is a Japanese

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

and the creator of the series ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...

'', the best-selling manga in history and the best-selling comic series printed in volume. With more than 520 million copies of ''One Piece'' in circulation worldwide, Oda is one of the best-selling fiction authors. The series' popularity resulted in Oda being named one of the artists who changed the

history of manga Manga, in the sense of narrative multi-panel cartoons made in Japan, originated from Western style cartoons featured in late 19th-century Japanese publications. The form of manga as speech-balloon-based comics more specifically originated from ...

Early life

Eiichiro Oda was born on January 1, 1975, in Kumamoto, Japan. At the age of four he resolved to become a manga artist in order to avoid having to get a "real job". His biggest influence was

Akira Toriyama was a Japanese manga artist and character designer. He came to be regarded as one of the most influential and important authors in the history of manga, authoring highly influential and popular series, particularly Dragon Ball (manga), ''Dra ...

and his series ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

''. He recalls that his interest in

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

s was probably sparked by the popular TV animation series titled '' Vicky the Viking''.

Career

At the age of 17, Oda submitted his work ''Wanted!'' and won several awards, including second place in the coveted Tezuka Award. That got him into a job at the ''

Weekly Shōnen Jump is a weekly Shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology published in Japan by Shueisha under the ''Jump (magazine line), Jump'' line of magazines. The manga series within the magazine consist of many Action (fiction), action scenes and a fair ...

'' magazine, where he originally worked as assistant manga artist/assistant to Shinobu Kaitani's series ''Suizan Police Gang'' before moving to Masaya Tokuhiro on '' Jungle King Tar-chan'' and ''Mizu no Tomodachi Kappaman'', which gave him an unexpected influence on his artistic style. At the age of 19, he began working as an assistant to

Nobuhiro Watsuki , better known by his pen name , is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his samurai-themed series '' Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story'' (1994–1999), which has over 70 million copies in circulation, and a sequel he is cur ...

on ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins in 1878, the 11th year of the Meiji era in Japan, and follows a former assassin of the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work against ...

'', before winning the Hop Step Award for new manga artists. Watsuki credits Oda for helping create the character Honjō Kamatari who appears in ''Rurouni Kenshin''. During this time, Oda drew two pirate-themed one-shot stories called "Romance Dawn", which were published in ''

Akamaru Jump Akamaru may refer to: * Akamaru (Naruto), Kiba Inuzuka's dog in the ''Naruto'' series * Akamaru Island, an island in the Gambier Islands *'' Akamaru Jump'', a special edition of ''Shōnen Jump'' published thrice a year {{disambig ...

'' and ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' respectively in late 1996. "Romance Dawn" featured Monkey D. Luffy as the protagonist, who then became the protagonist of ''

''. In 1997, ''One Piece'' began serialization in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' and has become not only one of the most popular manga in Japan, but the best-selling manga series of all time. It sold 100 million collected volumes by February 2005, over 200 million by February 2011, had 320,866,000 copies printed worldwide by December 2014, 430 million volumes in circulation worldwide as of October 2017, 440million copies sold as of May 2018 and 450million in print as of March 2019. Additionally, individual volumes of ''One Piece'' have broken publishing records in Japan. Volume 56 received the highest initial print run of any manga, 2.85 million copies, in 2009. Volume 57's print of 3 million in 2010 was the highest first print for any book in Japan, not just manga. A record that was broken several times by subsequent volumes and currently held by 67's 4.05 million initial printing in 2012. In 2013, the series won the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize, alongside Kimuchi Yokoyama's ''Nekodarake Nice''. In a 2008 poll, conducted by marketing research firm

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

, Oda was elected fifth most favorite manga artists of Japan. He shared the place with

Yoshihiro Togashi is a Japanese manga artist. He began drawing manga at an early age, before being recognized for his talent by the publishing company Shueisha while attending college. Togashi has authored several different manga series in different Literary ge ...

, creator of ''

YuYu Hakusho is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It tells the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a teenage delinquent who is struck and killed by a car while saving a child's life. After several tests presented to him ...

