Sanji
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| Sanji | |
| Sanji, from the anime and manga series One Piece. | |
| Name in Japanese | サンジ |
| Name in Romaji (Hepburn) | Sanji |
| English Name | Sanji |
| Epithet | Sanji the Black Leg (Navy) "Love-Cook" (self) "Little Eggplant" (Zeff: Japanese versions, English manga) "String Bean" (Zeff: English anime) "Dartboard-Eyebrow" (Zoro) "Mr. Prince" |
| Age | 19 |
| Birthday | March 2 |
| Height | 177 cm (5' 9½") |
| Voice Actor (4Kids) | David Moo Veronica Taylor (as young Sanji) |
| Japanese Seiyu | Hiroaki Hirata Ikue Otani (as young Sanji) |
| Appears In | Original Manga |
| First Appearance | Manga Chapter #43, Anime Episode #20 |
| Species | Human |
| Bounty | 77 000 000 Belly |
| One Piece Characters | |
Sanji (サンジ Sanji?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga One Piece.
Contents |
[edit] About Sanji
Being a member of the Straw Hat Pirates, he has his bounty of 77 million Belli. Sanji is the chain-smoking cook aboard the Going Merry as a member of the Straw Hat Pirate Crew. He has superb fighting skills that only make use of the lower part of his body, in an effort to minimise damage to his hands which would impair his cooking skills. Naturally, Sanji uses an array of powerful and varied kicking moves when he fights, all with French names related to food. His cooking skills are also the best within the manga One Piece and is the protégé to Chef "Red Leg" Zeff (or "Red Shoes" Zeff" in North America) of Baratie, the floating restaurant and Sanji's mentor. According to Oda, Sanji most resembles a duck.<ref name="SBS1"> SBS questions: One Piece Manga - Vol.20 - Chapter 177, Fan question: What animals represent each of the 5 crew members, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami and Ussop? </ref> Also, Oda uses the color blue to represent Sanji, and he smells of seafood and cigarettes. <ref name="SBS"> SBS questions: One Piece Manga - Vol.40 - Chapter 380, Fan question: What colors represent the crew. What do each of the Straw Hat Crew smell like </ref>
In Japanese Fan Polls, including the most recent one, Sanji is consistently the third most popular character. While in the recent 4Kids poll, Sanji is the third most popular character just like the Japanese.
[edit] Differences between versions
In both the English manga, original Japanese manga, and the original Japanese anime, Sanji is a chain smoker. In the English anime, Sanji sucks on lollipops (most likely so that kids wouldn't think it's okay to smoke). In the English-language manga, Sanji often uses "crap" as an adjective while speaking. This is an attempt to convey both his extremely coarse speaking style in Japanese, as well as his use of "kuso" (roughly "feces") as an expletive; fans often translate it as "shit" because of his manner of speech. For example, he often calls Zeff "Kuso-Jiji" (roughly "shitty-geezer). In the English anime, he simply calls Zeff "old-geezer", and "crap-geezer" in the English manga. Also, in the English anime, Sanji appears to have a nasally Brooklyn accented voice (done by David Moo). It was once believed that 4Kids was going to give him a French accent and that Eric Stuart was going to be his voice actor.[citation needed]
[edit] Personality and Relationships
Sanji is the crew's chef and and as such he looks out for the health of his crewmates (ironically enough, he is a chainsmoker). His goal in life is to find the All Blue, a legendary ocean which contains all the fish in the world, and as such would be paradise for any cook with as much love for his work as Sanji, who holds great respect for the tools, ingredients, and art of cooking. So great is his devotion to his calling, that Sanji will not let any person or creature starve, regardless of them being friend or foe. He is very amorous, constantly flirting with any attractive woman he sees (especially Nami), earning him the nickname ero-cook, or perverted cook. However, he has sworn to never let insult or injury happen to any woman while he can still stand, regardless of how attractive they are. This is often problematic in his fighting as he can't attack female opponents; he would rather die than hurt them. All this is apparently the result of a "strict upbringing". However, also as a result, his fighting skills greatly increase when he is protecting a woman. Sanji also likes to swear a lot and is overall a bit of trashtalker, insulting his opponents while fighting - especially if they insult him or his friends first.
Sanji respects Luffy as a captain, but often gets angry at him for eating too much and showing disrespect for the aesthetics of cooking. He is constantly in verbal fights with Zoro (sometimes calling him Marimo-san) over each others' traits and they have developed a bit of a rivalry (almost like a sibling rivalry). He is very protective of the female crewmembers and Nami likes to take advantage of him, exploiting his extreme servility. Sanji originally wanted to cook Chopper, and continues to refer to him as their "emergency food supply" to tease him. However, he does consider Chopper a friend. He's also good friends with Usopp; they team up and interact often, and Sanji understands him quite well. In short, he cares as much for the crew as any Straw Hat should, but unlike Zoro, Sanji shows these feelings more. For example, he cried when Mr. 2 sacrificed himself for the Straw Hats.
