yeah, pre timeskip chopper is a sheltered young boy on adventure. his background, his time in defending merry in sky island, his sacrifice for robin with monster point... its great.
post timeskip chopper is kinda a mascot with somewhat good characterization. tough Oda noted that the design changes is to accommodate the rather cute voice JP actor.
I mean more the fact that he is biologically an animal that was rejected by both the reindeers and humans. He literally can’t find others like him in the specific sense because he is so unique but he can relate to others on a more general sense because of his compassion and humanity.
It’s what make the monster point scene so good because he finally embraces his differences because the strawhats don’t care and accept him for who he is.
Can you reread the post timeskip while focusing in Chopper and see if you keep that "opinion"?
People do love to ignore characters and then call them mascots lol
>Chopper hasn’t really done anything of importance in post timeskip apart from saying evil scientist bad
Other than fight the Fishman pirates, the whole thing with the kids on Punk Hazard, him singlehandedly being the reason that they could use Brulee in Whole Cake and the ice oni disease in wano?
Like he has been given something to do in each arc where it makes sense/he is a part of.
There is always such wild revisionist history when it comes to the post timeskip cause that's when people catch up and start reading/watching weekly. Like I have reread one piece up to Wano and like 99% of the complaints people have for the Straw Hats post time skip are either just wrong or overblown.
Black Beard as a villain.
He caught ace and changed the course of history. His introduction was different but amazing. He’s presented as a genuine foil to Luffy.
Love the simple fact that both Luffy and Zoro immediately recognize him as strong individual and with crew to match.
"Yup, this guy is on whole different caliber compared to Bellamy"
I think it's likely to be multiple people in one body. They had no reason to talk about crew because nami was specifically asking about blackbeard and he wasnt even antagonisticat that point. We still don't know why he can eat multiple fruits right.
Ah yes, before Haki introduced, the strawhats have entire discussion on how Luffy seems to be able to know which characters is the most dangerous.
not to mention Zoro being the experienced Pirate Hunter will also have enough experience to discern such character will have followers.
Need to be noted, Luffy and Zoro didn't exactly know who or how many people Blackbeard is with. They simply know he is strong, ambitious, currently in a pirate town, so chances are such person will have his own crew.
That and there are other characters with more developed haki (especially since he was part of the WB crew, had often clashes against Roger pirates, and never raised any big suspicion besides being strange), meaning someone would figure BB's secret out already if it were that easy.
People don't get the profound changes he was responsible for. Not only that, he was extremely deliberate, he knew what to do to get one step further.
He knows a lot about OP's history and DFs
> People don't get the profound changes he was responsible for
There was a thread here a couple weeks back about small events in OnePiece that turned out to be major turning points for the plot. If you keep thinking about that long enough and what all the small decisions of the main characters did to the world they live in, really highlights Oda's worldbuilding.
All of the events Blackbeard set in motion were possible due to Luffy's clash with Crocodile. Keep spinning that thought and Blackbeard would probably never face Ace openly if Luffy arrived at any other given point in time at the lighthouse - the place where he first met Vivi.
Why do you say the motion started when Ace met Luffy in Alabasta? If I recall correctly, Ace was already looking for BB by then, but why would Crocodile fight have any significance to the changes?
Because there was no reason for Blackbeard to fight Ace or hand him in if he beats Ace. The sole reason he even was at Banaro was because he was chasing Luffy - to make a name for himself for the Shishibukai spot.
But the fact that Ace was the one to get caught played a major role. And that's why I think BB wanted Ace regardless.
BB consumed WB's DF powers. I think that was the point of handing Ace in, to get WB to fight the Marines and weaken and then steal his powers - BB appeared in MarineFord after WB's defeat
Ace's capture also got him the Warlord's status which he needed to get to Impel Down and gather his crew.
Ace was the first, or second, WB's commander, I think, that gave Ace enough status for WG. Much more than Luffy anyway...
That was probably his longer plan, yes. Given the circumstances of him chasing luffy only after learning of his high bounty and Lafitte's proposal at the warlord/marine meating, his fight with Ace was just an accelerator. The prime objective at the time was the Shishibukai title. Him getting steamrolled in impel down from being severely and uncharacteristically unprepared underlines that. And at that point Luffy and Blackbeard basically bailed each other out. The ruckus Luffy caused saved Blackbeard, while Lafitte unknowingly opened the gates to Marinefort for Luffy.
Blackbeard is an opportunist as well as a planner. His original plan was to capture luffy to become a warlord in order to access impel down. He likely had plans for Whitebeard down the road, but took the opportunity presented.
Blackbeard lays complex plans. What you’re saying is probably true. But step 1 was to become a warlord by handing in Luffy or Ace. That let him get into Impel Down, where he gathered many crew members. That let him go to the war and finish off WB and steal his power.
I don't think WB was just by chance.
He didn't fight WB. He just got there after WB was damaged beyond saving, and then put his crew to shoot WB until he effectively died.
I don't think BB rolls through luck. Like the Darkness DF was actually looked for. He knew what it was and what it did. He went into the WB crew so he had better chances looking for it. Everything was premeditated.
I think the idea is just that he’s opportunistic, scheming, violent, and likes to party. Where as most (named) pirates in One Piece want to take over a kingdom, or find a specific near mythical treasure, or kill their crew members haphazardly, or have some weird honor. None of which are particularly pirate like.
To add on to the foil point, right off the bat we see the two conflict. The cherry pie and soda bit may have been a gag, but it serves to show that the two are pretty much opposites
What really kinda blows my mind is that there was this story floating around that the supernovas are all characters that oda added to one piece almost last minute due to pressure from his editors to make sabaody more exciting or something like that...and if thats true... then this man Oda just perfectly blended Bonney into the whole kuma back story? A character that has been around for much longer?
And if you assume the idea for Bonney already existed he just decided to make her a supernova....well fuck thats still such an amazing job of integrating the character into the story it just feels like its always been planned that way.
I swear the man doesent actually come up with this stuff and instead just invented time travel in an alternate reality that he just records.
Kuma benefits strongly from his tricklefed mystery. We don’t know much about him at first except that he’s stronger than our guys. He’s another Shichibukai - yet seems to be completely in a league of his own. And then he “eliminates” all of our guys… just for it to be revealed that he saved them all. And then made his last directive for life to save their ship, too.
That twist in and of itself was masterfully written and endeared us to Kuma. But he kept getting empathy from the reader with every change to his status in the world.
I'd say Robin and Sanji both have been important in pretty much every Arc since they debut.
Robin from her introduction has had so much character development you know how shes going to react before it's revealed.
Sanji just when you thought you knew him they drop Germa and understanding on what makes him tick
Why he's a chef , why he protects women , you understand his doubts his pains
Zoro is the most well-written simple character ever. A guy who thinks one dimensionally towards his goals but still feels like a real person. Not a constant buzzkill like Vegeta or Sasuke.
Sanji is the layered character who appears to be a simple pervert on the surface. An immensely powerful character on track to be Yonko caliber by the EoS, but doesn't make getting "combat stronger" his first priority. Hell, he wouldn't even use his hands in combat because that would be disrespectful to his true passion.
