How I didn't make a booty joke about whole cake I'll never know. Aight Katakuri isn't dead. I figured dude was going to bleed out, but I guess I am wrong. Need to go reread that bit I guess! I also started referring to Big Mama as Sanji's mom which is NOT accurate. EDIT: Yeah there is literally a scene where Katakuri is being tended to. The guy is fine. I have no idea how my brain dropped that.
Brook was the hidden mvp of this arc to me. The hidden rubbing of the poneglyph in his skull, and the breaking of the portrait were the best Brook moments for sure.
Brook breaking the picture going "yohohoho" while disguised as luffy is one of the scenes I find the funniest in One Piece 😂 something about it makes me crack up
You guys missed the main point. It's Brook's speech to Big Mom. BM: I think your idea of "worst" is too light! BM: Sanji not returning is the worst thing that could happen? I don't think so. BM: Do you think no one's gonna die? Maybe all of you will die. Brook: What kind of fool regards his own death as part of a plan, young lady?
00:33 About the juicing the giraffe thing: Oda made a small joke here. In Japan, we have a beer brand 麒麟(Kirin) which literally mean “giraffe”. So they served beers to their guests.
I love this arc. I think the key thing to understand about Big Mom is that, despite her name, she is a child. She's never really grown past her childhood - I guess I can understand not emotionally connecting with someone so bad, but I think there's a horror to appreciate to how she ate her family. This isn't meant to be a backstory that make you cry, but rather, is genuinely one of the most horrifying things Oda has ever written. She's like a dark reflection of Luffy, childish and just wanting to eat, and the climax of the arc lasts so long because she's just throwing a tantrum. That section of the plot is also an extremely important assertion of Sanji's character - a major aspect of his arc here is built around what his family wants him to be rather than who he actually is. They want him to be a strong fighter, and in truth, he's become stronger than them, but he doesn't prove his worth by simply outfighting them. That would prove their worldview right, that strength is what matters. Instead, he proves his worth through his cooking and kindness. Since the beginning, Sanji's character was built around feeding anyone, no matter who, because nobody deserved to starve, so he now does so against the biggest villain they have ever faced. Because his principle of feeding others is far more important to him than who's good or bad. And it emphasizes his skill, because he had to recreate the most delicious cake in the world just from having smelled it alone. This is his greatest contribution, not fighting like his father wanted, but cooking like his REAL father wanted. One of the best scenes in the arc is when Judge lists every reason Sanji is a disappointment, and Luffy gets confused - all of those were Sanji's best qualities. Also, Sanji not forgiving his family is amazing, but so is the fact that despite hating them, despite not forgiving them, he still wants to save them. He sticks to his principles of helping the weak. Everyone deserves to be saved. Another key part of Sanji's characterization is the sheer kindness. His original backstory explained why he believed everyone deserved to eat, but his new one then explains why he loves making food for people not just to survive, but for them to enjoy. I love the show-don't-tell framing of how he only discovers Pudding's true self because he was going to take her food to try and make her happy - the narrative rewards him for trying to do good things for others. This contrasts the nature of Big Mom's toxic family, which I think may be the angle you're missing on Pudding's character. Not unlike Big Mom herself, Pudding is a product of her environment. Big Mom's family cares about each other on the surface but secretly tears each other down, because it's not led by a proper parent. Pudding is so hateful as a defense mechanism because she was the victim of bullying for her appearance. But despite that it's not her true nature to be so cruel, and that's what Sanji brings out - again, through kindness. When he sees her true self, and finds her beautiful rather than obscene, that's probably the best use of Sanji's characterization as a simp I've ever seen, and that treatment is what begins to change her. The toxicity of the family then connects to my favorite part of the arc, Katakuri. There's indeed so much to unpack about the relationship between him and Luffy. Katakuri is Luffy but Better, as cheekily referenced through his bounty containing the number 57, while Luffy is associated with the number 56 (pronounced the same as go-mu). Katakuri, like Luffy, fights for his family, but then their fight emphasizes that Luffy's family is true, while Katakuri's is built on lies and hate, and Katakuri himself wouldn't be loved if they saw his true self (fuck Flampe). That's what begins to bring Luffy to being equal to him, while Luffy then surpasses him by the fact that he has greater ambition on top of protecting his family, while Katakuri is content with just protecting and doesn't want to be the pirate king. Katakuri had a choice, in the end, to keep fighting or let himself fall. And he did the latter, because Luffy made him believe that maybe it would be good if he won. A fun little detail is that rubber always bounces back, but mochi keeps the shape it was pounded into. Luffy will always be his true self no matter what he's up against, but Katakuri was molded by his upbringing and can't change the way he wants to. Anyway, the best detail is that the meal Sanji made for Pudding, that he ended up actually feeding to Luffy, consistent of foods that Oda revealed were all of the Straw Hats' favorites. Deep down, he wanted to be cooking for them.
I love this arc. I think the key thing to understand about Big Mom is that, despite her name, she is a child. She's never really grown past her childhood - I guess I can understand not emotionally connecting with someone so bad, but I think there's a horror to appreciate to how she ate her family. This isn't meant to be a backstory that make you cry, but rather, is genuinely one of the most horrifying things Oda has ever written. She's like a dark reflection of Luffy, childish and just wanting to eat, and the climax of the arc lasts so long because she's just throwing a tantrum. That section of the plot is also an extremely important assertion of Sanji's character - a major aspect of his arc here is built around what his family wants him to be rather than who he actually is. They want him to be a strong fighter, and in truth, he's become stronger than them, but he doesn't prove his worth by simply outfighting them. That would prove their worldview right, that strength is what matters. Instead, he proves his worth through his cooking and kindness. Since the beginning, Sanji's character was built around feeding anyone, no matter who, because nobody deserved to starve, so he now does so against the biggest villain they have ever faced. Because his principle of feeding others is far more important to him than who's good or bad. And it emphasizes his skill, because he had to recreate the most delicious cake in the world just from having smelled it alone. This is his greatest contribution, not fighting like his father wanted, but cooking like his REAL father wanted. One of the best scenes in the arc is when Judge lists every reason Sanji is a disappointment, and Luffy gets confused - all of those were Sanji's best qualities. Also, Sanji not forgiving his family is amazing, but so is the fact that despite hating them, despite not forgiving them, he still wants to save them. He sticks to his principles of helping the weak. Everyone deserves to be saved. Another key part of Sanji's characterization is the sheer kindness. His original backstory explained why he believed everyone deserved to eat, but his new one then explains why he loves making food for people not just to survive, but for them to enjoy. I love the show-don't-tell framing of how he only discovers Pudding's true self because he was going to take her food to try and make her happy - the narrative rewards him for trying to do good things for others. This contrasts the nature of Big Mom's toxic family, which I think may be the angle you're missing on Pudding's character. Not unlike Big Mom herself, Pudding is a product of her environment. Big Mom's family cares about each other on the surface but secretly tears each other down, because it's not led by a proper parent. Pudding is so hateful as a defense mechanism because she was the victim of bullying for her appearance. But despite that it's not her true nature to be so cruel, and that's what Sanji brings out - again, through kindness. When he sees her true self, and finds her beautiful rather than obscene, that's probably the best use of Sanji's characterization as a simp I've ever seen, and that treatment is what begins to change her. The toxicity of the family then connects to my favorite part of the arc, Katakuri. There's indeed so much to unpack about the relationship between him and Luffy. Katakuri is Luffy but Better, as cheekily referenced through his bounty containing the number 57, while Luffy is associated with the number 56 (pronounced the same as go-mu). Katakuri, like Luffy, fights for his family, but then their fight emphasizes that Luffy's family is true, while Katakuri's is built on lies and hate, and Katakuri himself wouldn't be loved if they saw his true self (fuck Flampe). That's what begins to bring Luffy to being equal to him, while Luffy then surpasses him by the fact that he has greater ambition on top of protecting his family, while Katakuri is content with just protecting and doesn't want to be the pirate king. Katakuri had a choice, in the end, to keep fighting or let himself fall. And he did the latter, because Luffy made him believe that maybe it would be good if he won. A fun little detail is that rubber always bounces back, but mochi keeps the shape it was pounded into. Luffy will always be his true self no matter what he's up against, but Katakuri was molded by his upbringing and can't change the way he wants to. Anyway, the best detail is that the meal Sanji made for Pudding, that he ended up actually feeding to Luffy, consistent of foods that Oda revealed were all of the Straw Hats' favorites. Deep down, he wanted to be cooking for them.
Despite her name, she is a terrible mom and selfish and narsicistic and abusive. And lola had every right to het away from her. Because she is so such an abusive narsicist abusive mom thats just , and her "love" isnt love
There’s some shot-for-shot panels of when Sanji was a child bringing food for his mom (that was wrecked but she ate it lovingly anyway) and when he brings food for Luffy here (that was wrecked but he eats it lovingly anyway) that is a beautiful juxtaposition between two people who cared about him.
The "What would Zoro have done in Whole Cake Island about Sanji" debate haunts the fandom to this day. I'm of the opinion Luffy would have told him to shut up and stay out of it like he did Nami, and that would have been the end of it after Sanji apologized, just like with Usopp. Because unlike with Usopp, Luffy took it seriously this time, which was Zoro's biggest problem.
I think Zoro would have understood where Sanji was coming from, although, he would have let Luffy known it wasn’t a good idea. Ussop leaving the crew was more to do with his own insecurity than anything else. Sanji’s family and Zeff were in danger; and while Luffy is strong he can’t be in more places than one.
I second this, some people act like Zoro wouldn’t understand the situation and just start cutting a former crew member, even though his captain would tell him to stay out of it, he may not be the smartest but he’s smarter than that
Yeah, hearing Daniel say that Zoro would've killed Sanji genuinely frustrated me. One cannot actually think Zoro this dumb. People that think this way strike me as people that watch One Piece for its surface level themes only. It's like they completely forgot the relationship between Zoro and Sanji - and especially Zoro's code of honor. He out of everyone else would've been the first to understand Sanji's motives. What reason could he have to be mad at Sanji when he knows the only reason he hit Luffy was to protect them and Zeff? - that's the complete opposite of dishonoring their captain.
You know, the opening skit got me thinking What if the reason why WCI has so many characters is because Oda legit played a joke on us "I sure do put in a lot of characters, huh? Ha ha, silly me! Anyway, here's Big Mom's 80 children."
It does serve a purpose.. to show that emperor is no joke, a force to reckon with and they can go to war with navy like whitebeard did incase situation arises.
@@kashishmaheshwari6007 To be fair the scene of Sanji trying to sabe Luffy from an entire fucking army of Big Mom's crew while Pekoms goes Sulong just to get swallowed by BM crewmembers is such a desperate moment... they have both strength and numbers...
