Eiichiro Oda has become a famous name worldwide, and it doesn’t come as a surprise to any fan. After all, he is the creator of the biggest manga ever, One Piece. One Piece rose through the ranks and became the best-selling manga ever, surpassing predecessors with an absolutely massive pedigree, and even newer hit series that dropped alongside it. One Piece, like any other series, had its inspiration. In the newest interview with Oda, he reveals who inspired him most.
It’s officially confirmed that Oda’s biggest inspiration was none other than Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, and many other big series. Toriyama was definitely influential, and it doesn’t just stop at One Piece, but the entire manga industry.
Eiichiro Oda Reveals His Biggest Influence
- Akira Toriyama Was Oda’s Biggest Influence
- Oda Admired Toriyama To A Great Level
One Piece has been ongoing for quite some time now, over 28 years, to be precise. It is absolutely massive now, but just like every other series, it had quite humble beginnings. In fact, its creator, Eiichiro Oda, initially struggled to get published in Weekly Shonen Jump. Oda was, nonetheless, consistent and determined. Oda never even thought of joining any other magazine than Weekly Shonen Jump, and there’s a big reason for that. Oda wanted his manga to be in Shonen Jump, alongside manga legend Akira Toriyama.
Akira Toriyama is a name that most manga and anime fans are familiar with already. His biggest series was Dragon Ball, and it has become one of the world’s biggest and most known manga and anime series. Toriyama greatly inspired Oda. Oda was in awe of Toriyama’s art ever since he was a child and wanted nothing more than to work alongside this legend at Weekly Shonen Jump. Oda even goes as far as describing Toriyama as the greatest, which is no small compliment.
“The existence of Toriyama-sensei is greater to me than anything else. I had never seen anyone who could draw so well, and I was captivated at first sight. Of course, I was also influenced by many other artists I discovered after Toriyama-sensei, and they all helped shape who I am today—but when it comes to art, the influence of Toriyama-sensei is by far the greatest. The reason I submitted to Shonen Jump’s newcomer award was purely because I wanted to go to ‘the place where Akira Toriyama was.’ Not once did I ever consider applying anywhere other than Jump. I didn’t make it in time for Dragon Ball, but after One Piece began (Issue 34, 1996), not long after that, Toriyama-sensei’s series Cowa! also started (Issue 48, 1997). That made me incredibly happy. To be running a series in Jump alongside Toriyama-sensei was like a dream come true.” — Eiichiro Oda
Sadly for Oda, he never got to serialize One Piece alongside Dragon Ball, as he arrived a little too late. He did, however, get to publish next to Cowa!, another series by Toriyama, but definitely nowhere as big as Dragon Ball.
Akira Toriyama’s Work Has Been Revolutionary In The Manga Industry
Inspired One Piece and Many Other Big Manga
Akira Toriyama greatly influenced Oda, the creator of the biggest manga ever, but it doesn’t stop there. It wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that Toriyama was the biggest influence for most shonen mangakas. Toriyama inspired other big manga, such as Naruto, Bleach, Jujutsu Kaisen, and the list goes on. Weekly Shonen Jump, and shonen manga in general, would be very different today had Akira Toriyama never become a mangaka.
- Release Date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Writers
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
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