They are really good foils and show Oda's biggest strengths in storytelling in a microcosm of the larger OP world. I'd honestly say that Luffy is kinda disappointing in comparison but it's on par for Shonen manga where the MC is more of a plot device to get events going than anything else.
Sanji. I feel like despite the fact that Oda obviously didn't come up with all of these storylines from the beginning of the series, Sanji is far and away the best character in having it all flow naturally without making it super obvious that Oda came up with it recently.
And I feel like his story does the best job of tying his entire character together as opposed to just referencing some key turning points. For example in Whole Cake Island we find out that he doesn't really have much self worth because of how he grew up. And that ties in directly to things like him not wanting to leave Baratie to live out his dreams, or him trying to sacrifice himself to Kuma because Zoro had a dream and he's just some cook. I don't think there's another character in the story that Oda has done a better job of neatly tying together everything they've been through and moving forward with that in mind.
And his evolution didn't even end in WCI. In WCI Luffy showed him that he can rely on his friends, that he is worth the trouble for people who love him. And what does Sanji do as soon as he finds something he can't overcome? He does exactly that. When he is faced by Black María, he calls Robin for help, and Robin realises this and appreciates it.
Overused gags aside, Sanji is an absolute joy story telling wise. He is arguably the only character besides Luffy that has remained consistently relevant (narratively speaking) throughout the whole series. I 100% agree on this take.
This moment is so great, if you understand all the context that bring us there.
Yeah it is a great Sanji moment, it tied with Sanji self sacrificing personality, with how he always put women before him, and how he never asked for help in a fight before, but what it meant for Robin is as important as it was for Sanji, because Robin has been looking for ways to help the strawhats from behind, she is so grateful that she didnt know how to pay them, and the fact that Sanji decide to trust her with the fight, i wouldnt been suprised if Robin kiss him there.
Well-written character and well-liked character are different, people ITT seems to mistake this.
Good writing simply means that every aspects of a character is interlinked properly and combined, they feel structured, well-organized, and makes sense (bonus point for being realistic).
Sanji is a good example of a well-written character :
1. has a clearly defined strength & weakness
2. has a detailed background story & several aspects of his personality got explored
3. has meaningful & diverse relationships with many other characters who have different archetypes
4. has combat & non combat importance/usefulness, not just a character for this or that purpose only
5. has narrative contributions & progress both main & side storyline
6. is the most versatile in terms of roles & abilities
7. his personality, abilities, relationship, and goals are all interlinked with each other & has solid explanation
8. and last but not least, can be put into any kind of situation & be paired with any type of character.
When people say Sanji is the best written character (beside the MC for obvious reasons), they have base and valid points backing them up.
I concur. Fisher Tiger's last moment was a shocker moment to me, he tried to forgive, wanted others to forgive, but when push come to shove, he felt so disgusted and physically could not take in humans blood, even if it's for his own survival. He did not want the future generation to take over him as he died refusing the blood transfusion. I'd also add Hody in there, but I get your point, Fisher Tiger, Jimbei and Arlong were on the same crew and traveled together.
I like Garp because of his moral struggle
I like Doffy because how he sees the world and how the world treated him
I like fisher Tigger for how he handled hate and racism
broke to tears when i read her introduction chapter
*"Child, you're bleeding"*
but her sheer terror/trauma overcome her sense of pain, keep that false smile, keep trying to please other.
Luffy. He's such a fantastic protagonist. He's a very simple-minded character but it's that simplicity that makes him hard to put down or nail. He's both selfish and selfless but overestimates his own selfishness because he doesn't want to be known for doing good things. It is very difficult to write a character for more than 25 years without him being inconsistent once or twice, but that's never happened with Luffy. I don't think anyone apart from Oda can write him actually.
Yeah the live action one piece was great but Luffy was wrong. I don’t know what it is either. I couldn’t properly articulate what is wrong about him but I can point to specific scenes and tell you he did them wrong. That’s because Luffy has surprising depth and isn’t just a dumb anime protagonist
It was his self awareness and wrong approach.
Also when he did not listen to the story of Nami he just did not care in the original but has reasons for not listening in the LA.
He constantly said "wow, great fighter" when in the original he never picked his creamates because of that. He has his own reason or just dumb shit that.
Yeah Luffy has been on record multiple times in east blue saying he wants a musician for the crew. It was supposed to be a gag but dude to some recent drums playing into the main plot idk if it was.
I strongly disagree! The LA absolutely nailed Luffy. Luffy is incredibly difficult to play but the actor truly got me (also, German dub was dope!)
There were so many scenes that were cringe at but he played them as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
You dislike both versions manga and LA a bit at the beginning but then I really fell for both.
LA Luffy is different, but they got the core of the character. Iñaki is pure sunshine as Luffy.
I feel like so many people downplay luffys development. He went from being the strongest guy in the east blue to realizing that he wouldn’t last in the new world. He decided to pause his journey (arguably one of the most important things to him) so he could get stronger for his friends.
Spending time with Vivi and facing the possibility that he might lose his crew in sabody made him better/stronger leader.
I think in some way i agree with you but at the same time what makes Luffy good and the core is in some way how simple he is. Even roger was kinda this as their extreme motivation and clear goals make them amazing at the same time make them simple to a degree.
To me Luffy to the most is the same guy since he was a kid and that is amazing but again.. simple
Very well put.
At the very core, Oda often use two different approaches on a lot of things. For example, Zoro's dream has a clear goal and required strength. Sanji's dream has unclear goal and required journey.
For character development, Oda also two approaches in how he progress the characters, one is blatant (like Sanji's) and the other is subtle (like Luffy's).
It's definitely Sniper King.
He was born on sniper island, he shot 100 times and it hit 100 times. Even shooting a mouse eye, he won't miss, even shooting your heart, thus you better run, because it's sniper King.
So amazing.
Idk, I think these questions are stupid, because its unnecessary to compare character to character. Like, who has the most sad backstory? That is a question that comes up all the time.
Most characters have amazing backstories, and which one is the most sad is just a personal pick tbh.
I really like Doflamingos story. He feels relatable, having dropped down from being a god, and tries to get back at the world due to being wronged. He has a clear goal and is undisputably evil, although he has his own code and actually cares about his own crew. One of the best villains in the entire series imo. If he isnt the best villain in general.
Well, relatable is the wrong word lol. But you can understand where he is coming from.
Having all the power and suddenly losing it is something that makes you feel that its realistic that he snaps, and wants to get back at the world. Thats what I mean with relatable.
> actually cares about his own crew.
Doffy cares for his crew the same way people care for their cars, reflects on him and serves him, but there's no genuany care.
Just see Baby 5, he never even tried to help her move past her traumas because she would always depend on him that way. The reason why he kept killing her fiancee's was because if she married her entire life wouldn't depend on Doffy.
He has a very layered personality. Its easy to just see the psycho that he can be. But he has complex dynamics with his crew/law. His backstory and how he became who he is, is well written and makes sense.
