The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece

What's It About? 

See another version of Luffy in the original short story that launched a legend. The creator of One Piece presents this unique collection of his earliest works. From Western to fantasy to ghost story, this special volume has it all—including “Romance Dawn,” the one-shot that would become the international megahit One Piece!

Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece has a story and art by Eiichiro Oda, with English translation by Stephen Paul. This volume was retouched and lettered by Snir Aharon. Published by Viz Media (November 12, 2024).

Is It Worth Reading?

The problem with (re)publishing juvenilia is that it's, well, juvenile. I don't mean that it's bad, just unformed, and while it's definitely interesting to see where a creator's characters come from and how their style developed, the fact of the matter is that these stories aren't particularly compelling. The strongest, hands down, is Romance Dawn, one of two forerunners to Oda's smash hit One Piece. In this version, Luffy wants to be a specific type of pirate who fights bad pirates, and for some reason (possibly he hasn't done all the research yet), Oda doesn't just use “privateer” and “pirate” for these professions, which makes the terms needlessly unwieldy. But Luffy is still Luffy, albeit with a few more brains and less of an appetite, and he's already eaten the devil fruit and gotten his powers. The biggest difference in his backstory is that his grandfather is the one who gave him his straw hat and encouraged him to go to sea. He meets up with a Nami prototype named Ann and her giant bird, fights bad pirates, and a legend is started.

It's a decent story in its own right. Ann is less sexualized than even early Nami, and if this Luffy isn't quite as memorable as his later incarnation, his determination is very much intact, and his gleeful skill with his powers is infectious. Interestingly enough, he's also the only Luffy prototype in the book; other characters have much more of a Usopp or Zoro feel to them. There are many more Zoros than anyone, most notably in MONSTERS, although he's still far goofier than the man we know from One Piece. Most of the protagonists are gun-or-sword slingers, and many are operating on the dark side of the law. Gill, from the title story, is a self-admitted murderer (albeit in self-defense) and Branco from the second story is so bad that God himself is planning to take him out with a meteor. Ryuma from MONSTERS is a bit of a Kenshin, which may give some readers mixed feelings, although his story is the second strongest in the book. This one also features a proto-Nami named Flair, who feels like the inspiration for Nami's Arlong Park incarnation.

Oda's art is all over the place in this volume, as you might expect. You can see a clear progression over time, and even his high school manga debut is impressive, even though it feels very unrefined. This collection probably has the most merit as an academic retrospective of Oda's works, but it's still worth looking at if you're a fan. It was a long road from Wanted to One Piece, and seeing the steps has its appeal.

Before One Piece is exactly what it says on the tin, it's a compilation of Oda's previous works and one shot before he officially started his serialization of the One Piece manga. When a creator like Oda has been working on One Piece for longer than a lot of human beings on this planet have been alive, you do sort of forget that this guy had to have worked on other things before starting his magnum opus. Given the way that the industry works, it is very common for creators to work on a series of one-shots or side stories before they make their big break. However, I guess One Piece and Oda are so synonymous with each other that it was difficult for me to comprehend that he did work on anything else before this point so getting the chance to read these works was a treat.

I'm reading some of these short stories and I can definitely see the origins of some of Oda's comedy and character writing here. A lot of Oda's one-shots feature main characters who arguably aren't seen as good guys compared to the general public, but they all have relatively good hearts. They're not big heroes or anything, they're just people trying to live their lives and their desires end up clashing with others. Whether it's assassins trying to kill someone who's just trying to live their life or a monk who doesn't want to deal with people's problems. There is a very wacky reactionary sense of humor here and the iconic elongated shouting face that was very prevalent throughout early One Piece made its origins here. These shorts are far from action-packed or even the most visually engaging but what carries them is their sense of heart and humor. I can understand why some of these shots weren't made into a full-on series, but I can definitely see Oda experimenting with what he was comfortable with before perfecting everything with One Piece. It's no surprise that the best story in the book was the one shot that One Piece was based on. In a day and age where One Piece is arguably one of the biggest shows in the entire world, I think a lot of us can stand to read this and get a better understanding of the man behind the future pirate king.

I've recently started reading the One Piece manga from the beginning, and I was surprised that around chapter 150, there was a reference to Wanted: Before One Piece in the SBS Question Corner, a postscript Q&A in which Oda jokes with readers and only occasionally answers their questions. Considering these chapters were published more than 20 years ago, an English version of Oda's short story collection is long overdue! At the same time, I can understand why it's been overlooked all this time. One Piece is bottled lightning, a hit that strikes once in a manga artist's life. It's no surprise to me that the short comics Oda created in his teens and early twenties—and even the very rough draft of One Piece, “Romance Dawn”—can hardly hold a candle to Oda's decades-long masterpiece. These brief, juvenile stories are notable simply because they were created by the One Piece creator, not in and of themselves.

A delinquent gains the ability to see the future. A gunslinger haunted by a deceased bounty hunter. A fighting monk must defeat a man-eating ghost. These are the basic, half-baked ideas that Oda drew in his early career. It was gratifying to see that everyone starts somewhere, even a behemoth like Oda. But let's be real here: One Piece is the only reason this stuff made it into this compilation. If these were the work of a no-name upstart (as they once were) they wouldn't be put on a pedestal. But fast forward to Oda's fame, and suddenly there's a reason to dig up his juvenalia. One Piece fans can read these stories for hints of Oda's earliest ideas and theme explorations. Just don't get your hopes too high: I was surprised at how lackluster the theming and how standard the character design was for these early stories now that I'm accustomed to Oda's One Piece excellence.

It's interesting to compare and contrast “Romance Dawn,” the first One Piece draft, with the version we know today. Mainly: how is it so bad, while One Piece is so good? The earliest version of Luffy is recognizable, but the rest of the story is a mess! It's downright inspiring to be faced with the evidence that the old chestnut about “shitty first drafts” is true. Even manga's greats needed to practice first. Wanted isn't a good introduction to Oda's oeuvre as a whole; you'll want to start with him at his best and most brilliant in One Piece. But if you're craving more from the same guy, here ya go.