Why I believe Sanji shouldve been the Sniper/Gunslinger in the crew
Lets be real....Sanji is being written atrociously. Like really badly. This is mainly due to poor treatment in a battle manga such as OP. I believe their are multiple reasons for this. Of course the first being his role in the crew.
1.) Sanji is a chef....however he is a chef that is written to be cool and appeal to the majority of the fanbase. He is likeable because he's brave, smart, cool, etc. Basically if you like Luffy and Zoro...you should like Sanji in theory (which is true for the beginning of the manga). So as we can see again Sanji is liked...meaning he is popular. Popularity = Panel time, but what the hell is a chef gonna do with all this paneltime in a battle manga. You see by making Sanji a chef, Oda cannot justifibly give him much combat focus....let alone combat focus on the lvl of Zoro and Luffy. It would undermine Zoro's position as the fighter on the crew and basically make it a useless role. So what do we end up getting ? A popular character forced to have all his paneltime running around and being caught in gag hijinks because having him do something important would undermine the importance of his other crewmates (Zoro and Luffy). This isnt a cooking manga, we know how Sanji could pop off in one (Shokugeki no Sanji)....this is a battle manga. So Sanji was doomed from the get go. His character is written to love cooking not combat. Of course this was mostly different pretimeskip with Sanji having more interest in fighting.
2.) The second reason Sanji is useless is because Oda doesnt like his fighting style. Simple as. Black Leg Style is not flashy enough for his taste. Its why hes obssesed with giving him flame powers, cybernetic modifications, raidsuits, etc. Oda has been experimenting with what he could do with Sanji to make use of his popularity and I get the vibe he just isnt interested. He only likes weapons, DFs and looney tunes. So what happens if Sanji isnt an interesting fighter ? Again just crying and running around.
So how could being a sniper have fixed him ?
- Well firstly, Sanji already has core traits that wouldve made him be a great sniper. He's intelligent, stealthy and has insane precision.
- Being a sniper wouldve given him a combat role within a battle manga, thus made good use of him since the SHs are basically always in battle now.
- Sanji is the one in the crew that specialises in observation haki, so what better way to express CoO prowess than an elite sniper
- Being a Sniper couldve given Sanji the flashiness Oda has been looking for.
- I would take this one step further and make Sanji a master trapper as well. Working with a range of traps and artillery. Making all his fights strategy based.
- Sanji's rivalry with Zoro would make more sense; being about Swords v Guns, Close combat v Long range combat, Hard work v talent and ingenuity.
----
But what about Usopp ? Either the character of Usopp would merge with Sanji, and Sanji would get his backstory...or Oda couldve made Usopp the chef. Usopp already has low expectation due to his personality, so his role wouldnt do much damage anyways. Sanji's dream also couldve been to meet his father Yasopp. Similar to Gon Freecs.
But yh anyways this is just my 2 cents.
Lets be real....Sanji is being written atrociously. Like really badly. This is mainly due to poor treatment in a battle manga such as OP. I believe their are multiple reasons for this. Of course the first being his role in the crew.
1.) Sanji is a chef....however he is a chef that is written to be cool and appeal to the majority of the fanbase. He is likeable because he's brave, smart, cool, etc. Basically if you like Luffy and Zoro...you should like Sanji in theory (which is true for the beginning of the manga). So as we can see again Sanji is liked...meaning he is popular. Popularity = Panel time, but what the hell is a chef gonna do with all this paneltime in a battle manga. You see by making Sanji a chef, Oda cannot justifibly give him much combat focus....let alone combat focus on the lvl of Zoro and Luffy. It would undermine Zoro's position as the fighter on the crew and basically make it a useless role. So what do we end up getting ? A popular character forced to have all his paneltime running around and being caught in gag hijinks because having him do something important would undermine the importance of his other crewmates (Zoro and Luffy). This isnt a cooking manga, we know how Sanji could pop off in one (Shokugeki no Sanji)....this is a battle manga. So Sanji was doomed from the get go. His character is written to love cooking not combat. Of course this was mostly different pretimeskip with Sanji having more interest in fighting.
2.) The second reason Sanji is useless is because Oda doesnt like his fighting style. Simple as. Black Leg Style is not flashy enough for his taste. Its why hes obssesed with giving him flame powers, cybernetic modifications, raidsuits, etc. Oda has been experimenting with what he could do with Sanji to make use of his popularity and I get the vibe he just isnt interested. He only likes weapons, DFs and looney tunes. So what happens if Sanji isnt an interesting fighter ? Again just crying and running around.
So how could being a sniper have fixed him ?
- Well firstly, Sanji already has core traits that wouldve made him be a great sniper. He's intelligent, stealthy and has insane precision.
- Being a sniper wouldve given him a combat role within a battle manga, thus made good use of him since the SHs are basically always in battle now.
- Sanji is the one in the crew that specialises in observation haki, so what better way to express CoO prowess than an elite sniper
- Being a Sniper couldve given Sanji the flashiness Oda has been looking for.
- I would take this one step further and make Sanji a master trapper as well. Working with a range of traps and artillery. Making all his fights strategy based.
- Sanji's rivalry with Zoro would make more sense; being about Swords v Guns, Close combat v Long range combat, Hard work v talent and ingenuity.
----
But what about Usopp ? Either the character of Usopp would merge with Sanji, and Sanji would get his backstory...or Oda couldve made Usopp the chef. Usopp already has low expectation due to his personality, so his role wouldnt do much damage anyways. Sanji's dream also couldve been to meet his father Yasopp. Similar to Gon Freecs.
But yh anyways this is just my 2 cents.
https://x.com/dankantori/status/1769648281770946833?s=46&t=1sFPei1q7geW94-9nEXMxg
