Sanji's best moment is when he tells Judge "I saved you because *my father* would be upset with me if I let you die"

Sanji calling Robin during Black Maria fight was actually a huge turn around Point. At that point he had finally developed the self worth to rely and burden his friends with his problems which is something he had never done

Brook saying to Big Mom that "Sanji is a kind man" is so underrated. It perfectly summarizes what Sanji is, and it might seem like a simple or lackluster word, but its the most fitting way to describe the complexity of Black Leg Sanji, the Cook of the Straw Hat Pirates

In terms of character development, he's my favorite Straw Hat. Yeah he's flawed, but that's the beauty of his character. Because despite his flaws, he's genuinely the kindest Straw Hat. That's also why Luffy tells Judge that all of his insults towards Sanji are actually the best thing about him.

I legit have no idea how people can get this scene wrong honestly. Sanji calls out for help to Robin because he fully trusts her to beat Black Maria. Robin even says "Thank you for trusting me, Sanji. I appreciate it." It leaves almost no room for interpretation in my opinion. On top of that, it is an amazing display of character development, since he learned in Whole Cake Island to trust his friends rather than trying to burden everything on himself.

I love Odas execution of "I am going to make you hate me", because especially with Sanji's scene I don't think either Luffy or Sanji really believe this is what is really happeneing. Luffy just doesn't accept it. For Sanji it feels like he doesn't really believe he can convince Luffy either. He tries to sever ties with Luffy and convince himselve that his time with the straw hats is over. This is basically his inner dialog externalized. I love Sanjis character so much. I suffer of alexithymia so it is hard for me to connect to my own emotions. Seeing Sanjis extreme reactions helped me understand myself a lot better and sometimes reconnect with myself.

I've always headcannoned that his mom didn't just give him his emotions, she gave him his brother's emotions as well. So sanji feels emotions 4 times as strong as everyone else.

Another interesting thing about sanji that I don't see mentioned very often, it's that during his childhood with his family was when he read the devil fruits book, and even before he developed his pervy side he was fascinated with the invisibility fruit, not because he wanted to spy on women, but because the one thing that he wanted the most was to dissapear from his family.

The execution of Sanji is so brilliant for that he is the only Straw Hat that can balance out all of the other Straw Hats put together. He has a trait of every single Straw Hat crew member and is the only one that is seamlessly compatible with every single one of them. That is what I love about Sanji. You get all the complexity of the straw hats in Sanji

I’m actually surprised at how many people hated sanji kicking Luffy. Right away I thought it was clear that the kick was really at himself. That just made me hurt for sanji so bad, Luffy understood it right away and the only thing about the scene that annoyed me was Nami’s reaction. She’s smart enough to know what was really going on but she understandably got really angry. I’ve always liked sanji fine, but that scene bumped him up majorly for me

Sanji has been my favorite character since I watched the 4Kids version of one piece in 2005. Lollipop and all. I’m glad that Oda poured so much love and attention into his character and developing a fully fledged individual with morals, convictions and flaws. He is very human. More than just a “gag”. He’s someone that Oda uses many times to move the story forward.

There's someone named MelonTeee that made absolutely great videos on Zoro and Sanji both individually and together and something she mentioned is that in the Davy Back fight when Zoro and Sanji have to fight together we see them both trying to protect one another in their own way and how it works against them until they actually understand what working together with each other means. Sanji is someone who wants to be useful and he wants to protect others cause he feels like he's not worth the protection others try to give him but ever since that arc we see Sanji and Zoro start to fight side by side and have each other's back and it's a huge progress for them both!

Sanji and Usopp are my favorite characters not for just the high moments but in their lows as well. It shows how human nuanced and relatable they can be. Well, at least for me.

Now looking back at the whole story I feel especially early on, Sanji's willingness to give his life to protect the crew comes from a bit of a self sacrificial/dark place where he still feels worthless because of his past trauma. It also contextualizes why he was willing to give up on his dreams to repay Zeff and also why seeing Zoro/Luffy willing to die for their own dreams got such an emotional response from him.

