 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. Last week on The Arc Review, we took a brief pit stop on the living island of Zo, and this week it is time to directly confront one of the four emperors on Whole Cake Island. Whole Cake Island is the 29th arc in the series, consisting of a mighty 78 manga chapters, and at this stage, an unknown quantity of anime episodes, because this arc is still ongoing. And with that in mind, I need to give you all a pretty big spoiler warning right from the get-go, because I will be treating this as a complete arc and referring to manga events quite heavily. So there you go, you have been warned. So Whole Cake Island is initially quite notable because it is the first proper arc in the Yonko saga. Yes, Zo was technically a part of this saga, but Whole Cake Island is where we finally get to tackle a Yonko directly. So the very concept of this arc was a dream come true for me, because I've been imagining this moment ever since the existence of the Yonko was revealed during the return to Border 7 arc. Now, here we were 400 or so chapters later, and it was a bit of a surreal feeling at first. And the setting of Whole Cake Island, or more accurately Totland as a whole, significantly enhanced that feeling of surrealism through the Disney vibes exuded as a result of Big Mom's Devil Frutability. And while it was a bit jarring at first, I grew to really love this setting. I often say that the islands themselves act as characters, and that is quite literally true in cases like this, where doors, hills, and even the sun can become a literal character. It was also a really beautiful contrast to have these smiley, vibrant characters acting as a mask for the truly horrific and nefarious activities that take place in Totland. Kind of like the dark secret behind the toys in Dressroser, but on a much larger and much more well done scale. And everything just makes sense when you look at the person behind all of this, the Emperor, Big Mom. To me, Big Mom was a very well executed antagonist who generally managed to fill me with a feeling of pure dread, especially when she was in any way upset. Before we got to explore her absolutely absurd strength or incredibly OP Devil Frut, Oda cemented Big Mom as one of the most threatening beings in the world simply through facial expressions alone. I don't think we have ever seen a more sinister personification of pure demonic intention in the series, although I don't think this translated particularly well in the anime. Big Mom in general is just drawn really bloody weirdly by Toei. In some cases so bad that it looks like the animators have only taken the briefest glance of Big Mom in the manga, and then just thrown together what they can from memory. And yeah, look, she's a weird looking character, but this is just ridiculous. And I think it's a huge disservice to the character and the arc in general. But my feelings about Big Mom are a bit more complicated than just fearing her presence. As a result of her flashback, I actually feel a lot of sympathy for this character. I mean, in reality, she was just a child who wanted to eat sweets and have fun. It wasn't her fault that she had this unexplained hunger demon residing inside her, and really the person who's responsible for corrupting her to the point she's become in the modern day is Drusen. Plus, in terms of mental evolution, Big Mom hasn't really changed at all since she was a mere five years old. She's still essentially a child, which is reflected by the way she chooses to surround herself in Disney-esque characters, and I find that to be a really fascinating take on a villain in the series. So as much as Big Mom is directly responsible for a hell of a lot of death and suffering, I do actually feel very sorry for her, which is something I'd like to congratulate Oda for being able to do. I feel like that's the angle he was going for with Dolphemingo's character during Dressrosa, but it didn't quite get there. But of course, there was a lot more to this arc than just Big Mom. This is the first occasion we have been able to explore the full force of Ionko since we delved into the Whitebeard Pirates at Marineford. And what can I say? Holcake Island did a much better job in making me feel like this was a true force to be reckoned with. Nothing against the Whitebeard Commanders. I mean, actually, you know what? Everything against the Whitebeard Commanders. Apart from Marco, Jozo, and maybe Vista, they felt like flat filler characters, and thank God the Big Mom Pirates were not treated in a similar manner. The Charlotte family are, for the most part, carefully crafted figures. And it was very impressive that Oda could consistently keep pumping out these characters at this level of quality. Now, I know that a lot of people got quite annoyed at just how many Charlotte siblings kept getting introduced into the story, especially during the later stages. But I really loved it, even if most of them didn't get a chance for much development and arguably weren't important to the Direct Plot at all. What they managed to achieve simply by existing was this feeling of an absolutely overwhelming force. They felt like a proper army in the same way that the Marines do. And I feel quite privileged that I got to experience a group of villains so large and yet still retain such depth of character. With that said, I was kind of frustrated when certain characters didn't really get their chance to shine. Yes, I'm looking at you, Charlotte Smoothie. My expectations were pretty high for her because she's one of the sweet commanders, and it was pretty disappointing that the most we got to see of her was squeezing juice from a giraffe. But in retrospect, I believe that Smoothie and a whole bunch of other characters were purposely neglected because it looks like they may come into play during the Wano arc, which is very exciting, but that's not this arc. So let's move on and talk about the true star of this arc, Charlotte Karakuri. Now this dude bra rocks up about halfway through the arc, right when the events of the wedding are about to go down and rather greedily just steals the entire arc for himself. Karakuri is quite possibly now my favorite antagonist in the entire series. I love his design, his combat style, and his personality in general. And you know, as painfully so as it may have seemed reading it weekly, his fight against Smoothie is one of the greatest pieces of action Oda has ever put to page. And the setting of the Mirror World really enhances this particular fight by providing a background with a ton of texture and visual intrigue. Also, it's really nice symbolically since Smoothie and Karakuri's Devil Fruits are essentially a mirror of one another. Speaking of Devil Fruits, funny thing about Holkake Island, we are introduced to something like 13 new fruit users during this arc, and they are all paramecia types. I mean, Karakuri was very briefly illogia, but we don't talk about that. Special boy Karakuri has a