I'm going to listen to Rocky music for the rest of this fight for sure.
Flambe's reaction is fine. One Piece has shallow supporting characters all of the time to serve some sort of moral message, this is no different. She keeps calling herself the cutest little sister based on popularity, so something like this was always bound to happen. I like how somebody here said it resembled how real life fans of Katakuri were disappointed when they saw his face. While seeing his face was when he finally started to grow on me as a character with some depth behind his seemingly cliche badass appearance and serious stoic personality. I never like these types of characters since they're so cartoonishly two-dimensional, but they practically define One Piece's internal conflicts at this point. The short last minute flashback works better than Pudding's too since Linlin and Pudding set the precedent for the Charlotte Family's superficiality. Sure, I'd like prejudice to be based on something more complex than physical appearances for the billionth damn time. But it's in the series' DNA at this point and it fits theme this arc has about harmony and persecution for abnormalities, even if they're part of your own family.
When it comes to how Katakuri revealed his face though, yeah, I agree with Access' thoughts. He was insecure enough to kill random chefs a few minutes ago, but then yelled at Flambe out of pure pride in the fight with Luffy. I can buy him getting into the fight enough to be honorable (even if the self harming cliche). Actually, it's a huge breath of fresh air to FINALLY see an antagonist view Luffy on the same level that they are. Please, oh please let Blackbeard be the same way (minus the self wounding, he's way too cowardly to do that lol).
But the way he revealed his identity could have worked better. If the scene was reworked to wear Katakuri was feeling stress from his pressure, couldn't think straight, got reminded of his mistreatment when looking at how Luffy's getting laughed at, and lashed out instinctively, it would work a lot better for his character consistency. It would be less "THIS IS THE MANLIEST MANLY DUEL WITH THE MOST PRIDELY PRIDE ON THE LINE" and more "I can't take this anymore, screw you guys, I'm going to enjoy myself for the first time in my life."
The execution flawed (actually, almost everything about Katakuri is flawed pacing-wise since he was introduced so late in the arc alongside other big plotlines), but I can still kind of roll with it because I'll take as much as I can get from antagonists that show respect and compassion in this series. They're so rare and I personally didn't care for Katakuri being two-faced enough to kill his allies like so many other villains after trying to save his family when Whole Cake Chateau fell.
I also get where people are coming from when it comes to Katakuri wanting to finish the fight fast to protect Big Mom, but I can mark that under his family pressure too.
Somebody else mentioned how this fight doesn't really have stakes in it. That's always how I thought about it too lol, but I don't mind at this point since Luffy trying to get stronger and Katakuri's image being on the line still makes this somewhat engaging for me. Of course, I could have done without that pointless period where Luffy was running through different islands. Actually, I think that could have worked if Flambe saw him during that period and followed him through a mirror so that her introduction in the Mirror World feels much less random.
You know, I just noticed that the back of Katakuri's jacket says "CHARLOTTE" at the top. I like that detail. Helps his design fit even more with the family, along with his edgy big brother image and his Heath Ledger Joker pelican eel face.
@K.:
Superficial because it involves nothing about their character, or their way of living. Both Pudding and Katakuri are prime examples of Oda not utilizing the elements he has built up for something as superficial as physical appearances. Pudding might look weird as a human, bit she isn't a human, so that really doesn't apply. If Katakuri had been mocked because of his noble nature even though he is a pirate then it would have worked better, including with what this chapter was trying to demonstrate.
But no, it's about being pretty, like it is some sort of secret fantasy that everyone just wants to be called beautiful. Again superficial, nothing to do with their actions, motivations, just their physical appearance.
Forced because at no point did any of these two abused characters show any of it until it became relevant. If Katakuri had shown more signs that he was putting up a facade for his family, if Pudding had shown more vulnerability because of her eye, then sure. But what we got is a last minute, small panels on their abuse, just when it needed to happen.
So yeah, superficial and forced, if I had to be impressed, switch Pudding's beauty complex with the fact that she has not been able to make her own decisions her entire life. And have Sanji recognize that by saying something like: we don't have to get married if you don't want to, given her a choice, not just a superficial, based on physical appearances turning what could have been an interesting character into a two, nay, one note joke of a character.
Same wih Katakuri, focus on his noble arrogance, don't tell me hey: he was made fun of too because of his appearance. It is a weak use of resources. Might as well just have Luffy compliment him as well and get this over with.
Making fun of Katakuri's noble arrogance doesn't make sense when that's the reason he gets worshipped. That would mean completely rewriting the relevance of his characterization and interaction with his family, as well as taking away from the surprise of the twist since everybody would already be making fun of his behavior seemingly unnatural. I'd like more interesting forms of discrimination too besides mocking physical appearances again and again, but One Piece is going to be One Piece after twenty years of this pattern.