I just realised that sanji has a similar backstory to zuko in terms of his parental figures. A father who viewed his kindness and compassion as weakness and due to it she doesn’t deserved to be loved, while his mother thought it was his best part and unfortunately had leave.

If you look at his "fights" with Caulifla and Black Maria, you can see a pretty clear difference in his actions. With Caulifla, he just let's it happen and if Nami hadn't shown up, he probably would have died putting up no effort. With Black Maria, he pretty quickly calls for Robin's help, showing how much he had changed from Whole Cake Island in that he was able to put his trust in his crewmates to put up with his flaws

I hope you can do one for Usopp as well. I love Sanji for realizing what Usopp must have felt and helping him realize why he was important. It still gives me the chills to remember that scene. Usopp is about to be killed by the wolf CP9 and Sanji comes and saves him. Usopp feels terrible since he could not do anything and relied again on the crew to save him. He is about to apologize when Sanji just stops him. Sanji line where he says he will get the key because you could not but he wants Usopp to do what he cannot. He then points to the hole in the wall and the gate. That is when Usopp realizes his value and says he finally understood. Then we have a great scene where he saves Robin and Sanji encourages him in that. Usopp realizes he is an important a member of the crew (and so do we who considered him dead weight till then) It still gives me chills. He just needed Sanji's help to realize it. The funny thing is Luffy knew this and only asked Sogeking to shoot the flag since he was the only one who could do it. Usopp did not realize his value then but only later. He was as important in rescuing Robin as the rest of the crew was

Merphy discovering and falling in love with One Piece is such a massive blessing to the OP community.

The Black Maria scene is so effective, cause throughout the series hes always viewed himself as useless and expendable constantly sacrificing himself to protect others, even against kuma telling zoro he was less expendable. But now he finally accepts he has value and his crew can help him too

The best core tenant moment of Sanji is him telling Usopp, “Everyone has things they can and cannot do. You do the things you can do, I’ll do what you can’t do.” It perfectly summarizes him as a character, brings everything around full circle in WCI and his moment with Robin in Wano. We need to celebrate the Swirliphim for his good qualities.

One detail that I feel doesn't get talked about as much is why Sanji has the Diable Jambe. In an old SBS iirc, a reader asked why Sanji had the ability to use fire in combat the way he does. Oda answered with something along the lines of "Because Sanji's passion burns hotter than flames!" which, at the time, we all thought was just him not wanting to say "Because I thought it was cool". This little tidbit becomes legitimately brilliant though when you relate it to Sanji's parents. His father wanted him to be a cold, cruel, and emotionless killing machine while his mother poisoned herself and eventually died in order to pave the path for Sanji to be a man of warmth and empathy, someone who could feel emotions. The same passion that Sanji uses to fight was given to him by his mother's sacrifice. And when his strength doesn't seem sufficient and he wavers, looking at his Father's path, the path of the emotionless monster with the raid suit? The choice between the path his mother paved for him with her life and the power he needs to be useful to his crew? He picks the path of his mother and, in doing it, found that the strength of that path was enough. The Ifrit Jambe is the culmination of everything great about Sanji's story. Empathy, emotion, and the will to protect the innocent made into a physical force directed against those who would do harm. All because his passion burns hot. Also, with the whole perviness thing, honestly at this point it's something I just have callouses to. Not that you shouldn't complain about it. It deserves to be complained about. It's kind of just a part of the DNA of a lot of Japanese comedy, sadly. It's gotten a lot better within the last couple generations of new manga but it's still unfortunately pretty common. Definitely not as bad as it used to be though and at least I do love most of the women in One Piece for their characters and they do have their own agency and are capable in their own right. Don't even get me started on Dragon Ball, hoo boy....

I’d just like to point out that Sanji is the only character in One Piece to receive 2 flashbacks. That second one is crucial for context of his character. He’s not just a nosebleed perv. The relationship he had with his mother is so very important, emotions validated by Sora and reinforced by Zeff you honestly see how his trauma manifests as his sense of self sacrificing nature. When he called Robin to help him. It warmed my heart.

The context of Sanji upbringing with only two women cared about him enough to throw themselves away for him. This was his mom and his sister. What better way to honor them by not hurting women? Sanji fought Luffy to protect the only Father he ever had as they had Zeff. Luffy liberated Sanji twice.

