My Favourite Characters - Vinsmoke Sanji

Yeah I’m still on One Piece because I went so long without wanting to talk about it I’m making up for lost time by really wanting to talk about it. So let’s milk this by talking about my second favourite crew member: Vinsmoke Sanji. And yes I say second because of course Luffy is first no question. But when it comes to the crew of the Straw Hat Pirates, none of them have has had as much development, layers and consistency in their writing than Sanji. I say that because while I love everyone else there are certain traits of their character that varies depending on what the plot needs. Zoro has a horrible sense of direction except when the plot needs him to be somewhere right now, Usopp is a coward that is sometimes brave in adversity but goes back to being a coward again in much easier scenarios, Franky can do pretty much anything so Oda introduced a ‘cola feature’ so he can do pretty much anything…except when they don’t want him to.

Sanji on the other hand has a fixed list of character traits that he rarely wavers from, he’s a suave perverted chef who only fights with his feet. He has a list of rules that he abides by and has a dream that he wants to achieve but it’s also one he can’t really make any active progression towards so it’s not so much an active plot thread as it is a cross off the checklist of ‘Straw Hat Crewmember shared traits’. And like most of his crewmates a lot of this comes from his backstory (Or backstories now) without the lesson being shoved down our throats. After all, Zoro’s goals and values were literally spelt out at the end of his flashback while Sanji, though not subtly done by any means, expects the audience to understand why he behaves in certain ways given his past experiences.

So let’s take a look at those rules he abides by. Number One: He never lets anyone go hungry. This is one of the earliest established aspects of his character, not only is he a great chef but he will always cook someone a meal even if their unable to pay or if they’re a bad guy. The reason why is one of those not-subtle but also not spelled out moments I mentioned earlier. Back when Sanji was a child he was stranded on a giant rock in the middle of the ocean and nearly starved to death, because of this, Sanji knows hunger better than anyone and doesn’t want anyone to experience the same kind of pain, regardless of their prior actions. Also considering his mentor and father figure Zeff was also on this rock and whatever food they did have he gave to Sanji, also taught him compassion and kindness, another reasoning to why he will help pretty much anyone in need.

Even just the fact that he’s a chef tells us so much about his character, yes he’s a great cook but seeing how far he takes it and how passionate he is makes it such a more fascinating character trait than it usually is for characters. Sanji treats cooking like it’s an art form, the perfect elements coming to together to create something stimulating for the senses, no matter how much time and effort has to go into it. Likewise, he respects anyone who would put their passion into cooking and even if the food itself doesn’t meet his standards he still respects them as an equal for trying. The opposite is also true, anytime people disrespects food for both the effort put into it but also the necessity of it instantly becomes an enemy in his book. This is especially true in one of the recent chapters where his obnoxious and arrogantly privileged brother throws a plate of food on the floor and Sanji berates him both wasting food that thousands of people don’t have access too, but also for insulting the chef who spent hours making it.

Then of course there’s the aspect he’s best known for, his love of women. Yes, this is one of Sanji’s more…abrasive elements to a lot of fans, they think his perverted nature is taken too far and often crosses the line of being comedic to downright creepy. This is a thought pattern I don’t disagree with and I will say this is the only case where he can fluctuate, sometimes he can’t keep his cool when in front of a woman, other times he’s as cool as a cucumber, again it all comes back to what the plot demands. But still even there’s a lot about his character than can be analysed from this, not necessarily his perverted nature but his admiration for women in general.

Sanji has said multiple times that he would never hit a woman even if his life depended on it and how he’ll always forgive them for their lies. Part of this might come from his sister Reiju, who despite also mocking him and berating him like the rest of his family, she also took care of him and apologised for her behaviour in private, making her the only person in Sanji’s childhood to show him some compassion. For nothing else Sanji has always shown that he would go to extreme lengths to repay a debt, Zeff saves his life so Sanji dedicated it to helping him until Zeff says otherwise, Reiju shows him compassion so he in return treats every woman like a goddess, not unreasonable to make that assumption.

