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0:00 – Introduction + AJPiece Comments
16:43 – Chronological Story Review
3:11:31 – Character Rankings + Conclusion
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You can watch my next One Piece review (The Reverie) RIGHT NOW on Patreon here (5$+): https://www.patreon.com/Aleczandxr
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One little error – in this video I ranked Smoker in both the honorable mentions and at 29. That was an error because of the list crossing over and getting mixed up with my Reverie ranking. For this video, Smoker’s rightful place is 29 and he is an HM for Reverie.
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In Enies Lobby Sanji stated that he never believes a woman's lie, are they are forgiven. Something interesting is that even after Pudding takes his memories he can tell she's actually fallen for him secretely even though his memories are her mocking and being mean to him. Sanji has a huge heart and besides Luffy he may be the most emotionally intellect Straw Hat.
#AJPiece
Damn only 1 week, tyvm for the fast Release.
#AJPiece
The idea of people using masks and pretenses is very constant throughout Whole Cake Island but I really wanted to talk about one side of that often goes unnoticed and it's regarding how the Big Mom pirates view themselves and how they make others perceive them. This also applies to why Luffy and Katakuri's fight took roughly 10 hours.
At the beginning of the arc We saw Big Mom irritated when the ''army of Evil'' Germa is being praised by one of her underling.
This quickly establishes to me that she sees herself and her crew as the ''good guys'', the ''heroes'' with a goal of a world without discrimination.
But at the same time her powers work through fear so when Cracker is defeated people notice ominous clouds from Zeus surrounding the castle and making them think Big Mom is enraged. Which is easily contradicted by the very next scene where we see her unbothered and talking to her kids. But she still had to put up a pretense for the sake of order then sent an army for Luffy.
Her crew is built on the idea that they're the righteous one and will teach others who don't listen. ''Mother knows best''
Even Peros gave a chance for Chopper and Brook to leave and Brulee mentioned how New generations like Urouge were defeated but not killed, requested by Big Mom and instead dropped in the seducing woods.
All that feeds the idea of her testing and crushing them.
Which is exactly what happened against Katakuri and Luffy. He could have defeated him from the very beginning if his objective was to just get rid of him but he sensed the threat he presented and NEEDED to break him.
But the light wouldn't go out.
Again and Again. Hours after Hours. Until he started seeing more in Luffy and we know how it ends. Being instead freed by him.
Man We're so close to the end of the arcs reviews
Wano is around the corner but i'm just as excited as frightened of the idea that we'll reach that point.
As always Love the content.
This is around the time I lost interest in the series due to the fanbase being incredibly toxic, but listening to you talk about it makes me want to pick it up again🤣
I really love how this arc challenges various aspects of Sanji especially regarding his principles
When Oda told us this would be Sanji's year many were expecting some great battles for him
And indeed it was a battle for his principles and staying true to himself without failing
Even at the brink of despair
He's still a flawed character but I think this arc helps wrapping things around that aspect
He's not perfect and even more, he might be overflowing with emotions
Love and passion? So much his leg literally burns
Kindness? So much he'd rather die than let anyone starve even an emperor of the sea who he defeated in a way
(This sadly also includes parts we'll REALLY like to see him get rid off)
But again what's an human without flaws?
Thank you .
Thanks for this.
I need to catch up to you 😉 .
Calling it now, there will be a top 40 characters list by the end of Wano
🔥🔥🔥
3hr 15min? easy!
Reiju is the best sister (with Nojiko) and it is so tragic that she never was able to free herself from Germa due to her modifications. She says to Sanji that he is their mother kindness legacy, but she is too.
I love Nami and she can do no wrong in my eyes. Buuut the way she treated King Baum was horrible 🤣
Amazing video! WCI is a top 3 arc for me, and Katakuri is my favorite non SH in the story! Will you separate Wano with each act or it will be one gigantic video? (would not complain on either)
I know you already love the Nami slap, so let me add some more appreciation to it. One thing I love about WCI is how much growth everyone shows. You see multiple characters really dropping "gags" from the first half to show maturity in a number of ways. Chopper for example beyond his burgeoning mentorship of Carrot as a big brother figure always had a gag of being just awful at hiding and here he is being one of the most key members of a reconnaissance mission and being a team player, but what about Nami?
