 Oda hates Sanji. A phrase I'm sure almost all of us have come across before, but is this really true or isn't really? The exact opposite. Hello my Nakamitachi, this is Joygirl and in a belated celebration of his birthday, which in fact was yesterday, we're going to talk about our beloved Straw Hat chef, Sanji, and the controversy which surrounds his character. Except in this video, we're going to discuss how rather than the widespread idea that Oda hates Sanji, it seems like, or at least for me, that Oda loves Sanji. A lot. Maybe to the point that I would even say that he is Oda's favorite character. Except wait, no that's not true because Oda has already told us who his favorite character is, which is Gaimon. And who could blame him? Gaimon swell, but hey, we're getting off topic. Back to Sanji. Sanji and the ever-present belief that Oda hates him. Every so often, and particularly since the time skip, Oda includes a Sanji scene which causes an uproar in the community. Ones where Sanji is used as a comedic tool rather than being portrayed to be a badass like certain other Straw Huts. And whilst there is much more to it that bruise underneath this contention, put simply, the issue is just that. Sanji is not portrayed to be cool due to his lack of action scenes. Or even those he is involved in, he either suffers loss or suffers being off-screened. As well as Sanji's relationship with women, which at times can again, impede his capacity for action. As one of the skilled combatants of the Straw Hat crew, taking his place in the monster trio, admittedly a term coined by the fans, the Straw Hat chef has been the most unfortunate of the three. Rarely getting as many fights, and certainly not having as many victories in whatever fights he has had. Rather, Sanji has been used as more of a measuring stick to gauge the abilities of his opponents since we entered the new world. And even in Holkek Island, an arc which was promoted to be the year of Sanji, the chef's greatest feat, although impressive, was culinary based, not action. And if that isn't enough, it may even seem like Oda has gone to an active effort to make Sanji uncool. The greatest example being in Fishman Island, where for a large chunk of the arc, the Straw Hat chef was reduced to being a nose-bleeding, full-blown simp. Whilst all of these things seem to be used as arguments to prove that Oda hates Sanji, I think the opposite is true. So whilst I can't say Sanji is Oda's favourite character, as we've discussed already, I think Sanji may be Oda's favourite Straw Hat. Or at the very least, I think Oda has the most fun with Sanji. And though this isn't something that I can confirm, part of why I think this is the case is because I think Sanji is a loose representation of Oda himself. I've mentioned before in another video that Oda once said in an interview that when writing One Piece, he only has one reader in mind, himself as a 15-year-old. And whilst the context in which we discussed this back then was very different, I think it may be still true that Oda does try to keep this mindset. At the end of the day, One Piece is a Shonen series after all, quite literally meaning a young voice comic. I think Sanji is the embodiment of how Oda remembers his younger self and how he imagines his readership to be. Blasphemous? Maybe. Or maybe not. Let's first go through some of Sanji's characteristics. Starting with his eyebrows. Sanji's fantastically or creepily swirly mismatched eyebrows, depending on how you see it, is one of the Straw Hat Chef's trademarks when it comes to character design. As one of the most average human-looking characters in the series, his curly eyebrows are an important and distinguishing feature, one which cements his design to fit the quirky style of the series. Well, it just so happens that this swirly design can be found somewhere else. Oda's signature. It seems that Sanji's eyebrows are a nod to the mangaka's personal signature, suggesting how Oda implanted a little piece of himself into Sanji's character due to the affinity the mangaka has to the Straw Hat Chef. Another trademark design feature we could draw attention to is the fact that Sanji is almost always drawn with a cigarette. Another trait we could also attribute to Oda. The mangaka is known to be a chain smoker due to the stress and the amount of work he puts into creating one piece. Whilst Japan does have a relatively high rate of smokers, around 30% of adult males, and so not necessarily a link between the character and his mangaka, it is undoubtedly a trait that they do share. And speaking of real-life similarities between Sanji and Oda, the mangaka married one of his own characters, a real-life Nami. Okay, not really. More accurately, Oda met his wife at Jump Festa 2002, where he met Jiyaki Inaba, a former cosplayer who was cosplaying as Nami for a stage show at the time. Apparently, the two hit it off and married only a couple of years later. A very cute story, one also very suggestive for the purpose of this video. Considering Sanji's intense love for Nami, one which was sparked at first sight, who's to say that Oda didn't feel the same way upon first seeing his now wife? Which brings us to the next point. We can't discuss classic Sanji characteristics without delving into perhaps his most well-known trait. His love, his adoration, obsession for women. Sanji's tendency to turn into simp king when in the presence of beautiful women and all the hilarity, albeit at times extremely silly comedy it provides, is one of the greatest points of dissatisfaction some fans have regarding Oda's treatment of the Straw Hat Chef, aka Ebro Cook. However, this attribute of Sanji's is one that may stem from the mangaka himself. And by this, I mean, Oda's own love for extremely, quite frankly, unrealistically voluptuous ladies. When asked in SBS Volume 67 whether the reason Oda draws so much exposed breasts is because he just really likes them, Oda's very straightforward and emphatic response was, of course I draw them because I like them. And indeed, it is no secret that there is a very specific way in which Oda draws his female characters, or the vast majority of them anyways, a style which rarely varies. This is a fact that he's owned up to himself when in SBS Volume 79, he simplified his drawing technique for women as two O's and one X, creating the ever curvaceous hourglass figure we are so accustomed to seeing in the series. And according to the mangaka, as a result, his style has caused quite the controversy, but one he doesn't seem to pay too much mind. Because in SBS Volume 78, Oda's explanation behind the design of his female characters was that he's just bringing the young boy's dreams to life. And this last comment goes back to his other comment about