Unexpectedly, Eiichiro Oda, the mangaka behind One Piece, reveals drawing inspiration from a popular 90’s cartoon for one of Luffy’s most iconic battles.
Shocking Inspiration Behind Luffy’s Epic Gear 5 Battle in ‘One Piece’!
In his recent interview, Eiichiro Oda, the author of “One Piece,” revealed that Luffy’s Gear 5 battle with Kaido and his funny expressions were inspired by the cartoon series “Tom and Jerry.” Oda mentioned that when conceptualizing Gear 5 and Luffy’s attitude change, one could think of it as if “One Piece” suddenly became like “Tom and Jerry.”
However, Oda also admitted that he faced challenges while drawing the fight, as unlike “Tom and Jerry” where both characters contribute equally to the humor, he had to navigate the stark contrast in attitudes between the lighthearted Luffy and the serious Kaido.
“When I tried to draw it for the first time, it was pretty difficult. The world of ‘Tom & Jerry’ works because of both characters, so I struggled a lot looking at the difference in attitude between Luffy, who was making pranks in the middle of the battle, and his serious opponent. But in the end, I feel like I actually pulled it off,”
Oda initially found it difficult to depict the battle between Gear 5 Luffy and Kaido, considering the contrast in attitudes. However, he ultimately felt that he succeeded in pulling it off. He intentionally included humor in the fight because he wanted to have fun and play with the battles. Oda noticed a decline in the use of silly expressions in manga, which he disliked, and aimed to preserve them in his work.
I love the fact that Oda was referencing toon force and Tom and Jerry way before gear 5 th was even introduced.
People that refuse to acknowledge luffy's toon force powers need to start reading the manga 😒#ONEPIECE pic.twitter.com/S2MLj6DQzS
— RAMO🪐 (@RamOP56) June 10, 2023
“Since I was an assistant, I have felt that silly expressions that were so characteristic in manga have been gradually lost. Putting a light bulb in a character’s head when they come up with some idea, or making the character’s legs go in circles when they’re running, for example,”
Oda expressed his love for symbolic expressions that are disappearing from manga, disliking the trend of battle manga becoming more serious. He emphasized his desire for “One Piece” to remain fun and not follow the same serious path. During a joint interview with Gosho Aoyama, he discussed these concerns along with his health issues affecting his ability to draw battles as he grows older.
“I have always loved those symbolic expressions, but they keep disappearing. Nobody draws them anymore even though they’re our predecessors’ creations who also left many formulae we still use. Battle manga has to keep getting more and more serious to keep up with readers’ expectations and I honestly hate that,”
Source: Weekly Shounen Sunday Edition
