Sanji’s Eating Disorder Analysis (Long Post).
I’ve tried posting about this before, but it felt a bit rushed and not nearly detailed enough, so I’m trying again, wording it differently this time.
Trigger Warning here for anyone not comfortable with discussions involving eating disorders.
Sanji is an incredibly well written character, and this we know. You can find multiple character analysis posts I’ve written about him before, ranging from his demeanor as an adult, to childhood trauma, to even very present buddhist metaphors.
One of the reasons I’m desperate to figure out just how much effort and time Oda put into this character, is because Sanji very clearly represents a specific set of people (or children) who have suffered at the hands of abuse. Thus, creating a self sacrificial and self deprecating personality, while still trying to be kind and compassionate. Sadly, this compassion is directed towards anyone but himself. Obviously there is so much more to say, but that’s the core gist of things when it comes to the StrawHats’ chef.
Specifically when it comes to food however, Oda surprised us yet again, with what I believe to be a very clear depiction of eating disorders, or rather, the mindset behind one. I’m confident writing about this since I’ve been battling against one myself, and Oda seems to have somewhat confirmed his character’s dissent into an eating disorder in an alternate, negative, timeline. Although I would think his to be focused on food restriction, Oda depicted Sanji as having a binging pattern instead. This changes things slightly, but I believe the core message remains the same.
Now, in order to understand Sanji’s actions, we first need to understand the core basics of what could cause an ED in the first place. It’s very common for patients to suffer from forms of depression and post traumatic stress disorder, leading to a gradual loss of motivation and will to even perform basic tasks such as survival. What ends up happening in most cases, is that an ED pattern will create itself, gradually becoming more drastic, until the patient develops an addiction, satisfies a deep seated need for control, and is oftentimes begging for help. Again, these are just core basics to start and dissect Sanji’s story, behaviors and personality bit by bit.
This leads me to analyze Sanji’s adult design first. While Oda’s art style has changed many times, and characters look nothing like their original selves, we had a very clear Lupin lookalike, with a stick thin figure, making hands and feet seem somewhat disproportionate. This silhouette alone was enough to tell us something important. This was a character that, compared to others, was clearly at some sort of disadvantage. Especially working as a chef, in a restaurant where all other staff members seem to be at a healthy weight, Sanji sticks out like a sore thumb. Even amongst his own crew, he (used to be) the most frail looking male character. This may just be how Oda happened to design him, but considering how meticulous he used to be over details on his characters, I believe this to have been intentional. If character design in general is meant to tell us a story, Sanji’s was immediately not one of physical strength.
And, indeed, it doesn’t take long for One Piece to confirm Sanji’s past being one of misfortune, starvation, and illness. The fact that starvation will be a reoccurring theme in Sanji’s story alone was enough to convince me of a potential underlining ED discussion. As a child, after being saved by the only kind man in his life, they will both be stranded on a rock in the middle of the ocean, with no food for 85 days (about 3 months). At this point, Sanji will reminisce on how he’d disregarded food’s importance in the past, bursting into tears. Similarly, when it comes to behaviors driven by an ED, there is a constant level of shame patients go through, over, again, “disregarding” nutrition, without realizing they are being driven by their illness. This would lead Sanji to feed any starving person he’d ever come across, no matter their actions, history or background. However, along with that, come some “odd” behaviors on his behalf involving food. Starting from an extremely early addiction to nicotine to “scuttle the sense of taste” (very specific wording there, Oda), leading us to notice how in One Piece, at least pre time skip, scenes of common living on the ship were very common and endearing. Amongst these scenes would be plenty of meals, and within said meals, plenty of panels of characters eating. However, finding specific instances of Sanji eating becomes significantly more challenging. While they are there (I’m referring to the manga), they are almost always exclusively related to some sort of plot device. Essentially, Sanji is never (or rarely) shown eating for the sake of eating. This was in my opinion absolutely not accidental on Oda’s behalf.
Sanji finds comfort in his duty as primary caregiver of the ship, at least when it comes to nutrition. This allows him time alone (as he was portrayed as introverted and soft spoken at first), and gives him the freedom to eat at will without any external input on the matter. In other words, this allows for control.
I believe his first interaction with Gin, a starving man too stubborn to ask for help, to be very striking.
“I know starvation better than anyone. While I understand if you want to die with dignity, you wouldn’t be able to see tomorrow if you don’t eat.” Reminiscing over the ocean’s cruelty, and above all, understanding the pride that comes with said starvation, leads us to think there has been a definite and untold struggle.
Lastly, since this post is becoming seriously too long, in Whole Cake Island, we’re finally introduced to Sanji’s proper history, where he is confirmed to be an exiled prince from a cruel and sadistic monarchy. Particularly, we are shown how expectations led to horrific instances of abuse, focusing on how his interest in cooking would be mocked, and banned. This way, Sanji’s self sacrificial and self loathing personality in the present, while not explicit, becomes very, very clear and easy to understand. Obviously, we could talk about the various types of trauma Sanji suffers from in the present day, but for the sake of this post’s theme, I will focus only on some. After being locked underground, in an iron mask, he had to accept an unacceptable reality for any child. He could never make up for the fact he was born. He could never be good enough. He could never obtain love. Or so he thought. This makes it easier to see how Sanji needed a form of control to keep himself sane, especially one which gave him some sort of validation on his mother’s behalf, when she praised his cooking.
Once he will be dragged back to his abusive family as an adult, deciding to abandon his crew to protect them, Luffy will go on a hunger strike until he gets his chef back. The StrawHat captain is extremely emotionally intelligent, beyond being physically strong, and he will show Sanji exactly what he went through, and is going through, on his own skin, as if to have Sanji look in the mirror, and perhaps truly see how cruel and heartless he’d been towards himself. How crucial health is, and how loved he is by his found family.
Oda clearly used food and nutrition as forms of love in his story. And in the case of Sanji, he needed a physical manifestation of his hurt, addiction and control. In other words, he used food as a way to control, manipulate and handle love, or a lack thereof his entire life, the exact same way ED patients do.
That being said, Oda, as always, represented and talked about a community and a type of suffering that are not often talked about, and he did it remarkably well.
And with that, may you all be well and safe. Recovery is always possible, just as it was for this character.
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