I love sanji because I relate to him, especially his flaws. I love how he sticks to his morals even though others call it flaws. Morals aren't meant to make your life easier it's to make you better.

Sanji is my favourite straw hat and character in the series from how he only uses his feet to fight with awesome cooking style names, his really kind heart, his secret suave side and loyal code plus his pervert side which can go ridiculous and I think Oda goes crazy with it sometimes but doesn't overshadow how great he really he is to me

My favorite aspect of sanji that's replicated for all other strawhats is how his themes carry into each of his fights. The same way zoro must overcome an unsurmountable power in each of his fights, in every major fight sanji has, sanji must find a way to win while sticking to his morals. This is why Sanji calling for help during the black maria fight is not only a huge point for his character, being able to burden his friends without a second thought, unlike a similar situation with Jabra. But it's also huge leading into his fight with queen, where the limitation he must overcome is himself, the idea that he could be going against his own moral codes, etc. He's written to be a true white knight and it's both funny and amazingly charming how true he remains to this character.

As my favorite straw hat, Brook, says in Whole Cake Island: "Sanji-san is a kind man." That alone is the core of why I love sanji's character. He is the man who taught me my love for cooking and the value of food. He taught me of kindness when others failed to teach me that. And above all, he is a character that remained kind, even after everything that went on in his life. He is not my favorite strawhat, but he holds a special place in my heart.

Sanji will always be my favorite character. I love his fighting style, I think it's so unique compared to most other shows and even in One Piece.

I think part of the reason Sanji tries so desperately to protect his chosen family from his bio family is that he still sees them from the eyes of a child. Super common in abuse survivors. In reality, his family are no match for the Strawhats, but abusers always seem more powerful than they are until you process your trauma.

I've loved the strawhats for over a decade now and while my feelings for each can change on their screentime, my love for Sanji just grows stronger no matter how much Oda tries to overdue his pervertedness. It's a strange feeling to love a character so much while also really hating a part of them lol, but somehow, I just can't stop loving Sanji flaws and all. He's also the strawhat that feels the most real to me. Like I loved cool pre-time skip Sanji, but more emotionally flawed post-time skip Sanji just feels more relatable to me. I'm a bit hesitant to watch your video, but I trust you not to just trash on him. Really, I trust you. Now off to watch the video!

Sanji is my ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE straw hat and there’s no questioning about it……..also sanji asking for robin’s help in Black Maria fight is such a beautiful scene…..it further enhances how sanji wouldn’t hurt Black Maria as wicked as she is, not because he can’t but because he won’t….but at the same time it’s such an important moment for Robin as she rarely gets importance during fights…..it was soo cute when he asked for robin’s help as a little brother, honestly he was absolutely cute in that scene and I remember rewatching that moment again and again…..Robin’s remarks for sanji were so heartwarming……and yet I never thought that some IMMATURE TOXIC Zoro fans would take it soooo negatively and speak such shit of it…..honestly even Oda being the mature writer he is, would’ve felt sooo cute and wholesome while writing and drawing that scene……but these zoro fans just keep breaking your heart again and again and make you agonise…..at some point they start acting like all the other toxic anime fandoms and don’t even act like true one piece fans …..atleast I expect ONE PIECE fans to be a little more mature and appreciative ……………At some point some of these fans even said that ZORO is Stronger than LUFFY😂

I feel Oda knows EXACTLY how the fandom felt about sanji before WCI which is why the theme of WCI was "the importance of being yourself" and "relying upon ur family when you CAN'T fix ur flaws". Even the story admits sanji's extreme levels of kindness and gentleness with women is stupid in enies lobby, BUT that's the point that oda wants to convey through sanji's character. "Everyone has flaws, we can just rely upon our friends/family to move forward despite those flaws". In my opinion, sanji is the BEST written character in the series.

My hottest take is that I loved fishman island Sanji so much because Oda decided to make the bleeding gag into a serious medical emergency, pushing the joke to is logical conclusion. It’s a textbook example of how to stick to the bit.

