There is really nothing like it One Piece. From its cast to its world and overall mystery, One Piece stands as a unique experience that has left a huge mark on the anime and manga industry. Since it inspired so many comics that came after it, you have to wonder what helped Oda do One Piece?
Inspiration comes from all sides, and One Piece is no different. Oda is an incredibly creative and resourceful mangaka, creating a world that millions of fans have come to love and become invested in over the years. But even he needed a little inspiration to get things going.\
Eiichiro Oda's latest update confirms that One Piece will end soon
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Future Robot Daltanious
Oda has put out some incredible patterns too One Piece's characters, with a myriad of different pirates, marines and everyone in between inhabiting the One Piece world. Obviously, Oda has different inspirations for different characters and events, but a genre that some fans might not expect to see associated with One Piece is mecha anime. If it weren't for the little known Future Robot Daltanious anime, we wouldn't have SMILE users in One Piece.
Oda explained in SBS Volume 99 that characters such as Holed'em and other SMILE users' designs were influenced by Future Robot Daltaniousand how he admired the series' design as a child. According to Oda, the whole reason behind creating SMILEs was that he wanted to draw Holed'em and have a character with a lion on his belly, similar to the transformed version of the lion robot and a humanoid robot from the anime.
It is no exaggeration to say that SMILEs originated from wanting to draw this guy. A long time ago this robot anime was called Future Robot Daltanious. There a lion robot and a humanoid robot would transform and doll together and become a robot with a lion face on its chest!! It's something I also loved as a kid because of how cool it was.
Kinnikuman
Although it didn't necessarily inspire the main series, Oda's love for Kinnikuman is what we have to thank for having one of manga's great gag characters; Panda Man. Oda originally designed Pandaman in 1998 to be submitted as part of a Kinnikuman character building competition. Yudetamagos Kinnikuman has a very unique style, and you can definitely see what Oda was going for with Pandaman's design.
Although not a huge part of the story or made to be taken seriously, Pandaman has appeared throughout the series as a background character and easter egg. From having his name written on the Poneglyph in Alabasta, to being in the background during various events in the anime, Pandaman is a staple of the series. He has even ranked quite high at times in fan popularity polls, finishing 19th in the second poll and 31st in the 3rd.
Dragon Ball
Watch any modern shonen anime and you will see Dragon Ball's DNA somewhere in there. Akira Toriyama's worldwide hit influenced a myriad of aspiring mangaka back in the day, with Oda and the other “Big 3” mangaka all drawing inspiration from Goku's adventures. For One PieceOda's inspiration seems to be more general instead of having specific characters/elements that inspire his work.
Goku's strong moral code, cheerful attitude and charisma are all traits we see in Luffy. Shonen staples, like crazy power scaling, powerful mentors, and various character archetypes, are also there. It might sound cliché, but One Piece wouldn't be what it is without Dragon Ball. Sure, the series stands out on its own as well, with its world-building and Oda's ability to set things up years before they pay off, but these two series will always be connected in some way.
Vicky Viking
You wouldn't expect something so obscure to have inspired the biggest anime and manga series of all time, but people can find inspiration from anything and everything. Most anime fans have never heard of Vicky Viking. Why would they? The series was broadcast from 1974 to 1976 and was based on a children's book series by Runer Jonsson. As obscure as it is, if it wasn't for Oda watching this series as a kid, we wouldn't have One Piece today.
Oda stated in an interview that the series came to mind when he was brainstorming ideas for One Piece. A main character who admires a certain way of life and wants to emulate it, a grand adventure at sea and a large cast of characters who support each other on their journey are all elements that the two series have in common.
As a child I really liked an anime series called Vicke the Little Viking. It was about a little kid who admires Vikings, and his dream is to become one of them when he grows up. When I was researching pirates for One Piece, I realized that Vikings are a type of pirate. I feel like it's cool to have friends on your team, just like in the Vicke series. It might not be the best comparison, but I feel that the spirit of that series is carried forward in my work.
It took him a while, but with the Elbaf arc in full swing, Oda will finally fully explore the Viking language he seemed to love so much in his youth.
The Mysterious Cities of Gold
As Vicky Viking, The mysterious cities of Gold is not a series mostly One Piece fans will know. But some fans have realized that the French-Japanese co-production bears some striking similarities to everyone's favorite pirate manga. Unlike Vicky Viking, The Mysterious Cities of Gold has not been confirmed as an official inspiration by Oda, but the more you look into it, the more you discover that both series have in common.
To begin with, the main character of the series, Esteban, is said to be the “Child of the Sun”. That sounds a lot like the Luffy/Sun God Nika pairing. But that's not where the similarities end. When he was a child, Esteban was saved by a navigator named Mendoza, similar to Luffy being saved by Shanks. Mendoza leaves Esteban with an important amulet similar to Shanks giving Luffy his straw hat.
During his travels, Estaban meets a girl named Zia, who comes from an ancient tribe who can read a forgotten language. Sounds a lot like Robin, doesn't it? Zia's tribe was also wiped out, similar to what happened to the people of Ohara. Understanding this language is the key to finding the legendary city of gold, just like Robin reading the Poneglyphs is the key to finding One Piece.
There are other things that are similar One Piecesuch as Esteban running into a tribe of Amazons, and there are a total of four secret locations leading to the city of gold. Oda has not mentioned the series in any interview, at least none that we know of. Maybe he never saw it, and this is one big coincidence, but it seems like it The Mysterious Cities of Gold affected him in any way.
One Piece
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Author
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