Nami used to hide behind money as a way to hide her true feelings. She'd constantly hold grudges pre time skip and remind people of any debt they'd owe her to guilt people and usually didn't like to be open about her true self. It comes from years of having to betray people for Arlong and you see her start opening up but still using money as a proxy to show it. You see it with Lola and you see it with Camie at the auction house.
It's important that the first major arc of the time skip has Nami forgiving a grudge and resolving a lot of her past and the second on Punk Hazard has her being a lot more altruistic and openly wanting to help the children with no sign of an ulterior motive. So Nami's opened up a ton from her time skip showing a commitment to the crew, and here is Sanji trying to play up a false role when for his entire time on the crew he's been one of the members who wore his heart on his sleeve the most. Nami understands what's going on, she knows this isn't what he feels and that he clearly is forcing himself, but it hurts her because he isn't putting the level of faith in Luffy to trust him the same way Nami has. It's like a slap in the face to all of her growth since joining the Straw Hats to see him not even willing to ask for help, for trying to take it all on himself and that's why she slaps him. It ties in everything that's changed for Nami since she joined and god I love WCI.
Pudding is such a great character as well. i think she is overshadowed by other prominent and more likeable characters in the arc like katakuri, sanji and the rest of shs even tho she got tones of paneltime and is phenomenally executed imo. she is top 5 female characters in op i think alongside nami robin vivi and boa. She is just so underrated and deserves more xd
Smoker is on both the Honorable Mentions list, and a ranked individual btw.
Pedro😭
You forgot to mention the scene during the climax where judge asks luffy why he did all this to save someone like sanji and luffy's amazing response lol. Thought I would just mention it since it's pretty prominent. Also the part where sanji says "he knew exactly the kind of person pedro was" to carrot as the both confort each other.
for the amount of stuff you have to keep in mind for a video of this length its only natural few things would slip.
#AJPiece You're spot on with the analysis about masks, especially when you consider the parallel in Judge making Sanji wear that iron mask as a symbol of rejection. Blends in so well with the themes you mentioned, and the foreshadowing with duval being a guy in an iron mask who just so happens to look like Sanji is both hilarious and ingenious. I was already a weekly reader back then and the wedding cake chase was a tad slow for my liking, but WCI is still my favorite post time skip arc!
#ajpiece I think an interesting thing to note is that judge is a fraud, he talks so much about being strong and being better but he can’t defeat sanji who he thinks of as weak without resorting to cheap tricks and using his underlings, sanji is so clearly stronger than him can you imagine judge fighting zoro or luffy? Man would get clowned in instantly, he’s one of the weakest antagonists we’ve seen power wise and thinks he can lecture others about strength
#AJPiece while the parallels between Luffy and Katakuri are pretty clear, something that not a lot of people touch on is the parallel between Big Mom and Luffy in this arc. Food is a significant theme of this arc. Through this lens, we can see that both Luffy and Big Mom are huge gluttons. Yet we also see the clear difference between them as it pertains to self-control. In this arc, Luffy abstains from food and nearly starves himself to death because of his devotion to Sanji (a member of his family). On the other hand, Big Mom terrorizes her family whenever she feels the slightest bit of hunger and nearly kills her own son during one of her earlier rampages.
It's interesting how Oda made three of the Yonko serve as a dark inversion to one or more of Luffy's core traits. For instance, Blackbeard similarly believes in the power of dreams. But unlike Luffy who dreams of freedom and the strength to pursue it, BB dreams of the strength to plunge the world into chaos and anarchy (the dark inversion of freedom). Similarly, Big Mom's dream of uniting every race and her insatiable gluttony are also clear dark parallels to those two aspects of Luffy. I won't speak on Kaido's trait inversions to avoid spoilers, but I'm sure you'll be able to pick up on them by the time you finish Wano. On the other hand, Shanks is not an inversion but serves as the positive ideal that Luffy strives for as a pirate. It's clear that by splitting up these traits among the Yonko, Oda's goal is to use each of them to illustrate how they add up to make Luffy the ideal Pirate King.
