 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line Review, your source for everything one piece. Today we're going to be discussing a topic that pops up almost every time I mention a certain Charlotte Cardicuri or his devil fruit, the mochi mochi nomi. And that is the extreme confusion within the fanbase over exactly what a special paramecia is because there's a fair bit of conflicting information out there. And to be perfectly honest, it's not something I believe was particularly well explained in the series itself. And as a result, I tend to get a lot of comments on this channel like, dude, isn't Cardicuri a Logia user or mate? Isn't Magellan's devil fruit also a special paramecia? And all of these questions and more will be answered here today. But first up, we've got to discuss the dubious origins of the special paramecia, and this in and of itself is kind of where a ton of the confusion about Cardicuri and the mochi mochi nomi seems to stem from. Because in the initial release of chapter 863 in Weekly Shonen Jump, Jinbei specifically refers to the mochi mochi nomi as a Logia fruit. However, this line was later changed to a special paramecia when the volume containing chapter 863 was released. Now this sort of thing isn't an uncommon practice, and there are often cases where chapters were published in Weekly Shonen Jump containing errors. Although these are usually art based, like someone drawing Zora Scar on the wrong eye, stuff like that. However, this error is a bit more unnoticeable than most because it pertains to the explanation of a character who was and still is wildly popular in the fanbase. So after the initial chapter release, the information was spread like wildfire that Cardicuri was a Logia user, and there was really no recovery from that initial bombardment of information. Once that idea is out there, no amount of retconning can completely eradicate it. However, it's also probably not semantically correct to call the initial definition as a Logia an error, because that would imply that special paramesias had been planned all along, and this situation was a simple labeling mistake. I do not think that is the case. Rather, this situation seems like a glimpse of how the sausage is made, because one piece is absolutely not as meticulously planned as a lot of people seem to believe it is. Oda has a strong general direction and overall sense of pacing, but he is also a master improviser, choosing to draw essentially whatever he feels at the time, adding a lot of nice flair to the story. And the most famous example of which being the Supernovas actually, none of them were planned to exist at all until Oda thought that the Sabati arc might be a bit too flat, and just created them all on the spot to add some dramatic intrigue. And that's more or less what I think happened here with the special paramesia thing. Oda submitted chapter 863 with every intention for Cardicuri to be a Logia user, and then somewhere down the line, he had an even better idea and decided to make the switch in volume format. Now as for what that better idea was, it could be something really simple like wanting to emphasize the similarities between Luffy and Cardicuri a lot more. I mean the whole interaction was an exercise in Luffy encountering a much better version of his own abilities and learning from it. So I think it's very narratively sound for him to be facing off against another paramesia user. Of course the problem with that is that this alleged paramesia user has already displayed some Logia qualities, so what do we do with that? I guess he's a special paramesia. And by the way what I've just explained there does not give Oda enough credit to how he explained the Logia similarities because that would go on to be dealt with very very well. But before that, whether they were planned or not, let's get into exactly what now defines a special paramesia fruit. And in the absence of an official definition from Oda, the conclusion we can draw is that a special paramesia is a fruit that grants the user more than one of the established qualities of a regular paramesia. And what I mean by that is that after the consumption of a paramesia type fruit, a user will only generally gain one specific effect. For example, there are paramesia fruits that strictly modify the user's body, a great example of which is Luffy. He had the gomogomenome and the simple outcome is that he is now made of rubber. Another common effect is that the user of a paramesia fruit will become able to produce something. So I think Doflamingo's ability to conjure strings or Bartolomea's power to produce barriers. There are some further subclassifications as well, such as users who become able to change the properties of their body at will, like Ms. Valentine or Mark Weiss, both of whom are able to freely manipulate their weight. And there are other types as well, but it's not important for this discussion. What is important is to recognize that Charlotte Katakuri, the user of the mochi mochi nomi, is the only paramesia user who has two of these effects granted upon him. Being that he can produce mochi at will, but he can also freely turn his body into mochi and manipulate it. This is what makes him a special paramesia user, because he essentially gained double the powers of any regular paramesia user. And you may be thinking that there are other cases in the series of individuals who display these two qualities, a frequent example of which that comes up is Galdino, better known as Mr. Three. There is an unfortunately widespread belief that he was able to turn his body into wax as well as generate it, but this is not the case. Galdino was only ever capable of generating wax, but to manipulate it he needed a connection with it. Activating the flame on his head and generally coating his hands in wax to mold his creations. So I'm afraid the Dorodoro nomi is a regular old paramesia. The other example that comes up a lot is Magellan and his Doku Doku nomi, because due to the fact that the X-warden of Vimpell down chooses to coat himself in poison, there is a mistaken belief that this means he can become poison. And in fact, despite the multiple times he has been stated to be a paramesia user, a lot of fans even confuse this for a logia type. But the simple truth is that he is neither a logia nor a special paramesia because Magellan can only generate poison, in the same way that Galdino can only produce wax. Similar to the idea that Kartakuri can conjure mochi. However, he can actually become mochi as well. And actually, speaking of mistaken logias, I just want to go over Oda's explanation for the logia illusion that Kartakuri can create. Essentially, Kartakuri's ability to become intangible, or seemingly intangible, is a byproduct of his extremely advanced observation haki. Kartakuri is able to see briefly into the future, analyze where bullets, punches or whatever are going to strike him, and then mold just enough of his body away to perfectly avoid it. And I find this to be a pretty satisfactory explanation and a fantastic get out of jail free card for Oda, because just to take a step back into the real world, Kartakuri was definitely intended to be a logia user at first. And that's why he despised their qualities at the tea party. This sort of change would not have worked with any other character, it really needed Kartakuri's future side to sell it, and in my opinion, it's really gone on to enhance his character. Like it's one thing to just be intangible to physical attacks, but it's completely another to make yourself appear intangible through minute, perfect, bodily movements. But yeah, that is essentially a special paramesia. It's a confusing topic because it was never planned to be a thing. To the best I can tell, Oda published Kartakuri as a logia user, then came up with a better idea, and added another layer to this already expansive world of devil fruits. But regardless of how it came about, special paramesias do now exist in the series, and I'm very much hoping that we see a few more of them before the inevitable end, so that Oda can make some more use of this wonderful narrative discovery. But that pretty much does it for special paramesias. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general, then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon, because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. 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