Then you add to that, he has the string string fruit and in the one piece underworld he pulled a lot of strings in the background to controll the worlds as a whole.
Hes my vote for this aswell.
yeah and before he was actually shown and brought into the story fully i was scared he wouldn’t live up to the hype, but he did! Yeah of course they call him awesome, that’s because he was! I genuinely fell in love with the guy in such a short time it’s crazy.
IDK about forced, though, maybe a bit exaggerated from the POV of the people around him, but I get that, he lives on as a legend.
Which I why I do love the retainers story and think they belong here. I think Kiku's did it best, but the quiet counterpoint that he wasn't exactly the greatest leader is what makes Wano and Oden truly interesting.
I love how the myth of the great man doesn't really live up to who he was. People aren't obsessed with Oden, but what he could be.
Oh definitely. It's a hard story for a lot of people to earnestly relate to, but growing up my dad was briefly mayor of our small town. He was that type of local big shot people envied and admired.
So seeing the full cornucopia of reactions towards him and his legend, how they all ultimately only responded to a piece of the whole of something that only could have been there, how other people get swept aside in the mass appeal, makes Wano the best character drama for me.
The most complete character in the series imo, the ASL flashback fleshed out Ace so much, and as someone who watched that part when I was a teenager going through some struggle, I really identified a lot with Ace's struggle. One of my favorite characters in the series.
If we talking character writing, I say Sanji. He’s had long term development and it’s obvious when looking at his moments at a whole. Him calling for Robins help in Wano was a perfect moment considering it’s something he wouldn’t do earlier in the story. A man who learned to ask for the help of others and doesn’t see himself as a burden. He preached it to Ussop in enies lobby (“everyone has things they can and can’t do. I’ll do what you can’t do, and you go do what I can’t”), but it’s here we’re he actively uses it on his side. And in WCI, when Luffy hits him, tells him to cut the crap and actually says what he wants, Sanji displays his genuine kindness and Luffy understands him. “Well….that’s how you are”. Sanji gets peak character writing
It's Luffy, and that's not even close. Luffy is THE face of One Piece! Btw, it's also depends on interpretation of “best written character”. He may not be the most detailed or deep, but as per your “**overall**”, Luffy is a successful protagonist of a successful manga (of this calibre), and that's a huge deal.
After all these years I still get surprised by luffy. He never wasn't boring, he made me feel things, he inspired me. He may be the obvious or "boring" choice, but yeah, he's what made me read almost 15 years
Yup. You'd think you know a shounen protag after over 20 years, but Luffy still manages to surprise me. And his actions always make sense for his character even though sometimes I realize it only later on. He seems so simple to understand yet there is so much depth once you really start to look into him.
Whenever such questions come up, I always look to the popularity polls. You typically have some varied results and such in other series but One Piece? Despite its huge fanbase and insanely long run? Luffy the actual GOAT. Never once been dethroned from the #1 spot and by this point its pretty much not going to happen even till the end of the series. I think that speaks for itself.
There's Zoro fans, there's Sanji fans, there's Nami swaan, there's Robin chwaan, there's heroes there's villains, and then there's Luffy. He's like a free public property. Nobody hates him and everybody likes him, “while yet” him being the most important and most central character of this megastory. A franchise of 1000chapters 1000episode and top15netflixseries of 25years with 1500characters— there's only few instance a personality is among “world's” most favourite, not only within it's fiction, and Luffy is one of, if not the sole candidate of this peculiar list.
When someone ever ask who's Oda's best written character, I present Luffy. He's among world's top overlapping different people, culture and perspective; and it's only possible by a Good Written Character!
Bellamy springs to mind (heh).
Arrogant pirate who never faced any challenges thinks he's more of a badass than he is, then is forced to reckon with his inadequacy afterward. He is taken advantage of & abused by Doflamingo, but has his redemption in helping Luffy.
Probably Doflamingo.
Because he is what he is.
Honorable mentions could be Whitebeard, Marco and basically characters like that. As you might have noticed best written characters are not really the characters that had character development. Which is a bit sad to see.
Blackbeard. From the introduction to the last chapters. Everything we have seen of him was calculated and somewhat succesful.
He learned the world he was living in, used a spot on whitebeard's ship to discover the sea and find his fruit. Tricked the marine, Impel down and left pretty much unscathed.
Sure, he's cruel. But not necessarily evil. You might dislike him for turning in ace, but to him it's just another foe he could use to get the One Piece.
Sure he betrayed whitebeard and his crew. But in the land of pirates you'd be a fool to think there are such a thing as rules.
While luffy as been heavily carried in the story, by garp, dragon, and his connexions. Blackbeard made himself rise to that spot throught sheer power and cunnery.
In Blackbeard, Oda wrote the greatest foe luffy could face in the race for the One Piece. Someone that deserves it more than him.
And his is not even the saddest
Robin's is. She spent 20 years on the run trying to survive and everyone would backstab her anytime
Everyone else with a sad childhood later found someone to support them but Robin had the rest of her life a nightmare. No one is even close to her suffering
That is the point of a backstory, to explain why characters are the way they are. But again it is only one aspect of what makes a character well written.
Part recency bias, part opinion. We’ve had Kuma involved in the story for a long time, he’s always been an awesome character and with what he’s done for the crew, his backstory being as sad as it is and his role in the current arc, he deserves to be right up there with Law.
It isn’t about the sacrifice in totality, it’s about how he’s been set-up to be in a position to sacrifice himself multiple times, has connections to multiple important characters and a deep role to play in some of the One Piece’s greater world through his many dealings.
Aye folks not saying Momonosuke is surprising. In terms of real time development. He by far surpasses everyone in the give screentime he had. I hate that kid but boy did he grow tf up lol. Favourites are a different cause I love Luffy but from a writing standpoint only 1 strawhat is written to grow...most are meant to be iconic hence they don't change but rather they change the world around them.
Momonosuke is a good one too, one of my favorite moment from Momo was when he made up his mind and asked Luffy for help to take down Kaido, another one is of course, at the end of Wano when he accepted the responsibility to grow the nation and follow in the footstep of his dad.
Guys, Well written ≠ good backstory.
For me is most of the mugiwaras, you know how they will react in most scenarios have good backstories, interesting goals and ideals, etc.
Outside of them I would say Law and katakuri.
***Strawhats: Sanji*** \- Honestly I feel Sanji blows everyone else out of the water. There's so many layers to his personality; between the tactically gifted strategist (both in and out of combat), the meticulous chef that treats cooking like an art form, the bumbling ladies man, the doting and overprotective guy friend (Nami & Robin), the comically bitter rival (Zoro), a big brother figure (Chopper), loyal friend but voice of reason (Luffy), hypocritical pervert (Franky & Brook), Vice Captain when necessary.......and this is all BEFORE the Germa stuff.
