With more than 450 million copies of manga sold, highly anticipated animated series for each week, not to mention the best-selling anime movie of all time, it’s hard to argue with the fact that One Piece is one of the most popular works of all time. Despite being hugely popular, the creator of the manga One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, rarely appears in public or even in mass media.

The information about Ode Sensei appears more frequently through the SOS column of the manga One Piece. To answer the curiosity of One Piece fans, Dunia Games have gathered some of the interesting info on the figure who is already believed to become one of the greatest mangaka of all time.

Eiichiro Oda’s Childhood

Eiichiro Oda, often referred to as Oda Sensei, was born on the eve of the new year of 1975, which means in a couple of days, Oda Sensei will be having his 45th birthday. Born in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan, little Eiichiro Oda had dreamed of becoming a mangaka from the age of four in order to avoid having to get a 'real job'.

Oda Sensei’s ambition to become a mangaka gets stronger after reading the manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. While his interest in pirates was kindled by the animated series ‘Vicky The Viking’ that was quite popular at that time in Japan.

Oda Sensei began his career as a mangaka at the age of 17 (1992) with his work titled Wanted!. The manga was submitted to the Tezuka Manga Awards and won the second place. Although only finished second, this award turned out to be a good stepping stone because afterward, Oda Sensei got a lot of job offers as an assistant to various well-known mangaka.

With the experience as an assistant for several well-known mangaka, at the age of 18, Oda created a new short manga titled “Ikki Yako!”, the manga won the Hop Step Award 1994 in the category of Best New Mangaka. This success made his name soar, and eventually, the manga One Piece began to be published by Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997.

Eiichiro Oda’s Dedication in One Piece

The job as a mangaka in Japan is known to be a cruel and ruthless job. With tight deadlines and the pressure to satisfy the fans, the mangaka in Japan have very little time to rest or gather with family. The same thing also happened to Eiichiro Oda.

Oda Sensei is notorious for his crazy work hours. Get out of bed at 5, Oda Sensei goes straight to work until 2 in the next morning, this means in a day, Oda works 21 hours with three hours of sleep.

While students and office workers generally get two days off a week, Oda Sensei only has a day off to interact with his family. Whereas in the remaining six days, Oda has to cope with the crazy work hours mentioned above.

This unhealthy work hour is worsened by Oda Sensei’s habit of smoking while doing his work as a comic artist. Many believe that this bad habit is a result of the amount of pressure faced by him when making One Piece.

This unhealthy mix of lifestyle made Oda hospitalized in 2013. As a result, One Piece had to be absent from Weekly Shonen Jump for about two weeks. In fact, the absent could have been longer, but Oda Sensei refused to stop drawing the new chapter of the manga even that he was still on a hospital bed.

“I let my illness go on too long, and my condition deteriorates. I apologize to the readers who have been waiting for the next chapter. I know that two weeks would feel like a long time, but please be patient for a little longer,” Oda Sensei wrote in his apology letter for the fans.

Eiichiro Oda and His family

Eiichiro Oda is not particularly open about his personal life. Hence there’s nothing much people know about him and his family. Although very secretive, Oda Sensei is known to have married a woman named Chiaki Inaba in 2004.

Oda and Inaba met for the first time at the Jump Festa stage. Inaba, who was a former model and was a cosplayer back then, appeared on the stage to play Nami. After marriage, this couple was blessed with two daughters. There’s almost no information regarding the two Oda’s daughters and Inaba except for the rumors that the first daughter was born in 2006.

In order to get more focused on his works, Oda chose to live separately from his wife and two children. As mentioned above, Oda only has one day off in a week to spend time with his family.

Eiichiro Oda’s Other Random Facts

• Despite having a lot of assistants, Oda Sensei prefers to draw most of the latest chapter of One Piece himself.
• Although often brings a flashback chapter in One Piece, Oda Sensei always refuses to copy-paste from the previous chapters and still chooses to draw them again. 
• In his office, Oda plays Soul music.
• Oda Sensei is a big fan of the rapper Eminem, this explains the similarities of Enel’s characteristics to Eminem
• Aside from Eminem, Oda also enjoyed Avril Lavigne, Brian Adams, Izumi Katou, and Brook Benton.
• Oda’s three favorite movies are: Seven Samurai, Young Guns, and Nightmare Before Christmas
• Oda Sensei doesn’t really into tv series, but he’s known to be fond of the comedy and reality shows, Terrace House.
• Oda Sensei is a fan of Mexican food and dreams of being able to travel around the world one day.

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