@@Hegataro if we compare than I'd say kaido got numbers and tobi robo who are at different level and it was mentioned very early on that he got lot of fodder characters who are eating smile fruit to become strong.. so his strength come from massive numbers of smile users. Every younko has different way to show their powers.. big mom with family, kaido with smile users, shanks with individual very powerful people like luffy's crew. It's a good dynamic and that's why I don't mind so many character intro
Jimbe facing down big mom and just going “I’m going to be on the crew of the pirate king, why should I fear a mere emperor of the sea” is by far my favorite moment
So things lost in translation: Nami ALWAYS refers to Sanji as "Sanji-kun", that suffix being like an honorific term of endearment. When she sees what he's doing to Luffy she just coldly calls him "Sanji". PS: About Katakuri. He's not dead. He's shown talking to his sister Brulee after the fight...
Just a small thing - Katakuri’s comment to Luffy about “looking far into the future” was more of a joke about how Luffy was able to use advanced observation haki “future sight” during the latter part of the fight. It was said to mean two things- One that Katakuri acknowledged his accomplishment of using his own special ability, and two that he believes that Luffy can become the pirate king .
The arc every Sanji fan desperately needed. This genuinely broke me at times. Also, can we talk about how Big Mom just chomped down on her * family * (more like smugglers) and confirmed that you can get someone's devil fruit by eating them whole. Yikes. This arc made me look mochi with respect. Which sounds odd to say out loud. Edit: I'm sure someone can explain it way better than I can but the 57 million in Katakuri's bounty is a reference to him always being one step ahead of Luffy, with Luffy's number being 56 (spelling out "gomu" as in the gum-gum fruit).
Something that has seemed to have gone over most people's heads during this arc is that Sanji is the one truly saves the crew in the end. Not because he beat up anybody in particular but because he did the Sanji thing and fed the hungry. He's the one who stopped Big Mom in the end with his perfect cake. One of my favorite lines ever in One Piece is when he looks at Pudding and her chefs with pure confidence and says "I will show you the true meaning of sweetness."
The Genie dude that has to rub his stomach for the genie to appear is probably the most funniest activation of power I've ever seen in any kind of fiction 😂
I enjoyed Big Mom's flashback not because it made her more sympathetic to me, but more that it just made her even scarier. She's like a mega amped pirate version of the cannibal witch from Hansel and Gretel and I love it. Between Marineford and Wholecake, Oda really does a good job selling how impressive and terrifying the title of a Pirate Emperor can be
Zoro killing Sanji during his beat down of Luffy is something a lot of people think, but I believe it’s very untrue. Luffy isn’t fighting back, and Zoro could easily tell that. He isn’t going to go against his captains wishes and kill a crewmate.
People like to compare Sanji's situation with Usopp's when in fact both are entirely different. Usopp did it for mainly selfish reasons and a genuine fear of being left out, Sanji however did it because he wanted to save the strawhats and his adoptive father figure. To think that Zoro, out of all people-when in fact he's one of the closest members to Sanji-wouldn't understand his motives makes no sense to me... as it should to everybody that reads it with a critical mind. Sanji's actions were the complete opposite of Usopp, they were quite noble and self-sacrificial. I guess this just goes to show how many people appreciate Zoro for the surface-level and "badass" moments he displays only and barely care about his actual character. This is one of the topics that gets me really frustrated. One Piece deserves a better fanbase, honestly.
@@MonkeyDIvan But how would Zoro even know about Sanji's situation? and why is your interpretation better than others? I mean even the motivation for the thrillerbark sacrifice could be interpreted in multiple different ways.
@@kffpruductiuns Well Sanji is the least selfish of the group. He is the most willing to put himself in danger to protect the others more than anyone else. This is his entire stick. If he is willing to harm luffy than that is how much pressure big mom is putting on him. Heck we even know this from pudding. Sanji was willing not to get married to her just to get back to the crew.
I feel like zoro would possibly try to defend luffy at first at maybe the first kick sanji tries to throw while luffy is not defending. And then either luffy would tell him to stand down similair to the bellamy situation. Or zoro would view it as a luffy vs usopp duel since luffy called it a duel despite not fighting back and he would just stand there looking serious.
When sanji says he wants to save those scum who he doesn’t even consider family and luffy is just like yea that’s how you are duh now let me fucking help I cri evrytim
one of my favorite moments is sanji not being able light his sigarette. that metaphor had so much meaning... Like he's trying so hard to keep everything together at that moment. plan A failed, Plan he got played... hes trying so hard to keep everything from breaking; including himself. But at that point, even the rain doesn't let him light his signature sigarette. Absolutely devastating.
it's made even richer because you realize sanji came to WCI trying to solve things on his own, not wanting to drag the crew into things, he thought he could figure it out lone wolf and that his burdens shouldn't be the crews, but at this moment, he is alone and crying and doesn't even have his smokes, he's realizing how in deep he is and how wrong he was to try and go it alone. that's why after this scene he goes to luffy. this is the lowest point where it dawns on him that he is just in way too deep, and he NEEDS the help that his family (the straw hats) are willing to give him. it's a beautifully sad moment that chokes me up every time. sanji is my fave guy and seeing him in shambles unable to light his ciggy is just heartbreaking.
I think Oda did a really good job showing how abusive parents effect their children with this arc. You really see a strong bond a loyalty with the oldest children of Big Mama, especially Katakuri and Brulee. They probably had to deal with some of the worst of Big Mama. Then you get a lot of the younger kids that look to the oldest children more like their parents than Big Mama because they know she is not stable and fear her more than anything. I may be reading too much into it but I kind of view her food addiction and mood swings as alcoholism and the different ways they all respond to it. Most just avoid her when she gets like that, one tries to confront her only to be killed for it, and the rest just take the easiest path and just enable her because it makes her easier to deal with in the long term and they are all just tired from dealing with it.
Hey, at least he doesn't call him fucking "Dogtooth". I'm still not over that one and "Catviper" and "Dogstorm". You don't translate character names! Titles? Sure. Names? No! Imagine if Nami was called Wave in the English release.
While I agree Oda has flaws, I believe your critical eye on him has alot to do with the medium. The weekly schedule of Manga has alot to do with the flaws. Imagine Wheel of Time or other works without the editorial process of the entire book. Skimming the fat and looking at arcs as a whole.
theirs also an upside to taking a critical eye the way Daniel does, to me atleast if Daniel treated One Piece as some silly popcorn story then I wouldnt take his reviews as seriously (i know taking the goblin seriously what are the odds) but because he can be a little harsh you know that he sees how good this story is and gives it the respect it deserves.
@@jeremygeller9145 I love the fact he is realistic, I actually started reading Whel of Time and Red Rising because of him. The culture of Manga is notorious for treating Mangaka like trash. The process has ruined authors like Togashi and Muira. It also ruined Naruto by saying we are gonna need more cash from this and demanding more from him.
@@peerlessscarred6511 I think they do matter. Oda doesn't need to kill characters, but in situations where there is now way out but they turn out fine just to get some more emotional connection is cheap.
Glad to know that you enjoy the "Let's break Sanji physically and emotionally through an entire arc, tee hee hee" by Oda. Also poor Carrot didn't get a mention there.
I just love how trauma becomes the theme behind a lot of the characters in this arc. Big Mom's trauma of childhood abandonment; Pudding's trauma of being only seen as a tool by her mother; Katakuri's trauma of failing to protect his sister; childhood trauma is not exactly new by this point in the story, but I just love how thematically relevant it is for the plot here.
Where Water 7 helped Usopp’s character, Whole Cake Island helps Sanji’s character. Which is fitting because there duels with Luffy are one of my favorite parallels.
Yea there is a theory circular g around called the checkered board theory where pretty much every post time skip arc is just a “history repeating itself” arc ( dressrosa/alabasta, drum island/punk hazard)
@@yonatanyonatano1192 I just heard someone where wano being same as thriller bark. But ennies lobby seems more same to wano. But whole cake island is definitely the parallel to water 7.
Fun fact: After you consider Baby 5's backstory and realize that "5" in "Baby 5" might mean actual "Baby number 5", it gets real dark real quick. I mean, REAL quick
@@MaggotKing556 Baby 5 doesnt actually have a name. It stems from her being the fifth unwanted baby and thats why she was discarded by her own biological mother saying that she is not needed. Hence, she has no name.
I heard an analysis that explained that Smoothie's role was to show issues within the Big Mom pirates. She's too patient to the point of inaction. As we saw from Snack, if you lose once you lose your Sweet Commander rank, so Smoothie is in her position because she's avoided ever losing.
Facts, she also is a great example of how Katakuri plays the role of “Father Figure” in the family because even the other generals like Smoothy look to him to make all the decisions, especially when Mama is on a rampage.
This arc has some raw lines like you pointed out with that Katakuri one. Jinbei calling Big Mom “a mere emperor,” Brook calling her a “young lady,” and Luffy saying “They won’t be able to stay standing” are among my favorites.
It's so badass. Gives off the same energy as one of my favorite interactions in Dressrosa. "Strawhat you're the worst" "You too are from that generation".
"Lola was the one who didn't get married and you're the one who's still not a Pirate King" -Luffy I think it went like that. But this arc is dripping with great lines
I personally loved this arc, in large part to how some of the recently overlooked crew members were utilized. Fleshing out Sanji's feelings, Brooke getting things done in the background and being the first member to solo a Yonko, and Nami in charge of the first naval battle in the series - it was something I really needed. Also Katakuri for best boy!
I love this arc! When Judge is saying all of those "bad" things about Sanji to Luffy and Luffy thinks its weird that hes talking about all the good things in Sanji is just gold to me, definitely one of my favorite OP moments.
Something I find amazing with Sanji’s backstory is that you get to see where his overwhelming love for women and distaste for men comes from: Just think about it, through out Sanji’s childhood every male rolemodle in his life was abusing to him while the women around him made his life better. Sanji’s father and brother: beat the snot out of him and then threw him in jail when he wasn’t strong enough to bench press a mountain as a 8 year old. Sanji’s mother and Sister: encouraged his dreams and made him feel like he mattered. Then Reju even helped him escape.
12:15 Massive Correction : Katakuri is NOT dead as he drops down "on his back" (big moment as it's stated he never did in his life!). He choose to be defeated not because Luffy won the physcal fight, but because he won the "will" fight. A lot of fans even speculate he could later on become an ally, should Big Mom die.
