One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda doesn't want to draw romance for a "manga for boys"

Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is one of the most famous and successful manga series in the world, having sold hundreds of millions of copies globally. While it may not be as much of a household name as other shonen anime and manga series, it’s inarguably one of the most successful manga properties of all time.

One of the major reasons for One Piece’s success stems from its ability to cover so many different genres and kinds of subject material all at once. While predominantly an action-adventure series, Oda will occasionally dabble in emotional storylines, scenes reminiscent of slice-of-life anime series, and its trademark comedy.

However, one aspect of One Piece which seems to almost never be touched upon in a serious and central matter is any sense of romance between the central characters. While many fans are curious as to why this is, there’s actually an answer to this question from Oda himself, which he initially revealed in a 2009 interview.

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One Piece’s shonen demographic is seemingly the main reason why Oda stays away from romance in his series

A recount of Oda's comments in the aforementioned interview (Image via Twitter user @sandman_AP)

In a 2009 interview with Oda, an interviewer asked the question of whether or not there are any rules of never doing something when he’s writing and drawing his One Piece manga series. Without missing a beat, Oda responded that he doesn’t draw romance because the series is a “manga for boys,” despite female fans asking him to “draw romance” in the series.

Oda’s response to these female fans is that it's better to read shoujo manga if they’re looking for romance in a series. Oda even goes on to say that it’s not his job to create romantic shoujo series and that he doesn’t care how many women love Luffy since, in his opinion, it’s not good if they love each other.

Ironically, the interview from 2009 puts it as happening just after or even just as the One Piece manga was introducing Boa Hancock, depending on the exact timing. Arguably no plotline in the series better reflects Oda’s sentiment than Hancock’s hopeless romanticism for Luffy, who is unwittingly rejected by the series’ protagonist at every turn. Hilariously, Hancock’s love for Luffy never falters despite this constant unintentional rejection.

Oda may have even written the two’s relationship to reflect the sentiments expressed in the aforementioned interview answer. The fact that Oda references how he doesn’t care “how many women love Luffy” is seemingly reflected in the young pirate’s popularity on Amazon Lily, the island of women. Moreover, Hancock being in love with Luffy never makes romantic progress, which supposedly reflects Oda’s distaste for constantly being asked to draw romance in the series.

It’s certainly an interesting point raised by Oda, which brings into question the seemingly staunch division of responsibilities by manga demographic in the industry in his eyes. Oda’s comments eventually boil down to him not feeling responsible for giving young female fans what they wish to see because an entire demographic has been centered around what the dominant readership wants.

On the one hand, it would seem to be for Oda’s benefit to appease these female fans and include some romance in his manga series. Moreover, it is Oda’s series at the end of the day, and if he feels the shonen demographic for which he writes doesn’t necessitate including romance, then it’s his decision.

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