The reason for the interview is to promote the up-coming One Piece Exhibition, but Oda-sensei shares his thoughts in regards to One Piece as well.
In case you are wondering, the One Piece Exhibition is supervised by Eiichiro Oda himself and will feature around 100 pieces of original artwork, life-sized replica models of the Straw Hat Pirates and other interactive attractions. The exhibition will be held from March 20 through June 17 at the Mori Arts Center Gallery in Tokyo, Japan.
The interview is a bit challenging using Google Translate so we have listed the key points based on our understanding.
There will be a large theater playing two original One Piece movies at the exhibition.
Oda mentions that while the world around him has changed since he started working on manga 15 years ago, he has stayed the same. He still likes reading manga and stil loves to draw it.
The Arlong arc was focused heavily on a theme of racism, so it was hard to avoid during the Fishman Island arc. Oda took this seriously and didn’t want to put any kind of message in the story in regards to this. Rather he wanted to just settle the theme in his own way.
Hody Jones’s motives were based on nothing other then revenge. It seemed like a modern thing to do. Oda thinks it’s difficult for children to understand the notion of carrying on somebody elses hatred even though it’s a typical theme of shonen manga. However, he does believe when they grow up and think back about the theme, they will have one of those moments where they go “Oh, I get what happened there!”
Oda felt One Piece was the best way for him to help many children through the Japanese earthquake last year; by providing them entertainment in trying times
Oda would like everybody to come and enjoy the Exhibition like they would an amusement park.
Lastly, there are images that show off Oda-sensei’s signature and office! If we’ve understood correctly, this is where the One Piece magic happens!