After the sad news of Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s death, fans and fellow anime artists came together to honor the artist behind characters like Goku, Vegeta, and the other Z Fighters. A notable example of someone mourning his loss was Eiichiro Oda, the manga artist who created Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates, who spoke highly of Toriyama’s work. Now, the One Piece creator has shared a new tribute to Akira Toriyama, explaining the significant impact the Dragon Ball creator had on his life.
Recently, Oda shared a story about discovering Dragon Ball and how it impacted him as a child. He explained that before fourth grade, Arale-Chan (Dr. Slump) was already on TV, but his parents considered it inappropriate and wouldn’t let him watch it – and he admitted it *did* have a lot of silly humor! He recalled that back then, many families only had one TV, usually in the living room. So, if he wanted to watch Arale-Chan, the whole family would have to watch it too.
Oda explained, “If something considered ‘vulgar’ appeared, it would damage my reputation with my family – they might think, ‘so you’re into this kind of thing, are you?’ That’s the reason I didn’t start reading Arale-Chan until much later. As far as I recall, I purchased the complete comic collection all at once when I was in high school.”
Toriyama’s Influence on Oda
Eiichiro Oda then shared how much Toriyama had impacted his career, explaining that no other artist influenced his work more. He stated, “The impact of Toriyama-sensei on my life is greater than anything else. I was immediately captivated by his incredible drawing ability-I’d never seen anything like it. While I was inspired by many artists I discovered later, and they all contributed to who I am today, Toriyama-sensei’s influence on my art is, without a doubt, the most significant.”
The One Piece creator then shared that Toriyama was the one who initially reviewed his manga submission, which ultimately launched Oda’s career as a shonen manga artist. He explained, “I only entered Shonen Jump’s newcomer award because I wanted to be where Akira Toriyama was. I never even thought about submitting my work anywhere else. I missed the deadline for Dragon Ball, but soon after One Piece started, Toriyama-sensei’s series, COWA!, also began. That meant a lot to me. Being published in Shonen Jump at the same time as Toriyama-sensei felt like a dream.”
What are your thoughts on how Akira Toriyama inspired Eiichiro Oda? Share your opinion in the comments below and be part of the discussion right now in theComicBook Forum!
Via Pew Piece
https://comicbook.com/anime/news/dragon-ball-one-piece-crossover-finale/embed/#
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2025-10-03 20:16