Whole Cake as "WEDDING CAKEEEEE" as it was, holds a soft spot in my heart. I relate to Sanji so much I probably cried more during his scenes than during the whole series, which sais a lot because I ugly cried when Merry said its last goodbye...

Sanji’s reliance on Robin, asking her to fight for him to cover for his weakness is a great example of his develop he no longer burdening himself to protect the others. Robin even thanks him because she happy that the crew is also reliant on her even in a difficult situation, Robin is not only fighting for her dream but the dreams of the crew

so I’m gonna be honest and say that first I never batted an eye when it came to Sanji, I rarely ever simp for anyone, but over time he came to be one of the FEW characters I have ever really loved because of how WELL Oda wrote him 🥹❤️ it takes a lot for me to really like a character that way. Apart from him being cute and a good chef lol it was his writing and personality that blew me away. I never paid much attention to him for the first 600 episodes-I did think he was cool, but just saw him as the resident simp whose gentleman-like perviness was just there for the gags, but who also happens to be suave, smart and fights cool and is sorta like James Bond, but nothing more. 😅 It wasn’t until Zou and Whole Cake Island where I saw him in a different light 🥹 After seeing his kindness, empathy, flaws and self-sacrificial nature due to little self worth from being ab*sed and finally seeing his second backstory and character development over time-I absolutely fell in LOVE with how he was written. 😩❤️ Seeing Oda have a meaningful purpose for every single one of his flaws and shortcomings really made his character shine for me. ⭐️ I don’t think I’ve seen a character as beautifully thought out as Sanji. He transcends the typical traumatized character, imo. 🙌🏼 these characters tend to be written either as stoic/coldhearted people that warm up over time, or on the other hand-overly nice people-pleasing Gary Stues 😭 which isn’t necessarily bad-it’s just what makes Sanji a breath of fresh air. He is a brilliantly multifaceted yet balanced character, and he isn’t even the MC 😱 Sanji isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve, which comes with a whirlwind of emotions. He can be equally composed, badass, thoughtful, and considerate, just as much as he can be goofy, dorky, expressive, passionate, crude, hotheaded and reckless (like he’ll have insane battle IQ one moment, but once he sees a woman, all his logic goes out the window 😂)…and he is so sweet, empathetic, and kindhearted most of all. He is loyal and selfless, someone who will NEVER compromise his morals no matter what, with no concern over how pathetic it might make him look or how it affects his reputation, even with the ladies 🥹 he didn’t let the world harden his heart after the hell he went through-but instead chose kindness every single time…including saving the people who put him through this hell. Ans he’s especially kind when interacting with children. 🥹 you see how he doesn’t want them to be treated the way he was a child. 🥺🫠 Also the fact that he’s very kind towards pets/animals-need I say more 😭 Sanji is also the perfect example of being truly kind over just being nice-like yeah on the surface he’ll still be hotheaded, shout obscenities, flip people off LOL, call Zeff "geezer", go "Nami-swan, Rrrrobin-chwan your breakfast is ready, my darlings!" Then turn to the rest and say "oi bakayaro your food’s ready"…😂 and endlessly provoke Zoro lmao, but deep down in his heart he LOVES and CARES for them, and at the end of the day has shown time and time again that he is willing to lay down his life for them and put their safety and dreams ahead of his. He will defend their honor, and even encourage and acknowledge them in the times they need it most. My fave is when he tells Usopp in Enies Lobby the line that everyone has things they can and can’t do.❤️🥹🙏🏼 and when he understands chopper’s concern for Usopp and goes with him to the merry to warn him of Agua Laguna In terms of his simping and perviness I do agree, it’s funny for the most part but sometimes I wanna give him a big ol’ SLAP during some moments 🤪 and while I see it partly as a gag, i also see it as him actually craving affection-but just not knowing how to properly ask for it. He has this deep appreciation for women (since like you said, the only 2 blood relatives that were nice to him were women, his mom and sister) but it just gets expressed poorly, and he doesn’t know how to regulate his emotions toward women, so it comes out all weird and manifests extremely. I think once he settles down with someone at the end of the series, he’d be loyal af, and his obsession over women in general will translate into him readily gushing over/showing off his one girl/wife at any chance he gets 🥹 (I also think the way he fawns over women in general is genetic, all his brothers had the same exact heart eyes when they saw Nami, but idk how literally that was meant to be taken 😅) But enough of my Ted talk lol! I LOVE your analysis on him, you absolutely did him justice and touched on both his good and bad side!! You nailed it, thank you for this ❤️❤️

