# Eiichiro Oda (尾田栄一郎)
**Eiichiro Oda** (尾田栄一郎) is a Japanese manga artist from Kumamoto Prefecture, best known as the creator of *One Piece*, the pirate adventure serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump since 1997 and, according to [Guinness World Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/guinness-world-records), the comic series with the most copies published by a single author.[1](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol) • [2](https://one-piece.com/about/) He is a native of Kumamoto Prefecture, where the prefecture has collaborated with his franchise on reconstruction projects and erected a bronze statue of his protagonist, Luffy, at the prefectural office.[3](https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/58942.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Debut | Began his manga career in 1992 at age 17, when the one-shot cowboy manga *Wanted!* won second place in the Tezuka manga awards[4](https://www.viz.com/one-piece) |
| *One Piece* debut | Weekly Shonen Jump issue 34, released July 22, 1997; volume 1 published December 24, 1997[2](https://one-piece.com/about/) |
| Circulation | More than 600 million copies worldwide as of March 4, 2026, including over 450 million in Japan and more than 100 million across 60 countries and regions[5](https://prtimes.jp/a/?c=5761&f=d5761-831-404ff56b607b2c40796f35511cd0c299.pdf&r=831) |
| First-printing records | Volume 57 (2010) reached a first printing of 3 million, then a record for Japanese publishing; volume 67 (2012) raised his own record to 4.05 million[5](https://prtimes.jp/a/?c=5761&f=d5761-831-404ff56b607b2c40796f35511cd0c299.pdf&r=831) |
| Guinness record | Most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author[1](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol) |
| Screen adaptations | Executive producer of the Netflix live-action *One Piece* (2023); the TV anime has run on Fuji TV since 1999[6](https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2000352/files/al-no114p19-49.pdf) • [2](https://one-piece.com/about/) |
| Films | 15 theatrical anime films through 2022's *ONE PIECE FILM RED*, which ranked 4th in all-time Japanese box-office revenue[6](https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2000352/files/al-no114p19-49.pdf) |
| Origin | Kumamoto Prefecture; a Luffy statue stands on the prefectural office promenade[3](https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/58942.pdf) |
## Early career
Oda started drawing professionally as a teenager. According to his VIZ Media biography, Oda started drawing manga professionally in 1992, when at 17 his cowboy one-shot *Wanted!* placed second in the prestigious Tezuka manga awards; he then assisted several of the field's most prominent manga creators, among them [Nobuhiro Watsuki](https://www.edgepedia.org/nobuhiro-watsuki), prior to earning the Hop Step Award for newcomers.[4](https://www.viz.com/one-piece)
## One Piece
**The series.** *One Piece* launched in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 34, on sale July 22, 1997, and reached its 25th serialization anniversary in July 2022.[2](https://one-piece.com/about/) It follows [Monkey D. Luffy](https://www.edgepedia.org/monkey-d-luffy), a boy who gained the power to stretch like rubber by accidentally eating the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit, at the cost of never being able to swim again, as he sets out in search of the legendary treasure known as the [One Piece](https://www.edgepedia.org/one-piece), said to be the greatest treasure in the world.[4](https://www.viz.com/one-piece) • [7](https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/titles/100020?pubDate=20260809) The manga had reached volume 115 by July 2026.[8](https://one-piece.com/comics/index.html?category=egghead)
**Sales records.** The collected volumes have set Japanese publishing benchmarks. Volume 57, released March 4, 2010, was printed 3 million copies for its first edition, a record for a first printing in Japanese publishing history at the time; volume 67, released August 3, 2012, surpassed it with 4.05 million, and first printings have remained at 3 million or higher since volume 57.[2](https://one-piece.com/about/) • [5](https://prtimes.jp/a/?c=5761&f=d5761-831-404ff56b607b2c40796f35511cd0c299.pdf&r=831) Circulation figures have grown steadily: more than 516 million copies in 61 countries by August 2022,[9](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/) and more than 600 million worldwide as of March 4, 2026, of which over 450 million were in Japan and more than 100 million in 60 countries and regions abroad.[5](https://prtimes.jp/a/?c=5761&f=d5761-831-404ff56b607b2c40796f35511cd0c299.pdf&r=831) *One Piece* also holds the Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author.[1](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol)
## Screen adaptations
**Television anime.** The TV series began broadcasting on the Fuji TV network in 1999 and marked its own 25th anniversary in 2024; the Elbaph arc began airing on April 5, 2026.[2](https://one-piece.com/about/) [Toei Animation](https://www.edgepedia.org/toei-animation) announced in October 2025 a restructured production schedule starting in 2026, dividing the broadcast into two cours (a multi-episode broadcast block, roughly a season) per year, up to 26 new episodes annually, coinciding with the start of the Elbaph arc.[10](https://www.toei-animation-usa.com/press-releases/pressrelease-10-28-25.pdf) The franchise also includes 15 theatrical anime films from the first in March 2000 through *ONE PIECE FILM RED* in August 2022; *FILM RED* recorded the 4th-highest box-office revenue in Japanese film history at the time.[6](https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2000352/files/al-no114p19-49.pdf) New films, *ONE PIECE FILM GOD VALLEY* for summer 2027 and *ONE PIECE FILM BAAD* for 2029, were announced in August 2026.[11](https://one-piece.com/)
**Live action.** In 2023 Netflix premiered an eight-part live-action *[One Piece](https://www.edgepedia.org/one-piece-2023-tv-series)* series produced with Shueisha and Tomorrow Studios, covering the East Blue arc, with Oda serving as executive producer.[9](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/) Oda told The New York Times that he read scripts, gave notes, and "acted as a guard dog" to keep the adaptation aligned with his vision, and in a letter to fans he acknowledged that some scenes would differ from the manga but asked viewers to see the series as a labor of love.