Get ready to add a few more to this after the upcoming chapters.
I think there no Sanji haters (except trolls) here but if there was no Sanji character the dynamic between Luffy and Zoro might not get appreciated as much. Looking at the fan polls we see how much Luffy and Zoro are popular consistently being number 1 & 2, with Zoro losing votes in the female fans category. And I think one of the main reason for this is that Zoro is not parked right up against Luffy all the time, if he had been then the fandom would have divided in a more bipolar fashion.
Zoro's loyalty to Luffy started from a simple give and take (I will follow you because you saved me from death) which then changed to deep friendship. The best parts are when these two are doing similar stupid things because they have the same stupid brain and yet they do the most awesome things because they have the same principles/believes/morals etc. Sanji shares some traits but not as much as Zoro does with Luffy so instead of being two main guys that are seemingly pitted against each other even when they are on the same team we have three main guys (it is a shonen and Sanji ranks pretty high in popularity also so not including Nami here) where the third guy stop the 2nd guy (Zoro) from being seen as directly confrontational with the MC amongst the fandom.
I think My Hero Academia tried to do a similar thing with Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki but somehow failed in it, it was one of the main things that I liked about the manga/anime initially. The latest chapters made me lose interest in it since it suddenly went all Naruto with all the powerups given to Deku just like that and putting any semblance of rivalry with Bakugo and Todoroki to death. I mean people have been complaining about OP on these forums and how they are going to drop it but I find it so much more interesting than My Hero Academia that I just read it to find/read/get to the ending only.
Spoiler!!! I hope that Oda does not do the same to Luffy in Wano similar to what happened to Naruto and Deku.
I think there no Sanji haters (except trolls) here but if there was no Sanji character the dynamic between Luffy and Zoro might not get appreciated as much. Looking at the fan polls we see how much Luffy and Zoro are popular consistently being number 1 & 2, with Zoro losing votes in the female fans category. And I think one of the main reason for this is that Zoro is not parked right up against Luffy all the time, if he had been then the fandom would have divided in a more bipolar fashion.
Zoro's loyalty to Luffy started from a simple give and take (I will follow you because you saved me from death) which then changed to deep friendship. The best parts are when these two are doing similar stupid things because they have the same stupid brain and yet they do the most awesome things because they have the same principles/believes/morals etc. Sanji shares some traits but not as much as Zoro does with Luffy so instead of being two main guys that are seemingly pitted against each other even when they are on the same team we have three main guys (it is a shonen and Sanji ranks pretty high in popularity also so not including Nami here) where the third guy stop the 2nd guy (Zoro) from being seen as directly confrontational with the MC amongst the fandom.
I think My Hero Academia tried to do a similar thing with Deku, Bakugo and Todoroki but somehow failed in it, it was one of the main things that I liked about the manga/anime initially. The latest chapters made me lose interest in it since it suddenly went all Naruto with all the powerups given to Deku just like that and putting any semblance of rivalry with Bakugo and Todoroki to death. I mean people have been complaining about OP on these forums and how they are going to drop it but I find it so much more interesting than My Hero Academia that I just read it to find/read/get to the ending only.
Spoiler!!! I hope that Oda does not do the same to Luffy in Wano similar to what happened to Naruto and Deku.