'' and ''

Hunter × Hunter ''Hunter × Hunter'' (pronounced "hunter hunter") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi. It has been serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' since March 1998, although the man ...

''. In their 2010 poll on the Mangaka that Changed the History of Manga, Oda came in fourth. For the tenth ''One Piece'' animated theatrical film, '' Strong World'', Oda created the film's story, drew over 120 drawings for guidance and insisted Mr. Children provide the theme song. Additionally, a special chapter of the manga was created and included in volume 0, which was given free to attendees of the film and also contained his drawings for the film. Following the particular success of this film, Oda also provided the character design for and executive produced the subsequent movies '' Z'' (2012), ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

'' (2016), ''

Stampede A stampede () is a situation in which a group of large animals suddenly start running in the same direction, especially because they are excited or frightened. Although the term is most often applied to animals, there are cases of humans stamped ...

'' (2019), and '' Red'' (2022). Oda and Akira Toriyama created a 2007 crossover one-shot called ''Cross Epoch'', that contains characters from Toriyama's ''Dragon Ball'' and Oda's ''One Piece''. In 2013, they each designed a Gaist character for the video game '' Gaist Crusher''. In 2011, Oda and Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro created the ''One Piece'' and '' Toriko'' crossover one-shot ''Taste of the Devil Fruit''. Shimabukuro stated that he came up with the bulk of the story while Oda gave suggestions.

Personal life

Since 2004, Eiichiro Oda has been married to Chiaki Inaba, a former

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in the United States were descri ...

. Oda met her in December 2002 during a Jump Festa festival where Chiaki Inaba played the role of Nami during a One Piece stage show. Oda and Inaba have two daughters, one born in 2006 and the other in 2009. Oda regarded many mangaka both as his friends and rivals. Among these were his fellow assistants under

; Hiroyuki Takei, and Mikio Itō. Still many years later, they remained good friends. For the title page illustration of ''One Piece'' chapter 766, which ran in 2014's 50th issue of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump ''alongside the final two chapters of Kishimoto's ''

Naruto ''Naruto'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto. It tells the story of Naruto Uzumaki, a young ninja who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. T ...

'', Oda included a hidden message and other tributes in the art. Kishimoto himself also gave tribute in the ending of ''Naruto'' where the character Boruto Uzumaki makes a drawing of the Straw Hat Jolly Roger on a mountain. Upon the release of Chapter 1,000 of ''One Piece'', several of Oda's fellow mangaka rivals paid tribute in the author's comment section of ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' by congratulating Oda for achieving this milestone. According to Oda himself and his manga editors, he is an ardent worker and perfectionist, sleeping only three hours per day during a typical work week. He was hospitalized for a peritonsillar abscess in 2013 and later discharged from the hospital after two weeks. After a year, he underwent a

tonsillectomy Tonsillectomy is a surgical procedure in which both palatine tonsils are fully removed from the back of the throat. The procedure is mainly performed for recurrent tonsillitis, throat infections and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). For those wit ...

to completely cure his condition. Oda gifted

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

¥800 million (US$8M/£4.9M) in 2018 after it suffered a damaging earthquake in 2016 that had affected its iconic Kumamoto Castle. Oda's ¥800M donation was offered in two separate gifts, one for ¥500M under

Luffy , also known as is a fictional character and the protagonist in the Japanese manga series ''One Piece'' created by Eiichiro Oda. Luffy made his debut as a young boy who acquires the properties of rubber after accidentally eating one of the On ...

's name (Luffy's current bounty at the time) and a second donation of ¥300M. Eiichiro Oda has long been a supporter of earthquake-stricken areas, writing supportive messages, contributing art for local products, and participating in the ONE PIECE Kumamoto Revival Project.

