One Piece Manga characters that look different in anime

Summary

• Some characters in One Piece may look different in the anime than in the manga due to changing design choices.

• Minor details, such as eye color or costume elements, may be changed in anime adaptations of One Piece sign.

• Characters like Silver's Rayleigh and Marco had markedly different appearances when they were first introduced in the anime.

One Piecelike most ongoing anime, is based on a manga that is largely illustrated in black and white. This means, for one reason or another, that a character's colors, as the author had envisioned them, are not immediately apparent. Often this results in fans and general audiences discoloring the characters before the official design solidifies.

Although manga illustrators will generally communicate important details to animators, sometimes some characters are customized before such details are finalized. In other cases, animators may disregard certain visual aspects of characters once they design them. When you think about how often One Piece teasing characters before they have significant importance, this can happen to somewhat notable characters several times in the series. Below are some examples of when this happened, and Anime adaptation of a character looked very different from their manga inspiration.

5

Silver's Rayleigh

The dark haired king

• Debut: Chapter 19 (Manga); Episode 8 (Anime)

Silver's Rayleigh was first mate of Gol D. Roger and was consequently one of the strongest members of the legendary Roger Pirates. Having retired to become a pavement mechanic, Rayleigh is still interested in molding new talent. He especially kept his eye on Luffy, with Shanks noting the young boy's similarities to their former captain. Rayleigh eventually took over to mentor Luffy and remains a formidable fighter in her own right, despite her advanced age.

Despite his importance, some fans may not realize that Rayleigh appeared in the anime before episode 10. In a flashback to his time in the Roger Pirates, Buggy reflects on Rayleigh scolding him and Shanks. This seems rather out of character for the more laid-back ex-pirate often seen, but what really makes him unrecognizable is his physical appearance, which removed his scars, changed his glasses and dyed his hair differently from the design for a younger Rayleigh that would later established. The story also doubles down on Rayleigh being more of a disciplinarian in Roger's crew, likely due to his own captain being a bit more free-spirited and feeling the need to lay down the law.

All of these choices were likely due to the fact that a design for this particular version of Rayleigh was not considered necessary or finalized yet. Today Rayleigh took a while to become really relevant to the story. The earlier version of Rayleigh took many more years before it became relevant again. Although Oda claims that this man was always intended to be Roger's first mate, he likely placed much less importance on what would become of his previous designs at that point in the anime.

4

Miss Valentine

The green-eyed monster

• Debut: Chapter 110 (Manga); Episode 65 (Anime)

In a slightly odd example, a minor detail of a character was changed for the anime and has stuck in most adaptations since, despite the original canon not having it. Mikita, also known as Miss Valentinewas a member of Baroque Works, known for his ability to shift his weight between 1 and 10,000 kilos, as well as his peppy yet sadistic demeanor. She has been consistently designed with two separate eye colors in the manga and anime. Oda's original design gives her dark black irises, while the anime opts for a light green. While her irises would normally be one of two colors in the illustrated manga, it's worth noting that Oda keeps them this color even in colored manga illustrations.

For the most part, her design seems otherwise unchanged aside from this odd, unimportant detail. Yet it's how little it matters that makes the change that much more confusing. Although the anime, as usual, is the design that most related media crave, the original design of Miss Valentine still exists as it is in the manga. It's possible that each design just works better for the character within the context of the medium, especially when you consider that manga is often drawn in black and white.

3

Marco

Hardly like himself

• Debut: Chapter 234 (Manga); Episode 151 (Anime)

Oda is known for writing in or teasing out characters without completely finished designs. This results in some discrepancies within the manga itself, between teased silhouettes and the characters once introduced. To a lesser extent, this can happen with characters who are significant to the story but are introduced in the background before their proper integration.

MarcoWhitebeard's right-hand man, is an example of such a character, who debuted roughly 200 chapters before he was actually introduced in the manga. Marco looks unrecognizable in his anime debut, with significantly paler skin, a different colored outfit, a thicker set of lips that are a separate color from his flesh, and dark hair. His first revised design also had traces of this cameo, before eventually evolving into the version of the character most fans know. The same kind of design overhaul happened with Jozu, Marco's crewmate, whose own formal introduction also took a while after his tech debut.

The Whitebeard Pirates in general had to be redesigned for Western audiences, as the swastika-inspired Jolly Roger (a mark reflected in the crew's ensemble) was more associated with the German Nazi Party than its origins as a more positive symbol in Eastern regions.

2

Capone Pez

His Father's Son

• Debut: Chapter 498 (Manga); Episode 392 (Anime)

Capone Beg was a significant character in One Pieceteased to have greater involvement in the story as a member of the worst generation. His mammoth design and official color scheme had been completed long before his son Pez was introduced. Capone Pez was a child Bege had as a result of his marriage to Charlotte Chiffon. In appearance, Pez is very much his father in miniature, wears a similar hat, is just as heavy, and even has a five o'clock shadow. This makes it understandable why a previous anime design might also take from his father's color scheme, giving him a similar black hair color and a black and green onesie. He also has much less facial hair than his father's more pronounced stubble.

However, Pez's official color scheme inverted many of these characteristics. It would take more inspiration from Chiffon, giving him a similar hair color, and a blue onesie, closer to his mother's fur color. That said, it would also return the stub to the gray five o'clock shade Bege sport. This design choice was likely made to better communicate that he is still a Charlotte by blood, despite his retained resemblance to his father.

1

Charlotte Perospero

Blue Period

• Debut: Chapter 834 (Manga); Episode 795 (Anime)

Charlotte Perospero is an officer in the Big Mom Pirates, as well as Linlin's eldest child. He has a pretty memorable design, including a giant tongue, a large coat, and a hat covered in lollipops. While Perospero was introduced properly early on, his anime butt aired before his official manga color scheme was revealed, resulting in various deviations in his anime design.

Rather than the orange complementing the yellow, Perospero's original design made the smart choice of dark blue as a secondary color around his outfit's white-striped ensemble. This meant the lower end of his plaid coat, the candies embedded in the buttoned area of ​​his coat, and his striped hat was all blue and white rather than orange and white. Other notable changes include his nail color, his clubs, and his bracelets, all of which have been changed to complement the color scheme.

Most of these changes were scrapped along with the official manga coloring. One factor that remained different between the finished anime and manga designs was the color of his lollipops. The manga depicts him as having a rainbow of colors, while the anime makes them all light green, rather than the magenta they were before. These monochromatic lollipops are probably easier to account for when animating than the rainbow color.