Sanji (One Piece)

Creation and conception

Early designs for Sanji originally depicted him as a gun-wielding black-haired character named Naruto, but that idea was abandoned. Eiichiro Oda drew inspiration from Mr. Pink, Steve Buscemi's character in Reservoir Dogs (1992), when creating Sanji. Sanji is a tall, light-skinned, slender man with a small waist, commonly wearing a black shirt and smoking a cigarette. Before the timeskip, his blonde hair covers his left eye; after the timeskip, it covers his right eye.

As a child before leaving his family, he styled his hair in the opposite direction and wore a yellow shirt with a black number three, white pants, brown boots, and a yellow bandana. After leaving his family, he began wearing a white cook's uniform. During the timeskip, Sanji grows a goatee, which concept art shows was his original design. His most distinctive feature is his eyebrows, which are swirls with the tail end pointing to his left side, opposite in direction to his siblings.

Oda stated Sanji's real-world nationality would be French, contrasting with the Nazi Germany themes of Germa 66. Sanji is generally composed, nonchalant, and calm in dire situations, contrasted by comedic gags involving women or insults from crew members. He has a notable rivalry with Zoro, often leading to verbal and physical fights.

Appearances

Vinsmoke Sanji was born a prince of Germa Kingdom, a floating kingdom of ships on large snail shells. His father, Vinsmoke Judge, sought to restore the family's glory by creating the strongest army, experimenting on his five children. His mother, Sora, tried to undo the experiments with a powerful drug, but only Sanji was affected, becoming the only child without powers and with the ability to feel emotions. Judge resented Sanji as a failure, imprisoning him and allowing his brothers to bully him.

With help from his sister Reiju, Sanji escaped Germa 66, encountering his father who demanded he keep his heritage secret. He fled on a cruise ship called the Orbit. At age nine, while serving as an apprentice cook on a passenger ship, Sanji confronted pirates led by "Red Foot" Zeff. A wave swept Sanji into the sea, and Zeff jumped in after him because of their shared dream of finding the All Blue, a legendary sea where all four Blues meet.

Stranded together, Zeff saved Sanji's life by giving him all their food. After rescue, Sanji stayed with Zeff for years, helping build the floating restaurant Baratie. Zeff trained him as a cook and taught him a kick-based fighting style to protect his hands. Sanji adopted Zeff's principle of never refusing a starving person a meal and refuses to harm women, even at the cost of his life. He left the Baratie to join the Straw Hats after their defeat of Don Krieg.

Reception

In Shōnen Jump One Piece popularity polls, Sanji ranked fourth in the first poll (1999) and third in the three subsequent polls (2002, 2006, 2009). In the 2021 worldwide poll, he ranked fourth with 970,286 votes. Dyler Crews noted that Sanji has the qualities to be one of the best characters in the series, with his origin, powers, and style making him a favorite, but his obsession with women pushes some fans away, describing him as a lecherous hero common in shonen manga.

Eric Vale's voice work for Sanji earned a nomination for "Voice Actor of the Year" at the Behind the Voice Actor Awards in 2015. Kyle Millis praised Vale and Nami voice actress Luci Christian as two of the best voice actors working today. Daniel Dockery of Crunchyroll argued that Sanji has one of the best character introductions in anime. Ritwik Mitra of GameRant ranked Sanji as the best comedy relief character in shonen anime, citing his courting attempts and conflicts with Roronoa Zoro, and noted his role in iconic non-comedy moments.

Emma Jane-Betts called Sanji irreplaceable and a scene-stealer due to his fighting skills and suaveness. Lucas Kloberdanz-Dyck assessed Sanji as the Straw Hat with the most character development, and Dylan Stevens-Foster called his backstory one of the most tragic in the series. Sean Cubillas stated that Sanji feeding Gin despite having no money defined his character. His fight against Jabra of CP9 is viewed as one of the series' best.

Sanji's role in the Whole Cake Island arc was well-received for revealing his family backstory and his moral dilemma between loyalty to the Straw Hats and commitments to his family.