Eiichiro Oda facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eiichiro Oda
尾田 栄一郎 |
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|---|---|
| Born | January 1, 1975 Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan |
| Occupation | Manga artist |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Notable works | One Piece |
| Notable awards | Grand Prize at 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award |
| Spouse |
Chiaki Inaba
(m. 2004) |
| Children | 2 |
| Signature | |
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Eiichiro Oda (Japanese: 尾田 栄一郎, Hepburn: Oda Eiichirō, born January 1, 1975) is a famous Japanese manga artist. He is best known as the creator of the incredibly popular series One Piece. This series is the best-selling manga in history! More than 520 million copies of One Piece books have been sold around the world. This makes Oda one of the most successful authors ever. Many people believe he is one of the artists who truly changed the world of manga.
Contents
Early Life and Dreams
Eiichiro Oda was born in Kumamoto, Japan, on January 1, 1975. When he was just four years old, he decided he wanted to become a manga artist. He hoped this would be a fun job! His biggest inspiration was Akira Toriyama, the creator of the famous Dragon Ball series. Oda also remembers that a TV show called Vicky the Viking probably made him interested in pirates.
Oda's Manga Journey
Starting His Career
When Eiichiro Oda was 17, he submitted a manga story called Wanted!. It won several awards, including second place in the famous Tezuka Award. This helped him get a job at Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. He worked as an assistant for other manga artists, learning a lot about drawing and storytelling. One of his mentors was Nobuhiro Watsuki, who created Rurouni Kenshin.
The Birth of One Piece
During this time, Oda drew two short pirate stories called "Romance Dawn." These stories were published in 1996. The main character in "Romance Dawn" was Monkey D. Luffy, a cheerful pirate. Luffy later became the hero of One Piece.
In 1997, One Piece began to be published regularly in Weekly Shōnen Jump. It quickly became one of the most popular manga in Japan. Soon, it was the best-selling manga series of all time! By February 2005, over 100 million copies of One Piece books were sold. By July 2022, more than 516 million copies were in print worldwide.
Breaking Records and Collaborations
One Piece has broken many publishing records in Japan. For example, Volume 57, released in 2010, had the highest first print run for any book in Japan at the time, with 3 million copies. This record was broken several times by later volumes. In 2013, One Piece won the Grand Prize at the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award.
Oda is also involved in the One Piece animated movies. For the film Strong World (2009), he created the story and drew many guiding pictures. He also helped design characters and produced later movies like Z (2012) and Red (2022).
He has also worked with other famous manga artists. In 2007, Oda teamed up with Akira Toriyama (creator of Dragon Ball) to make a crossover story called Cross Epoch. He also collaborated with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro on a One Piece and Toriko crossover in 2011.
Oda's Life Outside Manga
Family Life
Since 2004, Eiichiro Oda has been married to Chiaki Inaba. She was a model and actress. They met in 2002 at a festival where Chiaki played the character Nami from One Piece on stage. Oda and Chiaki have two daughters, born in 2006 and 2009.
Friends and Fellow Artists
Oda has many friends who are also manga artists. Some of them, like Hiroyuki Takei, worked as assistants with him under Nobuhiro Watsuki. They have remained good friends for many years. Oda even included a hidden message in a One Piece chapter to celebrate the end of Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto series. Kishimoto also showed his respect for One Piece in the ending of Naruto. When One Piece reached its 1,000th chapter, many other manga artists congratulated Oda.
Dedication and Generosity
Eiichiro Oda is known for being a very hard worker. His editors say he is a perfectionist. He often sleeps only about three hours a day during his busy work weeks!
In 2013, he had a health issue that required a short hospital stay. He later had a small surgery to fix it completely.
Oda is also very generous. In 2018, he donated 800 million Japanese Yen (which is about 8 million US dollars) to Kumamoto Prefecture. This was after a big earthquake in 2016 damaged the area, including Kumamoto Castle. He made two donations, one even in the name of his character, Luffy! Oda has always supported areas affected by earthquakes.
Awards and Achievements
Eiichiro Oda has received many awards for his amazing work. Here are some of them:
- 1992: Second place in the Tezuka Award for his manga Wanted!.
- 2012: Grand Prize at the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award for One Piece.
- 2015: Set a Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author." At that time, 320,866,000 copies of One Piece were printed worldwide.
- 2018: Received the Kumamoto Prefecture Honorary Prize.
- 2019: Named "Most Searched Author" at The Yahoo! Japan Search Awards.
- 2022: Received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award at Napoli Comicon in Italy.
- 2022: Broke his own Guinness World Record! By July 2022, 516,566,000 copies of One Piece were in print worldwide.
- 2023: Won the 18th Shin Watanabe Award for his significant contribution to entertainment.
Oda's Creative Works
Manga Series and Short Stories
- Wanted! (1992)
- God's Present for the Future (神から未来のプレゼント, Kami Kara Mirai no Purezento, 1993)
- Ikki Yakō (一鬼夜行, 1993)
- Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Short Stories (WANTED! 尾田栄一郎短編集, Oda Eiichirō Tanpenshū, collection of previous short stories, 1998) – A collection of his early short stories.
- Monsters
- Romance Dawn (second version)
- One Piece (1997–present) – His most famous ongoing series.
- Cross Epoch (2007) – A special crossover story with Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball).
- Taste of the Devil Fruit (実食! 悪魔の実!!, Jisshoku! Akuma no Mi!!, 2011) – A crossover with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (Toriko).
Art Books
Oda has also released several art books called One Piece Color Walk, showcasing his colorful illustrations.
Film Projects
Eiichiro Oda has been deeply involved in the One Piece movies:
- One Piece Film: Strong World (2009) – He created the story and designed costumes and creatures.
- One Piece Film: Z (2012) – He designed characters and costumes.
- One Piece Film: Gold (2016) – He designed characters and costumes.
- One Piece: Stampede (2019) – He designed characters and costumes.
- One Piece Film: Red (2022) – He was an executive producer and helped with character design and the script.
Other Creative Contributions
- He drew a special illustration for the creator of Chibi Maruko-chan after her passing, showing characters from both series together.
- He collaborated with the fashion brand Gucci, creating illustrations of Luffy and Zoro wearing Gucci clothes.
- He drew an illustration for the sport of Karate for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 Official Programme book.
- He was one of the executive producers for the 2023 One Piece live-action series on Netflix.
- He designed new characters and monsters for the 2023 video game One Piece Odyssey.
See also
In Spanish: Eiichirō Oda para niños