What makes Sanji (And most of the Straw Hat Crew) interesting is seeing how far they can be pushed and whether or not the antagonist can get them to cross that line. For Sanji this line would be having to take on a master assassin and nearly be killed because he didn’t fight back cause the assassin was female. Now some might argue that works against the character, if he never breaks that rule then how can there be conflict? How do you prevent the character from seeming stale? To that I say: Shut Up. One Piece is not a story about characters changed by the world, it’s the world changed by the characters. For this small crew to look everyone else dead in the eye and shout “No, you move”. Because Sanji doesn’t need to break his rules in order to succeed, he’ll find another way, and that other way is one of the major themes of One Piece, trusting in your crew, hoping they can pick up the slack in areas where you falter and you do the same for them in return. And in the case of One Piece Sanji is one of the most important crew members in that sense, he’s a badass fighter, he keeps everyone healthy, he’s optimistic but also brutally honest and he’s a man that sticks to his word and given the right circumstances will always show you sympathy. Of course someone like that would turn out to be one of my favourite characters.

-Danny

One Piece is Good Again, Hallelujah

Being a fan of something for over 12 years can have a lot of drawbacks. The worst one being when the story goes bad, I can’t drop it because I’ve invested so much time and want to know what happens. But I also can’t skip it because I’m sure I’ll miss some very important story points in the long run. This has been my quarrel with One Piece for the past 5 years.

In 2011 One Piece did a 2-year time skip in the story and though conceptually it was a good idea, the stories for some reason have not being good because of it with no clear reason why. They don’t suck because of the time skip; they just happen to suck after the time skip happened. In those 5 years we have had 4 arcs, the first one ‘Fishman Island’ is the only one that I can say suffered because of the time skip, the characters became too powerful that the antagonists weren’t threatening and there was so much time spent developing the Fishman Island and culture when really why should we care about a temporary setting? The second arc ‘Punk Hazard’ suffers from a similar issue of a bad villain, but also the fact it turned out to be one giant set up arc for the next arc. ‘Dressrosa’ which might be the worst arc in One Piece history, with half the main characters missing, too much time spent with characters we don’t care about, awful pacing even by One Piece standards and for taking 2 fucking years to finish. Really at that point, nothing else matters, no story would be interesting if it lasted for 2 years.

Then most recently there was the ‘Zou Arc’ which the anime is currently going through and I hesitate to even call this an arc because of how short it was and was just set-up for the next (and current) arc in the manga. But I consider that a good thing, the Zou Arc only lasted for 20 chapters in the manga, while Punk Hazard? 45! So already a considerable achievement.

This brings us to the current arc in the story, ‘Totto Land’ which over 20 chapters in and I am loving it. So what makes this arc work better than the others? The biggest reason is simply it revolves around the crew! Not the whole crew mind you, but the crew. The story follows Sanji being forced to leave the crew to fulfil a duty to his family, who turn out to be royal elitists with serious Nazi parallels…so you can see why Sanji chose to keep this a secret. They’ve even gone as far to say is Sanji doesn’t marry a woman they’ve picked out from another royal family they’ll blow off his hands and kill someone he loves.

Like I said, all of the other arcs didn’t really revolve around the crew, but rather they go to an island, things happen there and they get roped into it somehow, and we don’t care about this random countries politics! We don’t care about this temporary character’s tragic backstory! Yes those are all nice developments to flesh out the story but at its core the story should revolve around the Straw Hat Crew! They are our main characters! If they’re only involved on behalf of someone else then why should anything that happens matter?

This is where this arc shines, Sanji has always been one of the best and most well rounded characters in One Piece, so seeing the origin of a lot of his beliefs and mannerisms is interesting to watch. Though really wasn’t his backstory of nearly starving to death tragic enough? Did you have to throw in an abusive family? I mean it works and is so far the best thing about the story, I’m just saying. Sanji’s relationship with his family is so well defined at this point that I want to see where it’s going, every week I’m excited for new developments. And even though we’re only 20 chapters in, it feels like we’ve covered a lot of ground, I’d guess we’re 1/3 if not 1/2 through the story by now.

