kingcabbage - Tumblr blog

kingcabbage · 4 days ago

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Sanji is NOT a womanizer incapable of remaining faithful to one woman nor is he someone who rejects the idea of monogamy. Please stop mischaracterizing him.

By & far one of the most frustrating things to come out of the fandom is this prevelant misunderstanding of Sanji being a fuckboi. That he is not only incapable of remaining faithful to one woman, but is someone who would outright reject any possibility of being in a dedicated & closed relationship. That he is doomed to cheat on any woman he would every try to settle down with etc. etc.....

Really? Sanji? The man who can't even bring himself to fight a female opponent? The simpiest of all simp characters?? THIS Sanji!?

You think this guy^^ would ever hurt a woman & risk making her cry by cheating on her? That he would put his own selfish impulses & desires above her feelings?? I don't think so.

If you don't believe me let's just look at the two times Oda teased us with an almost taken Sanji shall we? Let's see what his attitude is towards the idea of being a "taken man".

First of all, Iet me talk about the elephant in the room & get the whole "Sanji wants to love ALL women! So he can't ever settle down" sentiment out of the way. One that is even popular amongst other Sanji fans & just won't seem to lose traction in fandom circles.

1) Sanji is full of crap. We know this. He lies about his true feelings all the time. He's almost as much of a liar as Usopp at this point, but his lies aren't even funny.

It has been discussed plenty of times by now how Sanji likes to project a false image because of his insecurities. He wants the world & his peers to see him in a specific way because the residual trauma from his bio family left him feeling not good enough of a man. This is not the first time Sanji has exaggerated or straight up lied about his actual intentions nor will it probably be the last.

One great example of this is Sanji often says he "only" rescues women & could care less about men, but that is just not true. In fact, many times Sanji contradicts himself with his actions right after saying this. All we have to do is look at how often he goes out of his way to save Usopp. Or how Sanji left Nami's side to come to Zoro's aid in Sabaody. Sanji is a protector to everyone. His fragile ego & sense of manhood just prevents him from admitting to caring about men. There is a reason men tend to think Sanji is a great guy.

Another example is how hard Sanji tries to be cool. Least we forget that scene in Skypiea where he makes fun of the crew for acting childish with Zoro only to take off his shoes & gleefully do a flip into the sky ocean as he giggles just seconds later. Sanji is silly & hates to admit he is silly. Oda even confirmed that he purposefully squints his eyes to look more badass 💀.

2.) Those panels of Sanji wanting to love "all women" are taken completely out of context.

Please correct me if I'm wrong (this story is so long I can't remember everything always 💀) , but the two examples we have of Sanji declaring this are always taken out of context whenever used as "proof" of Sanji being incapable of settling down.

The first time Sanji declares his desire to love all the women in the world was specifically to push back against Iva & the Kamabakkas. Here Sanji is being pressured to become one of them & given how fragile Sanji's sense of manhood is he overcompensates by making this grand declaration as a way to get them to leave him alone. This is not indicative of his feelings on relationships. He was just being dramatic.

The second & most popular example is of Sanji saying he wants to love "all the ladies". Once again, the context of the scene is often left out & people conveniently forget to talk about how Sanji was on the verge of being permanently trapped. By a very pretty spider lady no less so it is not surprising that Sanji would once again be dramatic as a way to diffuse the situation & try to save himself.

I'm not saying Sanji doesn't adore all women, but I am saying I don't think this was a look Into his future or was supposed to be that type of serious. At least, no more serious than him calling the mermaids his "All Blue" in Fishman Island. We already know Sanji is a drama queen & his writing is filled with gags.

Now let's look at the two women to have a romance arc with Sanji in the series: Viola & Pudding. I'm going to go backwards chronologically here because I do think his scenes with Viola gave us the most insight on this topic. So let's dissect his time in WCI first.

The Pudding situation & the importance Sanji places on commitment/marriage

Sanji's dynamic with Pudding is interesting given that it undergoes a drastic change before we even get to the end of WCI. Before Sanji overhears Pudding reveal her true intentions he is under the impression that 1) This wedding will happen whether he wants it to or not & 2) That Pudding genuinely loves him. Whereas, Sanji after the wedding ceremony & until he leaves WCI is under the impression that 1) the marriage aspect of this whole endeavor is no longer a possibility & 2) That Pudding hates his guts.

Sanji before & after the Pudding reveal are in very different mindsets thus the way he treats Pudding is fundamentally different & should therefore be analyzed like two separate relationships. My focus will be on Sanji pre Pudding reveal as that's where he still acts with the marriage in mind.

Keeping this in mind it stands out to me that even though Sanji didn't want to be married, seemed less interested in Pudding pre ceremony, and was dealing with an insane amount of stress he is still determined to go into this marriage with the seriousness as one would if they went into it voluntarily.