Sanji's crushing the raid suit is my favorite scene. He realizes that if he continues to use the raid suit he'd be more useful to Luffy but decides to make one of the most selfish decisions ever to stay himself

Oda does childhood trauma so so well and his emotional intelligence is on another level. Sanji shows traits of borderline personality disorder (explains his emotional extremes) and it was so so refreshing seeing someone (Luffy) be able to finally break down all the walls someone suffering from severe childhood trauma puts up. It was REALLY rewarding seeing Sanji put himself first and ask to be rescued instead of always doing the rescuing and hearing him say he wants to go back to the Sunny was music to my ears (he does it again in Wano but asks a LADY to help him in a fight instead of a man, that is huge progress).

Sanji is the Rice of the Straw Hat Crew. He goes well with everything and he's incredibly versatile as a dish. It doesn't matter if he's simping for Nami and Robin or Butting heads with Zoro or goofing off with Luffy and Usopp, he brings out the best in his crew and I think that makes him a wonderful character and one that I love reading and watching.

I really really love this analysis for my favorite cook. I genuinely appreciate how you really dove into Sanji’s personality and showed how the trauma from his biological and found family (in the Vinsmoke and Straw Hats) have what I think is a major impact on his entire character in addition to you breaking down his many moments throughout the series. This video really helped me look at Sanji in a deeper level and more so in a positive light. Hope to see more videos like this for more Straw Hats maybe ✌️✌️

Sanji is my second favourite strawhat and close to being my number one and your discussion really hit home. When Sanji has his moments they are brilliant and when he has his "bad" moments you really have to question his moral code. I love him so much because he is a flawed individual, like we all are. Often times i see my self in Sanji alot and having similar upringing I can connect to him. He is no perfect character and i can understand people not enjoying him as much as I or some other fans do. But seeing his face after witnessing Puddings betrayal. I cant help but forgive him and accept him for who he is. That panel alone always makes me cry.

Perv character is staple for Japanese shonen master roshi, jiraiya, brok from Pokemon and minata from mha and it's one of those things I accepted and don't bother me.

Also I love the inclusion of booktubers into the One Piece community, you guys provide such an unique insight that I hadn't considered and I've been following the series for 15 years....

Sanji is my favorite character in the series, and one of the reasons is that he has flaws, him have flaws makes him more relatable, not in the pervert way but in a general sence, I think that ever person has some kind of flaws in them no one is perfect,

I really like that Sanji is human with the Oda spin to the extreme, he is a kind person with a difficult trauma that has questionable flaws. To me Sanji show how sometimes a person is good even if they have flaws. No one is 100%perfect and I think Oda trys to show it

Man you really tell this very well. Almost got more emotional now than when reading the actual scene. Very well put together, hope you do more of these!

Hope we get videos like this for the rest of the crew. Can't wait to hear your take on Brook since you started out so against him and now love him.

The crew are all unique and complex in their own ways, with Oda highlighting the best and worst they all have to offer with Sanji having the most of this on display throughout the series. This is what makes him great as a character as well as an exact opposite to zoro in most ways, which makes them the best duo in the series.

I never thought Sanji feeding Gin was a bad thing. Never being afraid to show kindness, especially towards your "enemies" shows others that the world can be kind. It's a mercy not often extended in this world. Kinda like when Otohime saved the celestial.

Wow thank you so much Merphy! This makes me reallly appreciate Sanji a lot more than I used to. There were a lot of things that I did not understand why he would do such things or couldn't connect with him like other characters, so I didn't like him as much before -- but this helps me understand where he came from and his core values. I know you're very busy but please make videos like this for other characters in the future. I always enjoy your insights and interpretations on One Piece characters where Oda usually not lay everything out in front of the readers but need to peel through layers to understand the development. It always makes my day every time you upload new One Piece videos!