how he views his readership, young adolescent boys. Oda, being the self-professed lover of curvy women himself, has designed a character who shares this adoration. Even aside from this obsession with women, Sanji seems to be the character of Oda's heart. And going further, perhaps this is how Oda imagines most of his fan base to be as well. If Zoro is the character we wish to be, the cool badass fighter, Sanji is the character we are in reality. Goofy with a heart of gold, who is prone to get a little side tracked by the crushes at times, and still all the same, cool in our own unique ways. I don't think that Oda dislikes Sanji at all. In fact, I think that Oda has carefully crafted a character whom he can rely on and use to serve his story. And this is stay true from the chef's introduction till today. Whilst it is true that Sanji had more on-screen fight scenes and definitely more fight wins in pre-timeskip, his purpose in serving as comedic relief is nothing new. From his introduction, we knew him as the comically woman-obsessed chef who had a killer kick and a deep heart. And we loved him for it. Not much has changed. Apart from the excessive increase in blood loss, as well as the frequency at which we get to witness the full length of his fights, as well as how often he wins against his opponents. But interestingly enough, something that hasn't changed even despite the decline of Sanji's action scenes is his popularity. Whilst this is subject to change due to the most recent, first ever global popularity poll, which we are now waiting on its results, from 1999 to 2017, and in Japan at least, Sanji has consistently placed third in popularity polls. Placing only behind just Luffy and Zoro, who understandably ranked so high considering that they are the two main fighters in a shonen battle manga. The only exception was in 2015, when Trafalgar D. Water Law usurped Zoro's second place for the first time, thereby also bumping Sanji down to fourth place. But Sanji was quick to recover for the next poll in 2017, reclaiming his third place. Throughout the years, Sanji has maintained an impressively high ranking, even despite the fact he has not gotten a decisive victory in a one-on-one battle since pre-timeskip. Which for me, is a testament to how good of a character Sanji is all around. It's almost as if Sanji would be too cool if he got the fights we wanted. But in all seriousness, what this seems to suggest is that the Straw Hat Chef's popularity stays the same even though he's not given much fighting highlights. And I think this was an intentional decision by Oda, in creating and establishing a character who is so versatile so as to give the mangaka a lot of freedom to use Sanji more loosely because he doesn't have to worry about Sanji's popularity declining because he doesn't suffer from the lack of cool scenes. Through Oda's development of Sanji pre-timeskip, as this layered and incredibly comical character who is also skilled in combat, it has allowed Oda to use Sanji post-timeskip the way that the mangaka has. Because of the character Sanji always has been, he comes in very handy for the development of the series. It makes sense for the story overall that Sanji wouldn't be able to defeat the opponents that he has faced and then subsequently lost to in the New World. We needed to see the comparative strength and the danger the crew now faces. Sanji as a formidable combatant perfectly demonstrated that without seriously bringing detriment to his character. For example, if it was Zoro to suffer the losses that Sanji did, it would result in a breakdown of the swordsman's character where his role and meaning would become very questionable. Being a chef who also happens to be very skilled in combat, Sanji's loss has hugely different implications than if Zoro, who strives to become the strongest swordsman in the world, was to face the same losses, which would not only affect the trajectory of Zoro's character but also that of the series. Sanji's character doesn't face the same dilemma. Perhaps he does in the eyes of fans but not in the actual series itself. The consequences are nowhere near as grateful as Sanji because of who he is. And who he is, we could argue, embodies the nature of the series itself. The perfect blend of action, comedy and drama. One of the reasons that makes One Piece stand out from other mangas is its uniquely balanced mix of all three elements. Despite being a shonen battle manga, it is equally funny and meaningful as it is exciting in terms of action. And whilst I would also love to see more Sanji fights, we have to take this in the context of the series as a whole. Post Timeskip One Piece is marked by the end of the establishment of the straw hats as characters and their burgeoning adventure, becoming instead very plot driven with greater focus on the vastly wider new world. As such, battles for any of the straw hats has become extremely rare, save for Luffy who is the main protagonist and Zoro who's role in the straw hat is a fighter as the crew's swordsman. Indeed, Sanji's voice actor, Hiroaki Hirata, revealed in an interview that Oda told him that Sanji will never again be as cool as he was in Hulkake Island. And whilst the context of that conversation did seem like Oda and Hirata were joking, I think the sentiment is true in that One Piece is no longer about giving such individual focus on each of the straw hat characters as it did in its earlier days. And considering this, Sanji has still had more action and much more development than most of the other straw hat members, even if his action scenes aren't as long or as detailed as we may have liked. However, in saying that, this is one of the things that I am very excited for in the Wado arc. Whilst it isn't confirmed, I highly suspect that we will be witnessing major fights for Sanji as well as the rest of the straw hats. Considering the fact that this is the first time in over 7 years that the straw hat crew are back together, I think it's likely that they will each have the time to shine. Of course, that may be just the hope of mine and we may not be getting individual battles as glorious as they would be. At the end of the day, Oda has a story to tell and considering his plan, not a whole lot of time to tell it. So whether it be awesome one-on-one fights or more of goofy Sanji doing what Oda needs him to do, I think it's safe to say Oda loves his Arrow Cook. And that brings us to the end of this discussion. Please leave a comment below on your thoughts on Oda's treatment of Sanji's character and please also subscribe if you haven't already to discuss more one-piece topics whether they be as controversial as this one or as light and funny like Sanji's eyebrows. This is Joygirl and I'll see you again soon.