the themes of this arc.

Then we jump to the Vinsmoke and while Yonji seems jealous of Sanji getting to marry a babe the others all remind him that Sanji is a sacrifice and really this is nothing to wish for. Also, Reiju is ready to die but wants to put her faith in Luffy at least saving Sanji. I like Reiju more and more, and I hope she gets a good resolution, and hopefully also a good fight. Because honestly her encounter with Purin was kinda disappointing. I really really want some badass female battles this arc!!!

Now, this looks really nice, except for the priest who of course has to be ugly so that Oda doesn’t draw a 100% shojo-looking panel. Sanji is standing a little awkwardly, but otherwise their expressions actually look very contempt and almost happy about this whole thing (nice acting). Either way, it’s a pretty nice panel, but it’s not something I’d expect to see in One Piece.

What follows is very much in Oda’s style though… I like the fact that Katakuri can’t see exactly how the future will happen, but rather just seems a glimpse and that he can’t fully know why it will happen. Otherwise he would have been almost too strong. I really like him though, I think he’s pretty cool and I hope he’s just as badass as he looks.

Then we get to see Purin reveal her third eye to Sanji (that first panel of her looks great by the way). And I have no problem what so ever with this reaction from Sanji, because it’s genuine and just the way he is. However, I do find this a little odd when it comes to Purin. I mean, there wasn’t really much of a buildup for this, and the explanation about her being bullied seems just a little bit rushed and also kind of tame, considering things. I don’t know, but I feel like Oda could easily have written this in a better way. It’s a little bit like he’s just doing this for shock-value.

I mean, obviously readers have doubted her both ways since the beginning, and it’s a very Oda-like thing to throw in yet another plot twist like this. It just doesn’t feel like it’s the right way to go about it. (Also, of course we still don’t know how affected she is. She might just go back to trying to kill him after the initial reaction. Who knows at this point.)

I really like that Oda is showing us how kind Sanji is and how people are moved by him though. He has showcased this plenty of times before, and it’s a quality I really love about him. Again Oda shows that Sanji is one of the kindest people in the whole manga.

However, from Purin’s side I just don’t think it was that good. She’s beautiful, but somehow just having that eye made people hate her? And then she turned psycho? I suppose she could be an antithesis to what happened to Sanji, since he experienced much worse growing up but still managed to stay kind. Perhaps Oda just wants to use her to highlight Sanji’s development in that way. I’m really not sure where Oda is going with this right now. So I suppose it all depends on how things go from now?

I mean, I would have preferred it if Oda could just keep her mainly evil but now with a little more explanation/humanity, since I really want a good-looking female villain that gets some character development. But if she really will turn and now end up on the good side (like soon all of Big Mom’s own family will?) at least I want Oda to show her being conflicted about it. Kinda like Gin who was an excellent example of this.

Another problem I have with this particular scenario is that is kind of comes off as shallow. It’s about looks, and this is Sanji we’re talking about. He will always be soft on women. But at least with Violet she didn’t really want to attack Sanji, and that moment felt so much more heart-felt. This just doesn’t have the same impact, and we’ve already seen a better version with Violet, so I hope Oda does something more with this and just doesn’t go “Well, I guess I’m nice and on your side now.” That seems unlikely, but I just really want to see Oda treat this with care, because this choice was handled kind of weird in my opinion. It also feels like he made Purin do too many horrible things for me to be able to feel sympathy for her. I had the same feelings towards Ceasar. (I still don’t understand people who want him to become a nakama. He was horrible, and still is. And I most certainly feel the same about people who says they want Purin to be the next nakama.)

Anyways, I suppose the upcoming chapters will show more about Purin’s storyline and future role in the manga. I just really hope Oda writes it in a way that makes sense and doesn’t feel like a deus ex machina, because sadly this arc has had more and more very convenient happenings to solve the fact that the strawhats are greatly outmatched by Big Mom (and the Vinsmoke).

Then we get to the best part of this chapter!

Which is Sanji doging that bullet. It may be small, but it’s still such a nice moment for Sanji fans! It looks really great the way Oda drew it and it’s nice to see Sanji doing something really cool. I wonder if Sanji will get matched up against Katakuri? Right now I don’t really know who will fight who in this final battle, but either way I’m certain Sanji will be epic!

And then all hell breaks loose; The Vinsmoke are confused and Luffy and Co react to the gunshot. So there they go! Not sure if the crew is amongst the fake Luffy’s too, but I wonder if those “clones” are either animals again or perhaps Capone’s men? Either way, Luffy jumping out of the cake wasn’t actually that much of a surprise, but Big Mom sure isn’t happy about it. Looks like the fighting will finally begin, so I am very excited for next weeks chapter!

Now, I hope you had fun reading. I know I’m not very active, but if anyone actually wants me to talk about anything in particular just send me a message or write a comment on my posts. I still check tumblr regularly. J Thanks for reading!