Seeing Sanji just break down crying in the carriage and after Pudding's true nature is revealed, it hurts dammit. Sanji crying in the rain is a great moment because it shows how vulnerable he is at that moment. Sanji is a pretty stoic guy outside of perving out and bickering, he's one of the rocks of the strawhat and seeing him be so vulnerable hurts. To note Sanji was actually pretty respectful towards Pudding after their first meeting, we see Sanji reveal himself to her and be emotionally manipulated by her. He was in a vulnerable place and she took advantage of that.
When you think about it, Whoke Cake Island kind of *had* to have an overabundance of characters. Big Mom is an Emperor of the Sea. Her pirate crew is an imperial army. And Luffy is storming the castle.
Hey Daniel. Since you gave a chance on my favorite series (One Piece), I figured I should return the favor and give a chance on your favorite series. I just finished The Eye of the World and bought the next two books in the Wheel of Time. Thanks for introducing the series to me!
This arc depicts what a genius Oda is when it comes to subtlety and patience, particularly regarding Sanji’s character. Writing typically happens in 3’s, and throughout the post timeskip Oda has portrayed Sanji as the failed martyr of the Straw Hats on 3 separate occasions: The first was on Dressrosa. Sanji intervenes against Doffy but is frozen by his strings. He tells the SH’s to leave him and escape with a Coup de Burst - But they refuse, and his sacrifice fails. The second came in Zou. Sanji willingly gives himself up to Bege in exchange for his crew's safety. He proceeds to write a note saying he will return in order to prevent Luffy and co. from pursuing him. This clearly doesn’t go as planned, and the purpose of Sanji’s sacrifice fails again. The third, and most impactful moment, takes place on Whole Cake Island as Sanji begrudgingly insults his crew and attacks his captain. This can be taken as Sanji’s last stance to save his friends, even if it meant being hated by them. It seems like the facade was a success in tricking Nami, who tells Luffy they should leave OR maybe she was just upset at Sanji’s lack of respect for Luffy. Regardless - Luffy, being the emotionally intelligent empath that he is, was not fooled. Ultimately Sanji’s attempt at sacrifice fails for the third and final time. By accepting Luffy’s help, he cements the new path he will lead going forward.
Pudding was a kid that was turned into a psychopath because of the terrible people arround her (especially big mom, who literally used her as a toy for her whole life). Sanji is the first person that "allowed" Pudding to accept her third eye and accept her feelings, but she is so confused by that, she can't understand properly what is to be accepted. I really really really love her character and the development of her relationship with Sanji, which culminates in the kiss at the end of the arc. Brilliant!! P.S. It's totally okay if you didn't like, I'm just sharing my view of the situation :)
When he takes off the scarf, he's setting aside everything and ANYTHING that could possibly hold him back. He is freed through the purity of one v one combat. It's 100% awesome wushu movie glory and I love it.
The story of the fight is top tier but the execution is a bit lacking. i Mean i think luffy landed 14 hits on katakuri xD thats not a lot to claim a Victory when luffy received more than a hundred from katakuri ahah
I only cried once in my entire life of consuming fiction...and it was when Luffy said he couldn't become Pirate King without Sanji. I still can't watch that scene to this day.
One of my favorite things about jinbe is the genius if his character design. If you look closely, you could say he resembles a big blue ball. This is clever foreshadowing that his main purpose in the story is to give the audience the biggest blue balls in history by never actually following through with joining the crew! Truly genius work by Goda
DG reading OP: there are a lot of characters Me reading WOT (as he recommended it): really? P.S. I'm at the slog now (The Path of Daggers) and I'm still enjoying it!!!
Just finished Eye of the World. Giving myself a week before I dive into The Great Hunt. Had to 1st finish Merphy's Gentleman Bastards before I picked wheel of time up. But its good so far
Can't believe Merphy is catching up to you now ! You both made my year by starting OP and I can't express how happy you both make me! I was in Japan when I read this arc and it is in a special place in my heart tho there are for sure better arcs out the IMO. But boy, did Sanji punch me in my gut as well, cuz I felt that with my whole body and soul! Amazing writting !!
WCI is one of those arcs that I look back on very fondly. After you digest it and inevitably forget the forgettable parts, you're left looking back on an arc with a lot One Piece's best non-action moments. Luffy yelling "say what you really want" to Sanji always gives me chills.
I wanna say I love the review. I just felt confused when you said Sanji doesn't forgive none of his family is true but he wasn't mad at his mom. His mom is the reason that he is not like his brothers and the sacrifice she made to do so. I'm surprised you didn't mention snake man too also the sulong form but yeah I loved this arc too and i loved the review.
There is always so much to cover. I plan on doing a rereview of the entire series once I am done where I can be WAY more thorough and accurate. Now I am not ever sure who will be relevent from arc to arc so its a lot of juggling.
He made a mistake, when he was referring that there was a "terrible mother" I was confused too but then I realized he was talking about big mom haha it's kinda obvious but yeah it's sorta misleading because he brings up Sanji's family members first and doesn't specify on big mom, but I think he was just naming off all the villainous evil people in this arc
i don’t think big moms backstory was meant to make you feel for her, i think it was to show how much of a monster she can be in my personal opinion and they did a pretty great job at it
This arc is so special... the way Oda goes to tell a family story, on both sides, is so good. The parallels of what makes you a better person on the actions you take, not what the circunstancies were on your upbringing and family dynamics... and the character design and the straw hat moment ...OMG the setting in this arc is AHHHH... I love this story so much
Fun fact: this arc was originally supposed to be 2 different arcs with one about big mom and other being sanjis family storyline but oda combined it because he doesn't have enough time to write as he wants(he was already 40 by the time he wrote it in 2016 and wants to retire and be with his family by 50). He's done it before as dressora/greenbit(dwarves forest) and punk hazzard were originally supposed to be 2 arcs with one fire and cold island. Oda has stated in 2012 that if he were to write everything in his head, the story will never finish. 9 years later, and you can definitely see its true.
Wow I didn’t know he combined arcs twice LOL Maybe Wano was combined with a bunch of arcs, it seems that way with how Reverie is being handled in between Wano Act breaks
Dressrosa was the beginning of the Sanji renaissance. His stock has risen so much since then. I'm happy to say that we are still in the golden age of his character.
now going into Wano id highly recommend giving the Anime a try, it does an amazing job of portraying the story in the Manga, id say the beginning of the arc in the anime is a bit stretchy, but the final third in the anime is just perfect
I don't recommend watching the whole thing though, I recommend trying to switch back and forth the anime and the manga. While the pacing problem is still there, there are episodes that are worth worthing and episodes that I HIGHLY recommend watching instead of reading.
@@makima2883 i know what you talking about xD I dont like to say which medium is better but there are scenes that are straight up better in the anime, not even action scenes.
The musicals in the anime make this arc one of my favorites. I love One Piece's ability to just enter a different world with every island and Whole Cake Island just felt like some classic One Piece fantasy with new One Piece action
Do American novels even have tsundere characters in them? This is when a character can’t show the true emotion they feel for either comedic or emotional reasons. I only ask because that’s a strong foundation of Pudding’s character in my opinion and if you’ve never seen characters like that before I can understand why you wouldn’t like her🤷🏾♂️
@@mediumchicago_pizza oh I’ve already been trying to come to terms with that for a while he’s talked about a lot of things he has disliked in the series that are mainly just cultural differences and not being familiar with the other tropes and shticks in eastern literature. it’s definitely gonna affect his overall enjoyment of the series but the fact that he was able to still like Sanji throughout the arc says a lot. He may not feel like we “need” the perviness from his character but he now likes him a lot more than he did fishman island lol
Western novels do have tsundere characters but, unlike manga, it's typically the men who are the tsunderes not the the women. They also lack the visual aspect so they don't play up physical comedy the way manga does. The most obvious example in western lit that I can think of is Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice. That being said, even with manga readers the tsundere personality is one that people either do or don't like. I know plenty of people who are avid manga readers, fully aware of all the tropes, who did not like Pudding as a character.
@@yuukinoyuki9064 those are fair points! I also definitely agree that the visual aspect adds to it in manga which is why it’s much more common I just wanted to know if he specifically had any of this background information as it creates a clearer opinion when judging the character. His points already were valid and he doesn’t seem like the corny romance type so he probably wouldn’t have liked her that much anyway🤷🏾♂️
Whole Cake Island is definitely my favourite arc in the series. I just love the creativity, humour, and sugar-coated terrifying undertones it has. I also loved the conclusion with the villain, Big Mom, basically being victorious at the end, while the crew do everything to escape to preserve their lives. I know it's not perfect, but it's a 10/10 for me.
Sanji is my absolute favorite Straw Hat, and this arc was great, in that it finally gave him a decent spotlight rather than pushing him away doing mysterious thingies while Zorro took the badass route. More Sanji Oda please!
My favourite moment has to be during luffy's fight with katakuri and he says something like ''the people on the sidelines are annoying'' AND FUCKING KNOCKS THEM ALL OUT WITH CONQUEROR HAKI Top tier one piece moment
I caught up to One Piece during Whole Cake, so I think it"s the most nostalgic arc for me. I remember that I was 100% fooled by pudding, like, sanji had lost everything, but at least the person he was gonna mary was nice, and then sanji hears her saying she's gonna betray them. And he breaks down crying. Boy, that got me
I can't believe that this reading journey all started with bullying😂😂 Also you're almost caught up, which feels so weird to see how fast One Piece can be binged while I've been reading it for 18 years😅
people often tend to misunderstand the big mom flashback, its not like meant for you to sympathize with her, its meant so you can understand who and how she is the way she is, i mean shes a giant tyrannical child, though she may be old and powerful, in the end the core of her is childish and selfish desires that everyone caves to, i mean who can really deny her when shes that strong...
A lot of great Luffy moments in this arc but one that often seem to be overlooked IMO is when Sanjis dad list all the reasons he is disappointed in Sanji and Luffy just “ok thank. Hey why was he randomly listing everything great about you Sanji”
This arc really showcased Luffy's view as a pirate. Luffy always said pirates are the most free people. From Mingo's birdcage to the emotional cages Vinsmoke and Charlotte family created. Freeing Sanji from the trauma his family put him in. Then allowing Katakuri to free himself from the idea of perfection his family and pirate crew has of him
I think its really funny how Daniel does One piece arc reviews in one 15-20 min video per arc and then you have Merphy who does 3 hour long videos lol. Love them both tho!
I think Pudding's character comes into a better context when considering that she has been given birth explicitly to be a tool for reading Ponegyphs. Sanji had a positive influence through his mother and a stroke of luck + help from his sister so he could escape a very similar abusive family that treated him as a tool, but Pudding has been raised in this environment her whole life. I found the potential of her being able to separate from that (as cliche as power of love can be) and be a better person endearing.