Then there are just the bonuses of Oda throwing in references to other famous works, such as Alice in Wonderland, The Man in the Iron Mask and like I already said, Nazism. Not only does it give the story more of a visual flare but the fact that we can connect it actually fleshes out the story better than exposition would. I could spend an entire blog post explaining why the Vinsmoke family is evil and how their system works, or I could just say: They’re like Nazis. Boom, in those 3 words you understand everything you need to about how the Vinsmoke family works, what their goals are and how they function.

So, to go over why this story works so much better than all the other post-time skip stories: Story revolves around a main character, better paced and is a nice pastiche to other works and real life events.

So where can they go from here? The build-up has been great, what can they do for the payoff? In my opinion one of three things (If not all three) need to happen to get the emotional resolution we could want as well as for more character development. It’s established Sanji hates and quite possibly fears his family and they in return thing he is pathetic and useless. So what I would like to see if Sanji’s brothers insult and torment him and he’s too afraid or injured to fight back, then one of the Straw Hat crewmembers comes in and saves him, but who would it be? I feel it has to be either Nami or Zoro who comes to defend him. Yes, Zoro isn’t on the island but I would completely buy that he got so lost on his way to Wano he ended up in a different country. But the reason why I feel it has to be one of these two is because they are yet to show their full care for Sanji. If Luffy shows up and defends him then of course he’ll do that, he’s always been open about how much he loves Sanji like he loves all of his crew.

Nami & Zoro have never expressed any sympathy or concern for Sanji, even though we know they do care and would defend him at the cost of their lives, how great would it be to see them stick up for him? To assure him that he is strong and useful? So see them kick the shit out of the Vinsmoke family because they hurt their Nakama. It would be a new development for their characters and would strengthen the relationship between them. Then Sanji could go kick the shit out of his dad because…that would be awesome to see.

But still, I do hope this story ends as great as it started off and it is so…so freaking great to say One Piece is good again. It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way that it makes me so happy that a franchise I have this much love for I can actually enjoy once more.

-Danny

My Favourite Characters - Peridot

I feel like eventually I'm going to do every character from Steven Universe because goddamn it's just so good. Well, the first one up is Peridot, the once threatening and intellectual villain of the series, stripped of her equipment and rank and trapped on Earth with the Crystal Gems only to eventually become their ally, friend and eventually one of them.

Peridot has probably one of the most satisfying and well paced 'villain to hero' story arcs I've ever seen. When she first came to Earth she was raised on Homeworld's ethics and thoughts. She was born with a limited amount of knowledge and personality to help her do the job she was made to do, she didn't have her own personal goals or beliefs, just what she was programmed to do. Once she was stranded on Earth and she lost everything that made her a threat, she still treated the Crystal Gems like enemies and feared them, it wasn't until Steven showed her multiple acts of kindness and being forced to spend more time with the Crystal Gems to learn about why they do what they do that she started to open up to them. Amethyst taught her to relax, Garnet taught her to experiment, Pearl taught her to be inventive, Steven taught her to be kind.

Being on Earth allowed her to experiment in new ways and learn to be her own person, developing her own relationships and interests that she was eventually able to share with Lapis, another gem trapped on Earth with no allies or places to go, and now the two are best friends (And possibly something more, wink wink). This all came to a head in the episode 'Earthlings' where her former Homeworld ally berated her for her traitorous and baffling actions to protect what Homeworld only sees as a shell of a planet. And what did Peridot respond with? 'It's not a shell. There's so much life, living here! That's what I'm doing, I'm living here! I've been learning new things about myself all the time! Earth can set you free.'

When you look at why The Crystal Gems protect Earth, they're mostly for selfish reasons. Garnet feels safe and free to live her own lifestyle, Pearl does it at out loyalty to Rose's cause rather than her own, Amethyst because she was born there. Peridot was an external figure that came to Earth with the intent to destroy it, but after seeing how curious, new and interesting it was, she connected with it and sees how not only fascinating and freeing it is to be there, but how it can do the same for other Gems as well. Help others find who they really are, experiment with something new and learn things about themselves and others they never would have before.

