My Rant About Gojo & Sanji Being Criminally Mischaracterized
So Iāve been getting back into JJK recently, and itās safe to say Gojo is definitely one of my favorite characters again. And no, itās not just because heās hot (though⦠bonus). Itās because he reminds me so much of my allātime favorite character everāSanji. If youāve been following me for more than two minutes, you already know this.
Both of them are unbelievably kind, selfless, emotionally layered characters who constantly get reduced to āhaha goofy pretty man.ā Like⦠god forbid a man has a personality.
āThereās nothing to like about Gojo besides his looks.ā
⢠The same Gojo who saves people constantly and doesnāt even get a thank you.
⢠The same Gojo who kept Tojiās dying wish and became Megumiās guardianāat seventeen. Thatās a level of maturity most grown adults donāt have.
⢠The same Gojo who feeds his students all the time even though thatās not his job.
⢠The same Gojo who saved Yuta and literally gave him a future.
⢠The same Gojo who hid Sukunaās finger to protect Yuji.
⢠The same Gojo who treats his students like his own kids and wants them to grow up in a better world than he did.
⢠The same Gojo who had to kill his best friend with his own hands because it was the only way to protect everyone else.
⢠The same Gojo who never even got a childhood because he was raised as a weapon, isolated from his parents, and forced into a role he never asked for.
But sure. āHeās just goofy.ā
People really act like his silly attitude is his whole personality when itās literally just a layer. Gojo knows exactly when to be serious. He takes situations seriously even when they have nothing to do with him like the executions targeting Yuta and Yuji. Heās always thinking ahead, always carrying the weight of being āthe strongest,ā and he hides how heavy that burden is because he doesnāt want anyone else to worry. Beneath the jokes, heās focused, calculating, and ready to act the second it matters.
Now letās talk about Sanji, because the parallels are insane.
āItās his job to feed people.ā
No. Itās not his job to feed villains. Kindness is a choice. Nobody else at Baratie had that policyāonly him. He physically cannot stand to see someone starve, even if theyāre an enemy.
āSo what if he protected his family?ā
His āfamilyā abused him, locked him in a cell, beat him, treated him like trashāand he STILL chose to go back and save them. Again: kindness is a choice and that takes a lot of maturity. His whole thing was he didnāt want to become like them and instead be kind like the way his real father Zeff raised him to be. He literally asked Zoro to kill him in Wano because he was so scared of becoming like them, that alone is selfless in its nature.
āLuffy can just find another cook.ā
Oh, so weāre just ignoring the entire point of Whole Cake Island then.
Luffy literally starved himself waiting for Sanji. He refused food from anyone else because āyouāre the cook on my ship, and I wonāt eat anything until you come back.ā That wasnāt dramatics. That was Luffy making it clear that Sanji isnāt replaceable. Heās family.
And when Sanji tried to push him away, Luffy yelled back āWithout you, I canāt become King of the Pirates.ā
He has never said that to any other crew member. Yes, he needs all of themābut that specific line, that level of emotional honesty, was reserved for Sanji. Because Sanji is the one who keeps the crew alive. Heās the one who feeds them, protects them, and holds them together in ways nobody else can.
And letās talk about the āSanji kicked himā thing. Sanji did nothing wrong. He was forced into an impossible situation, cornered on every side, and the only way to protect the crew was to hurt Luffy. And even then, he was crying. He felt so guilty and ashamed that he couldnāt even look Luffy in the eye afterward, even though he had no choice.
When Luffy asked, āWhy wonāt you come back?ā what was Sanjiās first reason?
āI canāt come back because you came all the way to save me and I hurt you. That alone doesnāt give me the right to return.ā
He genuinely believed he didnāt deserve forgiveness for something he was forced to do. Meanwhile Luffy wasnāt even mad at him. Not for a second.
Sanjiās guilt, his loyalty, his selflessnessānone of that is replaceable. And Luffy knows that better than anyone.
āHe only cares about women.ā
⢠The Same Sanji whoās introduction was him feeding a hungry man (gin or whatever his name was).
⢠The same Sanji who saved a random headless man (Kināemon) because he wanted to help him find his son.
⢠The same Sanji who was willing to die in Thriller Bark to protect Luffy and Zoro.
⢠The same Sanji who tried to sacrifice himself to Kuma in Sabaody to protect Zoro and Usopp.
⢠The same Sanji who loses his mind anytime someone hurts Usopp.
⢠The same Sanji who constantly worries about making Zeff proud and built his entire moral code around the man who saved his life.
⢠The same Sanji who gave up his dream and his freedom for Luffyās and Zeffās sake. ļæ¼
And thatās not even half the list.
Sanji is one of the most beautifully written characters in One Piece nobody matches his kindness, his loyalty, or the emotional depth he brings to the story. His whole character teaches us how compassion is strength.
Which is exactly why I love Gojo so much. He reminds me of Sanji in all the best ways: the kindness, the selflessness, the burden they carry alone, the way they hide their pain behind humor, the way people underestimate them because theyāre pretty and silly on the surface.
Gojo is the GOAT. Sanji is the GOAT. And people need to stop downplaying everything theyāve done and everything theyāve survived.
Anyway, I just needed to rant.