My interpretation of Pudding is that she had a complete mental breakdown when Sanji told said her eye was beautiful. She was mentally abused because of it her entire life and that compliment that Sanji gave her conflicted with her self-reflection and world view thus splitting her personality into two; the product of her family's negativity toward her and the product of the positivity made by Sanji.

Before Whole Cake: Brook is funny. After Whole Cake: Brook is my favorite Straw Hat after Luffy.

You forgot to mention the other MVP of this arc Gangster Gastino

“Let’s talk about the true star of this arc: Charlotte Karakuri” Brook: “am I a joke to you?”

I actually love Pudding's craziness. I can see how as a gag you'd find it boring after a while, but to me it showed just how much damage her family has done to her. She is so completely turned around by the idea of genuine love with no stings attached that she literally goes crazy. I get that you just wanted a "cool female villain", but I believe the direction Oda went was very powerful, and shows what an abusive family that only shows conditional love can do to a person.

Sanji's resolution in the arc cooking the cake is not only because he is a chef. You see, in an arc that talks about Sanji rejecting his biological family's ideology, it's only fitting that he ends following the will that he has inhirited from his adoptive father: feeding a hungry person. That's thematic... and also a mission that helps making Pudding fall in love for him and saves the Strawhats (chapter 892).

I actually teared up twice - when Judge was begging his kids to feel something, anything about their impending deaths and when Sanji and Zeff got that awesome back to back shot of them saying the same thing about feeding the hungry, showing who Sanji’s REAL family was

Whole Cake Island is one of my favorite arcs. Sanji getting more of a backstory was shocking and probably needed to fully flesh out his character

Pudding was never evil, she's just such a good liar that she tricked herself into thinking she was.

Tbh the setting is so unique, there's probably no other series that even comes close to having this kind of setting. That's the reason why I like this arc so much.

Glad you gave this arc a fair shake. I feel this arc gets a lot of unwarranted hate in the face of everything it does well

WEDDING KEKKIEE

Big Mom must have had the easiest births ever

I personally love pudding's character, since I feel as if a character who has to decide to help her enemies would be someone extremely conflicted and all over the place, besides the switching between good girl to angry lady was hilarious in my opinion XD

4:31 Nobody show this to Kaku, this would probably break him.

Brook's scene was beautiful, when he revealed that he manage to copy the poneglyphs was sweet and incredibly suprising, it was cool and also a good twist for him.

I read much of Whole Cake Island and I have one thing to say about Sanji's arc. Not perfect but it was one of the best executed character arcs for a member of a main shounen cast. And it has to do with how he is played to near-perfection as one of the Straw Hat's most key members. He is part of the Monster Trio but unlike Zoro and Luffy, he has a different role in the ship, namely being the cook and quite frankly, it is a really important role. This is why the resolution fits him well, feeding Big Mom, which I am happy this video mentions. And yet when you think about it, Sanji was always exceeded some expectation we have with this lovable chivalrous perv. He is my favorite Straw Hat because of the incredibly rich person he is. I think he has the 2nd most tragic backstory in the crew, growing up in an abusive environment where only the love of a disabled (or hospitalized, in this case) family member and the silent support of a hesitant sibling keep him alive. And I almost cried when he saved his family but even more so, I was proud of Sanji for simply declaring to his father that he wanted nothing to do with him. It was at this point that I loved Sanji straight. Reiju is a good character from my perspective because she depicts how hard it can be to reach out to someone who is almost universally hated in a family setting and I just love how she really does care so much for Sanji. I am also happy that Judge had what was coming to him but also more proud of the fact Sanji really stood up to his father after rescuing him from the Big Mom Pirates. His fight with Luffy had a lot of weight to it. Yes, I know it seems like a Robin situation and they have been through it but when one can think about it hard enough, what choice did Sanji really have? His hands were tied. Judge threatened Zeff's life and sure Luffy can handle the threat in front of them but this is one example of where even determination and the developed power of strong-willed people are not enough. At this point, I was on Sanji's side but I felt so much pain seeing him fight with Luffy, much like how Usopp fought his captain. They both had legitimate though more emotional reasons. Sanji's relationship with Pudding was also another key thing I want to highlight because while yes, Pudding is someone I still need to properly process as a character, her bipolarity makes a bit more sense in retrospect. My focus here will be on what that relationship meant for Sanji. Yes, he shows how he cares for women. He practically worships them. But this is where we see Sanji acting even more real to a woman he never knew than in most situations. This is where we see what defines Sanji as a man, his kindness. His kindness made him different from his siblings and father. His kindness was also both a product of a mother's love and how she is still able to hold on. His kindness was the reason why people were still alive, why he fed Gin, why he was willing to go through any lengths to protect his loved ones, including the Straw Hats, and above all, to rise from his suffering and to face the root of his suffering then. This was where we saw Sanji grow more and I was really, really proud of what this arc did for him. Easily one of my favorites and yes it did have some issues but I am more than satisfied with what much of the arc (not necessarily the pacing by the end) did for our beloved cook.

