I was bored, there was no chapter this week, and we’re about to reach the arc’s climax. So just for the sake of it I wrote a review, in Love & Loath style, of the Whole Cake Island up to the current chapter (861, for any future readers). This got kind of long, so I’m hiding it behind tags.
! Love:
The best thing about WCI, is how incredibly twisty, mysterious, and unpredictable it is compared to almost every arc in the series.
! -Unpredictable conclusion: With a couple of exceptions, (most prominently, the War saga) we generally know that in the end, every arc will conclude with Luffy punching the main villain unconscious, and we celebrate with a big party. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a formula that works extremely well, and there’s way more to a story than just knowing how it’s going to end (spoilers: Luffy becomes the Pirate King), but that just makes it even better when that isn’t the case. Even now, one or two chapters before the plan begins, we still can’t say with 100% certainty that Big Mom will be defeated for good, continue on as a Yonkou, or even make a deal with the crew. And even though we KNOW the assassination plan will fail somehow, we have no idea HOW it will happen. And what about the characters involved? Is Judge really clueless about Big Mom’s betrayal, or is he playing dumb and planning something (I think so, he’s been out of focus for a while and it feels like his “turn” to do something)? Is Pudding going along with the plan, or is it too much of a “pain in the ass” and she has something else in mind? Speaking of Pudding…
! -Charlotte Pudding: By far the most unpredictable, mysterious, and interesting (not necessarily the best, though I think she is) character in this arc. Immediately after her first appearance the One Piece fanbase was filled with endless debates about whether or not she was helping the crew, or leading them into a trap. And this was exactly what Oda wanted us to do. Every other chapter gave us either more or less reasons to believe her, and we could never pin her down until she finally pulled out the third eye. And even after we learn she seduced Sanji and lead the others into a trap, we STILL can’t figure her out. Did she tamper with her family’s memories? Is she loyal to her mother? We don’t know, and it’s terrific. On top of all that, I love her rotten personality and crazy facial expressions.
! -And then there are all of the smaller surprises. How many people expected Luffy and Bege to team up? Or Thousand Arms Cracker turning out to be a Biscuit man? I personally never expected Big Mom would want to betray and murder the Vinsmokes.
! -Lastly in regards to unpredictability, there’s the Zeff situation. It’s a very unique problem, and I still haven’t got a clue how it’s going to be resolved. Even if Big Mom is somehow beaten badly enough to lose her Yonkou status, I can’t imagine her crew being destroyed so thoroughly that they won’t try to take revenge. That’s one more layer to this crazy conclusion
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! Mystery and Unpredictability might be the best things about WCI, but there’s still a lot more to like.
! - Artwise, this is one of my favorite arcs. It’s filled with some of the wackiest, craziest, and most varied character designs in the series, and even the more standard “cool guy” designs like Katakuri and Ichiji look, well, cool. The Homies are great and give a ton of funny background moments. It’s just a fun arc to look at.
! -This is the first real Yonkou arc, and while he makes a few missteps here and there (more on that latter), Oda’s done a good job making them feel threatening. Cracker and Brulee would have beaten Luffy and Nami right from the beginning if they didn’t have the vivre card. Luffy was outright defeated by Big Mom’s army. Katakuri is looking like the biggest obstacle towards assassination Big Mom. And Big Mom herself is so tough she nearly killed half the crew in her sleep!
! -While some of them could have been better developed (more on that latter), the fights have overall been pretty good. Sanji vs Judge does a fantastic job establishing Judge a scumbag. The Cracker fight is the kind of craziness you can only find in One Piece. Luffy vs Sanji has tons of impact and emotion in every kick. The Enraged Army has great visuals, and I’m a sucker for a good protagonist defeat. Pedro vs Tamago gave Pedro some much needed characterization (and the greatest attack name in the series: LEG BENNADICT). Even though we see way, WAY, WAAAAAY, too little of it, Brook vs Big Mom is going to go down as one of Brook’s best and most iconic moments. And while it’s a bit of a stretch calling it a fight, rescuing Brook from a sleeping Big Mom was hilarious and suspenseful.
! -Speaking of Brook, Brook! This is the best he’s been since he joined the crew. Every scene with him is great.
! -It’s a small thing, but I’m really glad Nami’s finally wearing reasonable clothes again.
! -I already talked about Pudding, but I think the characters in this arc have been pretty good. Big Mom isn’t my favorite villain, but she’s still a good one, and bound to get better once the wedding begins. Judge is an absolute scumbag and one of those “love-to-hate” villains that Oda excels at. Reiju is the best sister since Nojiko, and the first pink haired princess who doesn’t annoy 80% of the readerbase. Carrot is pretty fun (even if she cuts into Chopper’s screentime, more on that latter), and I really like Pedro’s no-nonsense attitude and how he’s influenced by his shortened lifespan. Bege is a schemer, who still manages to unexpectedly be a loving husband and father. And everyone else is at least “decent,” and nobody is annoying, unlikable, or a screentime hog.