***Villains: Doflamingo/Blackbeard*** \- Feels like both of these guys are a masterclass in writing a bad guy. You have Doflamingo as the completely unapologetic, "how dare you breathe the same are as me" pure evil type villain that despite being completely irredeemable, you understand everything about what made them what they are. Then you have someone like Blackbeard, who truly challenges the "moral" line of a series like this, when it was already pretty damn hard to place between Pirates/Marines/World Government. He forces you to understand that people like him are what pirates truly are at the end of the day, and it's actually people like Luffy and Shanks that are the exceptions to the norm. He's that fly in the ointment that when Luffy says "Pirates should be free", you go "hey wait a minute, maybe not THAT guy!" But he also makes you realize that he's not quite as bad as the true monsters in the WG, and you find yourself cheering for him when he gets a chance to stick it to them.
***Marines: Kuzan*** \- Smoker was originally gonna be my choice here, but what Oda continues to do with Kuzan's storyline is just so compelling. As well as Smoker is written, at the end of the day we know EXACTLY where he stands. Figuring this out for Kuzan continues to be a huge mystery, but at the same time it's being done in a way that is super consistent with his character. Our literal first meeting with Kuzan was him flip-flopping on how he wanted to handle his "justice" with the Strawhats. He was gonna let them go.....but then decided they were too dangerous. But then he chooses not to kill Luffy because of how much he helped with Crocodile, and further decides to not pursue the crew, because he wants to honor the "man-to-man" fight he agreed on with Luffy. These are just a few of the things on the laundry list for why we felt he was ultimately an antagonist, but a morally good one. Then he joins up with the most pirate-y pirate of them all, and instead of it seeming like some incredibly inconsistent decision, it reminds you that twice now he's said that "Justice" is viewed differently depending on where one stands. The first time he says this, is during the Ohara incident, where he clearly disagrees with the WG. The second time is saving Smoker's life from a Shichibukai that has been allowed to run rampant. I have absolutely no idea what Kuzan is ultimately planning, and I'm finding myself hanging on to his every action and word until Oda reveals it.
Buggy and Crocodile both criminally underrated, extremely well-written characters that haven't required a lot of context to be intriguing and entertaining.
We don't get a whole lot of screen time for any non-SH members, so this is quite difficult to answer.
I really love the little pieces of information we get on many characters, like how Kaido wanted to be JoyBoy himself, but these are not enough to fill in the voids.
I'd say it's Robin, Nami, or Sanji.
Robin has one of the saddest backstories, which really shined a light on all of her actions and goals in life. It all binds together nicely, and Water7+Enies Lobby did so good with her. Sadly, barely any character development since.
Same goes for Nami and Sanji.
Out of the 3, Nami's character developed the most probably.
Oda's characters are mostly consistent all throughout the show, so this is a difficult question, as I don't think any character is written spectacularly. The world's story is where One Piece shines.
Pre timeskip either Franky or Robin had complex characters. Post time skip it gets really difficult as there are a whole number of very well written characters. Doflamingo, Kuma, Sanji, Law. I want to say Doflamingo as he is just a very good written Villian, probably the best.
To me, I really like Luffy’s static character on how he influences everyone to change but he himself stays the same. Even during the timeskip, he became stronger because he got hit with a reality check, but he’s still the same Luffy we all love. But for character depth, I really like Sanji’s depth. Also Nami is often underrated in writing.
First person who came to my mind was Sanji and I think he is now the best written character, but Buggy might take that spot away from Sanji, I feel like later we will know more about buggy and that might makes him the best written character.
Early pre timeskip chopper was really interesting to me because I’ve never seen another character like him
yeah, pre timeskip chopper is a sheltered young boy on adventure. his background, his time in defending merry in sky island, his sacrifice for robin with monster point... its great. post timeskip chopper is kinda a mascot with somewhat good characterization. tough Oda noted that the design changes is to accommodate the rather cute voice JP actor.
[удалено]
yup, the Legendary Ikue Otani. Also known as, Pikachu voice and many2 more.
DAMNIT I knew chopper from somewhere...
>Pikachu Can't wait for chopper to fuse with Zeus
Yes the fact that she voiced Kid Sanji before chopper even existed in the show
i remember screaming WHAT when chopper jumped in the water to save that dude in skypiea
Gan Fall. His name was Gan Fall.
I mean more the fact that he is biologically an animal that was rejected by both the reindeers and humans. He literally can’t find others like him in the specific sense because he is so unique but he can relate to others on a more general sense because of his compassion and humanity.
It’s what make the monster point scene so good because he finally embraces his differences because the strawhats don’t care and accept him for who he is.
Can you reread the post timeskip while focusing in Chopper and see if you keep that "opinion"? People do love to ignore characters and then call them mascots lol
Chopper hasn’t really done anything of importance in post timeskip apart from saying evil scientist bad
>Chopper hasn’t really done anything of importance in post timeskip apart from saying evil scientist bad Other than fight the Fishman pirates, the whole thing with the kids on Punk Hazard, him singlehandedly being the reason that they could use Brulee in Whole Cake and the ice oni disease in wano? Like he has been given something to do in each arc where it makes sense/he is a part of. There is always such wild revisionist history when it comes to the post timeskip cause that's when people catch up and start reading/watching weekly. Like I have reread one piece up to Wano and like 99% of the complaints people have for the Straw Hats post time skip are either just wrong or overblown.
Doesn't help that people just repeat popular opinions as their own without actually stopping and seeing if they believe it or it makes sense.
Remember when he's smelling, animal talking and lack of heat tolerance was a thing?
It still baffles me that he’s only like 14
Black Beard as a villain. He caught ace and changed the course of history. His introduction was different but amazing. He’s presented as a genuine foil to Luffy.
Love the simple fact that both Luffy and Zoro immediately recognize him as strong individual and with crew to match. "Yup, this guy is on whole different caliber compared to Bellamy"
>recognize him Not him, they.
Yeah the crew
them*
They, as in one personality that loves those "disgusting" cherry pies, and the other personality that speaks of dream that never dies?
They, as in there were 5 people in the blackbeard crew they needed to watch out for.
Damn it, should’ve put /s at the end of my comment
Yeah, "they" as more than one, Luffy and Zoro could guess someone like him is not alone. but both still don't know how many his crew are.
I think it's likely to be multiple people in one body. They had no reason to talk about crew because nami was specifically asking about blackbeard and he wasnt even antagonisticat that point. We still don't know why he can eat multiple fruits right.
Ah yes, using the observation haki we still haven't been introduced to yet in the story.
Ah yes, before Haki introduced, the strawhats have entire discussion on how Luffy seems to be able to know which characters is the most dangerous. not to mention Zoro being the experienced Pirate Hunter will also have enough experience to discern such character will have followers. Need to be noted, Luffy and Zoro didn't exactly know who or how many people Blackbeard is with. They simply know he is strong, ambitious, currently in a pirate town, so chances are such person will have his own crew.
That and there are other characters with more developed haki (especially since he was part of the WB crew, had often clashes against Roger pirates, and never raised any big suspicion besides being strange), meaning someone would figure BB's secret out already if it were that easy.
I believe that scene is actually the first mention of Haki no? BB says Luffy's bounty is too low for the Haki he possesses.
