You can pretty much call 2019 the “Year of One Piece” considering how popular the franchise starring Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirates has been. With the fourteenth film in the series, One Piece: Stampede, tearing up the record books in theaters and the Wano Country arc being touted as one of the best in the series’ history, it’s no wonder that the franchise’s popularity would transfer to that of the series creator, Eiichiro Oda. For 2019, Oda has officially been confirmed to be the “most searched” mangaka, and with good reason.
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Twitter User NewWorldArtur shared the news that Oda had been the most searched manga creator for 2019, adding a hilarious non-sequitur wherein Eiichiro himself notes that he would have never guessed as he would never search his own name in fear of what he might find:
Oda won the Yahoo! award for most looked-up author in Japan on the site. Oda offered this comment for the award:
“My name is the last word I’d look up!! After all, it scares me to do so! Anyway, thanks!!!” -Eiichiro Oda https://t.co/EgJqehrAMC
— Artur – Library of Ohara (@newworldartur) December 4, 2019
While Oda may have been the most searched manga creator for the year, it seems that the crown for the most sold manga volumes for 2019 transitioned from the long time champion of One Piece to the popular new anime franchise that is Demon Slayer. Though the story of Luffy and his crew held the title for over a decade, it’s still a surprise to see it overcome by such a newcomer to the field.
As One Piece moves closer to its finale, we’re sure that Oda’s popularity, and searchability, will continue to grow as fans begin to speculate and hunger for the finale of the pirates that sail across the world of the Grand Line.
What do you think of Eiichiro Oda taking home the title of “most searched mangaka” for 2019? What other mangakas should get the spotlight? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the Straw Hat Pirates!
Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.