! -Despite being one of the most complicated arcs in the series, it manages to stay relatively fast paced, aside from maybe the Seducing Woods.
! -Jinbei’s back! Yay! Looking forward to him (probably) joining.
! Loath:
-Jinbei’s back? Yay? For an arc where a crewmember (probably) joins, he’s done remarkably little.
! -Right after the Pudding reveal the Strawhats get way, WAY, WAAAAAY too lucky. I can deal with Pudding spoiling the plan for now because she’s still mysterious, it’s plausible that she’d get cocky because of her powers, and she had no reason to believe they’d break out of prison, but everything else is just a mess. First Jinbei shows up perfectly fine, okay not too bad. Second, Sanji’s handcuffs turn out to be fakes, disappointing. Then, Opera lies about Luffy and Nami escaping. This is awful and makes no sense, even if Opera lies why haven’t any of the countless soldiers chasing them reported anything. A guard sleeps in Sanji’s bed at just the right time for no apparent reason. Bobbin decides to take matters into his own hands. All of this in the span of around 4 chapters. This is probably the worst mid-arc turnabout in the series.
! -Way too many key moments in fights happen offscreen, and are told but not shown. Most of them still managed to be good, but they could have been better. We should have seen Nami arriving to save Luffy from Cracker. We should have seen Nami control the Chess soldiers and call down lightning. And we DEFINITELY should have had more than just a single 2-page spread of Brook vs Big Mom (even if it was awesome). And those are the fights that managed to stay good. Chopper & Carrot taking down Brulee and Co. was bad and felt incredibly random and nonsensical since we have no idea how they managed to switch the real and fake Carrots.
! -While Brook has been great, Sanji and Luffy have been mixed but overall good, and Nami has been fine, Chopper has been underwhelming. Most of the time he’s either been in the background, or wandering around the mirror world. Sure he came up with the plan to take down Brulee, but Carrot did most of the action there. Not to mention at the start of the arc he failed to cure Luffy’s fish poison.
! -Luffy’s determination to honor his promise and stay at “the promised place” was cool at first, but then he abandons Nami and Jinbei in enemy territory to go starve. It’s not his worst moment, but it’s down there.
! -Even though Totto Land is an incredibly diverse, colorful, and interesting place visually, it feels like wasted potential. There are 35 islands, and we’ve only really seen 2 of them. I’m hoping the return trip show us more.
Sanji and his story gets his own Love & Loath, because I have a lot to say about him. I’d also like to preface this by saying that he's probably my favorite character.
! Love
-Highlighting his older, more neglected traits. Sanji isn’t just a nosebleeding pervert, he’s a kindhearted cook who respects food and cares about his friends and father figure more than his own well-being.
! -While it’s sometimes just frustrating (more latter), seeing one of the more hardened Strawhats pushed to his breaking point is (usually) very impactful. Just when you think things can’t get worse for him, they do.
! -His relationship with his sister is great
! -This is a personal thing, but his backstory reinforced a headcanon of mine. I’ve always believed that throughout the series Sanji has always very deliberately been trying to act cool and manly. All of his one-liners, especially around women? Trying to sound cool. The Smoking? Trying to look cool. His rivalry with Zoro? Of course he wants to be more badass than the designated badass swordsman. Now we find out he was born as the weak and unloved member of warrior kingdom. I think he’s compensating.
! -His flashback was pretty nice, but…
! Loathe
-This is One Piece, a series known and acclaimed for having outstanding flashbacks, even in its weaker arcs. “Pretty nice” is way below par for the series. All of the great ones tell well-crafted short stories that tell us more about the character’s personalities and motivations, but this felt more like an exposition dump to set up the present-day plotline.
! -His despair lasted about one or two chapters too long. After finding out that Big Mom is not going to honor her deal and will kill the Strawhats, and assurance from his sister that the handcuffs won’t hurt him, we get another chapter of him deciding to go still along with the wedding. Frustrating.
! -I’m not really sure how to explain this, but here I go. Some of the traits that Oda is trying to highlight are Sanji’s kindness and empathetic nature. The problem is, out of all of the Strawhats, Sanji is probably one of the biggest jerks. Sanji’s a good person overall, but so is the rest of the crew. It feels kind of forced. Imagine if latter on Oda wrote a story about how Chopper was a “super strong and awesome fighter.” Sure it’s true, but it feels dissonant (I hope that’s the right word) from everyone else.
Anyway, so far WCI is a really great arc, that feels like it could have been an excellent one if it had more polish. 4/5 so far, and the first time I’ve been gobbling up chapters since Marineford. If the wedding lives up to the hype it’ll be a 4.5/5. And even if it ends up being a disappointment, it's already better than Fishman Island and Dressrosa.