Oda said in an interview around the time this was published that this would be the year of sanji. We all thought it was a joke, but this sets up how the rest of Sanji's character will go.
I did like Pudding. She works well as a foil for Sanji, because just like Sanji, she's a result of abuse since childhood but she never got away, she's internalised the abuse and she's been doing her best to prove that she's good enough for her mother her entire life. But she wasn't inherently a bad person, she just acted it because that's how she was useful to Big Mom. She's basically what Sanji could have turned out.
I mean yes but no. Pudding is the type of girl I don't like in manga/anime: a tsundere. I know people react different to simmilar situations but I can't give Pudding a free pass when we got Chiffon getting rejected and beat up by her own mother and Chiffon is AMAZING! Also, I don't like the whole "Pudding rejection" it's just another eye, there are people weirder than her... I wished Oda would've just given her a nose or an ear in her forehead, THAT would be hideous or ridiculous.
Big Mom's thing always had me relating her to Lenny in "of mice and men." She is, at core, well meaning but disassociated individual. Where her fugue moments hurt her far more than is visually notable. All her wounds are internal. She is the perfect sociopath in some cases. She wanted the bear and wolf to be friends; she wanted to help the fish person fit in; these are good intentions that are poorly executed or thought out. What's the one thing her terrible parents taught her? That right, if you're not loved enough, you get abandoned. So yes, she had abandonment issues and was suckered by a child trafficker into thinking they were a saint and cared about her... then BM ate her family in a fugue moment... or at least we are led to believe she did. Honestly, though Mother Carmel may have taken the others and ran, I would not be surprised by that twist. A lot of fans hated the chase at the end. A lot of fans hate Pudding as well. I liked both because the chase gave everyone there a chance to shine to escape. I liked Pudding because she was the only female to ever genuinely want Sanji, and in the end, she had to let him go for his own good. I also like memory powers. I did dislike her bitch side.
@@ShinyGreninja14 I say its possible that we have only been led to believe this, and the truth has yet been revealed. 99.999999% sure your right and she got ate. But I always hold out a bit in case an author trys to pull a fast one on me.
Daniel once you finish One Piece, I would highly recommend Mr. Morj. He has some super in depth analysis videos (right now a lot are spoilers since he does weekly chapter reviews). He is fantastic at pointing out the themes and pulling together all the parts of characters or arcs that readers might overlook in a first read or watch. Thanks for making awesome content!
A lot of readers including myself found Big Mom “disappointing” in her (formal) debut arc, but as time goes on, I grow really fond of her character. She’s both a force of nature and a joke, and you can hardly predict what she’s going to do because she doesn’t follow any logic. (Her flashback is more of a mystery to be solved in the future rather than a “justification” of her character.)
I understand how the deluge of characters can be wild but I’m just the exact type of meticulous nerd that loves it helped by my adoration for Big Mom as a character. Her irredeemably demented worldview and awesome design/power make her the perfect kind of terrifying for me. In large part to how much I am fascinated by her crew Whole Cake Island is my #1 One Piece arc.
The thing to remember about Pudding is that she's only 16. She hasn't matured into Evil yet, she's just been raised Evil. She's exactly the right age to suddenly crush heavily on an enemy and become a conflicted mess as she tries to figure out who she is beyond her family.
The thing about Pudding is she just wants to fit in with her family really bad and is willing to follow their ways to the end as long as she doesn't have to suffer the humiliation and rejection they showed her when she was a kid and didn't know how to hide her third eye, which is the main reason she falls for Sanji when he shows he doesn't care and even complimented her on it so she wouldn't feel bad for it and so wouldn't have to compensate or shield her insecurities by being extra evil like her family is and wants her to be
I loved the skit at the beginning haha you played Oda was funny Also glad you liked Whole Cake, def an under rated arc :)) Also the theme of insecurity and finding yourself is actually present throughout the entire arc not just with Sanji this applies to Katakuri and if you apply that to Pudding's character I think you appreciate her more More talk on Katakuri would've been nice too but it seems like you liked and understood him enough Glad you see Sanji's character in a better light though and like Whole Cake :) It really needs more praise ! ❤️
When you realize Sanji’s biggest character flaw being a perv was a combination of his mom and sister being the only people who were remotely kind to him and being told to respect women by his real father figure. And that turn into an extreme.
no that was his not hitting women not even enemies and simping after all women part.....all of that still doesnt make sense of his creep peeping tom behavior. which is what's annoying about him. his simping is funny and understandable....his creep behaviour is just like hurting women.
As someone who has been watching one piece for a while and someone who for the majority of it kind of went for the ride, it’s so good to see how you analyse each arc and break it down into it’s pros and cons. I’m very much looking forward to your analysis of a particular future arc.
I only cried once in my entire life of consuming fiction, and it was when Luffy said he couldn't become Pirate King without Sanji. Can't watch that scene to this day.
Great review!! Daniel please consider doing a seperate review for the Reverie arc that comes after WCI and before Wano. It is only 6 chapters long but there are a LOT of things to talk about!
Got into one piece recently. Thanks for making these videos because I feel like I’m watching it with you even though you made these awhile ago. Just got caught up so I can watch this review finally. Keep up the great work and thank you!
Daniel please read this i know big moms backstory seems like it's to give us empathy but I think it's to show us why her mental state is the way it is so we can understand when she does something unexpected a big theory is she will eventually ally with the straw hats
It also shows how she obtained her powers the implications that she ate her family as a child are really something and will surely play a role in the future there's no way oda will leave it so unclear I feel like oda would flat out say she ate them if that was true I think she definitely ate mother caramel but we have no context as to why and big mom can't remember it's implied she went into a rage but I have my doubts
How I didn't make a booty joke about whole cake I'll never know.
Aight Katakuri isn't dead. I figured dude was going to bleed out, but I guess I am wrong. Need to go reread that bit I guess! I also started referring to Big Mama as Sanji's mom which is NOT accurate.
EDIT: Yeah there is literally a scene where Katakuri is being tended to. The guy is fine. I have no idea how my brain dropped that.
Missed opportunity.
Daniel is very close to an existential crisis
Katakuri not dead maybe it wasn’t clear in the manga
@@199niga He is shown talking with Brulee after Luffy and Pekoms go out.
But how did you miss that he is still alive? Could it be you skipped a chapter accidentally? lol
Brook calling Big Mom "young lady" is one of my favourite parts of this arc.
No cap 🔥
Haha and he isnt wrong
And how he is a dead man doing that, but yohoho
I mean, he HAS been dead nearly as long as she’s been alive.
Your pfp is tatami galaxy right
@@luffyh7193 yeah
Daniel back in the day: I'm not interested in reading One Piece.
Daniel now: I wanna write FanFic!
Brook was the hidden mvp of this arc to me. The hidden rubbing of the poneglyph in his skull, and the breaking of the portrait were the best Brook moments for sure.
Brook breaking the picture going "yohohoho" while disguised as luffy is one of the scenes I find the funniest in One Piece 😂 something about it makes me crack up
You guys missed the main point. It's Brook's speech to Big Mom.
BM: I think your idea of "worst" is too light!
BM: Sanji not returning is the worst thing that could happen? I don't think so.
BM: Do you think no one's gonna die? Maybe all of you will die.
Brook: What kind of fool regards his own death as part of a plan, young lady?
@@misteryio3990 omg that was so fucking hype
@@misteryio3990 I always seem to forget part of that speech but always remember the “young lady” part. Probably my favourite Brook moment
@@Johury yessss, the "young lady" gets me every time
Brook is so, so good.
00:33 About the juicing the giraffe thing:
Oda made a small joke here. In Japan, we have a beer brand 麒麟(Kirin) which literally mean “giraffe”. So they served beers to their guests.
And I'm guessing the girl she juiced was a gamer?
@@morphingninja That was her crime.
That's some Willy Wonka shit right there
@@morphingninja it's a bloody Mary joke
@@OfficialTigerino thanks for giving context on that, my comment was a "gamer girl bathwater" reference
I love this arc. I think the key thing to understand about Big Mom is that, despite her name, she is a child. She's never really grown past her childhood - I guess I can understand not emotionally connecting with someone so bad, but I think there's a horror to appreciate to how she ate her family. This isn't meant to be a backstory that make you cry, but rather, is genuinely one of the most horrifying things Oda has ever written. She's like a dark reflection of Luffy, childish and just wanting to eat, and the climax of the arc lasts so long because she's just throwing a tantrum. That section of the plot is also an extremely important assertion of Sanji's character - a major aspect of his arc here is built around what his family wants him to be rather than who he actually is. They want him to be a strong fighter, and in truth, he's become stronger than them, but he doesn't prove his worth by simply outfighting them. That would prove their worldview right, that strength is what matters. Instead, he proves his worth through his cooking and kindness. Since the beginning, Sanji's character was built around feeding anyone, no matter who, because nobody deserved to starve, so he now does so against the biggest villain they have ever faced. Because his principle of feeding others is far more important to him than who's good or bad. And it emphasizes his skill, because he had to recreate the most delicious cake in the world just from having smelled it alone. This is his greatest contribution, not fighting like his father wanted, but cooking like his REAL father wanted. One of the best scenes in the arc is when Judge lists every reason Sanji is a disappointment, and Luffy gets confused - all of those were Sanji's best qualities. Also, Sanji not forgiving his family is amazing, but so is the fact that despite hating them, despite not forgiving them, he still wants to save them. He sticks to his principles of helping the weak. Everyone deserves to be saved.
Another key part of Sanji's characterization is the sheer kindness. His original backstory explained why he believed everyone deserved to eat, but his new one then explains why he loves making food for people not just to survive, but for them to enjoy. I love the show-don't-tell framing of how he only discovers Pudding's true self because he was going to take her food to try and make her happy - the narrative rewards him for trying to do good things for others. This contrasts the nature of Big Mom's toxic family, which I think may be the angle you're missing on Pudding's character. Not unlike Big Mom herself, Pudding is a product of her environment. Big Mom's family cares about each other on the surface but secretly tears each other down, because it's not led by a proper parent. Pudding is so hateful as a defense mechanism because she was the victim of bullying for her appearance. But despite that it's not her true nature to be so cruel, and that's what Sanji brings out - again, through kindness. When he sees her true self, and finds her beautiful rather than obscene, that's probably the best use of Sanji's characterization as a simp I've ever seen, and that treatment is what begins to change her.
