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How Eiichiro Oda Achieved a Net Worth of $200 Million

Eiichiro Oda

Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist, writer, and producer who is best known as the One Piece series creator. The popularity of this series led to Oda becoming one of the best-selling and most successful fiction authors of all-time. His career success means that Eiichiro Oda's net worth is now $200 million, and here is how the artist accrued his wealth.

His Early Life

Eiichiro Oda was born in Kumamoto, Japan, on January 1, 1975. He was interested in manga from a young age and had already decided he wanted to become a manga artist when he grew up. As an adult, he has said that he aspired to become a manga artist, so he would not need to get a real job. One of Oda's biggest inspirations is his childhood, as he remembers watching the TV animation 'Vicky the Viking,' which he has said sparked an interest in pirates. In his teens, he submitted his first character 'Pandaman' to 'Kinnikuman,' a classic wrestling manga. Initially, the character was used in a single chapter, but the character later reappeared in some of Oda's own works as a cameo character.

Eiichiro Oda's Career

Oda began his career in 1992 at the age of 17 when he submitted his work to 'Wanted!'. His submission won him multiple awards, including the second position at the Tezuka Awards. It led to Oda landing a job at the magazine' Weekly Shonen Jump', working as an assistant to Shinobu Kaitani on the series' Suizan Police Gang.' He later worked on 'Jungle King Tar-Chan' and 'Mizu no Tomedachi' at Masaya Tokuhiro. By the time he was 19, Oda was working on 'Rurouni Kenshin' as an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki. During that time, Oda won a Hop Step Award for new manga artists.

While he was working with Watsuki, Oda created two one-shot stories with pirate themes. One was published in Weekly Shonen Jump, while the other was published in Akamaru Jump. One of the stories, 'Romance Dawn,' featured the protagonist Monkey D. Luffy, and this character was later featured in 'One Piece.' It wasn't until 1997 that 'One Piece' became a serialization that featured in 'Weekly Shonen Jump.' It quickly became one of the most popular manga series in Japan. Furthermore, it has become one of the best-selling manga series of all-time. By 2019, there had been more than 450 million copies printed worldwide.

Additionally, there are individual volumes of 'One Piece' that have broken Japanese publishing records. For example, volume 56 had an initial print run of 2.85 million copies, which is the highest of any manga. The next volume in the series had a first print run of three million, which was the highest initial print of any book from any genre in Japan, not just manga books. Subsequently, several volumes of his work have broken these records. In 2012, volume 67 had an initial print run of 4.05 million. A year later, Oda won the Grand Prize at the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award.

There is a series of films based on the manga series 'One Piece.' The 10th film in the series was 'One Piece Film: Strong World,' which is also known simply as 'Strong World.' During the development of the 2009 film, Oda drew more than 120 drawings while developing the story. Oda also insisted that the film's theme song was performed by Mr. Children.' To accompany the film, Oda developed a special chapter for the manga that moviegoers received as a free gift. During his career, Oda has collaborated with Akira Toriyama, the creator of 'Dragon Ball' and one of Oda's creative inspirations. They collaborated on a 2007 crossover called 'Cross Epoch.' The pair also worked together in 2013 to design characters for the video game 'Giant Crusher.'

Other Ventures

In addition to his work as a manga artist, Oda has been involved in many other ventures, including the production of films based on his work, film costume design, working as a creative supervisor, and providing voices for his characters. For the 2009 film 'One Piece Film: Strong World,' he was an executive producer, a costume designer, a story developer, and a creature designer. Three years later, his role involved character design, costume design, and executive producer for the film 'One Piece Film: Z.' He took on the same roles for the 2016 film 'One Piece Film: Gold' and the 2019 film 'One Piece Film: Stampede.' Oda provided the voice for the character Odacchi in the television special 'One Piece: Dream Soccer King!' The manga artist was also an executive producer for a live-action series of 'One Piece' ordered by Tomorrow Studios and Netflix. Stepping outside the world of manga, Oda designed a range of luxury goods in collaboration with S.T. Dupont, a French luxury manufacturer. The collection was called the 'Sleeping Mermaid Collection.' Although this project was separate from 'One Piece,' a lighter from the range was used on the set of 'One Piece Film: Z' and also appeared in the manga.

Eiichiro Oda's Net Worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, Eiichiro's Oda's net worth is $200 million. He has predominantly made his money as a manga artist. He has also made some of his money from his work as a film producer and from several other ventures, including designing a range of luxury goods.

His Personal Life

In his personal life, Eiichiro Oda is married to Chiaki Inaba, a former model and actress, says One Piece Fandom. The couple married in November 2004 when Oda was 29 and Inaba was 26. The couple had met when Inaba played Nami in 2002 stage performances of 'Jump Festa One Piece.' Following their marriage, Inaba retired from performing and modeling. The couple's first daughter was born in 2006, followed by a second daughter in 2009. Unusually, the couple lives apart most of the time, and this is due to Oda's rigorous work schedule. His wife and daughters usually visit him once a week, and he spends time in their home during the holidays.

Allen Lee

Written by Allen Lee

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

Read more posts by Allen Lee

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