On the anime front, controversies are rife. Solo Leveling, Boruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball Super—none escape the comments of their detractors, who generally take to social media to share their discontent. Recently, One Piece has had to face its share of criticism, particularly regarding the character of Sanji. A former Toei animator had to speak out to sort out fact from fiction.
One Piece fans furious with Toei
Recently, Sanji fans have taken to social media to denounce his treatment in the anime adaptation of One Piece. According to them, the Straw Hat crew's cook isn't given much prominence in the anime, and the scenes in which he appears exaggerate his gags and abuse his likeability. As a result, Sanji is more boring than ever. Worse still, Toei is reportedly adding non-canonical scenes to prolong his fights, a solution that makes him appear weaker and slower than he really is.
And for one of the most beloved characters in the universe imagined by Eiichiro Oda, this is harsh. This treatment is displeasing and creates notable resentment among the anime's viewers, and especially Sanji fans. In episode 1123 in particular, Sanji is seen with heart-shaped eyes when he looks at Bonney. A first for One Piece, this scene did not appear in the manga. But where fans really get their pitchforks out is when the Straw Hats capture York. This scene, popular when it was published, is followed by a complicated editorial choice that suggests we find Sanji weaker than S-Shark, to the point that Nami and Zoro are forced to intervene to save him.
The criticism has been so loud that a former Toei animator, who worked on several episodes of the Wano Country arc, wanted to step in to share his experience on the subject.
Different directors handle this issue differently. Some will add still shots & panning backgrounds. Others will rethink the angles & approach to the scene, & others will outright add some things. It’s all to accomplish the same goal. Turn 1 minute of reading to 5 minutes of film.
— Henry Thurlow (@henry_thurlow) April 9, 2025
One thing that anime fans who cry "why isn't the anime exactly like the manga?" » don't understand is that episode directors (when storyboarding the episode) are told "you have to take these 3 pages and make them 5 minutes long."
Edits are the *only* way to do this.Directors approach this differently. Some will add still shots and sweeping backgrounds. Others will rethink the angles and approach to the scene, and still others will add elements altogether. All to achieve the same goal: Turning 1 minute of reading into 5 minutes of film.
As Henry Thurlow explains,the major problem animators face when adapting a manga like One Piece is that each episode has to cover a single chapter. So there isn't much content to fit into the available 20 minutes. Directors are therefore forced to make choices, sometimes to the detriment of certain characters. Despite everything, anime fans know this truth. And it's Toei's treatment of Sanji that poses a problem.
All characters are affected by this content limit for the adaptation of the manga's events, but only Sanji seems to be targeted by this treatment. Episode 1124 of the One Piece anime was the final straw, with particularly harsh comments directed at Toei. However, some viewers believe that the adaptation is faithful, and that the criticism is unjustified. What about you? What do you think? Feel free to respond to us via the comments section below.
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