One Piece Mangaka Oda: “I Am Better Than Other Mangaka!”
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Mar 22, 2011 18:36 JST
- Tags: Eiichiro Oda, Interviews, Mangaka, One Piece, Shonen Jump
One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda has given an interview explaining his dissatisfaction with the fact that there are no ranks amongst mangaka, and that there is no special title other than plain “mangaka” available to demonstrate he is no mere mangaka.
The interview, with fellow mangaka Shinobu Kaitani, author of One Outs and others:
Kaitani: I think a good thing about being a mangaka is that there is no rank. Of course, there are differences in popularity, but when everyone is a pro we are all putting all we have into our works according to our abilities.”
Oda: Well, I think the opposite. I want to have a rank. It’s like I’m trying as hard as I do, and I’m just a “mangaka” like everyone else?
Of course, if you are a long-time veteran you get called “master” [shishou], but there should be a title for younger masters. “Fantasista” or something.
Kaitani: You want an official position or something?
Oda: Right, right, that’s it! You get a title like “section chief” as a working adult. It’s like proof of how hard you tried. As a mangaka you are always just a “mangaka.”
Kaitani: You want to be able to level up from “mangaka” to “manga-sennin” then?
Oda: Yes, yes – I want to be able to level up like that. Being able to aim for that would be good.
That Oda has such authoritarian leanings is perhaps surprising – apparently being a multi-millionaire and author of the most popular manga in history is not recognition enough.
Reactions vary from considering his desires embarrassingly juvenile to sympathy at his lack of “recognition” – although it seems unlikely his fellow mangaka, most of whom languish in relative poverty at the mercy of rapacious publishers, will be too pleased.
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Well.... let's be honest, he IS better then most. It's his art style I don't like so much. And to be fair... I'd want a rank too.
A severe case of megalomania!
I agree with Oda that mangaka should have ranks. The few successful and creative mangaka shouldn't have to be grouped together with the countless mediocre mangaka.
Well he does have a point in a way. Its like how everyone who can write is called a author, no matter if they write epic stories or trash like you pick up in the supermarkey checkout line. Sometimes you want to show your above the trash, and considering all the lolicon and poorly done mangakas out there, I cant blame him for wanting to show he is above them.
it'd also can be good for vouching how good your creations are
I agree with him he's a very original and talented person. Go go Hall of Mangaka Fame!
He's not wrong, quite frankly.
The entire world is governed by rankings and positions. I think it's rather sad that no matter how hard you work in the industry, you'll always just be 'mangaka'.
I hardly see him saying he's better than everyone ever.
I guess he would not be impressed to know I think his One Piece sucks. He's no equal to Rumiko who I guess being known as the princess of manga is not know to him.
Who's the queen?
The Year 24 Group.
Not that anyone would even have any idea who they are here
I bet he doesn't even care if you are impressed or not, he's One Piece is the best selling manga of all time, he's impressed enough people already
Lol, nice misleading title as usual.
Combined with a "quote".
Agreed. He just wants his job as a Mangaka to have rankings and progression, much like many other jobs. He may have implied that he would be pretty high up, but there wasn't any arrogance in what he said.
He essentially stated he should be at the top of the ranking, and in any case it is clearly unusual for creators to expect rank and authority over other creators, given that there are no objective standards for art and that he has no formal authority over other artists of any sort.
Should art be judged solely on popular acclaim or revenue? This is grossly insulting to artists who deliberately create works designed to appeal to specific groups.
It is also insulting to people with differing tastes - how would you like to be told your favourite mangaka can never be considered a "sennin" because he is not popular enough or doesn't have a coterie of editors and industry figures to grant him authority?
The only alternative is seniority based on years active, which obviously has no place in a meritocratic environment.
Basically if he had his way the only 'otaku' left would be the mainstream that reads OP.
All the niche stuff that gets posted here on SC would disappear. It wasn't a 'joke' when he definitely didn't say it was a joke, and it definitely wasn't implied as a joke, and you read this same shit from other 'tier 1' mangaka/ other artists. Just because it was 'out there' doesn't make it a joke.