The toxicity of the family then connects to my favorite part of the arc, Katakuri. There's indeed so much to unpack about the relationship between him and Luffy. Katakuri is Luffy but Better, as cheekily referenced through his bounty containing the number 57, while Luffy is associated with the number 56 (pronounced the same as go-mu). Katakuri, like Luffy, fights for his family, but then their fight emphasizes that Luffy's family is true, while Katakuri's is built on lies and hate, and Katakuri himself wouldn't be loved if they saw his true self (fuck Flampe). That's what begins to bring Luffy to being equal to him, while Luffy then surpasses him by the fact that he has greater ambition on top of protecting his family, while Katakuri is content with just protecting and doesn't want to be the pirate king. Katakuri had a choice, in the end, to keep fighting or let himself fall. And he did the latter, because Luffy made him believe that maybe it would be good if he won.
A fun little detail is that rubber always bounces back, but mochi keeps the shape it was pounded into. Luffy will always be his true self no matter what he's up against, but Katakuri was molded by his upbringing and can't change the way he wants to.
Anyway, the best detail is that the meal Sanji made for Pudding, that he ended up actually feeding to Luffy, consistent of foods that Oda revealed were all of the Straw Hats' favorites. Deep down, he wanted to be cooking for them.
hey, isnt that the famous mod of the morj discord server, potential pizza? :poggies:
I love this arc. I think the key thing to understand about Big Mom is that, despite her name, she is a child. She's never really grown past her childhood - I guess I can understand not emotionally connecting with someone so bad, but I think there's a horror to appreciate to how she ate her family. This isn't meant to be a backstory that make you cry, but rather, is genuinely one of the most horrifying things Oda has ever written. She's like a dark reflection of Luffy, childish and just wanting to eat, and the climax of the arc lasts so long because she's just throwing a tantrum. That section of the plot is also an extremely important assertion of Sanji's character - a major aspect of his arc here is built around what his family wants him to be rather than who he actually is. They want him to be a strong fighter, and in truth, he's become stronger than them, but he doesn't prove his worth by simply outfighting them. That would prove their worldview right, that strength is what matters. Instead, he proves his worth through his cooking and kindness. Since the beginning, Sanji's character was built around feeding anyone, no matter who, because nobody deserved to starve, so he now does so against the biggest villain they have ever faced. Because his principle of feeding others is far more important to him than who's good or bad. And it emphasizes his skill, because he had to recreate the most delicious cake in the world just from having smelled it alone. This is his greatest contribution, not fighting like his father wanted, but cooking like his REAL father wanted. One of the best scenes in the arc is when Judge lists every reason Sanji is a disappointment, and Luffy gets confused - all of those were Sanji's best qualities. Also, Sanji not forgiving his family is amazing, but so is the fact that despite hating them, despite not forgiving them, he still wants to save them. He sticks to his principles of helping the weak. Everyone deserves to be saved.
Another key part of Sanji's characterization is the sheer kindness. His original backstory explained why he believed everyone deserved to eat, but his new one then explains why he loves making food for people not just to survive, but for them to enjoy. I love the show-don't-tell framing of how he only discovers Pudding's true self because he was going to take her food to try and make her happy - the narrative rewards him for trying to do good things for others. This contrasts the nature of Big Mom's toxic family, which I think may be the angle you're missing on Pudding's character. Not unlike Big Mom herself, Pudding is a product of her environment. Big Mom's family cares about each other on the surface but secretly tears each other down, because it's not led by a proper parent. Pudding is so hateful as a defense mechanism because she was the victim of bullying for her appearance. But despite that it's not her true nature to be so cruel, and that's what Sanji brings out - again, through kindness. When he sees her true self, and finds her beautiful rather than obscene, that's probably the best use of Sanji's characterization as a simp I've ever seen, and that treatment is what begins to change her.
The toxicity of the family then connects to my favorite part of the arc, Katakuri. There's indeed so much to unpack about the relationship between him and Luffy. Katakuri is Luffy but Better, as cheekily referenced through his bounty containing the number 57, while Luffy is associated with the number 56 (pronounced the same as go-mu). Katakuri, like Luffy, fights for his family, but then their fight emphasizes that Luffy's family is true, while Katakuri's is built on lies and hate, and Katakuri himself wouldn't be loved if they saw his true self (fuck Flampe). That's what begins to bring Luffy to being equal to him, while Luffy then surpasses him by the fact that he has greater ambition on top of protecting his family, while Katakuri is content with just protecting and doesn't want to be the pirate king. Katakuri had a choice, in the end, to keep fighting or let himself fall. And he did the latter, because Luffy made him believe that maybe it would be good if he won.
A fun little detail is that rubber always bounces back, but mochi keeps the shape it was pounded into. Luffy will always be his true self no matter what he's up against, but Katakuri was molded by his upbringing and can't change the way he wants to.
Anyway, the best detail is that the meal Sanji made for Pudding, that he ended up actually feeding to Luffy, consistent of foods that Oda revealed were all of the Straw Hats' favorites. Deep down, he wanted to be cooking for them.
@@behanort4556 can u give the link to morj's server please
Despite her name, she is a terrible mom and selfish and narsicistic and abusive. And lola had every right to het away from her. Because she is so such an abusive narsicist abusive mom thats just , and her "love" isnt love
Great comment 👍👌
There’s some shot-for-shot panels of when Sanji was a child bringing food for his mom (that was wrecked but she ate it lovingly anyway) and when he brings food for Luffy here (that was wrecked but he eats it lovingly anyway) that is a beautiful juxtaposition between two people who cared about him.
The "What would Zoro have done in Whole Cake Island about Sanji" debate haunts the fandom to this day. I'm of the opinion Luffy would have told him to shut up and stay out of it like he did Nami, and that would have been the end of it after Sanji apologized, just like with Usopp. Because unlike with Usopp, Luffy took it seriously this time, which was Zoro's biggest problem.
I think Zoro would have understood where Sanji was coming from, although, he would have let Luffy known it wasn’t a good idea. Ussop leaving the crew was more to do with his own insecurity than anything else. Sanji’s family and Zeff were in danger; and while Luffy is strong he can’t be in more places than one.
I second this, some people act like Zoro wouldn’t understand the situation and just start cutting a former crew member, even though his captain would tell him to stay out of it, he may not be the smartest but he’s smarter than that
Yeah, hearing Daniel say that Zoro would've killed Sanji genuinely frustrated me. One cannot actually think Zoro this dumb. People that think this way strike me as people that watch One Piece for its surface level themes only. It's like they completely forgot the relationship between Zoro and Sanji - and especially Zoro's code of honor. He out of everyone else would've been the first to understand Sanji's motives. What reason could he have to be mad at Sanji when he knows the only reason he hit Luffy was to protect them and Zeff? - that's the complete opposite of dishonoring their captain.
Yup Zoro and Sanji are like true Brothers and the Fandom of both should treat it the same way, sadly it doesnt often enough :D
Zoro is The brother Sanji deserve but never had
You know, the opening skit got me thinking
What if the reason why WCI has so many characters is because Oda legit played a joke on us
"I sure do put in a lot of characters, huh? Ha ha, silly me! Anyway, here's Big Mom's 80 children."
It does serve a purpose.. to show that emperor is no joke, a force to reckon with and they can go to war with navy like whitebeard did incase situation arises.
@@kashishmaheshwari6007 To be fair the scene of Sanji trying to sabe Luffy from an entire fucking army of Big Mom's crew while Pekoms goes Sulong just to get swallowed by BM crewmembers is such a desperate moment... they have both strength and numbers...
Oda looks around his house to name his characters. I love it
@@kashishmaheshwari6007 I mean, yea
But you can compare it with Kaido's crew, which gets like 10 named characters
@@Hegataro if we compare than I'd say kaido got numbers and tobi robo who are at different level and it was mentioned very early on that he got lot of fodder characters who are eating smile fruit to become strong.. so his strength come from massive numbers of smile users. Every younko has different way to show their powers.. big mom with family, kaido with smile users, shanks with individual very powerful people like luffy's crew. It's a good dynamic and that's why I don't mind so many character intro
Jimbe facing down big mom and just going “I’m going to be on the crew of the pirate king, why should I fear a mere emperor of the sea” is by far my favorite moment
The is my favorite arc of my favorite story. I'm not sure it is possible for me to have a favorite part.
So things lost in translation: Nami ALWAYS refers to Sanji as "Sanji-kun", that suffix being like an honorific term of endearment.
When she sees what he's doing to Luffy she just coldly calls him "Sanji".
PS: About Katakuri. He's not dead. He's shown talking to his sister Brulee after the fight...
Boquita el mas grande papa!!!
que grande boca
Que grande boquita
Daniel still believes in people dying in One Piece. God bless that man
Just a small thing - Katakuri’s comment to Luffy about “looking far into the future” was more of a joke about how Luffy was able to use advanced observation haki “future sight” during the latter part of the fight. It was said to mean two things- One that Katakuri acknowledged his accomplishment of using his own special ability, and two that he believes that Luffy can become the pirate king .
The arc every Sanji fan desperately needed. This genuinely broke me at times. Also, can we talk about how Big Mom just chomped down on her * family * (more like smugglers) and confirmed that you can get someone's devil fruit by eating them whole. Yikes.
This arc made me look mochi with respect. Which sounds odd to say out loud.
Edit: I'm sure someone can explain it way better than I can but the 57 million in Katakuri's bounty is a reference to him always being one step ahead of Luffy, with Luffy's number being 56 (spelling out "gomu" as in the gum-gum fruit).
Yeah because go = 5 and mu = 6
maybe it might be a specific part of the body like when Blackbeard got whitebeard"s fruit
Not always, but he was... Luffy has already surpassed him in most aspects.
@@evolvedhuman783 probably the Spinal Fluid... oops wrong anime
@@username-ql8ox ah shit
Something that has seemed to have gone over most people's heads during this arc is that Sanji is the one truly saves the crew in the end. Not because he beat up anybody in particular but because he did the Sanji thing and fed the hungry. He's the one who stopped Big Mom in the end with his perfect cake. One of my favorite lines ever in One Piece is when he looks at Pudding and her chefs with pure confidence and says "I will show you the true meaning of sweetness."
The Genie dude that has to rub his stomach for the genie to appear is probably the most funniest activation of power I've ever seen in any kind of fiction 😂
No cap
you mean any kind of FRICTION
But what happens if someone else rubs his stomach ?? do they control the genie ??
I enjoyed Big Mom's flashback not because it made her more sympathetic to me, but more that it just made her even scarier. She's like a mega amped pirate version of the cannibal witch from Hansel and Gretel and I love it. Between Marineford and Wholecake, Oda really does a good job selling how impressive and terrifying the title of a Pirate Emperor can be
She's cannibal Godzilla.
Dude I can’t believe it that u r about to catch up to One Piece..have been following ur reviews the whole way through..great review keep it up mann..
Same.