Sanji jumping from honorable mention to Ajs top 10 is outstanding! It shows how much Sanjis character grew in this arc.
#AJPiece The parallels between Big Mom and Whitebeard are fleshed out a lot here. Big Mom had a bunch of her own blood children, solidified alliances using them as pawns, and made her own playground/kingdom where she could never be denied. She even eats the soul of one of her sons because she has no thought past her own indulgence. She even left for Wano out of a grudge against Luffy, almost heedless of the extensive damage done that other people will have to clean up, again and again and again.
Whitebeard, on the other hand, found "Lost Boys" and gave them a loving home because all he wanted was to protect people he loved. In return, we see that (most of) his crew loved him and each other to the point of going to war over Ace was captured. And this was AFTER telling Ace that pursuing Blackbeard would be a massive blunder.
I would love some of these essays in a audio format like Spotify podcast or something
#AJPiece while I like this arc, and watching it with you really improved it, there is always one part that always annoyed me, and ittNani slapping Sanji because of the "betrayal". I feel that out of all the characters in the crew, Nami would be the one that understand him the most, giving your back on the crew because you don't wanna put them in danger. I always thought that Nami was there to see what was happening with Sanji and told Luffy (not that he needed to be told that). But seeing Nami slapping him and being angry at him, made her seen a little hypocrite or something like that. Sure, you can argue it's because Sanji didn't trust in Luffy, but still, I never could see it like that, with all th pain she went with Arlong and abandoning the crew, she was the perfect mirror to him.
#AJPiece I think Linlin is aware of what happened to Mother Carmel and the other kids at the orphanage, at least subconsciously, because she has the tendency to grant life to the sweets (muffins, puffs, candy, tea, etc) she consumes, and hears them struggle for dear life as they are devoured. In that way she tries to emulate what she felt that day, the best day of her life. Pretty twisted stuff.
Also, I don't know if you heard, but a lot of people in the fandom think that Streusen was Big Mom's first husband because his and Perospero's (oldest son) facial traits are pretty similar (and they have the same laugh : Kukuku), so you could add grooming to Big Mom's messed up upbringing.
I know this is off topic but I wanted to know, what have been your thoughts on studio gaga's Berserk chapters?
#AJPiece Pudding sacrificing her own happiness for Sanji is the ultimate redemption arc for her. She's spent her life abused by her mother, being told that she's ugly and unlovable until Sanji immediately without a thought does one act of kindness by turning that abuse on its head. Of course she acts confused and deranged for the rest of the arc, her whole worldview was challenged. Oda actually took the trope of a 'tsundere' and gave it a meaningful backstory to exist for Pudding – and in the end, she erases Sanji's memory: because she knows that if she lets him remember, lets him know how she feels about him he would never leave her there. He would steal her away with him, and that would put his life in even more danger. So, to keep him from further endangering himself she lets him believe that she doesn't love him. What an amazing, tragic love story. Sanji and Pudding are the only characters I hope truly end up together in the end.
My mvp for WCI is Bege.
Its an arc all about fractures in family relationships in many different shapes and forms. Sanji's family and the idea of who his real father is. Sanji as part of Luffy's crew abd stepping out of it. Big Mom and her family being her crew, but also her old family beating eaten by her. The broken dynamic of the germa family. Katakuri as his big brother role being unable to be himself. Lola as an outcast family member.
In all these instabilities and fractures in family relations is a man that stands in contrast to it all, a bastion of stability. A husband and a father. A mafia-like boss, godfather, to his own crew. With the perfect devil fruit to represent that, a bastion.