He's serious, he actually thinks he's better, thats why he hasn't done a fucking thing other than OP and 5 other 'miniworks' over his career.
I like the fact that theres DFC, armpits, -pan stuff, cosplay, etc 'weird shit'.
I like that we include everyone here, no one is an outsider and we are all accepted where we never would be elsewhere. So fuck you Oda, we love the little guys who in a ranking system, would be higher than you.
Yes, rankings is probably not needed within a field such as arts. Much like directors and writers, there isn't a rank as such because as you've said, art is an expression of an individual and how it is received depends on the audience.
However as to how art should be judged, Oda did not say explicitly how it would be done in interview - it was more a passing comment. You're the one assuming that it'll only be based on popularity when you mentioned something about feeling insulted your favourite mangaka didn't get in.
Of course for a medium of narrative, it'll be judged on many similar criteria that film critics use such as plot, setting, writing, length and so on. So to be honest, if the rankings for a mangaka should ever come in, if an anime or manga that I liked such as K-on was not recognised as a work of "art", I wouldn't be fazed. Most anime including the fetishes that the above poster mentioned just simply tend not to have good writing.
In the end, anime/manga is meant to tell a story, and there ARE criteria to judge it though it is probably for the best if there are no such things as ranks.
So working only on One Piece and a few miniworks means he thinks he's better than other mangaka? No. He works on One Piece because he wants to give his fans a story worth reading. It has nothing to do with One Piece's popularity. He doesn't want One Piece to have a disappointing, half-assed ending like many manga do.
"However as to how art should be judged, Oda did not say explicitly how it would be done in interview - it was more a passing comment."
Well, it's a little too elaborate to be a "passing comment"...
"You're the one assuming that it'll only be based on popularity when you mentioned something about feeling insulted your favourite mangaka didn't get in."
It's pretty obvious what Oda is thinking, being the big guy right now. He wants a badge and a gun.
Anyway, he's just a shonen manga artist, and not a very good one compared to other shonen manga like "Slam Dunk" or "Hajime no Ippo", with more elaborate art.
Well said, Artefact.
"Black people should still be enslaved"
Oh wait, its okay to say that because I'm obviously joking...
Do you even read what you post?
"Oda: Yes, yes – I want to be able to level up like that. Being able to aim for that would be good."
This line pretty succintly displays that it would be a goal for him to reach. One he has yet to attain, or else he would no longer be able to aim for it. Sure, he's clearly confident in his work, and certain he'd be able to gain such a title, but he has good reason to be, as successful creator of one of the longer-running, best-selling mangas in the world. One that is widely perceived to actually be worthy of its position (or at least not as patently unworthy as its nearest competition).
And what bodily orifice did you pull the whole "authoritarian" spiel out from? Nothing in the posted portion of the interview even hints at there being any kind of authority given by Oda's hypothetical "Fantatista" title, and if there was any in the unposted portion, I think it wouldn't have gone unposted. Besides, any suggestion that such a title would carry authority is ludicrous. Does Kobe Bryant have authority over Kevin Garnett because he was named the NBA Finals MVP? Does LeBron James rule over them both because he was named the MVP for the whole 2009-10 season? Do all three bow to Larry Bird because he's in the Hall of Fame?
Your penchant for yellow journalism is bad enough, but if you're going to try to defend it, it would be advisable to actually pick one of your few stories in which you actually have a leg to stand on, instead of a laughably misleading fluff piece like this one...
Plus, Oda is clearly joking around. Mangaka, seiyuu, and their counterparts in other countries are quite prone to do that in such interviews, you know.
Oda only wishes to looked upon as a manga god. Is that too much to ask for?
The huge number in his bank account is his rank.
well in that case, not trying to imply anything but isn't rank 1 usually the best?
Think of it more like a high score on a video game, I guess.