Because of Luffy Big mom failed to obtain the germa power, she didn't get to taste her long awaited wedding cake and she ended up destroying her territory because of it, her tea party was ruined, Mother Carmel photo was destroyed, Her poneglyphs were stolen, and she was humiliated for having someone escape her territory. All because she decided to mess with his crewmate

The best post-time skip arc in my view. Big Mom’s my favorite Yonko and villain besides Crocodile due to how unique she is in being childlike. I loved Reiju and the fleshing out of Sanji’s character. I’d give the arc a 10/10.

The Charlotte Family Definitely made this arc one to remember. There are so many compelling characters. That single fight with Cracker perfectly displayed just how much higher the scale of power the Strawhats were now dealing with really was. Pudding, while you may not like her, I found extremely endearing, and honestly her bipolarism is a really fun ideocinracy that did fit the dueling feelings of her character was going through. Big Mom's own backstory, fully agree; extremely tragic. She truly is the Frankenstein that Mother Carmel and Strauseim created, and now can no longer stop. (Also, am I the only one who thinks young Strauseim looks vaguely like Perospero and Katakuri, implying that he is the father of her first two kids) Katakuri, what more is there to say that Nux Taku, Nate the BGE, and now you have not already said. Brilliantly written piece of Characterization (with at least 80% of it done through actions and not exposition).

I'm sorry but the best character was clearly lady tree

I believe the anime's animation has also gotten better since dressrosa too. But the pacing is still meh tho.

He did join the crew by the way, he just had to not make the rest of the Sun Pirates die before going to Wano with the others. I really think he will join with the others in Wano at one point.

As someone who consideres Sanji one of her absolutely favorite characters ... yes, I agree. I wanted him to finally FINALLY get a boss fight. Be it Judge or a sweet commander or Big Mom herself. Just SOMETHING. I understand that being a cook is his most important feature but it felt somewhat underwhelming given that he is considered to be part of the Monster Trio and it's usually Luffy or Zorro who get the really big fights while Sanji just ... holds off some other people.

Luffys speech to Sanji was the most beautiful and touching moment in this arc

Well this was a pretty SWEET review

Here's to hoping some of the Charlotte family we didn't get to see much of will still have their moment in future battles. Personally I was to see... Smoothie vs. Boa Hancock and Mont D'or vs Usopp

Great video. A bit bittersweet as this is the final arc review. :) But man; I love Whole Cake Island. From its aesthetic to its tone and the BM pirates, the arc had everything that I love in OP. It got me back into loving the series. It isn’t perfect but I easily give it a 85/100 and is in my top five favorite OP arcs.

As per usual, you hit it out of the park Grand Line! There was a character that ranked very highly for me in this arc that was not at all mentioned in the review though and that is Nami. She was present for a great many number of the arc's events and like Brook, really showed why she is an integral member of the Straw Hats. She rained on Cracker's parade, did some navigation before and after reaching the island, and I felt in general fit rigjt into the role of leader with both Luffy and Zoro absent. She also got some strong humor (Brook's zapping in particular) and her manipulative and scary nature was in full effect in her interactions with Zeus and others. Nami was a real favorite for me early on but in recent years I felt she really got put aside and I found my interest in herwanting. Maybe it was just her return after so long an absence but I would consider Nami if not the mvp, then a strong runner up.

Pudding was amazing, the ending with her and Sanji teared me up, soooooooo much

Whole Cake Island: 9/10

Whole Cake Island is all about family, 3 families to be precise: 1) The Big Mom family 2) The Vinsmokes 3) Bege's family But there's actually a 4th hidden family and it's the friends we made along the way. Haha!

When I read this arc my only disappointment was that Sanji didn’t get a whole chapter dedicated to him baking the cake for BM with pudding. In the past Sanji had fights that were depicted like he was cooking (ie with Jabra using Diable Jambe). It would be equally satisfying to see him cook as if he is fighting. The way he plans the recipe and manipulates the tools and ingredients would be totally exciting to see. They could reveal much about him as a chef and how he is more tied to Zeff than Jedge. Also they might even give Pudding another reason for falling in love with Sanji. I guess the fans’ disappointment isn’t all from the fact that Sanji didn’t kick, but that he fought in the background despite he was the protagonist of this arc.

