FEATURE: Let’s See How the One Piece Team Elevated Sanji’s Grand Finale!
Have you folks caught the stunning conclusion to Sanji’s battle with Queen? Even by the high standards of Wano, or the even higher standards of Onigashima, this episode was truly something special. Though Whole Cake Island was more or less One Piece’s “Sanji arc,” his final “battle” during that arc actually involved him baking a delicious cake — a fitting conflict for the Straw Hats’ cook, but not exactly a pulse-pounding action confrontation. Here in Wano, Sanji was given both a proper conclusion to his anxieties regarding his family, and also an episode that counts among the most visually impressive in One Piece history. So how did Toei’s team manage it?
From the very first scenes, it was clear that episode 1061 was being directed with a clear vision in mind, foregoing direct panel-by-panel adaptation in lieu of an anime-original conception of this key emotional moment. That should be no surprise if you’re familiar with the director; though Ryota Nakamura has only directed a handful of One Piece episodes, he always makes a splash. Having previously worked as series director on Dragon Ball Super, Nakamura brings a sense of bombast and theatricality to all of his One Piece episodes, whether he’s illustrating the culmination of Yamato’s emotional journey (1013) or an epic clash between the Worst Generation and Emperors (1026).
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In Nakamura’s hands, Sanji’s final battle is turned into a cohesive referendum on his full emotional journey, with cinematic flashbacks carrying us from his genesis as a tool of Vinsmoke Judge to his rejection of this destiny, new life with Barratie and the Straw Hats, and eventual validation of his fundamental kindness. Graceful match cuts, unstable racking focus, and impressionistic splashes of data and blood all lend a sense of continuity and intimacy to this procession, demonstrating yet again how the best directors don’t simply adapt, but actively reinterpret the manga material in order to best suit its new medium. Through his choices of framing and pacing, Nakamura actually lends a new sense of clarity and impact to Sanji’s defense of an innocent geisha.
Along with the thoughtful reinterpretation and impactful compositions of its director, episode 1061 also benefited from a truly absurd lineup of animators. Alongside mainstay animation director Shigefumi Shingaki, Sanji’s battle also featured animation direction by Tu Yong-Ce, who has proven himself one of the franchise’s most distinctive and impressive animators. Yong-Ce’s work demonstrates such energy of form and understanding of active camera movement that it’s no surprise he’s become a series mainstay, or that he animated many of the recent Film Red’s best cuts.
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Here, Yong-Ce not only worked on corrections, but actually animated the entire final minute (20:35-21:46) of Sanji’s fight with Queen. His sequence serves as a fine demonstration of what might be his signature strength as an animator: employing loose, thick brush strokes in continuous motion, and through doing so, evoking the sense of a living tapestry. Whether it’s those manic brush strokes or the absurd, background redraw-intensive camera pan that follows it, Yong-Ce’s powers are undeniable and marvelous.
Yong-Ce is one of those animators whose work seems beyond the capacity of human hands, yet ludicrously enough, he was only one of several such animators to work on 1061. As one of the animators who seems most at home embracing Wano’s colorful digital composites, Tomoyuki Takashi was the perfect choice to animate Sanji’s Ifrit Jamble (17:11-18:00). And of course, what One Piece climax would be complete without a contribution by Naotoshi Shida, whose impossibly morphing forms have realized everything from Zou striking Jack’s ship to Kaido smacking Luffy straight into prison? Shida takes over for a full two minutes of 1061 (8:08-10:36) and proves yet again that no one animates quite like him.
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All those wonders and I still haven’t gotten to my favorite sequence of the episode. That belongs to Akihiro Ota (18:00-18:31), whose ragged, angular and wildly fluid sequences have stolen my heart time and again. Ota’s sequences do not adhere to anything approaching “default character designs,” and would likely give a more conservative animation director heart palpitations. Yet in their wild energy and continuously shifting forms, they somehow manage to convey the impact of bodies in collision with more clarity and grace than technically realistic animation could manage. Ota’s sequences look like pure souls in motion, like the mask of realistic form is slipping in favor of animation that conveys movement as it is experienced: Sanji a twisting leaf on the breeze, Queen a roiling mountain of anger. One Piece is significantly richer for his contributions.
So yes, there is plenty to crow about regarding Sanji’s recent victory. And as my extolling of directors, animation directors, and animators should hopefully emphasize, there’s no secret magic dictating what episodes will be something special. The One Piece production team simply is that talented, and when a particularly inspired director is blessed with a few of the franchise’s top animators, wonders inevitably result. The best anime might seem like it arrives fully formed, but the truth is even more wondrous: human hands created these marvels, and they just might do it again.
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Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time or follow him on Twitter.