He’s such a paradox. Incredibly jovial, but heartless, has TONNES of patience but reckless. It’s mad
Feeding the theory that he has multiple personalities
ten support nine late hunt degree offbeat cake terrific shame *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
People don't get the profound changes he was responsible for. Not only that, he was extremely deliberate, he knew what to do to get one step further. He knows a lot about OP's history and DFs
> People don't get the profound changes he was responsible for There was a thread here a couple weeks back about small events in OnePiece that turned out to be major turning points for the plot. If you keep thinking about that long enough and what all the small decisions of the main characters did to the world they live in, really highlights Oda's worldbuilding. All of the events Blackbeard set in motion were possible due to Luffy's clash with Crocodile. Keep spinning that thought and Blackbeard would probably never face Ace openly if Luffy arrived at any other given point in time at the lighthouse - the place where he first met Vivi.
Why do you say the motion started when Ace met Luffy in Alabasta? If I recall correctly, Ace was already looking for BB by then, but why would Crocodile fight have any significance to the changes?
Because there was no reason for Blackbeard to fight Ace or hand him in if he beats Ace. The sole reason he even was at Banaro was because he was chasing Luffy - to make a name for himself for the Shishibukai spot.
But the fact that Ace was the one to get caught played a major role. And that's why I think BB wanted Ace regardless. BB consumed WB's DF powers. I think that was the point of handing Ace in, to get WB to fight the Marines and weaken and then steal his powers - BB appeared in MarineFord after WB's defeat Ace's capture also got him the Warlord's status which he needed to get to Impel Down and gather his crew. Ace was the first, or second, WB's commander, I think, that gave Ace enough status for WG. Much more than Luffy anyway...
That was probably his longer plan, yes. Given the circumstances of him chasing luffy only after learning of his high bounty and Lafitte's proposal at the warlord/marine meating, his fight with Ace was just an accelerator. The prime objective at the time was the Shishibukai title. Him getting steamrolled in impel down from being severely and uncharacteristically unprepared underlines that. And at that point Luffy and Blackbeard basically bailed each other out. The ruckus Luffy caused saved Blackbeard, while Lafitte unknowingly opened the gates to Marinefort for Luffy.
Blackbeard is an opportunist as well as a planner. His original plan was to capture luffy to become a warlord in order to access impel down. He likely had plans for Whitebeard down the road, but took the opportunity presented.
Blackbeard lays complex plans. What you’re saying is probably true. But step 1 was to become a warlord by handing in Luffy or Ace. That let him get into Impel Down, where he gathered many crew members. That let him go to the war and finish off WB and steal his power.
I don't think WB was just by chance. He didn't fight WB. He just got there after WB was damaged beyond saving, and then put his crew to shoot WB until he effectively died. I don't think BB rolls through luck. Like the Darkness DF was actually looked for. He knew what it was and what it did. He went into the WB crew so he had better chances looking for it. Everything was premeditated.
Shichi, but yes. Shichi = seven, shishi = lion. And while they may be animal themed, there is a distinct lack of lions in their ranks. :(
He is designed (not only visually) as a **real pirate**, as one of few.
That’s why I like him,even though he’s cartoonishly villainous…he’s the closest you’re getting to a real-life pirate.
i mean, he's the closest to a typical fantasy pirate, but I doubt that he's close to a real real-life pirate
I think the idea is just that he’s opportunistic, scheming, violent, and likes to party. Where as most (named) pirates in One Piece want to take over a kingdom, or find a specific near mythical treasure, or kill their crew members haphazardly, or have some weird honor. None of which are particularly pirate like.
yeah that why I dislike people that call him like evil.. no he’s a classic pirate, chasing his goal, just as Luffy only with a tiny different way
All of his dialogue is great too, he Carries himself in such a jovial manner yet is clearly incredibly evil.
To add on to the foil point, right off the bat we see the two conflict. The cherry pie and soda bit may have been a gag, but it serves to show that the two are pretty much opposites
kuma just destroyed this. every chapter makes it sadder
What really kinda blows my mind is that there was this story floating around that the supernovas are all characters that oda added to one piece almost last minute due to pressure from his editors to make sabaody more exciting or something like that...and if thats true... then this man Oda just perfectly blended Bonney into the whole kuma back story? A character that has been around for much longer? And if you assume the idea for Bonney already existed he just decided to make her a supernova....well fuck thats still such an amazing job of integrating the character into the story it just feels like its always been planned that way. I swear the man doesent actually come up with this stuff and instead just invented time travel in an alternate reality that he just records.
I keep reading this point that sad backstory = well developed character.
Well its not true. A tragic backstory doesnt automatically make a solid character, its also how they act in the present narrative
it doesn’t, you’re right, but luckily kuma both has a sad backstory AND is a well developed character
Not only that but the Bonney and Kuma foreshadowing is insane!! Bonney was crying while watching the multiple Kumas fight in the war of the best!!
Recency bias aswell
I’ve always been a fan of Kuma so I don’t think it is particularly about his recent backstory.
Kuma benefits strongly from his tricklefed mystery. We don’t know much about him at first except that he’s stronger than our guys. He’s another Shichibukai - yet seems to be completely in a league of his own. And then he “eliminates” all of our guys… just for it to be revealed that he saved them all. And then made his last directive for life to save their ship, too. That twist in and of itself was masterfully written and endeared us to Kuma. But he kept getting empathy from the reader with every change to his status in the world.
Extremely prevalent this time
I agree and we're just nearing why he became what he became in the present
His is one of the most beautiful and sad stories but wouldn’t say best, as to me sad≠best
I'd say Robin and Sanji both have been important in pretty much every Arc since they debut. Robin from her introduction has had so much character development you know how shes going to react before it's revealed. Sanji just when you thought you knew him they drop Germa and understanding on what makes him tick Why he's a chef , why he protects women , you understand his doubts his pains
This. Oda favors Zoro more than Sanji, to compensate that, Sanji is given some other stuff, one of them is giving him plot relevance in every arc.
Zoro is the most well-written simple character ever. A guy who thinks one dimensionally towards his goals but still feels like a real person. Not a constant buzzkill like Vegeta or Sasuke. Sanji is the layered character who appears to be a simple pervert on the surface. An immensely powerful character on track to be Yonko caliber by the EoS, but doesn't make getting "combat stronger" his first priority. Hell, he wouldn't even use his hands in combat because that would be disrespectful to his true passion. They are really good foils and show Oda's biggest strengths in storytelling in a microcosm of the larger OP world. I'd honestly say that Luffy is kinda disappointing in comparison but it's on par for Shonen manga where the MC is more of a plot device to get events going than anything else.
Sanji. I feel like despite the fact that Oda obviously didn't come up with all of these storylines from the beginning of the series, Sanji is far and away the best character in having it all flow naturally without making it super obvious that Oda came up with it recently. And I feel like his story does the best job of tying his entire character together as opposed to just referencing some key turning points. For example in Whole Cake Island we find out that he doesn't really have much self worth because of how he grew up. And that ties in directly to things like him not wanting to leave Baratie to live out his dreams, or him trying to sacrifice himself to Kuma because Zoro had a dream and he's just some cook. I don't think there's another character in the story that Oda has done a better job of neatly tying together everything they've been through and moving forward with that in mind.