This was an amaaaazing psycho-breakdown of Sanji and all the motivations behind his actions. It was scary good. I never realized why Sanji meant so much to me, until just now. Everything you said about Sanji and his extreme over correcting is spot on coming from someone who shares Sanjis background in many ways, and as someone learning how to stop over correcting. Seriously. This was amazing, it almost felt like therapy. Appreciate you sis 🙏🏾

Last week I cried while listening to someone talk about Brook(again). Now I’m crying about Sanji (again). Top two characters.

Sanji never mentioned his trauma beeing triggered by the suit so... he also found some common ground with his brothers at the end of Whole Cake, its subtle but its there. So yeah it was not as abrubt as you remember it to be. Imo the execution of him using the suit was really well done, from our perspective it was unexpected that he would use it so soon, from sanjis perspective it showed character development

I love your brain. I just watched a video of yours on Brook and than this one and in both you have completely changed my perception of both of their characters flaws making them into something enjoyable instead of annoying, thus making one piece even better. Thank you for that!

I really appreciate your take and insight on this. I love one piece have been reading it for over 20 years and I respect and value the time and effort you put into this video. Love your deep dives and the context you bring into this amazing story and characters. I am glad to know there is other people that love this story as much as I do. PS Ive always think sanji really great character, it doesn't take anything away from Zoro. They both are the future pirate kings right and left hands. Keep doing this videos out. I am glad you were in my recommended.

regarding the scene with sanji, black maria and robin - i personally think that it was actually very obvious what sanji asking specifically robin for help was supposed to represent and i also think that oda has done a beautiful job in doing that. sanji is a character who up until that point has NEVER asked for any help when it comes to anything in his life because that's just not how he is. sanji grew up with a lot of self hatred, was made to believe that he is a burden to everyone around him, so this particular trait of him comes from his own self loathing because he thinks he is not worthy enough to ask anyone for help. this mindset, though, is completely shattered by luffy during the wholecake island arc with just one statement. "well, that's how you are. you got us. lets crash the wedding together" luffy showed him that, no, he is not alone, that it is okay to ask for help when feeling hopeless, that they always got his back no matter what. when asking robin for help during the fight with black maria, sanji is overcoming exactly THAT mindset and i think it was beautifully done, especially because he asked robin out of everyone. one thing sanji and robin have in common is that both don't want to be a burden towards those they care about so this scene perfectly showcased sanji overcoming that toxic mindset and also letting robin know that hey, i trust you and your strength, hence why robin was so delighted. it was a wonderful scene beautifully executed but that's just my personal opinion

Sanji treats his status as a cook, the way doctors should use their status as doctors. He has his own cooking version of the "Hypocratic oath".

Thanks a lot for this video! I feel like the fact that he is a cook says a lot about him as well, when I cook for my familly or friends, it's a way for me to show them that I care about them, and it could be the same for Sanji, the fact that he can have his own way of expressing his feelings in a way that he feels confortable with is something I like to think about.

Great video on Sanji! One of the best character analysis vids I've seen for him

I love Sanji because of how much he surprises me, and even makes me change the way I think about stuff. Like when he chooses to save his family in WCI... Before I would never be able to think on helping my abusers like that, but Sanji made me wonder If I should...

A video about my favorite character? Thank you!! I was never enamored by the coolness of Zoro or Ace and i never related to other people who hd them as their fave. Sanji always stood out to me and whenever i talk about him eyebrows get raised (heh) for liking a perv apparently. But he's so much more than that! He is passion personified!! Oh man oh man, I'm so excited to watch this video

Merphy 500k coming. You deserve it so much and I can't wait to experience that with you. Keep it up. You go girl!

Got directed to this video from my own comment section and I completely agree with everything you said and I love the presentation of your video

I saw the calling for help thing as showing that Sanji was growing, that before he would take on everything upon himself with little care for his own but now he's valuing his own happiness enough to ask for help.

Sanji calling the Sunny his home feels so wholesome coming from someone who's real "home" was filled with so much awfulness.

thank you for great video, i always enjoy your videos especialy about One Piece because it is my favorite series 👍

This was well put together, I was pleasantly surprised. You got yourself a sub.

