One of the producers behind One Piece’s anime franchise has opened up about original series creator Eiichiro Oda’s demanding work schedule for the manga! As One Piece celebrates the 25th Anniversary of the manga’s original release in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, the creator of the franchise himself is currently enjoying a brief hiatus for the Summer while he gets ready for the final saga of the series overall. But when the creator took this break, in a special note to fans he had noted just how busy he was going to be during the Summer and was thus urged to take a break by his editors.
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In the special note to fans explaining his upcoming hiatus earlier this Summer, Oda had revealed that his editors asked him to take a break due to not only having to release the manga, but creating new visuals for the upcoming One Piece: Red, new celebrations for the franchise, and much more. As it turns out, this was just a part of the creator’s already demanding schedule as the executive producer for the anime, Shinji Shimizu, opened up about just how overbearing Oda’s working schedule actually can be during a panel for One Piece Film: Red at Anime Expo this Summer (of which ComicBook.com was in attendance).
When asked by fans to describe the elusive One Piece creator, Shimizu had explained that Oda “doesn’t sleep” and has often pulled all-nighters 3 or 4 times out of a single week. He went as far to note that early on in the series, Oda would even refuse to eat because it would make him sleepy and not want to work. Unfortunately this is as much as Shimizu noted about the creator, and while fans are certainly appreciative of the creator’s work ethic, it’s also something that can be a dangerous schedule. Especially if the creator has worked like this for the past 25 years.
Fans have seen more and more how manga artists and creators have been pushing themselves to the limit for their works and demanding publishing schedules, and at least it seems like there is more of a concerted effort to allow for these necessary breaks and hiatuses for these creators behind something terrible happens. There are debates about the cost of their art and whether or not it is ultimately “worth it,” but a creator’s safety should be above all of that. Hopefully, Oda really isn’t on this type of demanding schedule as often as it seems.
How do you feel about Eiichiro Oda’s work schedule for One Piece‘s manga? Would you mind if the series were to slow down at all as it heads towards its grand finale? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!