Man, it's really hard to grasp that we are quickly approaching the end of this journey, at least in catching up, feels like we just started post time skip era. I really love these type of long thought streaming videos, and your journey through One Piece definitely has been the most entertaining and insightful I have come across so far. It's been about 10 years since I've gone through One Piece myself for the first time and man, your videos not only were a great nostalgia trip, but also gave me a lot of new insights and appreciation for all the different stations of Luffy's journey. With how big and long the series is, it's really easy to forget a lot of stuff that make it so great. So thanks for all the hard work and amazing videos!
One scene I love in particular in Whole Cake Island, which wasn't mentioned, is when the Strawhats are crossing paths with Germa again and Judge questions Luffy about what he sees in Sanji and goes on and on about how kind, weak and whiny Sanji is. Luffy just nods and then says goodbye. Then he asks Sanji why his "father" listed all of his best qualities, absolutely beautiful.
About the whole "One Piece did fall off post time skip" thing. I personally don't feel that is the case, and you definitely shouldn't let your own enjoyment of the series get tainted by such comments, which luckily, you don't. That being said, I can see a few points why some people may feel that way.
– There is definitely a noticeable shift between pre- and post-time skip in the scale of the different arcs and how certain stuff is handled. The Strawhats more often take a backseat post time skip and let other characters take center stage. There are way more characters and factions in the big arcs, and more cutaways to what's going on in different parts of the world. And there are more set up arcs like Fishman Island, Punk Hazard and Zou, which, while amazing in the big context, may feel lacking a bit on theor own. For people like you and me who love world building, character motivations and relationships and so on, post time skip One Piece is amazing. For people who were more into the whacky and concealed Strawhat adventures of pre time skip, I can see why post time skip OP may feel a bit lacking of sorts. We really didn't have a good whacky and concealed Strawhat adventure since like Thriller Bark.
– The Anime especially took a deep dive in post time skip during Punk Hazard, Dressrosa and parts of Whole Cake Island in both quality and pacing. The pre time skip Anime wasn't perfect, but it had a certain charm to it, and it nailed many of the high points. Post time skip, the anime often felt soulless and boring, especially during the time when Toei tried to resurrect Dragonball and many of their top dogs were busy with that. And the pacing, dear god the pacing. It got to a point where they adapted like half a chapter per episode and everything was stretched to its absolute maximum and loaded with filler. I love Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island, I really do. But seeing boring fodder characters fighting each other in the Arena or Big Mom screaming WEEEDDUINGGGG KAAAAKEIIIIII for 20 episodes straight definitely does things with you. It has gotten much better with Wano again, where they kinda soft booted the Anime with a new art style and the return of many of the top dogs. But it's still not perfect, and many people probably have given up on the Anime by now, and I don't blame them.
– Finally, I think (being able to) binge-watching/reading something compared to sit through it weekly with a lot of breaks definitely can make a huge difference. Pacing isn't as bad in the manga, but there are definitely parts that drag out a lot as well and as amazing of a storyteller Oda is, there is only so much you can fit into 15-17 pages. Someone in the comments has already mentioned it, One Piece did gain a lot of traction during the Paramount War and many people jumped on the train, being able to binge-watch/read the amazing first half of One Piece, then arrived at the absolute slug that was Punk Hazard or Dressrosa on a weekly basis. I was one of them, starting my One Piece journey in 2011, and I definitely had moments where I stepped away from it for 2-3 months in order to be able to binge-watch a bit more again, or would reread certain arcs back to back which definitely gives you a different perspective and appreciation. One Piece has doubled in lengths since I've caught on and while it's harder to catch up now, it does allow you to binge many of the bigger arcs and now arrive in the current day, where Oda definitely is taking more effort in slowly wrapping the story up and slowly uncovering many of the plot threads and secrets we have wondered about for decades. Egghead is an absolute treasure trove in that regard, and I'm sure you'll love it once you get there.
Just finished this one. Thanks very much for not compromising on length or work when it comes to your journey. We appreciate it <3