[9](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/) Netflix season 2 is scheduled for worldwide exclusive streaming from March 10, 2026, and production of season 3 has begun.[2](https://one-piece.com/about/) A separate anime remake, *THE ONE PIECE*, is also in production under a Toei Animation production committee.[12](https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/en/ir/library/result/main/0/teaserItems1/0111111/linkList/01/link/2026_3Q_presen_en.pdf)
## Cultural reach
The series has drawn scholarly attention for how it crosses cultures. One study notes that Oda combined [Japanese aesthetics](https://www.edgepedia.org/japanese-aesthetics) of violence with elements of other cultures in a re-encoding aimed at global dissemination, and that story elements rooted in traditional Japanese culture, as in the Wano arc, can be harder for readers from other backgrounds to grasp fully.[13](https://file.ewadirect.com/press/media/upload/vol_pdf/chr/40.pdf) Research on the franchise also credits it with distilling sociopolitical themes into accessible storylines that give younger readers a platform to engage critically with real-world issues.[14](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/0e99c6d0-ab50-439f-80d2-432cde748811/893705-1287503.pdf)
**The flag as a protest symbol.** Luffy's crew's [Jolly Roger](https://www.edgepedia.org/jolly-roger), a grinning straw-hatted skull, has been carried by young protesters demanding social, economic, and political justice from Indonesia to Morocco, the Philippines to Peru, Nepal, Madagascar, and France.[15](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/11/09/guillaume-calafat-historian-across-the-world-gen-z-is-waving-the-one-piece-flag-in-defiance-of-authorities_6747278_23.html) Nuurrianti Jalli of Oklahoma State University's School of Media and Strategic Communications described the flag as an example of how Gen Z is reshaping the cultural vocabulary of dissent.[1](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol) The franchise's commercial scale supports that visibility: a reported $20 billion industry generating hundreds of millions of dollars a year in merchandising for Bandai Namco, the rights holder behind the merchandise.[1](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol)
**Homeland ties.** Kumamoto Prefecture, Oda's birthplace, has used the series in recovery and regional promotion, installing a bronze statue of Luffy on the prefectural office promenade and running reconstruction initiatives in partnership with the franchise.[3](https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/58942.pdf)
## Storytelling and influence
Commentators describe Oda's method as unusually centralized for a franchise of this size: one researcher cited in TIME's coverage called him a single creative executive who acts as a point of coherence and continuity for the series, whose signature contributes to *One Piece*'s status and worldbuilding. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, professor of Japanese Arts and Cultures at the [University of East Anglia](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-east-anglia), told TIME that the cultural reputation of *One Piece* is very solid and that it is the standard by which other long-running popular works are judged, attributing the fanbase's growth to Oda's innovative storytelling and his willingness to include readers in the conception process.[9](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/) Directors of the live-action series noted that Oda's storytelling lent itself to adaptation because it left room to fill out characters' backstories with what director Marc Jobst called a truth, a desire for something, and frailty.[9](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/)
## References
1. [How the One Piece manga flag became a Gen Z resistance symbol, The Week](https://theweek.com/politics/how-the-one-piece-manga-flag-became-a-gen-z-resistance-symbol)
2. [作品概要 | ONE PIECE.com（ワンピース ドットコム）](https://one-piece.com/about/)
3. [熊本県：ONE PIECEと連携した復興・地域づくり資料](https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/uploaded/attachment/58942.pdf)
4. [One Piece, VIZ Media](https://www.viz.com/one-piece)
5. [＜「ONE PIECE（ワンピース）」について＞ (PR Times, 2026)](https://prtimes.jp/a/?c=5761&f=d5761-831-404ff56b607b2c40796f35511cd0c299.pdf&r=831)
6. [尾田栄一郎のマンガ「ONE PIECE」のメディアミックスに関する論考, 岩手大学リポジトリ](https://iwate-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2000352/files/al-no114p19-49.pdf)
7. [One Piece - Eiichiro Oda | MANGA Plus by Shueisha](https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/titles/100020?pubDate=20260809)
8. [原作コミックス | ONE PIECE.com](https://one-piece.com/comics/index.html?category=egghead)
9. [How One Piece's Global Fanbase Led to a Netflix Live Action Series, TIME (Armani Syed, 2023)](https://time.com/6310110/one-piece-netflix/)
10. [Toei Animation Reveals New Anime Series Production Schedule During ONE PIECE News Stream in Japan (October 2025)](https://www.toei-animation-usa.com/press-releases/pressrelease-10-28-25.pdf)
11. [ONE PIECE.com（ワンピース ドットコム）](https://one-piece.com/)
12. [TOEI ANIMATION CO., LTD. earnings presentation (2026 Q3)](https://corp.toei-anim.co.jp/en/ir/library/result/main/0/teaserItems1/0111111/linkList/01/link/2026_3Q_presen_en.pdf)
13. [Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies](https://file.ewadirect.com/press/media/upload/vol_pdf/chr/40.pdf)
14. [ONE PIECE: analisi sociologica del fenomeno di Oda Eiichiro (thesis PDF), Ca' Foscari University of Venice](https://unitesi.unive.it/retrieve/0e99c6d0-ab50-439f-80d2-432cde748811/893705-1287503.pdf)
15. [Guillaume Calafat, historian: 'Across the world, Gen Z is waving the One Piece flag in defiance of authorities', Le Monde (2025)](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2025/11/09/guillaume-calafat-historian-across-the-world-gen-z-is-waving-the-one-piece-flag-in-defiance-of-authorities_6747278_23.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Writers and literary biographies › Children's, comics, and media-genre writers › Comics and graphic-novel writers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 19, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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