Awards

Eiichiro Oda has received several awards and titles. His Awards lists: * Second half of 1992: second place Tezuka Award for ''Wanted!'' * 1993: Hop☆Step Award for ''Ikki Yakō'' * 2000:

Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Named after Osamu Tezuka, the is a yearly manga prize awarded to manga artists or their works that follow the Osamu Tezuka manga approach founded and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun. The prize has been awarded since 1997, in Tokyo, Japan. Current ...

finalist for ''One Piece'' * 2001: Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize finalist for ''One Piece'' * 2002: Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize finalist for ''One Piece'' * 2005: Sondermann Award in the International Manga category for ''One Piece'' :de:Sondermann (Cartoon) * 2006: Japanese Media Arts Festival 100 Manga Selection for ''One Piece'' * 2008: Sondermann Award in the International Manga category for Volume 44 of ''One Piece'' * 2009: Sondermann Award in the International Manga category for Volume 48 of ''One Piece'' * 2012: Received Grand Prize at 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award for ''One Piece'' * 2015:

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" with 320,866,000 copies printed worldwide up until December 2014. * 2018: Kumamoto Prefecture Honorary Prize * 2019: Most Searched Author at The

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese web portal. It was the most-visited website in Japan, nearing monopolistic status. According to ''The Japan Times'', as of 2012, Yahoo! Japan had a footprint on the internet market in Japan. In terms of use as a search engine, ...

Search Awards * 2019: Included in the list of ''Newsweek Japan''s "100 Globally respected Japanese people." * 2022: Special Lifetime Achievement Award at Napoli Comicon 2022 in Italy. * 2022: Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" with 516,566,000 copies in printed worldwide up until July 2022. * 2023: 18th Shin Watanabe Award, an award for a producer or creator who has created a major movement in the entertainment business and made a significant contribution to the development of popular entertainment culture.

Works

Manga

* ''Wanted!'' (1992) * * * ** ''Wanted!'' ** ''God's Present for the Future'' ** ''Ikki Yakō'' ** '' Monsters'' ** ''Romance Dawn'' (second version)

One Piece

* '' Monsters'' (1994) * ''Romance Dawn'' (first version, 1996) * ''Romance Dawn'' (second version, 1996) * ''

'' (1997–present) * ''Cross Epoch'' (2007) – crossover between ''

'' and ''One Piece'' with

* – crossover between '' Toriko'' and ''One Piece'' with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro

Art books

* ''One Piece Color Walk 1'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 2'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 3 Lion'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 4 Eagle'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 5 Shark'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 6 Gorilla'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 7 Tyrannosaurus'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 8 Wolf'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 9 Tiger'' * ''One Piece Color Walk 10 Dragon''

Films

* '' One Piece Film: Strong World'' (2009) – costume design, creature design, story and executive producer * '' One Piece Film: Z'' (2012) – character design, costume design and executive producer * '' One Piece Film: Gold'' (2016) – character design (Straw Hat costume design, Carina, Tesoro, Dice and Baccarat character design) and executive producer * '' One Piece: Stampede'' (2019) – character design, costume design, creative supervisor and executive producer * '' One Piece Film: Red'' (2022) – executive producer, character design, and script reviewer

Other

* Drew an illustration for '' Chibi Maruko-chan'' manga creator Momoko Sakura after her death. The illustration showed Luffy sharing barbecue with Maruko-chan with accompanying message that the two authors got along well in both their professional and personal lives and that he is praying for Sakura. * Collaborated with fashion brand,

Gucci Guccio Gucci S.p.A., doing business as Gucci ( , ), is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house based in Florence. Its product lines include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, accessories, and home decoration; and it licenses its name and ...

and created a Lookbook featured both Monkey D. Luffy and Roronoa Zoro sporting poses with a series of images of the two rocking the latest Gucci line. * Drew Original Illustration for the President and all ''One Piece'' fans in France. * Drew Original Illustration for sport "Karate" for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Official Programme book which highlights the defining traits, history, rules, top athletes, venue, schedule, and the major tournament records for each of the 33 featured sports. * One of the executive producers for the 2023 ''One Piece'' live-action series by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

and Tomorrow Studios. * Designed a new character and monsters for the 2023 role-playing video game '' One Piece Odyssey''.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oda, Eiichiro 1975 births Japanese illustrators Living people Manga artists from Kumamoto Prefecture One Piece People from Kumamoto