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As complex as the story has become inOne Piece, it all started quite simply. From the beginning, Eiichiro Oda had a distinct and unique art style. The same is true for his approach towards storytelling. The art style in the story is different from the anime-esque style commonly seen in other manga, and has a cartoonish feel to it.
While most characters have distinctive flair and unique features, Luffy, the protagonist, has a simplistic design. During an interview about theOne Piecelive-action, Oda opened up about his vision behind Luffy’s character and appearance. His vision explains what he wanted the main character of his story to be like.
Eiichiro Oda Reveals the Reason Behind Luffy’s Simplistic Design
Over the years, the story inOne Piecehas become extremely complex. There are too many facets to every element and character.Eiichiro Odahas proven his artistic and storytelling prowess numerous times throughoutOne Piece. Most characters in the story, especially the villains, have vibrant and intricate character designs. Their outfits are over-the-top and interesting. So, we know that Oda is capable of drawing visually elaborate characters.
This makes one wonder the reason behind Luffy’s overly simplistic appearance. Luffy is arguably the simplest character in the series. During an interviewwith The NewYork Times, Oda shared that the simple design was intentional on his part.
As the adventure continued, I realized that various kinds of pirates would appear, so I decided to give Luffy a face that would be very easy to draw. Later, when I had to give autographs and needed to sketch Luffy, it was easy to do.
By this, Oda probably meant that he wanted Luffy to have a simple but memorable design. His personality is quite similar to his appearance, he’s a straightforward guy with no ulterior motives. While other characters have layers of details to their appearance, their radiance pales in comparison to Luffy’s smile.
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His design is quite iconic for how simple yet effective it is. The easy-to-draw appearance holds a lot of weight. And fans are not the only ones who could feel this impact but Oda felt it as well.
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Luffy’s appearance has been adorned with his achievements. In the beginning, he had an appearance that often left people in doubt. He had too much confidence for someone who looked so plain. He was taken lightly as a result of his unthreatening appearance. Even now, he still wears the same confidence and carefree attitude, but it’s backed by his long list of achievements.
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When Oda was asked about the popularity of his manga series, and his initial expectations when he began writing it, he gave a beautiful response. He expressed how he didn’t expect the story to last so long, and explained what it felt like when the characters became more defined over the years.
But it was my first time doing something serialized, and I found that as I kept writing, the characters took on lives of their own. Before I knew it, they were writing the story for me, and it just kept going.
With every chapter and arc, the characters became more real. Their emotions and actions carved their compelling personas. And soon it must have transitioned from what this character can do in a certain situation to what he would do. As Oda said, they started to have lives of their own, which began to dictate the direction of the story.
One Pieceis available to read on the MangaPlus app and website.
Laveena Joshi
Anime Writer
Articles Published :925
Laveena is an anime content writer at FandomWire. Having written more than 800 articles, she’s an expert in mainstream shonen series, ranging from the bizarre world of JoJo’s to the expansive worldbuilding of One Piece.With her formal education in Journalism and Mass Communication, she explores entertainment journalism through the lens of anime and manga, from mainstream and classic titles to niche and obscure ones.