"I promise I'll make Pudding happy"

It would be very easy for Sanji to only look at this marriage as a political necessity. One that only exists on a technicality & holds no real meaning to his life. Given that this is being forced upon him & would entail losing his life with the Strawhats I don't think anyone would think less of him (both in & out of universe) if Sanji were to say something along the lines of only honoring this commitment to the bare minimum, but he doesn't. He doesn't mourn the loss of a bachelor life. He doesn't make jokes about having affairs. He doesn't even try & tell his family he'll never ever get married. Just that he won't get married this way.

Yes, Sanji leans into Pudding's perceived kindness as a way to deal with his pain. Yes, he does force himself to go full simp as a way to fake happiness at the situation, but his attitude towards the marriage itself is indicative of his personal feelings about relationships.

Sanji barely knows Pudding & is unable to get his crew off his mind, but he is already making the commitment to be loyal to her. He is already acting like a devoted partner because Sanji takes marriage seriously. He is already imagining a future where his married life is a happy one. The only happy thing in this bleak future he has resigned himself to. Sanji believes marriage is a good thing & in this situation perhaps the only good thing he will ever have again.

Notice how Sanji doesn't start simping for Nami or any other woman again until after he learned the entire marriage was a sham? That matters. That shows Sanji is indeed capable of being faithful to one woman should he choose so.

How Oda used Viola to prove Sanji craves monogamy despite the pervert trope

I don't discuss them much, but I do really adore Viola & her little arc with Sanji in the beginning of Dressrosa. I've said it before & I'll say it again: I truly believe Oda gave us this storyline as a type of beta tester for the audience. To see & get them used to the idea of Sanji in an actual relationship.

In the panel above we see Sanji for the first time make explicit comments about being jealous of couples. Followed by expressing a desire for either Nami or Robin to fall in love with him. Indicating he would be more than happy to have them reciprocate his advances & is open to the idea of a closed relationship. It just so happens Sanji has never experienced reciprocity before this arc. At least, none that mattered to the story or his character.

And what does Sanji do when he finally comes across a woman who is willing to reciprocate his advances? He locks in.

Now, this ends up being a ruse by Viola to trick Sanji, but Sanji didn't know that at the time. He just thought he finally got himself a girlfriend. He gets lost in the love sauce & actually imagines sending a letter to Nami & Robin explaining his new relationship status. He's basically letting them down gently & informing them he is a taken man now.

These are not the actions of a man who dreams of a harem.

Even after Viola reveals her intentions & they shift gears to warning the rest of the strawhats about the impeding doom in Dressrosa, Sanji still spends the rest of their time together hoping to continue their relationship. He even offers multiple times to take her on the Sunny with him. The implication being they would continue their romance as they both sail the seas as pirates.

Up until their very last moment Sanji doesn't let the possibility of them becoming something real disappear until 1) it is clear Viola has no intentions of committing herself to him despite her growing affections and 2) his crew are in danger & need his immediate attention. Only then does he leave her & give up on their love story.

Also, notice how again Sanji doesn't simp for other women until his relationship with Viola is revealed to be fake. Even when he goes back to fawning over Nami he can't help but make one last attempt at Viola in case she changes her mind. Heavily implying yet again that Sanji would rather be committed to one special lady than forever pine after one sided affections. Oda shows us that Sanji is indeed capable of staying faithful & is not some cheating womanizer.

Finally, the Kinemon of it all

I love this panel a lot & not just because it is funny to see Sanji freak out over pretty girls. This is the first time we see Sanji get jealous over a married man. A married man who is Sanji's pervy parallel btw.

Kinemon simultaneously being a pervert & a loyal husband shows us two things: 1) that being a perv & being faithful are not mutually exclusive & 2) Kinemon & Sanji having quite a bit of parallels & narrative connection indicates this is a possible endgame for Sanji. This could very well be a tease from Oda.

Furthermore, Sanji telling Kinemon it is not fair for a married man to seek attention from other women is a look Into Sanji's mindset about marriage. It shows us that Sanji thinks a married man should be more than happy to have a wife to fawn over. Also that Sanji is jealous of Kinemon having a dedicated partner. I do not think Sanji would point out Kinemon's relationship status if it did not mean something to him. Indicating once more that Sanji probably dreams of having a beautiful wife to love & adore forever vs living out his days a bachelor chasing any pretty woman for some attention.

In conclusion, Sanji is no scoundrel. He would never in a million years go off with random women if he had a wife or even just a gf waiting for him at home. He doesn't have the type of callousness needed to do such a thing & more importantly he values romance & commitment too much to taint it in any way. I wish the fandom would let this false image of Sanji die already. It especially upsets me when I see fellow Sanji fans subscribe to this idea. I thought we were supposed to know better guys?

Let's not forget that Sanji is never even shown with rings on his wedding finger anytime Oda draws Sanji wearing a shit ton of jewlery. Despite his horny nature that man is a classic romantic at heart. Never forget that.

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