Also there's the fact that she's so damn funny, at times even feeling like a Looney Tunes character with her exaggerated and cartoonish expressions. Which apparently the people behind the show thought the exact same thing seeing as they recently did a Looney Tunes tribute episode where Peridot and a corrupted gem reenact classic Road Runner shorts. It makes me wish Peridot was an actual Looney Tune considering how well she would have blending with them, like a mixture between Marvin the Martian and Daffy Duck.

To wrap up, Peridot has had an amazing arc this past season, every episode she's in is instantly a classic, her relationships with every Crystal Gem is interesting to watch, she's a very funny person and is one of my all time favourite characters.

Why Doesn't Cyborg Work On His Own?

Cyborg has gotten a lot of crap in recent years, mostly because DC hasn't done the best job of handling the character. Ever since The New 52 DC has really tried hard to make him an important member of the DC Universe, making him one of the big members of the Justice League, giving him his own comic and his own movie, and of course like anything forced down audiences' throats, they tend to reject it. Lots of people making fun of Cyborg and pointing out how he's not really that interesting of a character and most likely can't hold his own movie and...yeah in someway's that's true.

But thing is, Cyborg isn't a bad character, he's just been badly handled. For me, and for a lot of people, Cyborg belongs with the Teen Titans, that's where he's always seemed the most comfortable and fitting. He behaves a lot like a football jock in high school, he doesn't fit in next to gods. He's the adult of a group of teenagers, making him the kid in a group of adults completely changes that power dynamic and is not where he belongs. Cyborg is mature, but he is still a rambunctious and energetic teen. Making him a member of the Justice League where he has to behave all serious and mature isn't his style. That's why he doesn't work as part of the Justice League and why he doesn't work on his own. Hell, this year's animated movie Justice League Vs Teen Titans kind of supports that as well, even though Cyborg is a member of the Justice League he spends most of the movie with the Teen Titans and seems much more comfortable spending time with them than he does any member of the League, even going as far to throw a pizza party with them.

Which is why the announcement that he'll be appearing in The Flash movie makes perfect sense, one: it has a power dynamic where he's with someone in equal age, maturity and personality so he's most likely going to blend well with him. I could see the two having good banter and conversations that would make Cyborg an entertaining character, interesting or complex? Unlikely, but an enjoyable one.

-Danny

Does Mary Jane Need To Be A Redhead?

It was recently reported by The Wrap that 19 year old Zendaya would be playing Mary Jane Watson in the upcoming Spider-Man: Homecoming. Lots of people have been both for and against this in the hours since it was reported. Now before delving into this, everyone really needs to actually read reports before talking about them because as of right now, this is just a rumour. The report says two unnamed sources have confirmed this, meaning no one at Marvel, Sony or Zendaya has actually said she will be Mary Jane. So those unnamed sources could be anything from assistant director to extras who were on set for a day, so do not take this as 100% fact.

With that being said, lots of people are for this decision mostly for diversity reasons, having a woman of colour be playing a love interest would be a new step for Marvel, especially an interracial couple which isn't done that often in general media, let alone superhero stories. And heck, Spider-Man: Homecoming so far is the most diverse cast in a Marvel movie so it wouldn't be surprising if this is true. Now as for my opinion, I haven't seen Zendaya act before so I have no idea how she'll do, but everything we've seen from the production of this movie so far tells me they're taking it in the right direction, so I trust she'd do a good job.

Then of course you have the thinly arguments against her being cast as Mary Jane. Of course you have the racists who just don't like the idea of a woman of colour in the role, but then you have the thinly veiled excuses trying to pretend they're not being racist when they kinda are. "I just don't like the idea of changing a character's identity, why can't they just make a new character?" Yes, because the fact that MJ is white is a very defining part of her, lord knows how many stories have been told due to her being Caucasian and will now never come to pass...Then you have even dumber arguments like "MJ is supposed to be a redhead" apparently these people have never heard of hair dye.

But that's something that I actually found fascinating to think about, does MJ need red hair? Yes it is definitely one of her defining features and iconography can be important for a franchise. It'd be like if they changed Spider-Man's costume from red to green, technically nothing about the character has changed, but that doesn't mean people won't be upset about it. But a big difference there is the costume is nothing but iconography. Mary Jane isn't a costume, it's a person, she does still have a defined personality even without the red hair. She's sassy, she's an extrovert, she's supportive, she's brave, she's a quick thinker, there is much more to her than just being a red head so is it important for her to have red hair? No. Not really.