Nothing against the Katakuri fight but my favorite part was when Luffy said bye to Sanji’s dad that was such a Luffy moment!

It's been a true blast watching these arc reviews each week. :)

The stawhats were fighting for their lives this entire arc lol

This arc exceeded my expectations. Great arc and looking foward to the next ones coming up. The revived and wano.

I'll be honest, I keep forgetting that the poneglyphs only have one side with writing and not the entire block on it which is why I love to watch these videos to catch things I missed. You'd think though with a giant block you'd use the entire canvas at least three sides (front, side, side). So when I saw the three rubbings I'm like "Well at least Brook got the ONE road poneglyph" and it's like no he got 'em all.

It's a shame that so many people look back on Whole Cake now with the opinion that is was terrible. The first 50 chapters of this arc (so up to the end of the tea party) were filled with so many dramatic moments, and reading the chapters covering the Tea Party itself week by week was the most excited I have been reading One Piece since Marineford. But then...there's 30 chapters of just running away. Luffy vs Katakuri will go down as one of the all time great fights, but other than that it's just running away. I felt like during this time Oda had no idea how to end Whole Cake, so he was almost stalling for time to figure out how to end it; have the Sunny almost caught up to destroyed / the Strawhats manage to barely escape / increase the gap, rinse repeat, rinse repeat. And then when the arc does finally end it feels so abrupt with some confusing payoff, or lack thereof. As if Oda really didn't have a proper conclusion, and just wanted it to be over so he could move on. Whole Cake is still a really great arc, but it was really a fantastic one.

It’s interesting not being able to compare the amount of manga chapters to anime episodes when watching this video

"Any hungry guys a customer." Sanji.

For me it did felt a little cheap when they revealed Pudding as “evil”. However I did like her abusive relationship with Big mom and I like to think that she had a mental breakdown when Sanji complimented her eye which created her dual personality. Over all I did enjoy her character but I wished she wasn’t evil but instead focused on that abusive relationship of her being force to commit those actions and being manipulated against her will.

I know a lot of people don't agree with me, but I hate this arc.. I like parts of it, but it really feels stretched out. A lot of characters I really didn't care about.. Why do they need to keep adding characters that don't impact the story?

I actually love Pudding. She was one of the only new characters that really stuck out to me. I love the idea of a sweet innocent girl like her actually being somewhat evil. I found her split personality later on to be hilarious.

Whole Cake Island is definitely my favourite arc of the series so far. The setting was quirky, the villains were fantastic, and there were a surprising number of plot twists. It also made me like Sanji's character a lot more because beforehand he was one of my least favourite Straw Hats but this arc fleshed him out a lot more and made me understand him better. But the main reason I loved this arc is that Luffy, Nami and Brook are my three favourite characters and the arc was basically a love letter to them. It showed off all of their best qualities and why they're essential to the crew. I'm hoping Oda will do the whole crew justice like this again in Wano.

Why am I attracted to Tree Women now.

My favorite Arc of all time!

I'm sorry but I have to disagree about Pudding. It's pretty clear really, I don't know how you can make a whole video about Katakuri but be confused about her. All her life she was being treated as a creepy monster and a puppet so she started acting like one and even got to fool herself. Until Sanji showed her compassion and she fell in love with him. But all these years with Big Mom using her and of trying so hard to become a monster left her conflicted. Honestly I found her one of the best parts about the whole arc and also very funny.

The only thing I disagree with you about in this video is pudding. I don't think her character was a mess. I think she was written to have conflicting thoughts and emotions. By nature she is deceptive, but then I think after falling in love with Sanji, she wanted to be a good person on the inside but her evil chicanerous nature kept on coming through.

Pudding comes off as a much better developed character when you consider her true first appearance in Fishman Island Arc. She was really introduced as a troubled and complicated character close to Big Mom, but by the time we get back to her many would not even recall her or make the connection, so her "introduction" in this arc makes her personality whiplash more of a shock. Even so, it was clearly hinted in the arc that she was a complicated person before her "evil" reveal with her standing in the rain flashing back to Big Mom and Lola.

I also love katakuri best one piece one villain👌

Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there. Jinbe DID join the crew at the end. He requested Luffy to allow him to save his former crew and Luffy's first orded to him was to not die. This is fantastic because it's realistic.

Man thank you so much for your anime reviews I binged watched all of your reviews to catch up with one piece after all the years I lost track of it because of fillers. I just finished whole cake and it was awesome.