They become nakama so fast
He zooming, i have to catch up with him now
Zoro killing Sanji during his beat down of Luffy is something a lot of people think, but I believe it’s very untrue. Luffy isn’t fighting back, and Zoro could easily tell that. He isn’t going to go against his captains wishes and kill a crewmate.
People like to compare Sanji's situation with Usopp's when in fact both are entirely different. Usopp did it for mainly selfish reasons and a genuine fear of being left out, Sanji however did it because he wanted to save the strawhats and his adoptive father figure. To think that Zoro, out of all people-when in fact he's one of the closest members to Sanji-wouldn't understand his motives makes no sense to me... as it should to everybody that reads it with a critical mind. Sanji's actions were the complete opposite of Usopp, they were quite noble and self-sacrificial. I guess this just goes to show how many people appreciate Zoro for the surface-level and "badass" moments he displays only and barely care about his actual character. This is one of the topics that gets me really frustrated. One Piece deserves a better fanbase, honestly.
@@MonkeyDIvan But how would Zoro even know about Sanji's situation? and why is your interpretation better than others? I mean even the motivation for the thrillerbark sacrifice could be interpreted in multiple different ways.
@@kffpruductiuns well even if he didn’t know. He could tell Luffy wasn’t fighting back and wouldn’t fight Sanji if Luffy wasn’t wanting to
@@kffpruductiuns Well Sanji is the least selfish of the group. He is the most willing to put himself in danger to protect the others more than anyone else. This is his entire stick. If he is willing to harm luffy than that is how much pressure big mom is putting on him. Heck we even know this from pudding. Sanji was willing not to get married to her just to get back to the crew.
I feel like zoro would possibly try to defend luffy at first at maybe the first kick sanji tries to throw while luffy is not defending. And then either luffy would tell him to stand down similair to the bellamy situation. Or zoro would view it as a luffy vs usopp duel since luffy called it a duel despite not fighting back and he would just stand there looking serious.
When sanji says he wants to save those scum who he doesn’t even consider family and luffy is just like yea that’s how you are duh now let me fucking help I cri evrytim
When he said “Let’s crash the wedding” that was a huge bromance moment. Loved it!
one of my favorite moments is sanji not being able light his sigarette. that metaphor had so much meaning... Like he's trying so hard to keep everything together at that moment. plan A failed, Plan he got played... hes trying so hard to keep everything from breaking; including himself. But at that point, even the rain doesn't let him light his signature sigarette. Absolutely devastating.
I legit cried in anime seeing him 🥺
it's made even richer because you realize sanji came to WCI trying to solve things on his own, not wanting to drag the crew into things, he thought he could figure it out lone wolf and that his burdens shouldn't be the crews, but at this moment, he is alone and crying and doesn't even have his smokes, he's realizing how in deep he is and how wrong he was to try and go it alone. that's why after this scene he goes to luffy. this is the lowest point where it dawns on him that he is just in way too deep, and he NEEDS the help that his family (the straw hats) are willing to give him. it's a beautifully sad moment that chokes me up every time. sanji is my fave guy and seeing him in shambles unable to light his ciggy is just heartbreaking.
@@schnozchan6606 well said
Also as a nicotine addict I felt it. The times where you want to smoke the most the world just doesn't let you
I think Oda did a really good job showing how abusive parents effect their children with this arc. You really see a strong bond a loyalty with the oldest children of Big Mama, especially Katakuri and Brulee. They probably had to deal with some of the worst of Big Mama. Then you get a lot of the younger kids that look to the oldest children more like their parents than Big Mama because they know she is not stable and fear her more than anything. I may be reading too much into it but I kind of view her food addiction and mood swings as alcoholism and the different ways they all respond to it. Most just avoid her when she gets like that, one tries to confront her only to be killed for it, and the rest just take the easiest path and just enable her because it makes her easier to deal with in the long term and they are all just tired from dealing with it.
I never thought of it that way, good take sir good take.
Mispronouncing character names
Daniel: Cataqurie
Merphy: T O M
Honestly his Katakuri was so close I’m not even counting it as a mispronunciation. Lol Merphs are on a whole other level
Merphy's Tom was absoluetly hilarious!
Best comment
@@christinaka3190 and absolutely fitting because he does things with a DON!!
Hey, at least he doesn't call him fucking "Dogtooth". I'm still not over that one and "Catviper" and "Dogstorm". You don't translate character names! Titles? Sure. Names? No! Imagine if Nami was called Wave in the English release.
While I agree Oda has flaws, I believe your critical eye on him has alot to do with the medium. The weekly schedule of Manga has alot to do with the flaws. Imagine Wheel of Time or other works without the editorial process of the entire book. Skimming the fat and looking at arcs as a whole.
theirs also an upside to taking a critical eye the way Daniel does, to me atleast if Daniel treated One Piece as some silly popcorn story then I wouldnt take his reviews as seriously (i know taking the goblin seriously what are the odds) but because he can be a little harsh you know that he sees how good this story is and gives it the respect it deserves.
@@jeremygeller9145 I love the fact he is realistic, I actually started reading Whel of Time and Red Rising because of him. The culture of Manga is notorious for treating Mangaka like trash. The process has ruined authors like Togashi and Muira. It also ruined Naruto by saying we are gonna need more cash from this and demanding more from him.
Agreed, especially since you cannot alter or redraft.
However, the fake out deaths are not excusable anymore
@@XraynPR I don't feel like they matter to most people. Oda doesn't like to kill characters, that's pretty established.
@@peerlessscarred6511 I think they do matter. Oda doesn't need to kill characters, but in situations where there is now way out but they turn out fine just to get some more emotional connection is cheap.
Glad to know that you enjoy the "Let's break Sanji physically and emotionally through an entire arc, tee hee hee" by Oda.
Also poor Carrot didn't get a mention there.
Poor carrot loosing pedro the cool furry.
Because Carrot is irrelevant 🙊
@@MonkeyDLuffy-nl4cv Yeah Daniel saved time by not bothering remembering her name lol.
One of my favorite arcs on one piece. Big mom ATE her family that is one of the most shocking moments in the entire series.
I just love how trauma becomes the theme behind a lot of the characters in this arc. Big Mom's trauma of childhood abandonment; Pudding's trauma of being only seen as a tool by her mother; Katakuri's trauma of failing to protect his sister; childhood trauma is not exactly new by this point in the story, but I just love how thematically relevant it is for the plot here.
Where Water 7 helped Usopp’s character, Whole Cake Island helps Sanji’s character. Which is fitting because there duels with Luffy are one of my favorite parallels.
Yea there is a theory circular g around called the checkered board theory where pretty much every post time skip arc is just a “history repeating itself” arc ( dressrosa/alabasta, drum island/punk hazard)
@@Matrunks yeah. Isn't wano supposed to be somewhat like thriller bark.
Especially the entrance of cp0, like kuma
@@crazyyash3488 I think you mean Enies lobby
@@yonatanyonatano1192 I just heard someone where wano being same as thriller bark. But ennies lobby seems more same to wano. But whole cake island is definitely the parallel to water 7.
@@crazyyash3488 yes, with ryuzuma plus kaido first being mentioned, then moria is mentioned in wano.
“The people on the sidelines are annoying.”
“They can’t stay on their feet anyway!”
Fun fact:
After you consider Baby 5's backstory and realize that "5" in "Baby 5" might mean actual "Baby number 5", it gets real dark real quick.
I mean, REAL quick
OH MY GOD
@Jannes Ebeling Try to what? To what bro?
I never even thought of that
@Jannes Ebeling What are you talking about?
@@MaggotKing556 Baby 5 doesnt actually have a name. It stems from her being the fifth unwanted baby and thats why she was discarded by her own biological mother saying that she is not needed. Hence, she has no name.
I heard an analysis that explained that Smoothie's role was to show issues within the Big Mom pirates. She's too patient to the point of inaction. As we saw from Snack, if you lose once you lose your Sweet Commander rank, so Smoothie is in her position because she's avoided ever losing.
Joyboy's prolly.
@@savinghumanity6661 I can’t remember who, but wouldn’t surprise me.
Facts, she also is a great example of how Katakuri plays the role of “Father Figure” in the family because even the other generals like Smoothy look to him to make all the decisions, especially when Mama is on a rampage.
This arc has some raw lines like you pointed out with that Katakuri one. Jinbei calling Big Mom “a mere emperor,” Brook calling her a “young lady,” and Luffy saying “They won’t be able to stay standing” are among my favorites.
It's so badass. Gives off the same energy as one of my favorite interactions in Dressrosa. "Strawhat you're the worst" "You too are from that generation".
"Lola was the one who didn't get married and you're the one who's still not a Pirate King" -Luffy
I think it went like that. But this arc is dripping with great lines
Literally the haki clash between katakuri and luffy which knocks out flampe and the other goons is one of my favorite moments in one piece.
The panel of sanji crying after pudding's reveal is the panel that hits the most in the entire series.
How could oda draw it. Incredible
I personally loved this arc, in large part to how some of the recently overlooked crew members were utilized. Fleshing out Sanji's feelings, Brooke getting things done in the background and being the first member to solo a Yonko, and Nami in charge of the first naval battle in the series - it was something I really needed.
Also Katakuri for best boy!
And nami gets again use her wits .
Um... When did Brook solo a Yonko? If you mean getting his ass whooped, plenty of fodder do that all the time.
@@devadathans5506 Plenty of fodder are not alive after facing a Yonko
@@hei7846 Oh this is One Piece. Everyone is alive.
@@devadathans5506 everyone that is relevant are alive. the fodders aren't alive
I love this arc!
When Judge is saying all of those "bad" things about Sanji to Luffy and Luffy thinks its weird that hes talking about all the good things in Sanji is just gold to me, definitely one of my favorite OP moments.
"ugh I'm getting hurt, but... ✨MORE✨"
-Daniel, 2021
Something I find amazing with Sanji’s backstory is that you get to see where his overwhelming love for women and distaste for men comes from:
Just think about it, through out Sanji’s childhood every male rolemodle in his life was abusing to him while the women around him made his life better.
Sanji’s father and brother: beat the snot out of him and then threw him in jail when he wasn’t strong enough to bench press a mountain as a 8 year old.
Sanji’s mother and Sister: encouraged his dreams and made him feel like he mattered. Then Reju even helped him escape.
12:15 Massive Correction : Katakuri is NOT dead as he drops down "on his back" (big moment as it's stated he never did in his life!). He choose to be defeated not because Luffy won the physcal fight, but because he won the "will" fight.
A lot of fans even speculate he could later on become an ally, should Big Mom die.
Yep. I just screwed up. The guy is literally seen later being tended to. I just got that stuck in my head for some reason.
