As a huge and lifelong fan of Dragon Ball, Eichiro Oda, creator of One Piece, has never hidden his love for the series and is set to recreate one of the series’ iconic manga covers this coming month. Furthermore, the cover he is set to recreate is special and holds a sentimental message, and there is no better person to do this than him.
It has been confirmed that Eichiro Oda will be the last person to participate in this project, and will be recreating volume 42 of the series. Coming before him was Nobuhiro Watsuki leaving Oda to close the project out. Volume 42 holds a lot of emotional weight, not just because it was the last volume in the series, but because of the image itself. It depicts an image of Goku waving and saying goodbye, which packs a punch following the death of Akira Toriyama. No doubt Oda’s depiction of this volume and his message will be emotional given his history with both the manga and the creator himself.
One Piece Is A Product Of Oda’s Love For Dragon Ball
The Dragon Ball Super Gallery project is a project to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball, where many different mangakas recreate a volume of the series in their own style and leave a comment detailing their experience with the series. Starting in August 2021 and going on until November 2024, the first person to participate was Masashi Kishimoto, creator of Naruto, and the last will be Eichiro Oda, and this makes sense given these two mangakas grew up on Dragon Ball and credit a lot of their success to it.
Eichiro Oda’s history with Akira Toriyama is long and interesting. Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump were two of the biggest influences on Oda and helped him become a mangaka, just like many other shonen greats. Their relationship goes beyond just that though, as they have a master-student dynamic, which is very evident from the interview they held together. Furthermore, the message Oda left when Toriyama sadly passed away was emotional, to say the least, and it was easy to tell how much his master meant to him. In fact, soon after, Oda took a month’s break to focus on his health in light of the news.
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In one month’s time, fans of both One Piece and Dragon Ball can look forward to possibly the biggest mangaka ever giving his unique spin on one of the most beloved manga covers. And with it comes a message that will hopefully enlighten fans more on the impact of the adventures of Goku and his friends, closing out a project that honors one of the greats and one of the most influential manga creators ever.
Source: @WSJ_Manga.
Dragon Ball
From the creative mind of Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball is a mega multimedia franchise that spans back to the 1980s. Dragon Ball expanded quickly, starting as a serialized manga for Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan. It made its way overseas via manga and an anime adaptation that is enjoyed worldwide. Dragon Ball was the initial starting animated series that followed the adventures of the young Son Goku as he sought after the Dragon Balls. These mystical orbs would grant the wish of any who gathered them together. Then, the series would branch off into the immensely popular Dragon Ball Z, which followed Goku as an adult and featured high-intensity battles and Goku’s never-ending search to be the strongest. The series has also enjoyed several popular video game adaptations and continues to release several new animated series and theatrical films up to the recent popular Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero.