special paramecia now, which sounds very condescending. But yeah, this arc really was a showcase of the paramecia class with some really weird powers on display. Like Charlotte Daifuku, who rubs his crotch region, so hard that a genie appears. Yeah, that's... So Sanji really takes the stage as the primary straw hat in the arc apart from Luffy. And after getting the distinct feeling that Holkake Island was crafted to show off this guy who really hadn't been getting a lot of love post time skip, I do feel a bit disappointed by the result. His extended backstory was tragic as per usual, and I really did like the fleshing out of his history with his family a bit more, but Sanji's moment of glory during this arc really amounted to feeding a hungry big mom, which is a bit underwhelming. At the same time, I acknowledge that this resolution really does fit Sanji's character. I think that we as a fanbase often forget that Sanji's first priority is being a cook rather than a fighter. And as a cook, he lives by a very different code, which can simply boil down to feeding those who are hungry, even if they are your sworn enemy who you could never hope to defeat. In retrospect, Sanji's character arc ended really well. I just wish he got to do a little more kicking because I am a fiend for action. As for Sanji's family, the German double six, I have no strong feelings one way or the other about this particular group of people. They were introduced as assholes, except for Reju. And I can't really say they did a whole lot. I thought they were going to be far more integral to the plot, but they just ended up sort of being there. I guess they did contribute to helping the Straw Hats escape in the end, but you know what, speaking of the ending, Whole Cake Island came to a rather sudden and some may say anticlimactic conclusion. And I don't necessarily agree with that, but what didn't help was the fact that we spent almost 30 chapters on the run from Big Mom after the collapse of Whole Cake Chateau. To put that into some perspective, that is well over half a year, not including breaks. Spent in a glorified chase scene. No matter how many bits of amazing action occurred, this was just exhausting. Sustaining that level of tension for such a long time is an impossible task. And yeah, it'll probably read much better in volume format where you can just blast through chapters. But even then, you're going to reach a point in the sequence where you'll say to yourself, Uh, this isn't over yet, question mark. And continuing with the negative aspects of the arc, I'm rather predictably going to mention Charlotte Pudding. During my chapter reviews, I've made it exceptionally clear that I despise the direction this character took. Pudding was introduced as a pretty bland and standard female character, but then came a twist. And it turned out that she was actually evil. And then she wasn't, but she still was. But then she wasn't, but she still was. And then she fell in love with Sanji, but she was still evil, but wasn't. And yet still somehow was. Her character was a complete mess by the climax of the arc, although she did have one touching moment, wallowing in loss after Sanji left. I don't think the path we took to get to this moment was worth it, but hey, at least it wasn't a complete waste. Another disappointing aspect of the arc was the resolution with Jinbei. Now, let me be clear. Jinbei had some phenomenal moments and was amazing in general during Holcake Island, but oh my God, once again, he did not join the crew. Now, I don't know what Oda is planning, but it better be pretty damn huge to put this off for so long. On the other hand, we need to talk about the undisputed MVP of Holcake Island, Soul King, Brooke. His actions during this arc for the very first time proved to me why he belongs on this crew. Up until now, he was more of a novelty crew member in my mind. He joined during the end of Thriller Barkham was immediately separated from the crew, did very little during Fishman Island and Pongkazard and disappeared with the curly hats for Dressrosa. But Holcake Island gave this man a chance to shine. Brooke became the very first straw hat to directly face off against a Yonko in one-on-one combat. And yeah, he got completely crushed, but he was an absolute boss while doing so. He also managed to get a rubbing of not one, not two, but three Ponyglyphs, smashed the photo of Mother Caramel and was just awesome in general. And I have similar words of praise for Pedro who turned out to be an unexpected favorite of mine. Although looking back on him is a much sadder exercise. Pedro was a very necessary sacrifice in the grand scheme of the arc. It showed us that there were real consequences to messing with the Yonko and that just because it's one piece, it doesn't mean that we're all going to be okay in the end. Although the biggest tragedy in my mind is that we will never be able to see Pedro's Soulong form. The very existence of such a transformation was a huge bombshell, by the way. Discovering this secondary layer to the Mink tribe made me infinitely more excited to see them again and also made me a bit more forgiving of Carrot after watching her in action. But even then, I'm not entirely sure that Carrot was an essential addition to the arc. She was pretty fun, but her involvement in Whole Cake Island felt more like it was setting her character up for a future arc, which I look forward to. But for the purposes of this review, she'd be entirely forgettable if it wasn't for her Soulong form. Moving to somebody who is not forgettable, we have Capone Gang Beige. I am still in utter disbelief at just how much I enjoy him these days. He's actually a lot more like Luffy than I initially thought, in the way that he just does his own thing without really caring for the consequences. He's a bit more careful, but he certainly exemplifies what it means to be a member of the worst generation. All in all, Whole Cake Island stands out to me as an arc that took a lot of valuable lessons from Just Rosa and implemented them into a more refined product. The antagonists were stronger, the setting was more compelling and it took significantly less time to tell a story with a similarly gigantic cast of characters and still do most of them justice. Personally, I believe Whole Cake Island to be one of, if not the best arc in the New World era to this point. But that pretty much does it. For Whole Cake Island. Next week, we will be attending an event that has been brewing ever since the early days of One Piece as we venture to the Holy Land of Marijua or the Reverie. If you enjoyed this video, then feel free to like, favorite, or subscribe. And if you are in any way keen on supporting this independent channel, then please do check out my Patreon, Discord server, or Twitter, the links to which are in the handy description below. Finally, please do comment with your thoughts on the Whole Cake Island arc. This has been the Grand Line Review, and I'll see you next time.