LIKE many otakus out there, my childhood identity was influenced by a series of anime and manga shows. I remember vividly, as a child, that I desperately wanted to be like the characters of my favourite anime and manga programmes.
Whether it was Pokemon, Fate/stay night or One Piece, each of the universes gave me a sense of fulfilment and security. It didn’t matter that the shows were in Japanese, fans around the world had no problem being entertained thanks to a thriving scanlation community.
Hence, works by mangakas such as Eiichiro Oda have influenced generations of fans.
Oda, the legendary creator behind the massively popular One Piece has positively impacted millions with his epic story of a boy named Monkey D. Luffy and his quest to become the Pirate King.
Along the way, Luffy recruits strong ‘nakamas’ (comrades) for his crew, each with their own unique background story.
Oda’s style of storytelling is able to draw the reader in and make them truly care for the characters he puts into his pages, not only touching the lives of fans but also revolutionising the anime and manga industry as a whole.
One Piece birthed numerous comic book editions, films, video games and even a theme park dedicated to the show called Tokyo One Piece Tower. And a Netflix live-adaptation series has also been in the making since last November.
Therefore, in conjunction with the series’s upcoming 25th anniversary, we at BUZZ have decided to pay tribute to the legend, and his journey to becoming the person whom we have all come to know and love.
Early life and career beginnings
Oda was born on Jan 1, 1975, in Kumamoto, Japan. Even from a young age, Oda had always known his calling was in manga. According to him, this path allowed him to escape the “mundane” life of an average white-collar worker. Hence, he set out to become a mangaka.
Some of his early and biggest influences are Akira Toriyama and his series Dragon Ball. But unlike his idol, Oda’s rise to stardom was considered pretty quick. At only 17, the Kumamoto native scored the prestigious Tezuka Award for his short story, Wanted!
The then-high school senior wrote the story under the pseudonym, Tsuki Himizu Kikondo. This was due to his fear of his parents and teachers finding out. But little did he know, his hidden identity would only last so long.
His submission for Wanted!, for instance, not only earned him ¥500,000 but also a job in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.
Working behind the scenes
There, Oda worked as an assistant to Shinobu Kaitaini. During his stint with Kaitini, Oda helped put together the last few chapters of Kaitaini’s series Midoriyama Police Gang. After completing his one month tenure, he moved on to working with Masaya Tokuhiro for 18 months on Jungle King Tar-chan and Mizu no Tomodachi Kappaman.
This partnership had a lasting impact on Oda’s artistic style. “During my time as an assistant for Tokuhiro-sensei, I was really schooled on the thickness of lines.
“He yelled at me saying ‘Why (do you draw) the lines of the people right in front of the screen so thin!?’ That was something that really dug deep,” shared Oda in his interview published in the Jump-Style! Manga Course Fascicle with DVD.
He continued: “He also said other things like ‘If you put a lot of effort into your drawing, then readers will, without a doubt, understand it,’ [which] really stayed with me.”
Although Oda was busy assisting industry veterans, he also put in the time to produce his own material with his editor, Kushima. Their sessions according to Kushima, were most times quite heated as Kushima rejected the majority of Oda’s ideas.
Yet, Oda did not take any of this personally. In fact, he acknowledged his editor’s role in realising his mangaka dreams. “It was necessary for us to ‘clash’ so we could draw interesting manga. Plus, it wasn’t like we weren’t getting along.
“Though, back then, well, I did lose my temper about more than a few things, of course (laughs). But now, those are all nothing but memories I’m grateful for, and honestly speaking, I really feel indebted to Kujima.”
Career break though
This sense of appreciation is understandable considering the hard work and patience that was required for Oda’s success. While he did have a taste of success very early on, his breakthrough took a while.
“No matter how much I’d draw, I couldn’t get any series I was confident about accepted, which really got me down.” The constant rejection was so bad that it made him question his future in the industry.
But fortunately, Kushima stood by him and shouldered him through. “That’s when Kujima, with whom I’d been having discussions the whole time, told me, ‘I’ve never seen anyone who works as hard as you and doesn’t get rewarded for it.’ Those words are what saved me.
“I cried. After that, I felt better, and was able to set my mind on continuing to work hard.”
And Kushima’s truth rang true as Oda found success immediately with his then one-shot manga, Romance Dawn.
The one-shot issue, which was published twice, was a pirate manga. To his relief, Romance Dawn impressed Kushima enough to approve further development. And soon, it was published in that year’s Shonen Jump Summer Special, to general praise from readers.
But sadly, the pair had to bid farewell as Oda was placed under a new editor, Takanori Asada. Nonetheless, Asada was instrumental as he was the one who arranged for Oda to fill an upcoming gap in Weekly Shonen Jump.
Seizing this rare opportunity, Oda produced the second draft of Romance Dawn’s second version in just two weeks. As expected, it was published to renewed acclaim. And while it initially was delayed, the success of Romance Dawn eventually resulted in One Piece’s serialisation.
And the rest is history
Since its publication in 1997, One Piece has become the best-selling manga series of all time. As of July 2021, the sales for the manga’s volume exceeded over 490 million worldwide. It even earned the Guinness World Record for having the largest number of copies of a comic published by a single author.
Its legacy carries on as it continues to evolve as a media franchise around the world. Even though he never anticipated its success, Oda is grateful to fans for keeping it alive after all these years.
“I love being number one. I will not forget the feeling of gratitude. I will make every effort to make One Piece the best manga on record issues and also in people’s memories. Thank you so much!”
Oda recently announced that One Piece will be going on a month hiatus from June 27 to July 25 so that he can prepare for the final saga. It looks like the journey of Luffy’s Straw Hat Pirates is finally coming to a close and fans who have been on this epic voyage are indeed waiting with bated breath for its eventual conclusion.
