In Defense of the Love-Cook.

I wrote this rantish thing for hated_character, but I thought I'd post it over here, as it is relevant. This is my impromptu essay supporting Sanji.

I was plumbing the depths of the pit this weekend looking for badfic, and I found quite a gem. My snark review plus a link to the fic itself can be found at cipher_poll_10(shameless plug), Here. Of course this fic has many things wrong with it, but the thing I'm seeing over and over again, and really can't stand, is the Sanji-bashing of one flavor or another that seems to be rampant throughout the OP ficdom.

Spoilers ahead, probably. I officially recognize Manga Canon and to a lesser extent Anime Canon to the exclusion of Movie Canon.



Sanji can't seem to catch a break. Whether it's a het fic where the author openly admits she finds him pathetic, and treats him accordingly, or it's a yaoi fic wherein the author claims to like Sanji, but still manages to gut his personality.

OOC-Het!Sanji is a rather two dimensional character. He thinks of nothing except fawning over Nami in a patently pathetic manner, he has the mentality of a third grader, especially when it's time to have an argument with someone (usually Zoro), is surprisingly weak physically and will loose consciousness over very slight physical assaults, is surprisingly weak emotionally, and will bawl over a bad situation if push comes to shove.

OOC-Yaoi!Sanji is slightly less two dimensional, since he is usually one of the main players in the stories he appears in. He is almost without exception cast in the role of uke (ok, so I've never seen this exception, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt), no matter whom he's paired with, even his ever ukelicious captain. He is generally meek, emotional, and physically weak. He generally has some sort of angst or trauma that must be resolved with hot sticky boysex (extra points for fangirl if angst or trauma has something to do with his left eye).

Neither of these iterations, of course bear anything but a passing resemblance to IC!Sanji.

Now to deal with these common abuses of his character:

Lovesick!Sanji
It is a popular to be of the opinion that Sanji's over-evident affection for Nami is "pathetic", it seems. He is often portrayed as following her around like a lovesick puppy, in the most dorkish of manners. I personally don't believe Sanji's one-frame crying spells worrying about Nami should be taken as deep character revelations anymore than Luffy crying over lack of food or shiny object. While catering to Nami-san is certainly a major pastime for Canon!Sanji, it is another big mistake to assume that this is merely some desperate outlet for an unchecked libido. No doubt Sanji loves the ladies, but there is a wellspring of canon evidence that he genuinely cares for Nami beyond wanting to get her in the sack.

Let us start with Little Garden. Sanji gives Nami his jacket when she has had her shirt burnt off by the destruction of Mr. 3's Candle Service Set. Later, when she falls ill, he at one point picks up her bed when the ship is rocking, even though she's most likely not lucid enough to even remember. When they are rushing her to the top of the Drum Mountains to see Doctorine, Sanji makes sure Luffy knows that "The most important thing is Nami! The second most important thing is Nami! The third most important..." , and Saves Luffy (whom is carrying the sick Nami on his back), from the avalanche at the expense of drastic injury to himself. There are other instances as well, during the Skypiea arc, for instance, especially in the scene on the airship towards the end.

Pushover!Sanji
I suppose I can grant that Sanji is not portrayed in canon as being as hardcore as Zoro, after all, he never sliced his side open to give someone a level playing field, but there is hardly any evidence that Sanji is as much of a wimp as he is typically portrayed as. Fangirls, I call for a moratorium on knocking Sanji out cold in your fic, unless he's been run over by a fricking mountain, or fried with umpteen zillion volts of electricity. Yes, fangirls, even if Zoro punches him. I don't think Zoro would have such an easy time defeating Sanji as is usually assumed. There's a distinctly non-negligible chance that Sanji would win, and at any rate it would be a close fight. And while it's true that Sanji doesn't have a bounty as of yet, the bounty thing involves a greater factor for opportunity than people seem to want to recognize. I'm confidant that by the time the Enias Lobby bit plays out, Sanji will have a bounty on his head. Even a cursory examination of Sanji in action during One Piece will tell you he is not to be trifled with. In summary for this section, Sanji kicks ass, and Zoro is not God.

Crybaby!Sanji
One of the things about One Piece is that everyone is allowed to cry, even the men. But none of the characters cash in this ability unless something drastic happens. Fic authors need to learn to tell the difference between Sanji crying from being snubbed for one frame, Nami crying about not getting money, or Luffy crying about not having meat or some shiny object, and Sanji crying when he thanks Zeff before setting off with the crew, Nami crying after being betrayed by Arlong, and Luffy crying after the fight with Usopp in Water seven. If you can't honestly judge the difference between those scenes, and what they mean for the character's personality, PLEASE stop writing fic in my fandom.

Uke!Sanji
What. The. Frick. This drives me crazy. First of all, I can't for the life of me figure out why we even need the Seme/Uke convention. Does it ever occur to the authors of these fics, that maybe it wouldn't be the same as het anyway, so why try to force it? Does it ever occur to them that even het shouldn't be set up so rigidly dom/sub all the time? Perhaps it's because Zoro is so ZOMG!Hardcore, that Sanji unfailingly gets the short end of the personality stick in Yaoi fics with the two of them. What I can't figure out is how he manages to land himself as the Uke even when paired with Luffy, whom is invariable portrayed in doujin as a twelve-year-old girl with a dick. Sanji is hardly feminine at all. He is not meek, he is not shy, and he will kick your ass. Just because he wears dressier(but still masculine) clothing, cooks, and unlike Zoro, he appears to bathe, does not seem to be enough reason to explain the testosterone-ectomy he gets in Yaoi Fic. Beyond that, I'm unsure of how to respond to this. Just watch the show/read the manga, and you'll see that Uke!Sanji doesn't make any appearances.



This has been a public service announcement from the Sanji Defense Association.



X-posted, from hated_character