“He probably wouldn’t be able to write one”: One Piece Editor Has an Upsetting News for Fans Waiting for Any Spin-Offs Once the Series Comes to an End
Eiichiro Oda’s magnum opus, One Piece, is an epic adventure that boasts over 1000 chapters and has captured hearts worldwide. As Eiichiro Oda is weaving the final arc, fans are on the edge of their seats, waiting for the final saga. Some fans were hoping for Oda to continue a spin-off once the One Piece series comes to an end. However, their hopes were dashed when Oda’s editor revealed a particularly upsetting news.
Oda, the mastermind behind One Piece, has seldom expressed his desire to bring the series to an end in the coming years. The shonen adventure series was serialized by Shueisha in 1997 in the shonen manga anthology Weekly Shonen Jump. Two decades later, the manga is still running, a sprawling monster that has weaved itself into the hearts of the fans, and it is no wonder that fans are reluctant to let go of the series even though it has been years since its serialization.
Eiichiro Oda Probably Won’t Be Writing Another Story After One Piece
On July 17, 2015, the late-night show Gold Rush host, Ken Watanabe, interviewed the eighth One Piece editor, Suguru Sugita. Watanabe and Sugita traded some questions, going back and forth easily, as Watanabe asked Sugita if Oda only revealed the ending to his editor, to which Sugita replied that it was the truth. According to Sugita, Oda called him only seven hours after he became the editor and asked him if anyone was around. Satisfied with the answer that no one was around to hear, Oda then revealed the ending to Sugita.
Watanabe also questioned how far along was the series percentage-wise and he said that Oda mentioned the first part of the story, the part prior to the time skip, was around halfway through. Sugita said that since that was about 60 volumes, they were probably at 70 percent. However, he was not quite certain. Following this, Watanabe asked if it was true that Oda had decided not to write another long story after One Piece was finished, and this is what he had to say:
“He hasn’t decided, but he said he probably wouldn’t be able to write one. He’s already been going on for eighteen years, so just how old will he be by the time it’s all over? I think it’s more of a question as to whether he’d be able to write another long serialization after that, realistically speaking.“
Although Sugita was speaking from a realistic point of view, there is no doubt that this is quite disappointing news for manga readers and anime viewers who have been fans of Oda’s work from the beginning. However, it is equally important to consider Oda’s age and whether he will be capable of taking up further projects after decades of putting effort into his creation.
Eiichiro Oda Asked His Editor To Not Pitch Him Too Many Ideas
As the interview forged on, Watanabe questioned Sugita whether there were any rules he had to abide by as Oda’s editor and Sugita replied that Oda asked him not to pitch Oda too many ideas. He said that the reason behind that is that if it was some other person’s idea, Oda would be less inclined to draw it. Since it’s his own story, Oda wants to draw his own ideas. This is not something bizarre as every person requires their own creative space to craft something original. Sugita continued:
“Also, he wants to work on the manga on the same playing-field as his editor, so he asked me not to call him Oda-sensei, but instead Oda-san. And Oda-san also calls me, a 26-year-old newbie editor, “Sugita-san”. [He] also asks me to honestly tell him what I think.“
Watanabe then asked Sugita what aspects of Oda he found “great” and Sugita responded that he was surprised by the amount of effort Oda put into his series. He also says that there might be a day when he works for another manga artist who has more talent than Oda, but he is unsure whether that person will put in the same amount of work as Oda does. Sugita mentions that Oda always thinks about the manga and he was someone who does not compromise. To him, Oda is the “quintessence of manga authorness.”
