History
Eiichiro Oda was inspired by Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump at a young age. As a child he was inspired by Vikings and he aspired to become a manga artist. Later, he created Pandaman for Yudetamago'sKinnikuman. In 1992, Oda at the age of 17, submitted the manga called Wanted!. This got him notice to join the staff, at the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, where he became an assistant under several established manga writers including Shinobu Kaitani, Masaya Tokuhiro and finally Nobuhiro Watsuki.
Oda had interest in making a pirate manga both from his obsession with vikings as a young man and inspired by various pirate events including the discovery of the pirate ship of Edward Teach (known by his pirate name of Blackbeard). He wrote two separate one-shots in the mid-1990s, both of which were called "Romance Dawn". The stories introduced Monkey D. Luffy, a straw-hat wearing boy who set out to sea to become a legendary pirate. Several concepts of the eventual serialization appeared in these stories, including Luffy's inspiration for being a pirate and a mysterious power he gained from eating a special fruit that turned his body into rubber (a prototype for the Devil Fruit).
In August 1997, Oda took many of his "Romance Dawn" ideas and started using them in a weekly serial under the title "One Piece". It was first serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, the weekly shonen magazine owned byShueisha. The series quickly caught on and became popular from the initial chapters on, establishing itself as one of the premiere manga series in the magazine.
Originally, Oda wanted his series to run for 5 years (meaning One Piece could have ended in 2002), but he went longer than expected and has no idea how many more years his story will be. However, it should be noted that Oda has stated that the end of Chapter 597 marks the end of the first half of One Piece. Oda has already planned the ending for One Piece. Despite how long it will take him to complete it, he will end One Piece the way he planned from the start.
Plot
One Piece is the story of a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who was inspired by Shanks, a pirate. At the start of the series, 22 years before Luffy leaves his hometown and sets sail, a pirate named Gol D. Roger, known as the Pirate King was executed. He was the only pirate to succesfully conquer the grand line. Before his death, he told the crowd of his treasure, "One Piece". His death sparked what would become the Golden Age of Pirates as countless pirates set out to look for his treasure. Luffy becomes one as well, desiring to be the next Pirate King. He sets out to gather crewmates and begin his adventures and journeys.
Style
At the time of its release, the dot-eyed style of artwork seen in anime like Dragon Ball was becoming less popular and manga and anime seemed to be moving over for the more popular big-eyes style of drawing, made famous by shows like Sailor Moon. Eiichiro Oda was fully aware of the change of art style and was worried early on in its run that his style would put off people from reading his manga. As time progressed and One Piece's popularity grew, Oda was able to relax the style more, resulting in One Piece's drawing style becoming much more loose and kinetic.
As well as its unusual art style, the style of weird drawn characters had been another worry of Oda. Another problem at the time of early production was that the Bishie was becoming a popular form of manga character depiction and "ugly" or "weird" characters manga were becoming significantly harder to sell. However, these character designs have since become one of One Piece's selling points, allowing more eccentric characters to be drawn.
Evolution of the Series
Throughout the sixteen years of its run, One Piece does the world-building style; introducing strange races, giving each island its personal cultures, creating the history and mythologies of the world. It was known to focus more on the story rather than typical Shonen fighting.
The story changed through the series, for example in the East Blue Saga, Luffy would travel from one island to another, fighting pirates and/or Marines, gathering crew members in progress. This formula of fighting pirates/Marines on each island changed when the Straw Hat Pirates reached Loguetown when they face both sides. By the time they reach the Grand Line they would face one large enemy. During the Alabasta Saga, theBaroque Works organization is the antagonist, then during the Sky Island Saga, it's Enel and his God's Warrior militia, during the Water 7 Saga, it's the CP9. During the Summit War Saga they would face many sides.
The story arc was based on the islands that the Straw Hat Pirates would visit. When grouping the story arcs, there are usually a few smaller arcs grouped together with one major arc. During the East Blue Saga, all arcs were small, but starting with the Alabasta Saga, there were usually a number of small arcs following up to one major arc. For example: Reverse Mountain, Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island, Jaya, and Longring Longland are small arcs while Alabasta, Skypiea, and Water 7/Enies Lobby are major arcs. This pattern disappeared during the Summit War Saga, however, as Thriller Bark was 48 chapters long while subsequent arcs were much shorter. Starting with Fishman Island each arc has been long.
Starting at the beginning, the Straw Hat Pirates would trek from island to island in a straightforward pattern without getting backtracked, forced to get off-course or shattered. It's not until Water 7 that they were forced to leave Water 7 to Enies Lobby to rescue a crewmember and backtracked to Water 7. By the time they reached Sabaody, they were scattered across the Grand Line; with two leaving the Grand Line, with few backtracking.
The tone of the series at start was lighthearted, simple and comedic during the East Blue Saga, Alabasta Saga and Sky Island Saga but during Water 7 Arc, the series was becoming serious, complex and dark but still retains the lighthearted and comedic nature. The series became rougher and wilder by Sabaody Archipelago Arc and by the Post-War Arc, it became more dramatic.
There have been changes in the cast. First it was the ship, Going Merry, who was destroyed at the end of the Enies Lobby Arc. But it was during the Marineford Arc that the series was facing a big change; Whitebeard andAce died. During the Post-War Arc, Sengoku and Garp step down from the Marines while Sakazuki would later replace him as Fleet Admiral.
The end of the Whitebeard War also shows the world of One Piece changing, similar to how life changes in the real world after wars. As the balance of the Great Powers is disrupted by the loss of one of the Yonko(Whitebeard), the seas he ruled over are soon overrun with pirates trying to gain control. Blackbeard would eventually take Whitebeard's place as the new Yonko.