@@DanielGreeneReviews haha no problems! at least it made you re-read it and it's never a bad time when it's One Piece 🤜🏻
@@DanielGreeneReviews many other people will miss that correction, a bit ironic when they point out that you missed something.
We are all a bit goofy
Katakuri physical couldn’t fight anymore too
Seeing Sanji just break down crying in the carriage and after Pudding's true nature is revealed, it hurts dammit. Sanji crying in the rain is a great moment because it shows how vulnerable he is at that moment. Sanji is a pretty stoic guy outside of perving out and bickering, he's one of the rocks of the strawhat and seeing him be so vulnerable hurts. To note Sanji was actually pretty respectful towards Pudding after their first meeting, we see Sanji reveal himself to her and be emotionally manipulated by her. He was in a vulnerable place and she took advantage of that.
When you think about it, Whoke Cake Island kind of *had* to have an overabundance of characters. Big Mom is an Emperor of the Sea. Her pirate crew is an imperial army. And Luffy is storming the castle.
Sanji: This is my arc and my time to shine
Brook: Ours
Brook did a lot of chad moves this arc honestly.
Hey Daniel. Since you gave a chance on my favorite series (One Piece), I figured I should return the favor and give a chance on your favorite series. I just finished The Eye of the World and bought the next two books in the Wheel of Time. Thanks for introducing the series to me!
Same here ! I got into WOT thx to Daniel and I just finished book 1 literally today . Waiting for my next orders to arrive
yup just bought the first Book too!
This arc depicts what a genius Oda is when it comes to subtlety and patience, particularly regarding Sanji’s character.
Writing typically happens in 3’s, and throughout the post timeskip Oda has portrayed Sanji as the failed martyr of the Straw Hats on 3 separate occasions:
The first was on Dressrosa. Sanji intervenes against Doffy but is frozen by his strings. He tells the SH’s to leave him and escape with a Coup de Burst - But they refuse, and his sacrifice fails.
The second came in Zou. Sanji willingly gives himself up to Bege in exchange for his crew's safety. He proceeds to write a note saying he will return in order to prevent Luffy and co. from pursuing him. This clearly doesn’t go as planned, and the purpose of Sanji’s sacrifice fails again.
The third, and most impactful moment, takes place on Whole Cake Island as Sanji begrudgingly insults his crew and attacks his captain. This can be taken as Sanji’s last stance to save his friends, even if it meant being hated by them. It seems like the facade was a success in tricking Nami, who tells Luffy they should leave OR maybe she was just upset at Sanji’s lack of respect for Luffy. Regardless - Luffy, being the emotionally intelligent empath that he is, was not fooled. Ultimately Sanji’s attempt at sacrifice fails for the third and final time. By accepting Luffy’s help, he cements the new path he will lead going forward.
Even me, who really like this series so much, didn't even remember half of the characters in this arc
Pudding was a kid that was turned into a psychopath because of the terrible people arround her (especially big mom, who literally used her as a toy for her whole life). Sanji is the first person that "allowed" Pudding to accept her third eye and accept her feelings, but she is so confused by that, she can't understand properly what is to be accepted. I really really really love her character and the development of her relationship with Sanji, which culminates in the kiss at the end of the arc. Brilliant!!
P.S. It's totally okay if you didn't like, I'm just sharing my view of the situation :)
Yeah, also all of the children we see that are married out of the Big Mom family betray Big Mom and stay with the new family.
I love how katakuri's character is revealed is throughout the fight. Also best fight in one piece
When he takes off the scarf, he's setting aside everything and ANYTHING that could possibly hold him back. He is freed through the purity of one v one combat. It's 100% awesome wushu movie glory and I love it.
My top fights are:
1- Luffy vs Usopp
2- Sanji vs Luffy
3- Luffy vs Katakuri or vs Doflamingo, I don't know haha
The story of the fight is top tier but the execution is a bit lacking. i Mean i think luffy landed 14 hits on katakuri xD thats not a lot to claim a Victory when luffy received more than a hundred from katakuri ahah
The moment Pudding took the memory of the kiss so sanji could leave guilt free was powerful.
I only cried once in my entire life of consuming fiction...and it was when Luffy said he couldn't become Pirate King without Sanji. I still can't watch that scene to this day.
Very powerful scene
One of my favorite things about jinbe is the genius if his character design. If you look closely, you could say he resembles a big blue ball. This is clever foreshadowing that his main purpose in the story is to give the audience the biggest blue balls in history by never actually following through with joining the crew! Truly genius work by Goda
That opening skit just summed up all one piece fans... It had me rolling man
DG reading OP: there are a lot of characters
Me reading WOT (as he recommended it): really?
P.S. I'm at the slog now (The Path of Daggers) and I'm still enjoying it!!!
im also gonna pick up wheel of time as it’s only fair since he picked up one piece
Same here buddy, I reached path of daggers two weeks ago, but left it at thaat due to some upcoming exams.
@@mediumchicago_pizza Yey! It's also a hell of a ride!
The Light blesses your exam, nakama!
Just finished Eye of the World. Giving myself a week before I dive into The Great Hunt. Had to 1st finish Merphy's Gentleman Bastards before I picked wheel of time up. But its good so far
Can't believe Merphy is catching up to you now ! You both made my year by starting OP and I can't express how happy you both make me!
I was in Japan when I read this arc and it is in a special place in my heart tho there are for sure better arcs out the IMO. But boy, did Sanji punch me in my gut as well, cuz I felt that with my whole body and soul! Amazing writting !!
I loved the part when luffy put his second hat on Katakuri's mouth to cover it. The respect is real!
WCI is one of those arcs that I look back on very fondly. After you digest it and inevitably forget the forgettable parts, you're left looking back on an arc with a lot One Piece's best non-action moments.
Luffy yelling "say what you really want" to Sanji always gives me chills.
I wanna say I love the review. I just felt confused when you said Sanji doesn't forgive none of his family is true but he wasn't mad at his mom. His mom is the reason that he is not like his brothers and the sacrifice she made to do so. I'm surprised you didn't mention snake man too also the sulong form but yeah I loved this arc too and i loved the review.
There is always so much to cover. I plan on doing a rereview of the entire series once I am done where I can be WAY more thorough and accurate. Now I am not ever sure who will be relevent from arc to arc so its a lot of juggling.
@@DanielGreeneReviews That is valid. With Oda ANYTHING or NOTHING can matter. Even a decade later random character X could be a major plot point.
He made a mistake, when he was referring that there was a "terrible mother" I was confused too but then I realized he was talking about big mom haha it's kinda obvious but yeah it's sorta misleading because he brings up Sanji's family members first and doesn't specify on big mom, but I think he was just naming off all the villainous evil people in this arc
@@DanielGreeneReviews that'll definitely be something to look forward to for me.
i don’t think big moms backstory was meant to make you feel for her, i think it was to show how much of a monster she can be in my personal opinion and they did a pretty great job at it
I just finished binging your OP videos this morning and suddenly this pops up in the subscriptions box. Perfect timing lol
This arc is so special... the way Oda goes to tell a family story, on both sides, is so good. The parallels of what makes you a better person on the actions you take, not what the circunstancies were on your upbringing and family dynamics... and the character design and the straw hat moment ...OMG the setting in this arc is AHHHH... I love this story so much
Fun fact: this arc was originally supposed to be 2 different arcs with one about big mom and other being sanjis family storyline but oda combined it because he doesn't have enough time to write as he wants(he was already 40 by the time he wrote it in 2016 and wants to retire and be with his family by 50).
He's done it before as dressora/greenbit(dwarves forest) and punk hazzard were originally supposed to be 2 arcs with one fire and cold island.
Oda has stated in 2012 that if he were to write everything in his head, the story will never finish. 9 years later, and you can definitely see its true.
Wow I didn’t know he combined arcs twice LOL
Maybe Wano was combined with a bunch of arcs, it seems that way with how Reverie is being handled in between Wano Act breaks
Source? I tried finding a quote from Oda on this and just... can't.
holy shit was it actually 2016? time flies
I never heard of this tho
It basically was 2 arcs
Dressrosa was the beginning of the Sanji renaissance. His stock has risen so much since then. I'm happy to say that we are still in the golden age of his character.
SJI to the moon 🚀🚀🚀
katakuri actually isn't dead, he's still good, he just got tired and gave up essentially
Oh shit! I screwed up then.
@@DanielGreeneReviews yea there was a whole part where he started talking to the witch lady
@@youngskeetz306 Brulee :D
Stop reading Daniel spoilers for Wano.
I like how they toon him out so in Wano the Big Mom pirates can be defeated and Katakuri can take over
I was so confused when he said katakuri is dead
"What was your point? Did you just want someone to J/O a giraffe?"
Apparently massive foreshadowing was the point lmao
now going into Wano id highly recommend giving the Anime a try, it does an amazing job of portraying the story in the Manga, id say the beginning of the arc in the anime is a bit stretchy, but the final third in the anime is just perfect
I did watch a lot of the action! :)
I don't recommend watching the whole thing though, I recommend trying to switch back and forth the anime and the manga. While the pacing problem is still there, there are episodes that are worth worthing and episodes that I HIGHLY recommend watching instead of reading.
@@DanielGreeneReviews thats the way to go imo! i look forward for your journey thro Wano Country!
@@makima2883 i know what you talking about xD
I dont like to say which medium is better but there are scenes that are straight up better in the anime, not even action scenes.
And we totally didn't get a filler crossover with batman
The musicals in the anime make this arc one of my favorites. I love One Piece's ability to just enter a different world with every island and Whole Cake Island just felt like some classic One Piece fantasy with new One Piece action
One thing to notice is that in thriller bark Sanji stopped Nami's forced wedding and in This arc Nami stopped Sanji's forced wedding...
🤔
Thriller bark and Whole Cake Island are parallels
Wano and Water7 are parallels
Do American novels even have tsundere characters in them? This is when a character can’t show the true emotion they feel for either comedic or emotional reasons. I only ask because that’s a strong foundation of Pudding’s character in my opinion and if you’ve never seen characters like that before I can understand why you wouldn’t like her🤷🏾♂️
yea a lot of his main gripes with sanji are because of eastern anime tropes too. he hates the whole pervert shtick
@@mediumchicago_pizza oh I’ve already been trying to come to terms with that for a while he’s talked about a lot of things he has disliked in the series that are mainly just cultural differences and not being familiar with the other tropes and shticks in eastern literature.
it’s definitely gonna affect his overall enjoyment of the series but the fact that he was able to still like Sanji throughout the arc says a lot. He may not feel like we “need” the perviness from his character but he now likes him a lot more than he did fishman island lol
Western novels do have tsundere characters but, unlike manga, it's typically the men who are the tsunderes not the the women. They also lack the visual aspect so they don't play up physical comedy the way manga does.
