Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s death has shocked the entire industry, including One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda. Here’s how it’s affecting the future of the series.
Dragon Ball is one of the most popular anime and manga franchises in the world, with several spin-offs and movies under its belt. Toriyama originally published Dragon Ball in 1985 and has been actively working on it for over four decades.
Earlier this month, his death due to acute subdural hematoma shocked the entire world. It’s worth mentioning that he was one of the most influential figures in the anime and manga industry, thanks to the global popularity of Dragon Ball.
His work inspired many popular series, even the ones as popular as Naruto and One Piece, which are still known as the Shonon Big Three. Apart from the statements shared by One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda and Naruto creator Masashi Kishimoto, several other artists and actors have paid tribute to Akira Toriyama.
One Piece is an ongoing series which is currently featuring the Egghead Arc of the Final Saga. However, news about the manga hiatus was confirmed this week. After One Piece Chapter 1111, the manga will go on a three-week hiatus and again a one-week hiatus after Chapter 1113.
Eiichiro Oda finally broke his silence on the hiatus in a handwritten note. According to the English translation by an X/Twitter user, the creator wrote: “I’m taking a break!! And it’s a total of three weeks. I know people will get excessively worried because of the latest events with Toriyama-sensei, but it’s about my body.
“Think of it as some sort of maintenance. I’m also taking this break to think about what is actually the One Piece. I’m a really busy guy, after all! Also, maybe many of you don’t know about the correlations between many characters of this Egghead Arc.
All of you can read their past connections in free volumes for a limited time, all available on Jump+ and Zebrack! There’s also the live-action series on Netflix and the recent adaptation of ‘Monsters,’ one of my oldest works. Please make sure to check them out!”
“And there’s even more, since ‘ANYTIME ONE PIECE’ is broadcasting all episodes from the series on YouTube to commemorate the latest anniversary of the series! It’ll also be available on TikTok from March 23rd! With all that said, see you again in three weeks in Jump!”
Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda have admired each other’s works for decades. Mangakas are often in poor health due to their busy schedule. Hence, soon after Toriyama’s death, Oda decides to take a long break before resuming the manga. Additionally, Netflix’s One Piece Season 2 filming will also keep the mangaka busy for the rest of the year.