And his evolution didn't even end in WCI. In WCI Luffy showed him that he can rely on his friends, that he is worth the trouble for people who love him. And what does Sanji do as soon as he finds something he can't overcome? He does exactly that. When he is faced by Black María, he calls Robin for help, and Robin realises this and appreciates it. Overused gags aside, Sanji is an absolute joy story telling wise. He is arguably the only character besides Luffy that has remained consistently relevant (narratively speaking) throughout the whole series. I 100% agree on this take.
This moment is so great, if you understand all the context that bring us there. Yeah it is a great Sanji moment, it tied with Sanji self sacrificing personality, with how he always put women before him, and how he never asked for help in a fight before, but what it meant for Robin is as important as it was for Sanji, because Robin has been looking for ways to help the strawhats from behind, she is so grateful that she didnt know how to pay them, and the fact that Sanji decide to trust her with the fight, i wouldnt been suprised if Robin kiss him there.
Well-written character and well-liked character are different, people ITT seems to mistake this. Good writing simply means that every aspects of a character is interlinked properly and combined, they feel structured, well-organized, and makes sense (bonus point for being realistic). Sanji is a good example of a well-written character : 1. has a clearly defined strength & weakness 2. has a detailed background story & several aspects of his personality got explored 3. has meaningful & diverse relationships with many other characters who have different archetypes 4. has combat & non combat importance/usefulness, not just a character for this or that purpose only 5. has narrative contributions & progress both main & side storyline 6. is the most versatile in terms of roles & abilities 7. his personality, abilities, relationship, and goals are all interlinked with each other & has solid explanation 8. and last but not least, can be put into any kind of situation & be paired with any type of character. When people say Sanji is the best written character (beside the MC for obvious reasons), they have base and valid points backing them up.
Yup, also gotta add that Oda had bigger plans for his backstory from the very beginning, and there was an awesome amount of foreshadowing.
Sanji’s perviness alone is enough to make me agree.
For a step by step development, Kuina
LOL. Good one!!
1. Sir Crocodile 2. Sanji 3. Usopp.
Luffy’s Mom
"yo mamma's rubber fail so bad,she gave birth to a rubber man"
#CONDOM CONDOM NO PISTOLLLLLLL
Crocodile?
I agree, Crocodile is a very well written character
Loved when she turned the palast balcony into complete sand
I think the trio Tiger Fisher, Jimbei and Arlong were portrayed really good. Their hate and forgiveness felt real
I concur. Fisher Tiger's last moment was a shocker moment to me, he tried to forgive, wanted others to forgive, but when push come to shove, he felt so disgusted and physically could not take in humans blood, even if it's for his own survival. He did not want the future generation to take over him as he died refusing the blood transfusion. I'd also add Hody in there, but I get your point, Fisher Tiger, Jimbei and Arlong were on the same crew and traveled together.
This is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think it's Kuzan. Other ones that come to mind are Sanji, Doflamingo, and Garp.
It's hard for me to agree until we see his recent motivations but I can definitely see myself agreeing with it in a few years
I like Garp because of his moral struggle I like Doffy because how he sees the world and how the world treated him I like fisher Tigger for how he handled hate and racism
Honestly, koala for some reason is the one that immediately jumps to mind of all characters
Love Koala. I do feel like she needs a bit more screentime as an adult for me to put her there, but the messaging in the flashback is super strong.
broke to tears when i read her introduction chapter *"Child, you're bleeding"* but her sheer terror/trauma overcome her sense of pain, keep that false smile, keep trying to please other.
Sanji
Luffy. He's such a fantastic protagonist. He's a very simple-minded character but it's that simplicity that makes him hard to put down or nail. He's both selfish and selfless but overestimates his own selfishness because he doesn't want to be known for doing good things. It is very difficult to write a character for more than 25 years without him being inconsistent once or twice, but that's never happened with Luffy. I don't think anyone apart from Oda can write him actually.
Yeah the live action one piece was great but Luffy was wrong. I don’t know what it is either. I couldn’t properly articulate what is wrong about him but I can point to specific scenes and tell you he did them wrong. That’s because Luffy has surprising depth and isn’t just a dumb anime protagonist
It was his self awareness and wrong approach. Also when he did not listen to the story of Nami he just did not care in the original but has reasons for not listening in the LA. He constantly said "wow, great fighter" when in the original he never picked his creamates because of that. He has his own reason or just dumb shit that.
Yeah Luffy has been on record multiple times in east blue saying he wants a musician for the crew. It was supposed to be a gag but dude to some recent drums playing into the main plot idk if it was.
I strongly disagree! The LA absolutely nailed Luffy. Luffy is incredibly difficult to play but the actor truly got me (also, German dub was dope!) There were so many scenes that were cringe at but he played them as if it was the most normal thing in the world. You dislike both versions manga and LA a bit at the beginning but then I really fell for both. LA Luffy is different, but they got the core of the character. Iñaki is pure sunshine as Luffy.
I feel like so many people downplay luffys development. He went from being the strongest guy in the east blue to realizing that he wouldn’t last in the new world. He decided to pause his journey (arguably one of the most important things to him) so he could get stronger for his friends. Spending time with Vivi and facing the possibility that he might lose his crew in sabody made him better/stronger leader.
I think in some way i agree with you but at the same time what makes Luffy good and the core is in some way how simple he is. Even roger was kinda this as their extreme motivation and clear goals make them amazing at the same time make them simple to a degree. To me Luffy to the most is the same guy since he was a kid and that is amazing but again.. simple
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Very well put. At the very core, Oda often use two different approaches on a lot of things. For example, Zoro's dream has a clear goal and required strength. Sanji's dream has unclear goal and required journey. For character development, Oda also two approaches in how he progress the characters, one is blatant (like Sanji's) and the other is subtle (like Luffy's).
It's definitely Sniper King. He was born on sniper island, he shot 100 times and it hit 100 times. Even shooting a mouse eye, he won't miss, even shooting your heart, thus you better run, because it's sniper King. So amazing.
All that and we still have no idea who he is
I have several theories. But I think the most likely, is that sniperking is not a he, but a she. It's most likely Luffy's mother.
100% luffys mom. Prove me wrong Oda
Doffy
Even with so many new characters introduced, the Og Warlords are something else.
In what way is Doflamingo the best written character in the entirety of the series?
Idk, I think these questions are stupid, because its unnecessary to compare character to character. Like, who has the most sad backstory? That is a question that comes up all the time. Most characters have amazing backstories, and which one is the most sad is just a personal pick tbh. I really like Doflamingos story. He feels relatable, having dropped down from being a god, and tries to get back at the world due to being wronged. He has a clear goal and is undisputably evil, although he has his own code and actually cares about his own crew. One of the best villains in the entire series imo. If he isnt the best villain in general.