The most obvious example in western lit that I can think of is Mr. Darcy from Pride & Prejudice.
That being said, even with manga readers the tsundere personality is one that people either do or don't like. I know plenty of people who are avid manga readers, fully aware of all the tropes, who did not like Pudding as a character.
@@yuukinoyuki9064 those are fair points! I also definitely agree that the visual aspect adds to it in manga which is why it’s much more common
I just wanted to know if he specifically had any of this background information as it creates a clearer opinion when judging the character. His points already were valid and he doesn’t seem like the corny romance type so he probably wouldn’t have liked her that much anyway🤷🏾♂️
Whole Cake Island is definitely my favourite arc in the series. I just love the creativity, humour, and sugar-coated terrifying undertones it has. I also loved the conclusion with the villain, Big Mom, basically being victorious at the end, while the crew do everything to escape to preserve their lives. I know it's not perfect, but it's a 10/10 for me.
Sanji is my absolute favorite Straw Hat, and this arc was great, in that it finally gave him a decent spotlight rather than pushing him away doing mysterious thingies while Zorro took the badass route. More Sanji Oda please!
Did you catch that Big Mom had a Tontatta Daughter? I just want you to have a picture of the logistics in your head. For science.
Devil Fruits and magic willpower I can buy.
But this is way out there.
My eyes! MY EYES!
The dad went into a deep dark cave and never came out. Nine months later, out comes a Tontatta child
Jinbei didn’t kneel before Big Mam out of respect. He knelt because of the sheer weight of his pure titanium balls.
There's a reason why he doesn't wear pants, and wear a long kimono instead
I can't help but mentioning the latest chapter man, phenomenal, better than ever character work on Sanji.
My favourite moment has to be during luffy's fight with katakuri and he says something like ''the people on the sidelines are annoying'' AND FUCKING KNOCKS THEM ALL OUT WITH CONQUEROR HAKI
Top tier one piece moment
I caught up to One Piece during Whole Cake, so I think it"s the most nostalgic arc for me. I remember that I was 100% fooled by pudding, like, sanji had lost everything, but at least the person he was gonna mary was nice, and then sanji hears her saying she's gonna betray them. And he breaks down crying. Boy, that got me
I can't believe that this reading journey all started with bullying😂😂 Also you're almost caught up, which feels so weird to see how fast One Piece can be binged while I've been reading it for 18 years😅
people often tend to misunderstand the big mom flashback, its not like meant for you to sympathize with her, its meant so you can understand who and how she is the way she is, i mean shes a giant tyrannical child, though she may be old and powerful, in the end the core of her is childish and selfish desires that everyone caves to, i mean who can really deny her when shes that strong...
A lot of great Luffy moments in this arc but one that often seem to be overlooked IMO is when Sanjis dad list all the reasons he is disappointed in Sanji and Luffy just “ok thank. Hey why was he randomly listing everything great about you Sanji”
This arc really showcased Luffy's view as a pirate. Luffy always said pirates are the most free people. From Mingo's birdcage to the emotional cages Vinsmoke and Charlotte family created. Freeing Sanji from the trauma his family put him in. Then allowing Katakuri to free himself from the idea of perfection his family and pirate crew has of him
I think its really funny how Daniel does One piece arc reviews in one 15-20 min video per arc and then you have Merphy who does 3 hour long videos lol. Love them both tho!
I think Pudding's character comes into a better context when considering that she has been given birth explicitly to be a tool for reading Ponegyphs. Sanji had a positive influence through his mother and a stroke of luck + help from his sister so he could escape a very similar abusive family that treated him as a tool, but Pudding has been raised in this environment her whole life. I found the potential of her being able to separate from that (as cliche as power of love can be) and be a better person endearing.
Oda said in an interview around the time this was published that this would be the year of sanji. We all thought it was a joke, but this sets up how the rest of Sanji's character will go.
I did like Pudding. She works well as a foil for Sanji, because just like Sanji, she's a result of abuse since childhood but she never got away, she's internalised the abuse and she's been doing her best to prove that she's good enough for her mother her entire life. But she wasn't inherently a bad person, she just acted it because that's how she was useful to Big Mom.
She's basically what Sanji could have turned out.
I mean yes but no. Pudding is the type of girl I don't like in manga/anime: a tsundere. I know people react different to simmilar situations but I can't give Pudding a free pass when we got Chiffon getting rejected and beat up by her own mother and Chiffon is AMAZING! Also, I don't like the whole "Pudding rejection" it's just another eye, there are people weirder than her... I wished Oda would've just given her a nose or an ear in her forehead, THAT would be hideous or ridiculous.
Big Mom's thing always had me relating her to Lenny in "of mice and men."
She is, at core, well meaning but disassociated individual. Where her fugue moments hurt her far more than is visually notable. All her wounds are internal. She is the perfect sociopath in some cases.
She wanted the bear and wolf to be friends; she wanted to help the fish person fit in; these are good intentions that are poorly executed or thought out. What's the one thing her terrible parents taught her? That right, if you're not loved enough, you get abandoned. So yes, she had abandonment issues and was suckered by a child trafficker into thinking they were a saint and cared about her... then BM ate her family in a fugue moment... or at least we are led to believe she did. Honestly, though Mother Carmel may have taken the others and ran, I would not be surprised by that twist.
A lot of fans hated the chase at the end.
A lot of fans hate Pudding as well.
I liked both because the chase gave everyone there a chance to shine to escape. I liked Pudding because she was the only female to ever genuinely want Sanji, and in the end, she had to let him go for his own good. I also like memory powers. I did dislike her bitch side.
We know she ate them because she got her devil fruit from it.
@@ShinyGreninja14 I say its possible that we have only been led to believe this, and the truth has yet been revealed.
99.999999% sure your right and she got ate. But I always hold out a bit in case an author trys to pull a fast one on me.
That’s what my impression of her was as well
Oda: Wanna see me give Sanji a horribly tragic backstory?
Also Oda: Wanna see me do it again?
Daniel once you finish One Piece, I would highly recommend Mr. Morj. He has some super in depth analysis videos (right now a lot are spoilers since he does weekly chapter reviews). He is fantastic at pointing out the themes and pulling together all the parts of characters or arcs that readers might overlook in a first read or watch. Thanks for making awesome content!
Let’s signal boost this
Except for his raid failure bad take that he keeps doubling down on, still I respect him sticking to his convictions.
please dear god i've been preaching this
A lot of readers including myself found Big Mom “disappointing” in her (formal) debut arc, but as time goes on, I grow really fond of her character. She’s both a force of nature and a joke, and you can hardly predict what she’s going to do because she doesn’t follow any logic. (Her flashback is more of a mystery to be solved in the future rather than a “justification” of her character.)
I don't kno what the mystery could be. Everything seemed pretty laid out to me
I understand how the deluge of characters can be wild but I’m just the exact type of meticulous nerd that loves it helped by my adoration for Big Mom as a character. Her irredeemably demented worldview and awesome design/power make her the perfect kind of terrifying for me. In large part to how much I am fascinated by her crew Whole Cake Island is my #1 One Piece arc.
"Join the crew, you're pretty fucking rad"
Almost the entire OP fanbase
The thing to remember about Pudding is that she's only 16. She hasn't matured into Evil yet, she's just been raised Evil. She's exactly the right age to suddenly crush heavily on an enemy and become a conflicted mess as she tries to figure out who she is beyond her family.
The thing about Pudding is she just wants to fit in with her family really bad and is willing to follow their ways to the end as long as she doesn't have to suffer the humiliation and rejection they showed her when she was a kid and didn't know how to hide her third eye, which is the main reason she falls for Sanji when he shows he doesn't care and even complimented her on it so she wouldn't feel bad for it and so wouldn't have to compensate or shield her insecurities by being extra evil like her family is and wants her to be
“Without you, I can’t become the pirate king” will forever and always break me.
I loved the skit at the beginning haha you played Oda was funny
Also glad you liked Whole Cake, def an under rated arc :))
Also the theme of insecurity and finding yourself is actually present throughout the entire arc not just with Sanji this applies to Katakuri and if you apply that to Pudding's character I think you appreciate her more
More talk on Katakuri would've been nice too but it seems like you liked and understood him enough
Glad you see Sanji's character in a better light though and like Whole Cake :)
It really needs more praise ! ❤️
Pudding suffers from split personailty disorder which is common in those who are spies.
Daniel: There are too many characters in Wholecake!
Oda in Wano: 😶😬
Your video about the second arc of OP actually reinvigorated my interest in the anime. Thanks man! 👍
When you realize Sanji’s biggest character flaw being a perv was a combination of his mom and sister being the only people who were remotely kind to him and being told to respect women by his real father figure. And that turn into an extreme.
no that was his not hitting women not even enemies and simping after all women part.....all of that still doesnt make sense of his creep peeping tom behavior. which is what's annoying about him. his simping is funny and understandable....his creep behaviour is just like hurting women.
His brothers also have the same flaw so I don't think it's that.
That’s not it the guys at the Baratie are the reason for that. His brothers are perverts as well
Sanji is a perv because of Dragonball. At least he's relatively tame.
Yes sneaking into women's baths is relatively tame. Early Dragonball is... um...
@@davidwilson6577 funny
As someone who has been watching one piece for a while and someone who for the majority of it kind of went for the ride, it’s so good to see how you analyse each arc and break it down into it’s pros and cons. I’m very much looking forward to your analysis of a particular future arc.
I only cried once in my entire life of consuming fiction, and it was when Luffy said he couldn't become Pirate King without Sanji. Can't watch that scene to this day.
One Piece fans eating good this year! Love the honest opinion about Whole Cake. Were waiting for you in Wano!
Great review!! Daniel please consider doing a seperate review for the Reverie arc that comes after WCI and before Wano. It is only 6 chapters long but there are a LOT of things to talk about!
Got into one piece recently. Thanks for making these videos because I feel like I’m watching it with you even though you made these awhile ago. Just got caught up so I can watch this review finally. Keep up the great work and thank you!
Now do a part 2 where you talk about why Brook was the MVP of this arc
Daniel please read this i know big moms backstory seems like it's to give us empathy but I think it's to show us why her mental state is the way it is so we can understand when she does something unexpected a big theory is she will eventually ally with the straw hats
It also shows how she obtained her powers the implications that she ate her family as a child are really something and will surely play a role in the future there's no way oda will leave it so unclear I feel like oda would flat out say she ate them if that was true I think she definitely ate mother caramel but we have no context as to why and big mom can't remember it's implied she went into a rage but I have my doubts