One Piece has since evolved to become more than a simple pirating tale. Throughout the years of its serialization, One Piece has taken vastly differing directions in its story line. One Piece also has been noted to include many themes such as what treasure is, the meaning of justice, and the concept of chasing one's dreams.
Oda had interest in making a pirate manga both from his obsession with vikings as a young man and inspired by various pirate events including the discovery of the pirate ship of Edward Teach (known by his pirate name of Blackbeard). He wrote two separate one-shots in the mid-1990s, both of which were called "Romance Dawn". The stories introduced Monkey D. Luffy, a straw-hat wearing boy who set out to sea to become a legendary pirate. Several concepts of the eventual serialization appeared in these stories, including Luffy's inspiration for being a pirate and a mysterious power he gained from eating a special fruit that turned his body into rubber (a prototype for the Devil Fruit).
In August 1997, Oda took many of his "Romance Dawn" ideas and started using them in a weekly serial under the title "One Piece". It was first serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, the weekly shonen magazine owned byShueisha. The series quickly caught on and became popular from the initial chapters on, establishing itself as one of the premiere manga series in the magazine.
Originally, Oda wanted his series to run for 5 years (meaning One Piece could have ended in 2002), but he went longer than expected and has no idea how many more years his story will be. However, it should be noted that Oda has stated that the end of Chapter 597 marks the end of the first half of One Piece. Oda has already planned the ending for One Piece. Despite how long it will take him to complete it, he will end One Piece the way he planned from the start.
Plot
One Piece is the story of a boy named Monkey D. Luffy who was inspired by Shanks, a pirate. At the start of the series, 22 years before Luffy leaves his hometown and sets sail, a pirate named Gol D. Roger, known as the Pirate King was executed. He was the only pirate to succesfully conquer the grand line. Before his death, he told the crowd of his treasure, "One Piece". His death sparked what would become the Golden Age of Pirates as countless pirates set out to look for his treasure. Luffy becomes one as well, desiring to be the next Pirate King. He sets out to gather crewmates and begin his adventures and journeys.
Style
At the time of its release, the dot-eyed style of artwork seen in anime like Dragon Ball was becoming less popular and manga and anime seemed to be moving over for the more popular big-eyes style of drawing, made famous by shows like Sailor Moon. Eiichiro Oda was fully aware of the change of art style and was worried early on in its run that his style would put off people from reading his manga. As time progressed and One Piece's popularity grew, Oda was able to relax the style more, resulting in One Piece's drawing style becoming much more loose and kinetic.
As well as its unusual art style, the style of weird drawn characters had been another worry of Oda. Another problem at the time of early production was that the Bishie was becoming a popular form of manga character depiction and "ugly" or "weird" characters manga were becoming significantly harder to sell. However, these character designs have since become one of One Piece's selling points, allowing more eccentric characters to be drawn.
Evolution of the Series
Throughout the sixteen years of its run, One Piece does the world-building style; introducing strange races, giving each island its personal cultures, creating the history and mythologies of the world. It was known to focus more on the story rather than typical Shonen fighting.
The story changed through the series, for example in the East Blue Saga, Luffy would travel from one island to another, fighting pirates and/or Marines, gathering crew members in progress. This formula of fighting pirates/Marines on each island changed when the Straw Hat Pirates reached Loguetown when they face both sides. By the time they reach the Grand Line they would face one large enemy. During the Alabasta Saga, theBaroque Works organization is the antagonist, then during the Sky Island Saga, it's Enel and his God's Warrior militia, during the Water 7 Saga, it's the CP9. During the Summit War Saga they would face many sides.
The story arc was based on the islands that the Straw Hat Pirates would visit. When grouping the story arcs, there are usually a few smaller arcs grouped together with one major arc. During the East Blue Saga, all arcs were small, but starting with the Alabasta Saga, there were usually a number of small arcs following up to one major arc. For example: Reverse Mountain, Whiskey Peak, Little Garden, Drum Island, Jaya, and Longring Longland are small arcs while Alabasta, Skypiea, and Water 7/Enies Lobby are major arcs. This pattern disappeared during the Summit War Saga, however, as Thriller Bark was 48 chapters long while subsequent arcs were much shorter. Starting with Fishman Island each arc has been long.
Starting at the beginning, the Straw Hat Pirates would trek from island to island in a straightforward pattern without getting backtracked, forced to get off-course or shattered. It's not until Water 7 that they were forced to leave Water 7 to Enies Lobby to rescue a crewmember and backtracked to Water 7. By the time they reached Sabaody, they were scattered across the Grand Line; with two leaving the Grand Line, with few backtracking.
The tone of the series at start was lighthearted, simple and comedic during the East Blue Saga, Alabasta Saga and Sky Island Saga but during Water 7 Arc, the series was becoming serious, complex and dark but still retains the lighthearted and comedic nature. The series became rougher and wilder by Sabaody Archipelago Arc and by the Post-War Arc, it became more dramatic.
There have been changes in the cast. First it was the ship, Going Merry, who was destroyed at the end of the Enies Lobby Arc. But it was during the Marineford Arc that the series was facing a big change; Whitebeard andAce died. During the Post-War Arc, Sengoku and Garp step down from the Marines while Sakazuki would later replace him as Fleet Admiral.
The end of the Whitebeard War also shows the world of One Piece changing, similar to how life changes in the real world after wars. As the balance of the Great Powers is disrupted by the loss of one of the Yonko(Whitebeard), the seas he ruled over are soon overrun with pirates trying to gain control. Blackbeard would eventually take Whitebeard's place as the new Yonko.
One Piece has since evolved to become more than a simple pirating tale. Throughout the years of its serialization, One Piece has taken vastly differing directions in its story line. One Piece also has been noted to include many themes such as what treasure is, the meaning of justice, and the concept of chasing one's dreams.