For nearly 30 years, One Piece has dominated the manga and anime industries with its depictions of the Straw Hat Pirates’ adventure stories. The series has held the title of being one of the most popular series, with its fanbase being spread throughout the entire world. However, this fanbase might have become a regretful criticism of One Piece.
The One Piece fanbase is one of the largest standing fandoms the anime and manga world has ever seen. This fanbase has helped the series get global recognition, but they came to be after the series started. Most of the One Piece fans were born after the first chapter of the manga was released.
This aspect of the One Piece fandom hit Eiichiro Oda as a fascinating reality check that he is slowly getting used to. He once talked about how he felt when he found out that most of the fans of his series were born after it started.
The Global Fanbase of One Piece
The eccentric journey of Luffy to become the King of the Pirates started in 1997. Eiichiro Oda was ready to create one of the biggest known names in the Japanese entertainment industry, and he rightfully did so. Within two years, the manga gained an anime adaptation that not only helped the series gain popularity in Japan but all over the world.
As the story progressed further, One Piece managed to gain a huge fan following, with almost 516.6 million copies being in circulation in 61 countries by 2022. The manga beat many world-known novel franchises like Harry Potter, and the anime series went on to become one of the leading names in the anime industry with many high-rated episodes.
Fans have always stood with One Piece and Oda and supported them through a lot of hard times. While there was some criticism in the beginning, all of that died down as the fanbase expanded even further. And the recent release of One Piece live-action by Netflix also helped the franchise in a major way.
Eiichiro Oda Might Not Be Happy With One Aspect of His Fanbase
Japanese news organization Yomiuri Shimbun held an interview with Oda in 2018 to mark the 21st anniversary of the series, and this interview was translated by Edomonogatari. In the interview, the One Piece mangaka was asked about the long and thrilling journey of his series and what his thoughts were on it.
Oda revealed:
I’m surprised whenever the recipients of Jump’s Newcomer Manga Awards or the staff at our office tell me, “I was born after One Piece started.” I’m slowly getting used to it, though.
Oda has been working hard on the series for almost 30 years. Thus, his fanbase being born after the release of One Piece feels like a humbling experience for the mangaka. However, he is trying to get used to it.
As One Piece has seen quite a few rivals in its journey, this might also be portrayed as a criticizing point to the fanbase of other manga franchises. Nevertheless, the One Piece fanbase is ever-growing and will continue to do so for many more years.
You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll.