Big Mom crew is the crew we know the most of out of the emperors Which i love very well because we will know them very well in future arcs

I actually liked Pudding. The point with her was that she had been neglected and abused all her life to the point where she almost developed a dual personality to cope. Not in the clinical sense. She was still really sweet, but a party of a family in which sweetness was punished. As a result she convinced herself that she is just acting sweet to fool others, which in fact was not the case. It was central that Sanji be really sweet and nice, which he was. In face he really seems to almost identify her struggle.

😣 can't watch cause I haven't finished this arc yet but I'm gonna like and comment anyway cause it's the last arc review for a while.

I will say the Anime is helping my opinion of Pudding. You can really tell her “evil” side is just a defense mechanism that is broken down as she learns she can trust Sanji who doesn’t see her as a monster like her family.

im glad i made my bets with capone being a interesting character in the future. he did not disappoint.

When I saw Pudding's "Evil, not really, except she is, but she isn't, only she is", I put down the volume and started laughing. "This," I told myself, "is the greatest example of a tsundere ever written."

I love Pudding! she's hilarious XD

I saw katakuri l almost had diabetes, that mochi man is so sweet:)

As someone studying Clinical Psychology I can confidently say that puddings character is amazing. Oda crafted the perfect personification of trauma and how people are good but flip back to their coping mechanisms which usually are negative and flip back to their present good self as soon as they catch themselves.

I kind of like how the anime makes her look like a big child that's very scary and happy looking, I just wish there were more shadows on her though

MVP - BRULEE

i absolutely LOVED this arc, way more than i expected to so far it’s my favorite arc from the post time skip but i haven’t started wano yet, about to literally RIGHT NOW

As soon as the forest started singing it was so off putting I fucking loved it .

Morji has a much better understanding and take on almost every arc i’d recommend watching his videos

Someone compared this arc to a movie and I agree. Yeah it was long, but this arc truly delivered in ways that we didn't know we needed. Brook is one hell of a badass, we got introduced to 2 new gears. Katakuri is probably my favorite villain at the moment, next to Fujitora (if you can call him a villain). Big Mom? Scariest animated character I think I've ever seen. She truly lives up to the fear you see everyone express when her name is mentioned, and rightly deserves the title of a yonko. But my absolute favorite part of this arc was the relationship between Luffy and Sanji, and just Sanji as a character in general. Oda really delivered with his character arc. I also cried MANY times while watching this arc.

Whole cake island is super deadly, synonyms- entire confectionary surrounded by water can cause DEATH

Actually in dressrosa brook defeated the art art fruit user. Also he is the comedic musician. I will also say he defeated his enemy easily in fishman island. He is not novelty but I respect what u said

Hunger pang big mom is basically like Godzilla. Completely unstoppable because she is one of the strongest beings in the world and no one can stop her when she is on a rampage.

Possible theory that she was a subject of experiment for gigantism, which would explain her raw strength and hunger pang attacks at a young age. This is similar to the ones the kids on punk hazard were experimented, when they went crazy.

This arc is already 4 years old... holy shit...

Keep this up bro! You deserve much more views

Personally I think the Germa 66 were given way too much attention in the anime at least. Let me explain: you see the appeal of the Germa seems to be based on 2 things their antagonism towards Sanji and more importantly praying on peoples love of super Sentai I don’t care too strongly so watching them in bloated transformation sequences just made me roll my eyes. They would have been fine as more minor characters but they just always stuck out like a sore thumb to me

Honestly, there were two... correction three moment from this arc that stood out. 1. Sanji and Luffy's Fight. It was far better than Luffy and Ussop's fight back at water 7. It was heart breaking to see Sanji brutally beat Luffy up, and how Luffy refused to give up on him. 2. When Sanji discovered Pudding's plan. For once in Sanji's messed up life with his family, he thought he'd found peace when he'd proposed to marry her. He was actually Happy. Until, he'd found out the truth, and there are no word to describe how horrible Sanji felt than the image in Sanji standing in the rain while lighting a cigarette while the rain kept putting the flame out, and tears whelmed up in Sanji's eyes... this seen just made me want to just give Sanji a hug... and 3. When Sanji brought food to the starving Luffy who kept his promise to wait for him and how the two finally came to a resolve in classic Luffy fashion. Luffy punched him and got him to say what he really wanted.

I think puddings character makes sense because she’s still a young woman at the end of the day with feelings and emotion in her back story we could see that nobody really cared for her looks and she was bred to be a tool essentially for big mom and the moment someone actually took time out to compliment one of her main insecurities it kinda changed her perspective but she can’t outright do a complete 180 because this is who she’d been her whole life

Pudding the goat of this arc for me I love her

Whole Cake Arc = Showing off Paramecia Devil Fruit users Wano = Showing off Zoan Devil Fruit users and you know, animals

I love these arc reviews!!!! This was amazing!!!! (First!)

