He planned out the early stage of One Piece (chapters 1-8) before he officially started it. In 1997, he later quit working with Nobuhiro to begin working on One Piece, doing many early One Piece sketches that would appear in Color Walk 1. In late 1996, while still working with Watsuki, he created two one-shots for the upcoming manga artist showcase called Romance Dawn, Version 1 and Version 2, which would become the first chapter of One Piece. Oda drew scenes in that manga with his own art style.ĭuring 19, he created other works such as God's Gift for the Future (1993), Ikki Yako (1994) and Monsters (1994), the last of which he would later mix with One Piece. Also in the same year he moved on to work with Nobuhiro Watsuki on Rurouni Kenshin in 1996. After Jungle King finished its run in 1995, he and Tokuhiro went on to create Mizu No Tomodachi Kappaman, it ran from 1995 to 1996. In the same year he left college as a freshman. In 1994, he briefly worked with Shinobu Kaitani with Suizan Police Gang before going back to Tokuhiro.
At first he worked with Masaya Tokuhiro on Jungle King Ta-Chan in 1992. In the same year he submitted his first work called Wanted! for which he won second place at Tezuka Award. In 1992, Oda at age 17 began his manga career starting as an assistant to three different mangakas for the weekly shonen manga magazine Shonen Jump.
He would later voice Odacchi in the "Dream Football King!" short that was added to the third One Piece movie "Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals". When he was young, he liked to play football at school and was nicknamed Odacchi by his friends. He is known to add Easter Eggs in his manga for fans to spot, including Doskoi Panda. Pandaman was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would also return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works. He submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga Kinnikuman. Early LifeĪs a child, Oda was inspired by Vikings and aspired to become a manga artist.
Eiichiro Oda, born Januin Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan, is a Japanese mangaka, best known as the creator of the series One Piece manga.