-Danny

Is iZombie the BEST DC Comic Book Show on TV?

So yeah, I just got finished binge watching through the first two seasons of iZombie and I am craving more (Puns!). iZombie is based on the hit Vertigo Comic of the same name, and Vertigo Comics is owned by DC Comics, which makes this one of many DC Shows airing on The CW right now. And as I finished the second season and started to collect my thoughts on it, something occurred to me: "There wasn't a single episode I disliked". Yes there were certainly average episodes, mostly in the first season, but nothing outright BAD. Nothing where I was rolling my eyes at and saying "Oh my god you people are so stupid". If anything, the show took a massive leap in quality from season 1 which was half average and half super enjoyable, to season 2 which was half super enjoyable and half insanely freakin' good!

Almost everything was improved, the show developed more of a style (Particularly with those food making scenes), the jokes were a lot more witty and satirical. The actors were given a better chance to show off their talents both comedically and dramatically. The main plot was engaging, tense and had several fresh twists. The filler episodes were creative and memorable. Even from a production design things had drastically improved with much more interesting sets. The biggest problem season 1 had in my opinion is that there's often very little you can do to make cloudy and grey Seattle look interesting over an extended period of time, but this season added more colour, gave a better variety of locations and seemed to put more effort in how the series looked. Also unlike the other Comic Book shows that are forced to a 22-24 episode structure, iZombie seems to be allowed to have as many as they want. Season 1 consisted of 13 episodes, season 2 with 19 and season 3 is back to 13, that means their storytelling is much more concise with far less filler, and even when there is filler, there is still story progression in some way.

So that's all well and good, but that thought lead to another, comparing it to the other DC Shows on The CW. Flash had an amazing first season and a hit & miss second season. Arrow had two really good seasons and two really bad seasons. Supergirl & Legends of Tomorrow were for the most part average with some bad stuff thrown in every so often. So technically speaking, iZombie is the best DC Comics show on television (Don't even get me started on Teen Titans Go, it's horrendous). I mean if we're talking about which show has reached the peak of quality, it's Flash. And yes, iZombie is currently batting the same average as Arrow was at this part in its run. But even still, I can think of plenty of episodes in seasons 1 & 2 or Arrow I didn't like. But iZombie, i don't think there is a single episode that I would give a negative review for, there are maybe 6-7 I would say were simply okay, but that's still a positive review. But likewise, there are about 20 episodes I would say are really great.

*Spoilers in this paragraph*
Now that's not to say I don't have problems with the series. I wish the story with Liv's family got a proper ending in season 2, I feel Major's stories in both seasons had too many similarities, and for the love of god stop killing off Liv's zombie boyfriends!

Percentage wise, iZombie is currently at a 100% success rate, and that's not just me, but season 2 currently has a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes (Season 1 has 96%). So far iZombie has not put a step out of line, and even though Flash is still my favourite-again, when it comes to peak of success, Flash is on top-depending on where both shows go in their 3rd season the wind could start blowing in the opposite direction.

So in case it wasn't obvious, I kinda really like this show and highly recommend it.

-Danny

Are We In A New Age of Comic Books?

Comic Books over the past 100 years have popularly been divided into several time periods, defined by their storytelling, business practices and place in pop-culture. The Golden Age (1938-1950) saw the rise of comics as a storytelling medium and with the birth of popular characters such as Superman, Batman & Captain America, as well as most of the tropes and storytelling devices used today were created. However come the end of WW2 superheroes as a concept began to get less and less popular, thus leading to other concepts taking over such as Westerns and Romance comics. The Silver Age (1956-1970) saw superheroes return to popularity with new characters such as The Flash, Spider-Man and The Avengers. It also saw the Comics Code Authority take power which restricted and censored controversial plots, leading to most stories being wacky and over the top. The Bronze Age (1970-1985) saw the Comics Code Authority die down, allowing comics to begin tackling more serious and grounded issues, including death, alcoholism, drug addiction and the Vietnam War.