I notice that the characters in Whole Cake Island arc wore masks. Characters like katakuri, Judge, Pudding , Stussy , Cracker, and the others katakuri hide his true personally with a mask to protect his family and hide from his insecurities until he eventually took it off and feels he's better off without it. Pudding 's mask was to hide her third eye and her twisted personality

I cried when Pudding broke Sanjis heart that shit was sad and I actually didn't see it coming. Which I should've lol

God damnit Liam I was just about to go to sleep

8:06 i would say that based on her talents as an actress and her practically bipolar nature based on the personas she must establish that her personality during the latter half of the arc makes sense. she has always had an evil side to her bread from the teasing she received about her third eye. while her good side was bread from the necessity to create such a persona to fool others just as she was to do with sanji. however sanji complimenting her third eye through a literal wrench into puddings psyche as she figured no one would ever consider her real face as beautiful so her affection for sanji grew the bright side of her yet her obligations towards her family tried to reel her to her darker side. and this back and forth created the bipolar nature we see her achieve during her attempts to make the cake simply made to the nth degree do to her talents of being an over dramatic actress.

I liked Pudding a lot. Her character didn’t feel inconsistent to me, it felt more like she was forced into the role of being a monster because everyone had been telling her she was hideous her whole life. But when Sanji saw her third eye and told her it was beautiful, her perception of herself and the world shifted dramatically and she didn’t know how to cope with it. If Oda had just made her a benevolent character outright after that it would have felt very jarring, but the fact that she constantly keeps slipping back into being sadistic and Chiffon has to remind her that she doesn’t have to act that way anymore really sold the identity crisis she was going through for me. Pudding started off as a really bland character, evolved into a pretty black and white and seemingly irredeemable villain and finally evolved into a complex and multilayered character that I really hope we see more out of.

I love this arc. It gave the best fight of one piece. Luffy vs katakuri.

I agree. Whole Cake Island is the best complete New World arc so far.

If you go back, jinbe did join the crew and is planning on meeting up with them in wano, the only reason he didnt get on the ship with them is so he could go back and ensure the escape of his former crew

Im not gonna lie i enjoyed pudding xD she was a comic relief for me being evil and good that even the Straw hats were flabbergasped kinda hilarious honestly and also nice that there is a woman who is almost on the same wavelenght as sanji (after wedding)

Its kinda sucks to see people hate on this arc a lot because it's a place holder for Wano. I think it was a fantastic arc and one of the most important ones for the series. Definitely my top 3 best arcs.

Perospero is easily the best CHARLOTTE family member..

i personally LOVED the fight between sanji and luffy. personal opinion, i thought the “splitting” of sanji was just as good if not BETTER than the splitting with ussopp.

9/10 one of the best arcs yet

Lmfaooooooooo the pudding explanation tho!!!😂😂😂

This arc overwhelmed me I had a bit of complications continuing that anime for three-day.

People put way too much focus on fights. I don’t get it, especially since One Piece isn’t a battle shounen. I don’t care that Sanji didn’t get to show off in fights. The whole arc was about him and afterwards I liked him way more than before this arc. I also want to say that I disagree about Pudding. She’s a great character. She was mistreated by her family just like Sanji. But because she didn’t leave her family unlike Sanji, she got some heavy mental problems. Pudding seems to be an actual kind person, but because she’s only useful when being evil, she behaves like this to please her mother. Her split personality makes a lot of sense. And I love how Sanji treated her. I was so happy that finally someone told Pudding how beautiful she is with her third eye. I can’t wait to see her again and since she’s been kidnapped by Blackbeard, it will definitely happen eventually.

I never had a problem with the whole running away from Big Mom chapters, I think Oda needed to show how strong and overwhelming she was and how difficult it really is to escape from her, I was hoping to see Sanji's fighting skills but I guess they are saving it for Wano (Power Ranger Sanji seems OP)

Chopper didn’t do shit this arc

well this arc isnt meant to show how strong sanji is so if anyone expect it to be all out fight, then dissapointment is unavoidable this arc is just there to show us the bond between luffy and his friend, going as far as ruining yonkou reputation, ready to give up his ambition just to bringhis friend back. and also to show sanji backstory (obviously) and highlighting the kindess sanji mother died for to sanji born normal, and it inherited by sanji that end up saved pudding who verbally abused in her whole life. so this arc isnt mainly about fight at all. oda carefully craft this beautiful arc so dont ruin it because there isnt big fight

LOL ended it with "LADY TREE" XDXDXD Tembalm I think was the name of that tree that Nami was so cruel to XD