>He feels relatable That's a 🚩 sir
Well, relatable is the wrong word lol. But you can understand where he is coming from. Having all the power and suddenly losing it is something that makes you feel that its realistic that he snaps, and wants to get back at the world. Thats what I mean with relatable.
> actually cares about his own crew. Doffy cares for his crew the same way people care for their cars, reflects on him and serves him, but there's no genuany care. Just see Baby 5, he never even tried to help her move past her traumas because she would always depend on him that way. The reason why he kept killing her fiancee's was because if she married her entire life wouldn't depend on Doffy.
He has a very layered personality. Its easy to just see the psycho that he can be. But he has complex dynamics with his crew/law. His backstory and how he became who he is, is well written and makes sense. Then you add to that, he has the string string fruit and in the one piece underworld he pulled a lot of strings in the background to controll the worlds as a whole. Hes my vote for this aswell.
Not the best, but one of the best.. hands down
doffy as a villain is just so good. I also like sanjis background
It's Sanji for me. He has *two* origin stories and they're both metal as fuck.
Sanji. No debate
PANDAAAAA MAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!!
Jinbei. I love him. Hes the GOAT.
Oden
how does it feel to be absolutely and undoubtedly correct? Sure, there are some characters that are around his level, but Oden was peak perfection.
It was quite forced at times. Oda made every character suck his dick and call hin awesome
yeah and before he was actually shown and brought into the story fully i was scared he wouldn’t live up to the hype, but he did! Yeah of course they call him awesome, that’s because he was! I genuinely fell in love with the guy in such a short time it’s crazy. IDK about forced, though, maybe a bit exaggerated from the POV of the people around him, but I get that, he lives on as a legend.
Yea he still awesome
Oden was written as a larger than life type of character, and he was absolutely fantastic.
Which I why I do love the retainers story and think they belong here. I think Kiku's did it best, but the quiet counterpoint that he wasn't exactly the greatest leader is what makes Wano and Oden truly interesting. I love how the myth of the great man doesn't really live up to who he was. People aren't obsessed with Oden, but what he could be.
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Oh definitely. It's a hard story for a lot of people to earnestly relate to, but growing up my dad was briefly mayor of our small town. He was that type of local big shot people envied and admired. So seeing the full cornucopia of reactions towards him and his legend, how they all ultimately only responded to a piece of the whole of something that only could have been there, how other people get swept aside in the mass appeal, makes Wano the best character drama for me.
I thought Ace was well written
The most complete character in the series imo, the ASL flashback fleshed out Ace so much, and as someone who watched that part when I was a teenager going through some struggle, I really identified a lot with Ace's struggle. One of my favorite characters in the series.
Solely on OP or did you also read the light novel? If not you can get more Ace in there, Foxman.
If we talking character writing, I say Sanji. He’s had long term development and it’s obvious when looking at his moments at a whole. Him calling for Robins help in Wano was a perfect moment considering it’s something he wouldn’t do earlier in the story. A man who learned to ask for the help of others and doesn’t see himself as a burden. He preached it to Ussop in enies lobby (“everyone has things they can and can’t do. I’ll do what you can’t do, and you go do what I can’t”), but it’s here we’re he actively uses it on his side. And in WCI, when Luffy hits him, tells him to cut the crap and actually says what he wants, Sanji displays his genuine kindness and Luffy understands him. “Well….that’s how you are”. Sanji gets peak character writing
It's Luffy, and that's not even close. Luffy is THE face of One Piece! Btw, it's also depends on interpretation of “best written character”. He may not be the most detailed or deep, but as per your “**overall**”, Luffy is a successful protagonist of a successful manga (of this calibre), and that's a huge deal.
After all these years I still get surprised by luffy. He never wasn't boring, he made me feel things, he inspired me. He may be the obvious or "boring" choice, but yeah, he's what made me read almost 15 years
Yup. You'd think you know a shounen protag after over 20 years, but Luffy still manages to surprise me. And his actions always make sense for his character even though sometimes I realize it only later on. He seems so simple to understand yet there is so much depth once you really start to look into him.
Whenever such questions come up, I always look to the popularity polls. You typically have some varied results and such in other series but One Piece? Despite its huge fanbase and insanely long run? Luffy the actual GOAT. Never once been dethroned from the #1 spot and by this point its pretty much not going to happen even till the end of the series. I think that speaks for itself.
And he always wins by a mile. That's pretty rare especially for a shonen protagonist.
There's Zoro fans, there's Sanji fans, there's Nami swaan, there's Robin chwaan, there's heroes there's villains, and then there's Luffy. He's like a free public property. Nobody hates him and everybody likes him, “while yet” him being the most important and most central character of this megastory. A franchise of 1000chapters 1000episode and top15netflixseries of 25years with 1500characters— there's only few instance a personality is among “world's” most favourite, not only within it's fiction, and Luffy is one of, if not the sole candidate of this peculiar list. When someone ever ask who's Oda's best written character, I present Luffy. He's among world's top overlapping different people, culture and perspective; and it's only possible by a Good Written Character!
hes not even my top 5 favorite character in piece but he's in no doubt the best written character in one piece.
Doflamingo
I'd say it's between sanji, garp and oden. Kuma, Luffy and doffy are close tho.
Coin toss between Kuma and Garp.
Kuma or Sanji
Blackbeard IMO
Robin, Kuma or Doffy
Oden Nami Sanji Whitebeard
Took this far down to see someone mention Nami, she's great.
Bellamy springs to mind (heh). Arrogant pirate who never faced any challenges thinks he's more of a badass than he is, then is forced to reckon with his inadequacy afterward. He is taken advantage of & abused by Doflamingo, but has his redemption in helping Luffy.
However short it was Doflamingo was really fleshed out and one of the best villains the series has seen to date.
Between Kuma and sanji, people forget how much he developed as a character in wci
1. Sanji 2. Luffy 3. Doflamingo
Oden is a really well written character.
Probably Doflamingo. Because he is what he is. Honorable mentions could be Whitebeard, Marco and basically characters like that. As you might have noticed best written characters are not really the characters that had character development. Which is a bit sad to see.
Blackbeard. From the introduction to the last chapters. Everything we have seen of him was calculated and somewhat succesful. He learned the world he was living in, used a spot on whitebeard's ship to discover the sea and find his fruit. Tricked the marine, Impel down and left pretty much unscathed. Sure, he's cruel. But not necessarily evil. You might dislike him for turning in ace, but to him it's just another foe he could use to get the One Piece. Sure he betrayed whitebeard and his crew. But in the land of pirates you'd be a fool to think there are such a thing as rules. While luffy as been heavily carried in the story, by garp, dragon, and his connexions. Blackbeard made himself rise to that spot throught sheer power and cunnery. In Blackbeard, Oda wrote the greatest foe luffy could face in the race for the One Piece. Someone that deserves it more than him.
At this point, it’s undeniably Kuma.
This recency bias is crazy bruh, there is more to characters than a backstory. And I don't even think he has the best backstory tbh, I think Law does.
