When it comes to One Piece, there are some characters fans never saw coming. The Straw Hats were each novel at one point, and other heroes like Jinbe took fans by surprise later on. Now, Yamato is the latest newcomer to throw readers off, and it seems One Piece‘s creator spent a long time agonizing over their design.
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Not long ago, the latest SBS issue went live with Eiichiro Oda, and he took the time to answer a ton of fan questions. It was there Oda also shared a few behind-the-scenes facts, and it turns out the artist drafted a good few designs for Yamato before deciding on his final look.
As you can see below, most of Oda’s designs are similar to one another. The majority give Yamato a slender frame with curved horns and long hair that is either up or down. As for their outfit, Yamato was also expected to use traditional robes and belts to accent their physique.
Of course, some of the designs do have wildly different faces, but that is nothing compared to one original take. As you can see to the bottom right, there is one Yamato design that sticks out like a sore thumb. The hero is cut at the knees for a shorter stature, and Yamato is given a very chubby face. Painted with traditional makeup, Yamato looks more like Orochi here than Kaido, and their waddling physique proves as much.
Clearly, Oda wanted to have fun with this far-out design, but the others were certain contenders at some point. Ultimately, the One Piece artist blended these designs together to create the fighter we know and love today. And after seeing these designs, you can appreciate Yamato even more from now on. We could have gotten something very different, but Oda put in the extra work to test Yamato until he struck perfect tens across the board.
What do you think of these original One Piece designs? Do you think Oda went with the best one…? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
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