The vast array of characters is one of the main reasons why One Piece is such a big success in the anime and manga world. Every character in the story has a narrative of their own that defines their actions, and fans often love these side stories. Be it the sad love tale of Senor Pink or the traumatized past of Koala, these side stories help fans connect with the characters.
Eiichiro Oda once explained his process of creating a character and his background, along with Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. He revealed his secret about the best way to create the characters, which has inspired many other manga artists. He mentioned that he always writes down a little something about the characters he is drawing.
Not only that, the mangaka, in his discussion with Toriyama, also revealed his favorite character from the One Piece series and explained why he likes this character so much.
Eiichiro Oda’s Process of Creating Characters for One Piece
An old discussion between Oda and Akira Toriyama was published in the One Piece artbook, Color Walk 1, which was later translated and shared by thegrandline. During this discussion, Toriyama asked Oda about his process of creating characters for the One Piece manga and whether he puts any weight on the character orientation while creating them.
Oda replied:
“No, I go with the ‘flow’. I cherish what ‘grooves’ I get into. First, I draw really rough sketches of the new characters. When doing that, I always write down a line or two with them. It just happens naturally, I don’t even think about it. The first thing the character says usually helps in the long run to build his personality.”
According to Oda, he creates the characters according to the flow of the narrative. He draws rough sketches for the characters and always writes a few lines that either define the character or are their first words in the One Piece narrative. This helps Oda build the personality of the character later in the story.
Eiichiro Oda Reveals His Favorite Character in One Piece
While talking about his process of creating the characters for One Piece, Eiichiro Oda also revealed his favorite character in the series.
He pointed out that although he likes Luffy, his favorite character in the entire One Piece story is Gaimon, the hermit who has been stuck inside the treasure box for 20 years.
“Of course, I like Luffy. But, the character that I like the most is Gaimon. It’s hard to think of anyone better than him. Just a man who has been stuck in a treasure box for 20 years. I think that was an amazing setup myself.”
It is ironic that Oda’s favorite character in One Piece is the one that did not have much significance in the story and was only present for three chapters when the mangaka has introduced so many brilliantly written characters who have made One Piece one of the biggest anime and manga series of all time.
You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll.