Though Sanji doesnt get along with Zoro and is virtually his polar oppasite, they usually end up getting teamed together and always end up fighting eachother. On some instances they will defeat an opponent just so they can get back to fighting eachother for whatever reason at the time. He and Zoro have a sort of competition when they fight together usually stating they will defeat an absurd amount of enemies within a very short period of time. It usually starts off with both of them stating a time span usually under a minute and then proceeding to defeat them effortlessly.
Sanji likes to give himself nicknames in battles (such as Mr. Prince or Hunter) to hide his identity and overall likes to act in the background. However, before Enies Lobby he was constantly upset that he hadn't earned a bounty yet, which gave him a bit of a disadvantage in his arguments with Zoro since Zoro already had a very high bounty. Even though he has a bounty now, it is still less than Zoro's bounty by 43 million belli; combined with the fact that the wanted poster only shows a bad facial composite of him continues the running gag of him not being recognized.
Sanji's left eye is never seen in the Manga, always covered by his hair. Some anime-frames however show it, probably by mistake. It can also be seen in the Doctor Stop card in the One Piece CCG Set 2, Passage to the Grand Line. In Chapter 419, Sanji was seen holding a spyglass to his left eye.<ref name="SBS2"> SBS questions: One Piece Manga - Vol.20 - Chapter 184, Fan question: Does Sanji have a left eye? </ref>
[edit] History
[edit] Red Leg Zeff attacks
Sanji was Zeff's protégé and sous-chef, and the two had a long history together. Nine years earlier, when a young Sanji was working as a ship's cook in the North Blue, the pirate Red Leg Zeff and his crew attacked the ship. However, both ships were caught in a sudden storm, and sank. Zeff managed to save the young Sanji from drowning and the two were washed onto a rock outcropping, high above the sea.
Despite their good fortune, there was little food for them: a few rations had washed onto the rock with them, but there was no vegetation, no animals, and no way to reach the water to fish. Splitting up what little rations remained, Zeff ordered Sanji to sit at the other end of the island, and look for a ship. Sanji protested that Zeff was keeping a large sack for himself, but Zeff brushed him off, saying that as an adult, his stomach was bigger. Days passed. Sanji had no more food, but there was still no sign of a ship. Many weeks afterward (the exact amount of time differs between the manga and anime), an emaciated Sanji decided to take a chance, and kill the old man for his food. He did not kill Zeff, however: when he slashed open the old man's sack in a fit of rage, he discovered that there was no food inside, only treasure. To his horror, he realized that Zeff had eaten his own leg to survive (in the anime, he lost it while saving Sanji after becoming entangled in one of the wrecked ships, and simply ate nothing). Wracked with guilt, Sanji agreed that if they were rescued, he would help Zeff build a restaurant on the water, so that those at sea would not have to go hungry. Soon after, a ship appeared, and they were spared from death. Because of this ordeal, Sanji pledges to never refuse food to a starving individual, no matter how evil or poor they may be.
[edit] Life on the Baratie
On the Baratie, Zeff and Sanji shared an uneasy relationship, frequently getting into arguments and exchanging insults. Sanji would call Zeff an "Old Fart" or "Shitty-Geezer", ("Crap-Geezer" and "Old Geezer" in North America) and in return, Zeff would call Sanji a "stupid eggplant" ("Under-done Eggplant" or "String Bean" in North America) and tell him his cooking was awful. He started smoking at age 10, very shortly after the Baratie was founded, in an attempt to prove his "maturity" to Zeff. This scene was cut from the anime (including the original Japanese version).
Yet for all that, Sanji remained faithful to his promise nine years before, and risked his life to help defend the restaurant he helped build from the clutches of Don Krieg and his pirate armada. With the help of Monkey D. Luffy, he succeeded, but was unwilling to leave his position at Baratie to become Luffy's cook. In the end, Zeff had to remind him of the dream they both shared: to find the legendary sea, All Blue. Tearfully thanking the old man for everything, Sanji departed with Luffy to retrieve Nami, who had stolen the Going Merry and was making her way to the stronghold of the Fishman pirate, Arlong.
[edit] Recent Chapters
Sanji, Zoro, and Sogeking have re-united with Nami and Chopper in the tunnel underneath the Bridge of Hesitation, along with the sea train conductor Kokoro and her grand-daughter Chimney, but the tunnel is flooding with water and all present are in danger of drowning. But recently Kokoro has shown that she's a mermaid, which freaked out the drowning strawhats, making them open their mouths and lose their air, but Kokoro puts them in her jacket, and saves them. They finally land on the ship Franky and Robin are on. When he wakes up, he tries to hug Robin knowing she is alright but gets kicked out of the way by Chopper and, very ironically, Nami. When the 200 captains attack the strawhat crew, Sanji disappears. However once their escape ship is destroyed, he reappears again just in time to save Kokoro, Chimney, Gonbe and Chopper from the explosion, claiming he had to do something "uncool" prior to that. As all the Buster Call ships target the group and Luffy, he and the others hear a voice telling them to jump into the sea. They do so and land on the Going Merry, which has suddenly returned. Meanwhile, Spandam recovers, ordering the Marine Battleships to fire on the Going Merry, even if Robin is onboard. When the Marines fire they strike their own ships, as the water currents shift dramatically. During his disappearance, Sanji had closed the Gate of Justice, creating the currents surrounding the ships. He and Zoro used an exhausted Luffy as a sling to send cannonballs flying towards the Battleships. After Iceberg and a Galley-La ship arrived to rescue the Strawhat crew, Merry began to fall apart. He and the rest of the crew then bid Merry farewell as she is given a viking's sea burial by fire.
