Interviews between mangakas are always exciting opportunities to find out more about them. But sometimes, you get to know facts that were better hidden. In an interview between the authors of Dragon Ball and One Piece, Akira Toriyama was shocked by one opinion from Eiichiro Oda.
In all honesty, Oda was simply mesmerized by Akira Toriyama and only wanted to praise his skills and art. In a 2001 interview featured in One Piece Color Walk #1, the two legendary authors sat together for a fun-filled interview which quickly led to them spilling some serious beans.
Eiichiro Oda Appreciates Akira Toriyama’s Armpit Drawing Skills
In the interview, Eiichiro Oda seemed genuinely excited about interacting with Akira Toriyama.
Of course, he’s god! He is in an entirely different dimension. All in all, he’s just too good at drawing!
The author of One Piece then revealed that the first time he encountered Toriyama’s manga was during the second chapter of Dragon Ball. Regardless, it was love at first sight. At the time, Oda was obsessed with Disney, but he considered Toriyama’s art to be even better. He then asked the Dragon Ball author about a particular character in the franchise called Ranfan, who appeared in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.
When Akira Toriyama acknowledged that he remembered the character, Oda brought up a specific scene in Dragon Ball that was memorable to him.
You know how Ranfan took her clothes off, right? Her armpits during that scene were really drawn well. I thought that you were the first person to accurately draw someone’s armpit that well. Back then, I always drew people’s armpits.
This confession might have made Toriyama take a step back but Oda remained excited, skipping to the next thing he liked about the Dragon Ball author’s drawings.
Eiichiro Oda Remembers the Most Minor Characters in Dragon Ball
Next, Oda confessed that he used to love drawing Tao Pai Pai’s hands. Mercenary Tao or Tao Pai Pai was an assassin for hire who was a major antagonist in the Commander Red Saga. However, he is a minor character that even the most hardcore Dragon Ball enthusiasts might find hard to remember. Yet, Oda did and exclaimed that he loved the character.
Oda continued to fanboy by saying:
When he posed his hands were so well drawn. During that time, the only thing I drew were hands. Those two things were what shocked me the most in Dragon Ball… armpits and hands.
Toriyama calmly admitted that he regretted never having studied muscle models back when he started out with Dragon Ball. He only focused on how they looked, but they were not accurate.
Oda rushed in to claim that the muscles in Dragon Ball were perfect and even the women are fully muscular. According to the One Piece author, it made the women look sexy.
You can read One Piece and Dragon Ball on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