Gotta stop with the misleading title. Viewers start entering a page raring to post without reading(sometimes at least) The last thing I want is a nerve being struck only to realize it was not needed.There should be a class at least official titles at least to recognize the pros without having to read every existing manga out there
I agree... That interview was taken way out of context as to come up with such a demeaning title.
misleading title is one of sankaku's most important trait
I love the humour in Sankaku's misleading titles
creatively it sounds like a good thing, however, realistically, people would probably read the best stuff rather than actually trying other lower rank manga-ka
Hmm. You Oda supporters sound just like pro-Mcfarlanists from back in the 90s when he was making millions off Spawn. Don't feed into his hype. In the next 10 years he'll be history and the ride will be over. Only those who truly love comics will continue on to create great works that will grab our attention. His self proclamation of how great he his just detracts from what's REALLY important: the manga. Attention anywhere else just feeds the ego, as a result he'll keep this up and will lose interest or derail from writing a good story because he thinks he's larger than slice bread. It's not the 1st time this has happened (e.g. Kevin Smith, Alan Moore, Chris Claremont) and it won't be the last.
So Oda is an elitist fag? Who'd have guessed?
/sarcasm
Artefact's trolling striked again with misleading title -_-
But Oda's words are not without problems. In real life, we got electrician, doctors, physicists, teacher, lawyer, artist... etc, and we don't see each of them have a different name for their level.
Mangaka is just a word to describe a person's profession, getting obsessed over a higher title is unjust.
Oda's skill might be higher than other mangaka, but imagined how other mangaka would feel being classed differently by levels, how can a beginner mangaka hope to compete with a person with a higher title just because he has been at the job for a longer period.
Simply, calling Oda "an excellent mangaka" is good enough. Also, I am pretty sure Oda just happened to have a bad week or something to say something like that, we slipped our toungue and mispoke all the time, just because Oda is a famous person, that doesn't mean he doesn't have the right to slipped up
Except for doctors, physicists and whatnot, they do have ranks. Never heard of an associates, bachelor's, doctorate, or phd?
They earn those ranks by presenting thesis and dissertations.
He's clearly joking around
No, he probably really thinks like this. Seriously.
Thinking about rankings in creative works is really sad.
After getting in the manga business they will know each others abilities and style so I guess That depends on the person. Whether they like to know everyones position officially or not. Same thing either way.
Honestly, yes, it kind of is. But at the same time, as an artist myself, there is something to be said for the levels of ego-stripping we go through in order to achieve the levels we have. And our reward for that is to never truly be able to accept our level, unless we're willing to risk stagnation. We're always in a constant war with our own egos once we reach a certain level, at some point, you can understand an artist wanting there to finally just be something to officially call you a master in your profession. From the outside observer, it may appear like there is, but most of them are strange. Like how much your painting is worth after you die, or seeing breathtaking concept art from a videogame that trounces 98% of anything in a museum.
It's hard to describe, but it's almost like wanting tenure. As artists, you earn it. There is no nepotism in art. If you suck, on a long enough time line, you will fail no matter how much you try to hide it until you get better and rise to the challenge. There is no easy way. Much like martial arts. When you are bombarded with that much of your own restrictions and judgments of others, and yet know you cannot let your ego stop you from growing, at some point you just sometimes want a sigh of relief and have someone officially declaring you as something recognizably good so you get a sort of egoic platform under you. As if you would lose all your artistic ability if you suddenly let your ego sink in for even a moment.
I'm not sure I'm describing it well, but I get the feeling other artists who've gone through training can generally understand what I mean.
He sounds arrogant, and he could be. But at the same time, I cannot blame him for it yet. I'd be curious to hear how he said it, actually.
"As an artist myself..."
You are definitely in the wrong field/not an artist. An artist creates for themselves, art is self-expression. When you talk about ego you sound like all those people who draw up a bunch of shit and try to show everyone who will pat their ass and make them feel good.
Most great artists weren't even that well known in their lives. They just did their shit and gave people the opportunity to share in it with them by looking at pieces if they were interested.
