When it comes to telling a story, there are certain advantages that books have over comics or movies. By their very nature books are able to convey more information per page than a comic, and more direct insight into a character than a movie. A picture is more ambiguous than a description, which is how you can have a well-developed and compelling book character like Katniss Evergreen look like a block of wood in her movie counterpart. 

Comics in particular gets the short end of the stick, as they tend to have less visual information than a movie and less written information than a book. Shonen manga in particular aren’t often known for their deep characterization. Even critically acclaimed monoliths tend towards simplistic, and therefore relatable, tropes that have come to define the genre. Anyone who has read Bakuman knows that series in Shonen Jump are written specifically so that they can get popular and run forever. The industry itself cripples any story that doesn’t fit into a specific formula.

So I had intended to finish my analysis of chapter 218 of One Piece in one post, but things were starting to run a little long and I split it in two. Here’s Part 1 for those who are interested. For the rest of you, let’s jump in where we left off

In my previous post I discussed a little about how Oda uses motion to convey character. Today I want to take a look a little at how using these techniques helps really sell the transition from enemy to ally, specifically in the case of Nico Robin, and how he was less successful regarding Viola during the Dressrosa arc.

First things first, let’s meet Robin.

A bunch of beautiful one piece ladies 😌💕

On one side, long hair and dresses would look astonishing on her and I do believe she'd be more than comfortable with those. Pretty. Not because she thinks she has to be like that but because she likes it. Long hair makes her look like her mother, in her honor, and I mean, she did try dresses during timeskip and loved it (Oda when I catch you for making her reject that part of herself....). But she's smart, and logical, and would only wear those when comfortable. Her fighting style doesn't give her the chance to wear whatever she wants. Just occassionally. Personally, the best way of mixing both things would be wearing flowy overalls/pants that look like dresses or pants under her skirts. Gotta think smarter.

But even so, a traditional way of embracing femininity goes against everything her arc stands for. And I say this being a huge, huge fan of fem!Sanji wearing more traditional dresses. Don't blame me, I like pretty girls wearing flowy, blue, beach dresses. She's like a mermaid to me... But she can do that while also keeping her body hair because hell yeah, she likes it still. She wears suits also, because that's her brand and they are very gender non-conforming.

It varies depending on the interpretation, too, and all of them are valid, but I personally don't think she'd ask Iva to change her physically. I think both ways work. Maybe she chooses how her body looks in juxtaposition to Germa modifying her body. Maybe she just has the biggest dysphoria and chooses an easy, really cool path. Or maybe, she just accepts her body as it is and loves it. (But, y'know, thematically I think it suits her to keep the body she has) (I also believe her to be Genderfluid but that's something for another day).

The sexualization of transfem!Sanji is honestly a complicated discussion. Because although I do think she could dress and be slutty (because I mean, look at her), most of that sexualization with canon Sanji comes from his inherent femininity and non-conforming masculinity that makes people assume he's submissive, aka: Feminine. And I'm not saying she wouldn't like to dress that way, and all headcanons are soooo valid. But I personally believe the way Nami, for example, shows off her body isn't the same as Sanji's. My baby is a romantic princess, she's definitely not wearing a femme fatale outfit.

Not to mention my "Sanji is sooo Sabrina Carpenter coded" theory again, but she is sooo Sabrina Carpenter coded. I imagine she'd find sensuality and eroticism in traditional and fancy clothes. She could be cute in the same way Sabrina is during "Short n Sweet", or a bit more sexy in a "Man's Best Friend" type of vibe.