Sanji helped cook for the festival the Strawhats and allies were having, which incidentally drained almost all of their remaining Belly. In Chapter 435 he received his first bounty of 77 Million Belly and is nicknamed "Black Leg", in contrast to his old mentor Zeff, who was known as "Red Leg". However, Sanji is horrified to see his picture on the bounty poster. The marines weren't able to obtain a photo of him(some one left the lens cap on the camera) and thus used a horrendous composite sketch.
[edit] Abilities and powers
Sanji has mastered the martial art of Red Leg.
Red Leg is a fictional martial art that takes some inspiration from the Brazilian martial art Capoeira, which contains sweeping leg motions, acrobatics and handstands and which may have developed the use of feet due to the West African belief that hands are for creation not destruction, a theme which Sanji remarks on as he prefers to use his hands to cook, and cooking knives only on food. Red Leg also bears developmental simularity to the French martial art Savate, which was developed by street fighters and sailors, does not include knee kicks, and included the use of hands as a gripping support rather than for attack in the art's early development, which would make sense for a rocking ship. As such, Sanji can be seen as the third strongest member of the crew, after Zoro and Luffy. This being taken from the his most recent fight with Jyabura who was ranked as the third strongest CP9 member.
The Red Leg style may also have taken some inspiration from the Chinese art Tan Tui and bears an almost identical line, in name and in style, to the extremely powerful and dangerous [to both user and opponent] style Blood Leg) where all of his maneuvers come from the user's legs and feet.
His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and defeat creatures much larger than himself (like bananadiles and Mo-Moo). His legs also imbue him with superior speed and agility, able to leap and run much farther than normal humans. He has stated that the reason he fights with his feet is that he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands as he needs them to cook. As such, he generally places his hands inside his pockets while fighting (except when going for a handstand).
As for his actual "attacks", Sanji has a very large number of specific kicks and techniques he uses to fight with. It should be noted that he doesn't call out an attack name whenever he kicks someone or something, but for important events and fights he usually will. Most of his attacks are said in French and are usually cooking/food terms related in some way to the specific portion of the opponent's body that he's targeting or to the nature of the attack itself. In the English anime, the attacks are changed to be funny sounding, non-existent food items that have something to do with the target area of the attack.
Common attacks are Mouton Shot (Sanji jumps and flips, and kicks with all his might into the foe's mid-region or head) and Anti-Manner Kick Course (One of Sanji's most powerful kicks where he delivers a 180 degree vertical kick upward into a giant foe's torso or back, which is usually used on those he sees as having no manners, e.g. those that attack women.)
In the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji reveals a new ability - Diable Jambe, the power to heat his lower legs to a temperature so high they glow bright red, by spinning rapidly in place. Diable means devil in French and it's also a type of dish, Jambe means leg, but the kanji reads diable's wind. The aforementioned attacks also have the word Diable Jambe preceding it (ex. Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot). The heat is so high that in less than a second of contact would set a person aflame. Sanji used this ability during his fight with Jyabura, in which his attacks weren't so effective due to his active usage of tekkai, Jyabura has honed hs techique so much to be able to move while having Tekkai activated. Sanji broke through Jyabura's tekkai, meant to absorb physical damage, with this skill.
Although Sanji fights with his legs, his arms also possess some strength, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands, proving that his arms are also quite strong. In his fight with Wanze, he uses knifes, the tools of a chef. In the battle he only used them becaused Wanze used food, so he used the knifes against the food, or the ramen.
Last but not least, Sanji is an expert cook, knowing and capable of preparing almost any kind of food with a strong sense to the aesthetics of cooking.It should also be noted that Sanji possesses a high degree of resistance against heat and fire-based attacks. And even though his degree of strength is centered on his legs, his upper body has shown to be quite resilient, allowing him to endure half of Jyabura's Jusshigan as well as a direct hit from Kuroobi's fists. It would appear that both the said defensive capabilities originated from his time while working at the Baratie; from tolerating fire while cooking food and from Zeff's kicks (Zeff tends to unnecessarily kick Sanji on the gut if the food prepared by the latter does not match his expectations). And lastly, Sanji has proven quite tactitious from time to time; evident by the ploy he played on Crocodile during the Alabasta Arc, he's also the reason behind the closing of the Gates of Justice behind Enies Lobby, supplementing the crew's escape.
[edit] References
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