I admit that sometimes I forget how complex Sanji is. I am glad that he is a member of the crew and I am glad he has gotten his backstory brought to the forefront of the series. Thank you for making this video, well done!

I am so happy Sanji is getting the understanding he deserves by us, he's always been my favorite, and I am tired of people reducing him to simply "no stronger than Zoro." So this does him so much justice!

Thank you for this video, Merphy!! It was wonderful! ❤️ Personally, I don't have a favourite StrawHat; I love them all the same. But Sanji is the one who made me want to adopt them all. I love everything about the StrawHats and about Sanji too: their strengths and their weaknesses. Cowardice, perviness, greed, directionlessness, every little flaw of them looks cute to me. Perhaps it's because I am an emotional old person but I want to hold their hands, smile and pat their heads and tell them: "It's not good to overdo it, but I love you anyway". PS: The thermos with Henry looks great ❤️

What an amazing video, how has this channel never been recommended to me before!? Definitely sticking around here.

I personally never saw the Sanji VS Luffy fight as a stereotypical "I hurt you so you hate me therefore I can protect you trope" but rather Sanji keeping the Vinsmokes in the belief that he was loyal to them or rather their conditions. Because he knew if he would just hop on to the sunny and flee the wedding, the Vinsmokes would die and the Strawhats would be hunted and assassinated, so he wanted to protect both because he believed Big Mom that no one would die as long as he plays along. Luffy on the other hand understood that Sanji had a plan that he couldn't discuss with him right now at this point so therefore he trusted Sanji, let him go and told him that he would wait here for him so they can talk whenever Sanji would be ready. And after Sanji eavesdrop on the conversation between Pudding and Reiju, he knew that his plan wouldn't work, so he had to talk to his sister who he trusted and who he felt like needed to tell what happened to her because Pudding of course had censored her memories. But his sister's indifference to all of this didn't leave him satisfied but rather confused and he knew he had to do something, so he knew he had to go to the only man he could turn to right now, who would still be waiting for him at the place he promised him to wait.

Sanji asking for help from Robin shows that he places his trust in his nakama over his own desire to protect them. Strange as that feels to say, he now values his own life enough because he sees that they value him as well. Rather than sacrifice himself to save Robin, he trusts that she can handle Black Maria and calls out to her. Maria sees it as him giving her up. But Robin’s smile tells the whole story. This is not only a parallel to Robin finally asking for Luffy and co. to save her in Enies Lobby, but also to Long Ring Long Land when Zoro and Sanji put their feelings aside to work together. Zoro had to be the one to ask because Sanji was too stuck on his stubborn protective act and without working together they could not win. It came full circle with Sanji finally breaking his moral code to put his trust in Robin rather than holding back because 1) Kaido wants Robin for the Poneglyphs, and 2) Allowing a woman to be in any sort of danger because of him. I feel like I did a few laps right there but I think my points were made.

You explained my love for my favourite character better than I could EVER expect to do myself! Thank you! ^________^

Love Sanji! This is probably the best deep dive into his character and actions I’ve seen; good work!

Sanji is the Straw Hat crew's member that is perhaps closest to the perfect balance between his serious and goofy side. You have overtly serious ones like Zoro with Robin and Jinbe, and those leaning more to their funny selves like the rest. But not Sanji. He knows just when he has to be serious, and just when he's allowed to have fun. Not pretentiousness, not silliness, just genuine spontaneous emotion, one way or the other.

Finallyyyy sanji time

Oooohhhh! Can you make more deep dives like this?? I love these videos!

We want more character review like that Merphy

"Say Luffy, who do you need at your side? The guy who's useless whenever the enemy is a woman or the heartless soldier of sience who can take out anyone if you only give him the order?" He has quite a lot of underrated moments by far, especially post-timeskip. Everyone Talks about Black Maria in Wano but totally forgot he successfully freed Momonosuke only a few chapters ago. Or in Punk Hazard where he actually was the only one concerned about Kinnemon. Not Luffy or Zoro. Pre Timeskip he threw out Luffy from the avalanche on Drum Island, noone asked why he was unconcious after. At Water 7 he and Chopper warned Usopp of the Aqua Laguna and he also caught him wanting to come back and telling the crew. Who knows how it would have escalated if he didn't..... As for his pervy side..... Gag or not, it is his character and won't vanish, but I do have the feeling it will change when he'll meet Pudding again. A very VERY strong feeling.