There are no masters in art, everyone sucks in certain ways and rocks in others. Some lack technical skills, some have technical skills but have no passion.
So yeah, 'ego'... I dunno what the fuck you're talking about, but artists don't give a shit about ego. This isn't martial arts, we don't stack against eachother, and the only limits are the ones we set upon ourselves. I use the term 'we' which doesn't include 'you'. Honestly an artist with an ego is just a kids who wants attention
If you ever go to any of the museums where the old masters who devoted their lives to their art and mastery of it, and are able to see at all the level of skill involved in it, you wouldn't say anything as thoughtless as what you say. You may speak of ego and childishness, yet it's completely childish to say we're not in competition with one another in some form. We gain inspiration from one another, that too is competition. It's not always combative, but it is competition.
Also, the vast majority of what the old masters did is commercial art, as I and many others do now. I hate the idealistic fools who believe that artists do things for themselves and take people along for the ride. If that were true, we never would even need to draw anything, we'd sit around and bask in our own imaginations. And is also the very ego I was describing that we're constantly at war with. We are the sole proprietors of what we see in our heads, and honestly, there is a calling to bring it into the world, because art isn't meant to be self-indulgence, it's communication. Always has been, and always will be.
The ones who have the ego you speak of are the ones who want refrigerator art. That is the ego you grow out of, into the ego I speak of. Ego and arrogance are not the same thing. If you're an artist who doesn't recognize the presence of your ego in your work, then you have become unconscious to it and it's already overtaking your ability to perceive your work in multiple ways. It is a simple fact. In every single case where people pretend their ego isn't there about their work, it means the ego has hidden behind a belief and they're blind to it. Basic psychology.
Clearly, a joke. However, leveling authors sounds too cool. I wish real life was like a FPS game. Think about it, being able to walk around with a star floating above your head...
I don't know why this was downvoted. That would be awesome! And when you get full stars you can shoot lasers out of your pen like Link.
Maybe, just maybe, since he's already on the top and is going to stay there for a while, he needs something new to strive for. It could be motivation and ambition that he truly wants? IS that so bad?
CEO, Managing Director, Senior Manager, Junior Manager, Supervisor. They're all leadership roles with different titles but obviously the CEO is on the top
CEM = Chief Executive Mangaka
Managing Mangaka
Senior Mangaka
Junior Mangaka
Supervising Mangaka
Start the trend
well, yes, he is joking around
No, he wants to "level up."
Maybe he wants to be a DBZ character.
Oda SSJ3
Of course not, he wants his gear second.
Hes over 9000?!?1 Dosen't matter, he's still the best IMO.
is this such a bad thing? anyone thats worked for something can tell you that once you achieve a certain goal or status that youre gonna be looking for the next milestone to work towards. in a culture like japan where a hierarchy is clearly established in the work place its understandable that he would be a little disappointed that hes seen as an equal to someone who just entered the business. i dont even like one piece but i gotta admit, its a top seller in japan so hes doing something right.
that's where you're wrong. having no rank makes the manga and anime industry worthwhile to work for. imagine that if you sold 1mil copies you would gain a title. how would the others think about that? besides, if that's the case, you'll just sell artbooks instead of manga if the title is what you're after. not having ranks among mangaka means that they work hard to make the readers love the industry and invoke imaginative ideas. having titles would just promote self consciousness that would degrade the anime and manga industry. Bottom line is that you should be happy with what you have. aren't you happy that you're selling well? if you wanna be known, then do other stuff that would grant you such thing. this is entertainment. you either sacrifice and be passionate and make the people happy or just open a restaurant if you want shallow titles
When you get a title you'd be selling it a lot based on the title a lot as well as the actual content.
One Piece by Grand Mangaka Oda does give a bit of weight to the title rather than just One Piece by mangaka Oda.
I'll be honest, that just sounds silly.
being mangaka is just the same as writer or singer...no matter how much money you sold or how many copies your product sold...in the end they're just artist,,what matter's is the product and the artists themselves is the part of the commodity,,so why need title? it wouldn't justify anything or even less guarantee the product...
