5 Major Anime That Inspired One Piece

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There’s truly nothing quite like One Piece. Its characters, expansive world, and central mysteries combine to create a one-of-a-kind experience that has significantly impacted both anime and manga. Considering how much it has influenced later series, it’s interesting to think about what inspired Eiichiro Oda to create One Piece.

Ideas can come from anywhere, and the popular manga One Piece is a great example. Eiichiro Oda, the creator, is remarkably imaginative, building a world that’s captivated millions of fans. However, like all creators, he drew inspiration from various sources to begin with.

Future Robot Daltanious

Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, is known for his amazing character designs, populating the world with a huge variety of pirates, marines, and other unique individuals. While Oda draws inspiration from many sources, some fans might be surprised to learn that mecha anime played a role in shaping the series. Specifically, a relatively obscure anime called Future Robot Daltanious directly inspired the creation of SMILE users in One Piece.

In a recent interview, Oda revealed that the designs of characters like Holed’em and other SMILE users were inspired by the anime Future Robot Daltanious, a series he loved as a child. He specifically wanted to create Holed’em because he envisioned a character with a lion design on their stomach, reminiscent of a transforming robot from the show – a lion robot that combined with a humanoid robot.

SMILEs really started with the idea of drawing a specific character. Years ago, I was a big fan of the anime Future Robot Daltanious. It featured a robot that transformed – a lion robot would combine with a humanoid one, resulting in a robot with a lion face on its chest! I loved it as a kid, and it always seemed so cool.

Kinnikuman

Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, is a big fan of the manga Kinnikuman. This love led to the creation of Pandaman, a beloved comedic character in One Piece. Oda initially designed Pandaman in 1998 for a Kinnikuman character contest. Pandaman’s design clearly shows Oda’s inspiration from the unique style of Yudetamago’s Kinnikuman.

Pandaman isn’t a central character in the story, and he’s often meant as a joke or hidden surprise. However, he’s consistently appeared throughout the series – from a brief mention on a historical stone in Alabasta to being a background figure in many anime scenes. Surprisingly, he’s even become quite popular with fans, ranking 19th in one popularity poll and 31st in another.

Dragon Ball

As a huge anime fan, it’s so obvious to me that Dragon Ball is the foundation for so much of what’s popular today! Akira Toriyama’s series really shaped a generation of manga artists – you can definitely see its influence on creators like Oda and the other members of the ‘Big 3’. But with One Piece, it feels like Oda took a broader, more overall inspiration from Dragon Ball rather than directly copying specific characters or plot points.

Luffy shares a lot of qualities with Goku, like a strong sense of right and wrong, a positive outlook, and a captivating personality. Both series rely on common elements of the shonen genre – over-the-top power levels, wise teachers, and familiar character types. While it might seem predictable, One Piece owes a lot to Dragon Ball. One Piece is unique thanks to its detailed world and Oda’s knack for long-term planning, but the connection between these two shows will always be clear.

Vicky the Viking

It’s surprising to think that such an unknown series could spark the creation of the world’s most popular anime and manga, but inspiration can come from anywhere. Most anime fans have probably never even heard of Vicky the Viking. It originally aired from 1974 to 1976 and was adapted from a children’s book series by Runer Jonsson. However, without Eiichiro Oda watching it as a child, we might not have One Piece as we know it today.

I remember reading an interview with Oda where he talked about how the idea for this series actually started while he was developing One Piece. He mentioned a lot of similarities – a protagonist who looks up to a particular lifestyle and wants to be like them, a big seafaring adventure, and a strong, supportive group of characters traveling together. It seems like those core concepts carried over from his work on One Piece.

I loved watching the anime Vicke the Little Viking when I was a kid. It followed a boy who dreamed of becoming a Viking. While researching pirates for One Piece, I discovered that Vikings were essentially a type of pirate themselves. I really appreciate the idea of strong teamwork, which was a big part of Vicke the Little Viking, and I think that same spirit shows up in my own work. It’s not a perfect comparison, but I see a connection.

Now that the Elbaf Arc is underway, Eiichiro Oda will be able to delve deeply into the Viking-inspired elements that have clearly fascinated him since he was young.

The Mysterious Cities of Gold

Most One Piece fans probably haven’t heard of The Mysterious Cities of Gold, much like Vicky the Viking. While One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda hasn’t officially said it was an influence, many fans are noticing surprising similarities between the two shows. The more you examine The Mysterious Cities of Gold, the more connections you find to the world of pirates and adventure that Oda has created.

The main character, Esteban, is known as the “Child of the Sun,” which echoes the connection between Luffy and the Sun God Nika. The parallels don’t stop there – when Esteban was young, a navigator named Mendoza rescued him, just like Shanks saved Luffy. Mendoza also left Esteban with a significant amulet, mirroring how Shanks gave Luffy his Straw Hat.

While traveling, Estaban encounters Zia, a member of an ancient tribe with the ability to decipher a lost language. This mirrors Robin’s situation, doesn’t it? Like Robin and the people of Ohara, Zia’s tribe was destroyed. This forgotten language holds the secret to locating the legendary City of Gold, just as Robin’s ability to read Poneglyphs is crucial to finding the One Piece.

Similarities exist between One Piece and the older series The Mysterious Cities of Gold, such as a character meeting a tribe of Amazonian women and the presence of four hidden locations leading to a lost city. Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, has never publicly discussed The Mysterious Cities of Gold, so it’s possible he’s never seen it and the parallels are just coincidental. However, it strongly suggests the series had some impact on his work.

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2026-01-27 01:36