Then finally there is The Modern Age (1985-Present) or as I prefer to call it: The Dark Age. This saw the rise in popularity in stories like Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns impact comic books across the field, suddenly every comic thought being dark & gritty was the way to go and the only option to be seen as serious storytelling. The Death of Superman, Identity Crisis, Cry For Justice-Okay so a lot of it was DC, but Marvel had their fair share of needlessly dark & gritty stories, you think Tobey Maguire gave us Emo Peter? Try reading anything from The Clone Saga; that is Emo Peter. Not to mention Spawn, Youngblood, Blade, all needlessly violent and gritty, even when it was done well (The Crow) it still enforced the idea this was the only way to tell stories. Even more so the actual industry itself was not doing well during this. The Rise and Fall of the Speculator Boom meant lots of new publishers were created and collapsed within their first year, meaning an over-saturation of material and a general downgrade in readership. Marvel even nearly went bankrupt in the 90s. It was truly a Dark Age to be a comic book fan, and it lasted for a long, long time.

But in my opinion, not only have we move passed that, but we are in such a good age to be a comic book reader. Now it’s hard to define when this happened, my estimates are somewhere around 2012 but this age didn’t really hit its stride until 2015/16. Now the big thing that jump started this new age is two things, one is the internet, because of this it is so much easier now than ever to have your opinion on comic books to be heard, before creators could only ever get feedback through letters, which meant the majority of their audiences’ opinions wouldn’t be heard. Now they could hear opinions and see reviews within hours of publishing, from thousands of people. Then of course there is just the general popularity of superhero stories thanks to their movies. Say what you want about the over-saturation of our blockbusters, but it’s no secret that superhero movies make big money these days. Everyone goes to see them, everyone knows and loves these characters. 10 years ago people would have laughed at the idea of Thor getting his own movie, but now? People scoff at the idea that there was a time where Hollywood was sceptical on if Spider-Man would work as a movie. And while comic sales still aren't what they used to be, they’re slowly picking their way back up in sales.

Even more so is how the industry works and how these stories are written. While DC and Marvel still dominate the majority of the market, lots of smaller publishers are getting a chance to shine in the spotlight too. Comic books like The Walking Dead, Saga, The Wicked + The Divine are considered must reads for any comic book fan. Mostly because of how accessible it is to publish, market and read these comics, again, thanks to the internet. There’s also much more an attempt to diversify comics, to be more inclusive and reach out to a wider audience. Kamala Khan as Ms Marvel, Miles Morales as Spider-Man, Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz as Green Lanterns. Hell, there’s something to be said about how big these stories got. Back in 1992 when it was announced DC were going to kill off Superman that was so big it made it to national news, that was insane to think a comic book story would be that important. But nowadays there’s a big story every few months that makes the news, a female Thor, making Captain America a Nazi, these all made headlines for how mind blowing they were. The focus on diversity also played a role behind the scenes too, more female writers and artists were brought on board, people of different backgrounds were given chances to tell stories, while granted this is an area that still isn’t perfect, it’s a lot better than it used to be.

Then of course there were two major events in the big two to shake things up. Marvel’s Secret Wars and DC Rebirth. Both publishers had major continuity reboots just a year apart and relaunched most of their comic books. While this was the mostly done as a way to invite new readers in on their stories, it also worked to completely rebrand their series. Marvel’s event meant ending their Ultimate Series, which was considered a more grounded version of their characters, when really it just turned out to be really angsty and mean spirited. While DC was joining their prior continuity with the New 52 continuity, overall making the majority of their comics far less dark in tone (Except where appropriate) and going back to what made their characters likeable in the first place, hell, in the DC Rebirth One Shot, the day is saved thanks to a hug…a hug. When would you have ever seen something like that in The Dark Age of comic books?

So to sum up, looks like The Dark Age of comic books is over, now we're in an age where our characters are diverse, our stories teach compassion and our audiences are more engaged than ever. So far, it seems like a fairly good age to be in, who knows where it'll go from here.

-Danny