Well going back to what I said up top with titles like king of pop and such it doesn't have to be in every single manga volume.
I mean you don't see in Michael's CD's or elvis'. "The king of pop" michael jackson's thriller album. that sounds silly as well.
Just a title would be more than enough to satisfy someone like Oda.
His next milestone is to beat Rumiko in bank account size.
NO ONE Can beat Rumi at Bank Account size...!! You hear me? NO ONE!! XD
Yes, it's a bad thing. Picasso, Dalí, Delacroix, Goya, Pollock and my former highschool classmate are all "painters" or "artists", no matter how rich they become (which is the case of this Oda guy), or how talented they are (which isn't the case of this Oda guy).
I'm pretty sure Oda is talented.
Real talent recognizes talent, this guy carrotglace? has no talent.
@Hikikomori in what? playing darts? chess? Not in drawing, that's for sure.
Yeah defiantly in drawing his style is no and original he can draw a wide range of unique characters, great at drawing perspectives, puts a lot of detail in his work ( allow it can get kind of chaotic", good color pages ( though it may be to colorful depending on your taste). I think he's the best artist in jump. One piece also has a good story.
your former highschool classmate is sucks and probably prostitute himself now.
"in what? playing darts? chess? Not in drawing, that's for sure."
He is making a Manga since 14 Years. Unlike many other long running Manga out there his Manga kept getting better per arc and is even after 14 Years still incredible exiting and entertaining. He has an incredibly fantasy. His ability to tell interesting and exiting stories is incredible high but his talent for drama is even higher. He is able to move his readers in their hearts. One Piece even changed lives like the NHK documentary proves.
I have read over 150 Manga but only few others managed to have such a strong impact on me like One Piece had
Oda is not only talented but a hardworking genius. Everyone who has read more than 1 interview with him knows that he likes to joke around. But If I were him I wouldn’t want to be in the same category like let’s say kubo (only mentioning him because many people know him). I’m sure Tolkien wouldn’t want to be in the same category like the twilight author.
And to say something about the art. Yes he doesn’t draw anatomical correct people. What’s the big deal? His imagination, Backgrounds and the level of detail for a weekly series are phenomenal. But what makes Art truly great is when the Artist is able to send his feelings through the art to the reader. Oda is able to do it. When you read OP you are able to feel his soul in his work. At least I and many other people are able to and that’s the reason why he is one of the best.
Yeah, I agree with the other anon. In his interview, it's okay to joke around.
But an interesting note, he doesn't say "I Am Better Than Other Mangaka!" or rather that he is a veteran mangaka and hope their is a better term than just "plain mangaka".
I think other Veteran Mangaka like Oda, feels the same way. Where it should be something like Sensei or Boss. But I don't think they want to be referred to as "Rich" Mangaka or to other beginning Mangaka as "Newbie" or "Poor" Mangaka.
But overall, I feel he was just joking around and should not be taken seriously.
Then there should a rank like
- Manga Captain
- Manga Colonel
- Manga General
and the highest of All
"Mang-Obama"
You make me LoL~ yes i do agree about giving the hardworker some ranking. Make them worth the while~
his mangaka level is still under 9000.
he's getting over himself.
I agree. In alot of people's eyes, as a mangaka, his work is in the same category as pandering rubbish like Kuroshitsuji and Bleach. He wants some kind of recognition beyond that.
It's like a serious and talented singer, who based solely on their trade, is grouped together and associated with the likes of Justin Bieber and Rebecca Black.
He wants to be a Manga DIVA~! XD Just Joking, lol. I guess for guys it would be, Manga King, Eichiro Oda please step forward!!!
you say that, but a large group of people here believe he's saying that there should be some sort of career progression for mangaka. others say he wants a numbered rank system, and still more say that he wants governing responsiblity(implied obviously with a title)....so one thing is obvious...obviously the masses dont know what hes saying