If yall have any questions, feel free to message me on any of those places I listed! I'll be happy to answer! (preferably not my social media dms like insta or bsky or tumblr, I never check those apologies.)
I'm still waiting to open up shop for prints and keychains on Kofi cause I want to see what's eft over from the con I'm vending at and need to figure out how shipping works and all that jazz.
Not having "Emotions" 感情 or "Emotions" 情: Germa 66/Vinsmokes
[part 2][part 3]
Analysing the 3 Vinsmoke boys, because Oda-sensei should know that things like disgust or anger are also "emotions", and Ichiji/Niji/Yonji all have displayed "emotions". Negative ones, but emotions all the same. So there might be something else going on.
I think the root of the problem is translation difficulty, because of how vague the original Japanese word is.
In the raw, there is actually a difference in the exact words that they say the boys don't/shouldn't have. I feel that this is might be important, because that's the way kanji is. The nuance of the word usage can be different depending on the context.
When the Germa scientists say that Sanji has "emotions" that he shouldn't have, the word they use is「感情」, which does mean all emotions for the most part (including things like anger, joy, etc).
Even so, the nuance of this scene is not necessarily "he shouldn't have emotions at all". You could argue that the intention of this dialogue is that "even though [x] emotions (kindness? sympathy?) has been removed, somehow Sanji still has it".
In this scene, Sora says don't take their "heart" 心 away. When you say someone is heartless, it doesn't mean that they have no "emotions", but they have no "pity" or "compassion".
Reiju also says that what is removed from them is just「情」, not 「感情」. 情 is emotion, but also specifically have the connotation of empathy, sympathy and compassion.
The same word when she says she "still has it" in contrast to the boys:
VERY IMPORTANT to remember: I keep seeing people incorrectly claim that the Vivre Card says Reiju was originally modified, but "learned" emotions from Sora. THIS IS FALSE. The Vivre Card directly affirms the same thing the manga panel says: it was never removed to begin with, different from her brothers.
And lastly, from Sanji himself, calling his brothers "monsters with no blood or tears" 血も涙もない. This idiom means the same as "heartless" or "cold-blooded", meaning no mercy, no sympathy, no pity, no compassion. It does not mean "absolutely zero emotions", unless additional context specifies so.
Not to mention that both Sanji nor Reiju don't necessarily know the full workings of the modifications. Reiju was talking mainly just going off her memories, and unless she had actually dug up the full research records from the lab, her knowledge about it is incomplete.
My conclusion is that either Oda-sensei has been playing word games, or there's a slip-up in translation. The boys seems to actually do have emotions. What they don't have are empathy, sympathy, conscience, and fear. Just look at them casually throwing themselves off the roof, and laughing off their potential deaths.
The reason why they act so cruel might be because they have no innate conscience, so they just parrot and follow whatever Judge told them.
And, since Reiju said she was reprogrammed to always obey, I suspect there's a little bit of that in the other boys too. See Niji, freeze-stopping his kick mid-air because Judge says no:
(the force of it was so strong that Cossette, behind Sanji, was blown away)
What they do to Sanji is really horrible, but little kids brawl and beat up each other all the time. It's the adults who have to teach them "don't do that". Without anyone telling them no, and Judge even permitting it, of course Ichiji and the others act the way that they do.
I think there is the possibility that the boys might still have the ability to feel genuine affection inside them (since, you know, having affection for someone is honestly nothing to do with compassion or mercy). They just might not know what that feeling is, because they've never been taught to understand that.
There's Niji and Yonji being worried when Reiju and Judge were hit:
And the whole "Emotionless Excursion" cover story sideplot.
This is why I say Ichiji and Niji are acting like particularly evil tsundere dumbasses. For all their horrible comments, they're clearly capable of feeling concern. Ichiji less obviously so than Niji, but same difference.
We'll wait and see, I guess, what exactly is the extent of the 情 that is missing from those three.
*Taps mic* uhmmm I have this very cute idea from the zoro cat dad au 🫡 As we know, it started with the cats "hating" sanji. Though as time passes, Sanji doesn't give up on trying to make them warm up to him. I can imagine him getting scratches and tears in his skin and clothes but still try to be close with them, giving them treats and playing with them lol Zoro thinks it's funny and cute at the same time.
Then on a random day, Zoro finds Sanji snoozing on his couch with a lap and arms full of cats and Zoro's feels that warm feeling creep in his chest, like he's been hit with an arrow in the heart because the sight is just too domestic!!! then he thought to himself "damn now I have to marry this guy..." all flustered because his babies love Sanji already. *bows down to the crowd*
I fcking adore your ideas, guys! This "damn, now I have to marry him" thing killed me (in a good way) and this comic was born!
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