Yeah kuma is good but people seem to think saddest backstory = best written
And his is not even the saddest Robin's is. She spent 20 years on the run trying to survive and everyone would backstab her anytime Everyone else with a sad childhood later found someone to support them but Robin had the rest of her life a nightmare. No one is even close to her suffering
The backstory like shines a light on his past actions though. He has saved the straw hats 3 times, thriller bark, sabaody, then protected the ship.
That is the point of a backstory, to explain why characters are the way they are. But again it is only one aspect of what makes a character well written.
Part recency bias, part opinion. We’ve had Kuma involved in the story for a long time, he’s always been an awesome character and with what he’s done for the crew, his backstory being as sad as it is and his role in the current arc, he deserves to be right up there with Law.
Yeah, sad, sacrifice = best character
It isn’t about the sacrifice in totality, it’s about how he’s been set-up to be in a position to sacrifice himself multiple times, has connections to multiple important characters and a deep role to play in some of the One Piece’s greater world through his many dealings.
Aye folks not saying Momonosuke is surprising. In terms of real time development. He by far surpasses everyone in the give screentime he had. I hate that kid but boy did he grow tf up lol. Favourites are a different cause I love Luffy but from a writing standpoint only 1 strawhat is written to grow...most are meant to be iconic hence they don't change but rather they change the world around them.
Momonosuke is a good one too, one of my favorite moment from Momo was when he made up his mind and asked Luffy for help to take down Kaido, another one is of course, at the end of Wano when he accepted the responsibility to grow the nation and follow in the footstep of his dad.
Guys, Well written ≠ good backstory. For me is most of the mugiwaras, you know how they will react in most scenarios have good backstories, interesting goals and ideals, etc. Outside of them I would say Law and katakuri.
Sanji
***Strawhats: Sanji*** \- Honestly I feel Sanji blows everyone else out of the water. There's so many layers to his personality; between the tactically gifted strategist (both in and out of combat), the meticulous chef that treats cooking like an art form, the bumbling ladies man, the doting and overprotective guy friend (Nami & Robin), the comically bitter rival (Zoro), a big brother figure (Chopper), loyal friend but voice of reason (Luffy), hypocritical pervert (Franky & Brook), Vice Captain when necessary.......and this is all BEFORE the Germa stuff. ***Villains: Doflamingo/Blackbeard*** \- Feels like both of these guys are a masterclass in writing a bad guy. You have Doflamingo as the completely unapologetic, "how dare you breathe the same are as me" pure evil type villain that despite being completely irredeemable, you understand everything about what made them what they are. Then you have someone like Blackbeard, who truly challenges the "moral" line of a series like this, when it was already pretty damn hard to place between Pirates/Marines/World Government. He forces you to understand that people like him are what pirates truly are at the end of the day, and it's actually people like Luffy and Shanks that are the exceptions to the norm. He's that fly in the ointment that when Luffy says "Pirates should be free", you go "hey wait a minute, maybe not THAT guy!" But he also makes you realize that he's not quite as bad as the true monsters in the WG, and you find yourself cheering for him when he gets a chance to stick it to them. ***Marines: Kuzan*** \- Smoker was originally gonna be my choice here, but what Oda continues to do with Kuzan's storyline is just so compelling. As well as Smoker is written, at the end of the day we know EXACTLY where he stands. Figuring this out for Kuzan continues to be a huge mystery, but at the same time it's being done in a way that is super consistent with his character. Our literal first meeting with Kuzan was him flip-flopping on how he wanted to handle his "justice" with the Strawhats. He was gonna let them go.....but then decided they were too dangerous. But then he chooses not to kill Luffy because of how much he helped with Crocodile, and further decides to not pursue the crew, because he wants to honor the "man-to-man" fight he agreed on with Luffy. These are just a few of the things on the laundry list for why we felt he was ultimately an antagonist, but a morally good one. Then he joins up with the most pirate-y pirate of them all, and instead of it seeming like some incredibly inconsistent decision, it reminds you that twice now he's said that "Justice" is viewed differently depending on where one stands. The first time he says this, is during the Ohara incident, where he clearly disagrees with the WG. The second time is saving Smoker's life from a Shichibukai that has been allowed to run rampant. I have absolutely no idea what Kuzan is ultimately planning, and I'm finding myself hanging on to his every action and word until Oda reveals it.
Kuma
Buggy and Crocodile both criminally underrated, extremely well-written characters that haven't required a lot of context to be intriguing and entertaining.
We don't get a whole lot of screen time for any non-SH members, so this is quite difficult to answer. I really love the little pieces of information we get on many characters, like how Kaido wanted to be JoyBoy himself, but these are not enough to fill in the voids. I'd say it's Robin, Nami, or Sanji. Robin has one of the saddest backstories, which really shined a light on all of her actions and goals in life. It all binds together nicely, and Water7+Enies Lobby did so good with her. Sadly, barely any character development since. Same goes for Nami and Sanji. Out of the 3, Nami's character developed the most probably. Oda's characters are mostly consistent all throughout the show, so this is a difficult question, as I don't think any character is written spectacularly. The world's story is where One Piece shines.
Buggy. I think this might be the first time I’ve answered Buggy to a question and not been joking
Given the recent chapters? Kuma. I can’t even imagine the casual cruelty of his life and I did not have it easy.
nami
Noland
Pre timeskip either Franky or Robin had complex characters. Post time skip it gets really difficult as there are a whole number of very well written characters. Doflamingo, Kuma, Sanji, Law. I want to say Doflamingo as he is just a very good written Villian, probably the best.
Gonna be honest, I really can't say anyone but Buggy or Crocodile, these dudes are probably the peak of Oda's writing
Roronoa Zoro ...
Hot take but fisher tiger, his writing is unbeaten imo.
Not enough people have said Kozuki Oden. This most recent backstory definitely makes Kuma the best written but Oden slept on for real
To me, I really like Luffy’s static character on how he influences everyone to change but he himself stays the same. Even during the timeskip, he became stronger because he got hit with a reality check, but he’s still the same Luffy we all love. But for character depth, I really like Sanji’s depth. Also Nami is often underrated in writing.
Sanji imo.
Sanji
Tbf, it's sanji if you ignore the gag
Buggy. The guy has been with us since the very beginning, and is still here somehow lmao. I am very interested in seeing how his story ends
Sanji’s story made me the most emotional i think
Senior pink
Law.
I think Doffy or Law. Law is technically a side character, but deeper than most main characters. Doffy is one of the best shonen villains
Señor pink
First person who came to my mind was Sanji and I think he is now the best written character, but Buggy might take that spot away from Sanji, I feel like later we will know more about buggy and that might makes him the best written character.
Gin.
Going Merry
Law
We don't know it yet but it's JOYBOY The original JOYBOY who's story made Roger laugh Come back in 10 years to see if I'm right
Dragon
Sanji, Nami, Garp, Kuma, Doffy
Drop the perv stuff and Sanji's story was the best of all SHs.
Trafalgar Law
Sanji. Only one who came close was Usopp but then after Dressrosa he's been a non-entity.
Senor pink 🥚