Eiichiro Oda, the mastermind behind One Piece, launched his manga at a time when people idolized Akira Toriyama as the supreme leader of Shonen manga. Dragon Ball was still ruling over the hearts of people and crushing new manga ideas within weeks. Yet, One Piece managed to stand up to the pressure and succeed.
The author of One Piece finally opened up about why he thinks his series has received such a phenomenal response and how it stands out from the rest of the crowd.
Eiichiro Oda Wanted to Do Something Different with One Piece
In an interview with the New York Times, Eiichiro Oda opened up about his inspirations when he first began drawing manga and how he wanted to shape One Piece. The author revealed that he had wanted to be a mangaka since a young age, and always drew things that didn’t exist to get attention.
Next, the mangaka switches to talk about what it was like to compete in the manga industry.
There were plenty of heroes who fight the demons and save the world; the market was saturated with that kind of story. I wanted to do something different but relatable.
Indeed, the Shonen world is dominated by stories of righteous heroes who will do anything to save the world. Most of them are teens who are assigned a heavy duty of protecting the Earth against evil enemies, demons, aliens, or other opposing forces. Oda naturally wanted to go the other direction and created the world of One Piece with the carefree Luffy as the protagonist.
According to the author, he had a realization that he was helped by a lot of people to reach where he stood, and thus friendship became a central theme in One Piece.
Oda Did Not Want Luffy to Share Dragon Ball Goku’s Curse
Eiichiro Oda further admits that he always knew he wanted to write a pirate manga, and thus drew a young boy who he could imagine in the role. Little did he know that this gangly boy would soon become a hero celebrated by millions of people.
The difference between One Piece and Dragon Ball still holds, especially when it comes to the protagonists. After Dragon Ball‘s popularity drowned everything else, mangakas kept trying to create something inspired by it and fans wanted to read more of their comfort series. Naturally, the market was saturated with heroes who would save the world at any cost.
In every Dragon Ball battle, the stakes are too high to be ignored. If Goku loses, devastating results like the destruction of planets, universes, and reality could take place. In every arc, the stakes are raised further and further and Goku has to save much more than a single planet.
On the other hand, One Piece has stories related to individuals sometimes and Luffy helps people simply because he can’t stand his friends getting insulted or trodden upon. Yes, Luffy did end up in the same situation as Goku, in terms of having to save the world. But he is still a very happy-go-lucky fellow who is solving one problem at a time.
While Goku seeks out battles and fights for fun, Luffy does not like whipping out his gears till it’s absolutely necessary. While Goku fights to save the Earth, Luffy wants to become the Pirate King. The fundamentals of the characters are different, despite their reaching the same goal.
You can read One Piece and Dragon Ball on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
