From one great to another, One Piece’s mangaka is nothing but heartwarming comments for Jujutsu Kaisen’s mangaka.
Translated by Jさん (֊’ ‘֊) (@/soukatsu_), Eiichiro Oda, One Piece’s mangaka, wrote about the first time he met the elusive and mysterious Jujutsu Kaisen creator. “I have to speak properly with [Gege] Akutami-san at the Tezuka Award judging panel for the first time,” Oda said, exclaiming. “What a trustworthy person! A person with personality.” At the 105th Tezuka Manga Awards, controversial mangaka Nobuhiro Nishiwaki joined Akutami and Oda alongside Dragon Ball’s Akira Toriyama, Blue Exorcist Kazue Kato’s mangaka and My Hero Academia’s Kōhei Horikoshi.
The mysterious creator of Jujutsu Kaisen
Akutami has kept an extremely tight profile, not disclosing personal pronouns, real names, looks or more. However, the mangakas displayed a remarkable sense of humor when they talked about themselves. In June 2021, the Jujutsu Kaisen took a short break due to Akutami’s health, as they “remained on their stomachs for two and a half days”, although the mangaka insisted they “did not have any serious illnesses.” In August 2020, they jokingly wrote: “I am more sluggish and gray hair. Side effects of paying taxes?” Akutami published a four-chapter set called Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School in 2017, which later served as a prequel to Jujutsu Kaisen. The latter debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump in March 2018.
Oda submitted his first work Wanted! at the age of 17, won second place at the Tezuka Prize. Two years later, he worked as Watsuki’s assistant in Rurouni Kenshin and later wrote two pirate-themed oneshots called Romance Dawn. The main character then became the protagonist of One Piece. One Piece began serialization in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1997 and has 105 volumes. Besides a hugely successful anime franchise, One Piece has also inspired a live-action Netflix series that Oda will oversee, promising fans that “we won’t release it until I satisfied.”
Two of the most popular manga series in this generation, One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen boast high manga sales. One Piece has recorded over 516.6 million copies in circulation as of August 2022. Although Jujutsu Kaisen still has a long way to go, its numbers are still impressive, reaching more than 70 million copies as of August 2022. August 2022 along with manga and related series such as Jujutsu Kaisen 0.
Both are currently happening, One Piece and Jujutsu Kaisen are both available to read on Viz Media.
Source: Twitter