I really want to watch this video but I’m only 85 chapters in and I don’t want to be spoiled. Sanji is still a very new character for me but I absolutely love him! He’s in my top two favorite characters. This vid will be in my watch later for the next ten years while I catch up on the series 😂

Thanks for this discussion Merph! The community is so much better off with you adding your voice to it!

Great video, music to my ears!

I just want to say, as a shameless foaming at the mouth sanji fanboy, I thank you for making this video. It was as top tier as you always do. Much Appreciated!

I think Oda put a lot of trust in the readers with the Black Maria scene There’s even a moment where Black Maria asks Robin to explain but she refuses We’re supposed to be on the Strawhats side, we’re supposed to get it but a lot of people end up on the Black Maria side thinking Sanji was weak for doing that…etc

Sanjis my favorite character. Great vid, scrolling through your channel and it's awesome. Subbed

I agree with ALMOST everything in this video 🙏🏿. Fire video Merph 👏🏿👏🏿

Sanji is by far my favorite SH after Luffy. He's so cool. He has his faults and he is written to be a creep sometimes but to me that doesn't take away from his character.

For us viewers it easy to brush away sanjis refusal to hit woman as a character flaw but how I see it it’s not meant to be a flaw. Ussop for example is a coward he sees it as a flaw and wants to change it. Sanji doesn’t he is fully aware of what he’s doing and it’s not something he want to change about himself. Too him it’s a strength he takes pride in it and as seen in wano he truly trusts his friends to do what he can’t

That was an amazing analysis, Merphy. I agree with everything

And then subtle merch plug at the end w/ the bottle hihihi love this Merph but still waiting on Vivi hihihi

Sanji is ready to do anything for his crew pre-WCI but it's not just because he values his crew, it's because he really think he's worthless that he can sacrifice his life because everyone else's is more important. When Luffy tells him 'that's just how you are' and accepts him does he feel that he is his own person, that he has worth. Which is why when he calls Robin in Wano, it's because he finally gives up his self-sacrificing nature

Love the video, and I think him calling Robin for help was more so to show Sanji ability to rely on others, before that point of the story he always took on everything himself never asking for help beside one time prior during the Davy Back screen with Zoro and WCI with Luffy (being the first time he verbalized it out loud)but also your take is interesting I didn’t think of it in that way.

Thanks for telling what you think. Really insightful👍

wci is a perfect example of why sanji’s mother made that sacrifice. love sanji sm what a great character

It’s really easy to overcompensate for trauma. Sanji takes his code very seriously: too seriously, and it sometimes causes him problems. His simping and spying are poor ways to cope. I get it that some people won’t accept sanji when he routinely acts pervy, but I think they’re missing out on the nuance of the character. Well developed characters should have flaws. As readers we should try to understand their flaws just as we understand their strengths.

Awesome video👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

I missed seeing manga pages on your videos! awesome

I love that Sanji does stupid stuff that doesn't make a ton of sense, dude live in the moment. He reminds me of myself he is rash, impulsive, thoughtful, calculated, crude, sweet, 100% open and honest about what's in his head and 100% dedicated to his beliefs.

I appreciate your take on Sanji. Especially the idea that Sanji is a man of extremes. Because yeah, he's pretty extreme. It's one of his biggest charms and flaws. The pervy gags can go too far. I know they're used as gags but it can be frustrating. I think the lack of balance you mentioned could be a big reason why. I've also never liked the Sanji simps because of his mom and sis idea. Like he doesn't lust after his sis or his mom, if part of him simping is a result of his feelings of love etc towards his mom and sis you'd think he'd be more respectful of women rather than being so creepy at times but mostly out of character just so Oda could include the gag. All in all, while I know Oda doesn't agree, I've always thought of Sanji as the mom of the crew. He's just so good at taking care of others.