[Theory] Oda is Kyros

Love Cook

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I just read an interesting and also very sad theory by Eiji Niizuma that has some rumor to it that it might be even true. Which is that Oda has been portraying parts of himself as Kyros.

One of the underlying themes of the Dressrosa arc is a commentary on the manga industry in general and the mangakas life specifically eg: the toy soldiers monologue to Rebecca early in the arc screams of oda explaining to his real life daughter why he continues to write one piece. Rebecca represents his daughter and Scarlet his wife. Kyros dirty hands are a metaphor for the blackened hands of a mangaka, which mean that he can't play with his daughter due to his work.

Kyros even states:"while you're asleep I'm going to the 'toy house' but I'll return when you wake up". "to prove that I'm always by your side every morning ill drop one petal on the window". The toy soldier gets no sleep and has to work every night.

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Not Oda's but gives you the impression of the working day of a mangaka

Kyros wins and record stand for the success of One Piece which are great on the one hand but on the other keep him bound to that one place where he really shines. He can't and doesn't want to leave his Colosseum.

And I want to close with a quote from 2012 when Oda was hospitalized because of his tonsils and gave a short interview that puts everything into perspective:

The famed manga creator's busy work schedule is rather infamous. In 2012, Oda said he slept from 2am to 5am, spending his waking hours hard at work on One Piece. "I have no days off," he said at the time. "If I had them, I'd want to go on vacation with my family. I just want to go outside, it doesn't matter where. See, I don't get out much."
The cutting of the leg could be a metaphor for his willpower and all the sacrifices he had to make in order to achieve his goals.
 

Punk Hazard

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There are plenty of other mangaka who put in just as much time as Oda, maybe more.
There's literally a graph of a schedule of a different mangaka in the original post..
That's the average working day of a mangaka, Love Cook even says that that's not Oda's. There are days on that chart where the mangaka is allowed 8 hours of sleep. Oda only sleeps for about 3 hours every night. His schedule is notably above average. Are there mangakas who work just as hard? Probably, but it doesn't mean what Oda does is any less notably hard.
 

DoubleKamui

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Those are some nice connections between Oda's mangaka lifestyle and Kyros' character. I feel sorry for him for having to sacrifice so much of his life to give us some form of entertainment. All I wish for is he gets a well-deserved break and that he still enjoys writing & drawing One Piece. I can never imagine myself working with these very tight schedules. Props to him, and other hard-working mangakas as well.
 

Listz

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That's really saddening... I thought that perhaps was true. And Kyros wish to not let his daughter Rebecca wielded a sword might be connected as well.

he should fake an illness lol

i'd be too lazy to be a mangaka
He did once, but not faking it as illness. He just went missing suddenly for a certain period of time, and the fans thought he was sick thus became worried about him. Then later he explained he was on 1 month vacation with his family after he and his editor made a bargain about something but i forgot the details. He asked fans' forgiveness over that though. :)
 

Fireplay

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Give this man a vacation. He deserves it unlike a certain someone (most of us know damn well whose lazy ass im talking about).

Its hard to imagine one man working so hard to please millions.
 

Avani

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Isn't this the same for all mangaka?..
Then there is Togashi.

Most of them work on similar pace if they are on weekly schedule in a magazine like WSJ. But it's been on going for the longest period. Kishi has been consistent too in terms of finishing chapters(fewer panels maybe but more story covered) but he threw towel in 15 years, wrapping it so fast that it left many dissatisfied and complaining about rushing things.

Oda is going about the plot at a really slow pace, with the main plot but he draws a lot in terms of art and details.. Kind of pulling a Dickens with manga genre. ( Dickens got paid by the installments in serialized novels and then again when it was published in the form of book.) But he tried to give his reader a volume to read despite covering little of the story resulting in long paragraphs ....

I kind of not care for that much detailing as it makes it difficult to follow it all, unless you go in nerd mode. But, there is no doubt that the artists put some work in.
 
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Souji

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I've read Oda doesn't really like relying on assistants and redraws EVERYTHING: if there's a flashback that harkens back to older chapters, he redraws the flashback without copy pasting the original content.

Seriously, this man delivers an incredible manga but at what personal cost? You'd think Japan would have some labor standards/ethics... but then again, Oda does this of his free will, which brings up another dilemma.

The dude was working on OP when he was hospitalized.

Jeez, just give this man a full art studio and two months off...

Respect.
 
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