Eiichiro Oda: " I want ranks among the mangaka"

[THE SEA]

Source: Sankakucomplex
Sankaku's title for the article: Eiichiro Oda: "I am better than other mangaka"

One Piece mangaka Eiichiro Oda has given an interview explaining his dissatisfaction with the fact that there are no ranks amongst mangaka, and that there is no special title other than plain “mangaka” available to demonstrate he is no mere mangaka.
The interview, with fellow mangaka Shinobu Kaitani, author of One Outs and others:

Kaitani: I think a good thing about being a mangaka is that there is no rank. Of course, there are differences in popularity, but when everyone is a pro we are all putting all we have into our works according to our abilities.”
Oda: Well, I think the opposite. I want to have a rank. It’s like I’m trying as hard as I do, and I’m just a “mangaka” like everyone else?
Of course, if you are a long-time veteran you get called “master” [shishou], but there should be a title for younger masters. “Fantasista” or something.
Kaitani: You want an official position or something?
Oda: Right, right, that’s it! You get a title like “section chief” as a working adult. It’s like proof of how hard you tried. As a mangaka you are always just a “mangaka.”
Kaitani: You want to be able to level up from “mangaka” to “manga-sennin” then?
Oda: Yes, yes – I want to be able to level up like that. Being able to aim for that would be good.

That Oda has such authoritarian leanings is perhaps surprising – apparently being a multi-millionaire and author of the most popular manga in history is not recognition enough.
Reactions vary from considering his desires embarrassingly juvenile to sympathy at his lack of “recognition” – although it seems unlikely his fellow mangaka, most of whom languish in relative poverty at the mercy of rapacious publishers, will be too pleased.

Greg's post about the interview:
http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=1...postcount=6774
http://apforums.net/showpost.php?p=1...postcount=6817

Not only is this article YEARS old, they are talking about rankings in a manner like karate belt rankings, in a JOKING manner.

Sankaku is sensationalist bullshit.

The original article is legit, Sankakubullshitplex one is not.

The original interview had "(laughs)" and Oda speaks in his child-like screwing around speech, much like in his SBS when he's not being serious. It's OBVIOUS they're playing around.
And what he's saying is, if there was a rank up (or level up) system, mangaka might feel more motivated to go up in ranks, like karate belts.
And no, once again, HE'S NOT BEING SERIOUS. Nor did he say what these smut articles claims he said.

This article is from back in 2009.
Let me tell you EXACTLY why this Sankakuidiotplex is picking it up NOW, a whole year and a half later.
Because some One Piece hater in Japan decided to pick this article up recently (yesterday, on 3/22) and reword it to make Oda sound more assholeish, and started a thread in VIP, an infamous troll-fest 2ch board similar to 4chan's /b/, racking up tons of replies from his trolling.

That's this Sanakumoronplex's "news source".
Hell it may even be second-hand source from one of the troll blogs that decided to pick up the VIP thread.
Oda never said "I shouldn't be ranked the same with everyone else" like that "news source" headline reads. Not once.

[Silence]

Greg posted this interview a while ago. Back when Strong World came out?

Stay salty, sankaku.

[Mumbo]

That's hilarious.

I can't tell if he's being serious honestly.

[JERK DISEASE]

[YOUTUBE]NLokvR5UsQQ[/YOUTUBE]

.........................

[maxterdexter]

I tought that Oda was humbler than that.

Well, If I had the same rank as kubo and kishimoto I'd think like that too.

[JesusK]

1) Sankaku seems to have a grudge against one piece mostly.
Look at how "agressive" is the title. Oda never said he was the best or better.

Let's asusme he is serious for a moment.

He wants the work to be recognized. I assume not by sells but by time. That way even think it of a good way, if you work as a mangaka for 10 years... you may be a senior mangaka.
And Even if your mangas where on the shadows... people who look at who are senior will find you and your sells will increase.

2) Also gotta love the comments on sankaku itself against one piece, where everything they can mention is the art style.

3) And yeah, even if the title said something oda didn't actually say... it's true he is better than other mangaka... not the best but not the worst... So technically he is better than others
---

On a side note i don't feel it's oda trying to rub onto other peoples face either. Going by time being a mangaka many other minor people would have higher ranking tham him.

[Hinscher]

first he never says he is BETTER than someone else, basically saying he just wish that after time or whatever you upgraded to say a veteren mangaka instead of always just being a mangaka.

dumb imo, you don't refer to book authors as a super author or anything. they are just authors.

also its tough to tell sarcasm/joking on internet, but those responses to me don't sound serious at all

[Strawhat Chan]

:Lmao @ Sankaku.

[No Maam]

Guys, think of it like this.

Oda works so hard on his series he went home like once in 2009/10 (I forget which).

Then there's people like Kubo who pretty much expresses the same desire for recognition, while wasting whole pages on black box letter pannels, pages dedicated to two of three sentenced exchanged between two characters, entiere pages reserved solely for ginormous "reaction" shots, repeats of stuff from previous channels verbatim and then devotes alot of pages to the settling of dust.

While also lacking any idea on how to keep a story consistent even with three people to help him out.

And then there's Togashi, who does 10, last week a record 20, chapters a year and then goes on to lye around doing nothing for 10 months of the year while his fans have been waiting to see the end of the current arc for more then 5 years, while most of the former main cast have not apeared for half a decade.

You'd like to get some sort of differentiation from these "a list" mangaka too.

Plus yeah the title.

So this sankaku website tries to be edgy by being hatefull to OP eh ?

[sanji499]

Its ok to be a bit arrogant as long as your skills live up to it.

[Mrs. Iceburg]

I too thought he was more humble and down-to-earth than that.
But then again, he does work his ass off. Compared to, indeed, Kubo, who keeps taking the piss with his fans and still gets high ratings.
You can compare this to the music industry. Empty hitmachines like J Bieber (sorry for the mention) and the likes get the same, if not more, amount of fans, press attention and money compared to good artists who put heart, soul and work in their music.
A comforting thought for both those good mangaka and musicians is that their work will last, unlike that of the others.

[Selph]

Lol well I think at least it's not possible to blame the guy, his story is published in the same magazine as mangas such as reborn, naruto and bleach...

He just wants recognition for his amazing manga, as well as for people to strife for greatness rather than herpness filled with

Hidden:

[gerbilbob]

Seems to me, oda wants a goal to reach.
Having everything makes a person lazy.

[Strawhat Chan]

Guys, think of it like this.

Oda works so hard on his series he went home like once in 2009/10 (I forget which).

Then there's people like Kubo who pretty much expresses the same desire for recognition, while wasting whole pages on black box letter pannels, pages dedicated to two of three sentenced exchanged between two characters, entiere pages reserved solely for ginormous "reaction" shots, repeats of stuff from previous channels verbatim and then devotes alot of pages to the settling of dust.

While also lacking any idea on how to keep a story consistent even with three people to help him out.

And then there's Togashi, who does 10, last week a record 20, chapters a year and then goes on to lye around doing nothing for 10 months of the year while his fans have been waiting to see the end of the current arc for more then 5 years, while most of the former main cast have not apeared for half a decade.

You'd like to get some sort of differentiation from these "a list" mangaka too.

Plus yeah the title.

So this sankaku website tries to be edgy by being hatefull to OP eh ?

But then again, how would they rank mangaka? By seniority? Bleach's been running for 11 years, so should Kubo also get some fancy title?

Anyhow, what does this interview really say?

[goty]

1) Sankaku seems to have a grudge against one piece mostly.
Look at how "agressive" is the title. Oda never said he was the best or better.

I'm not sure if it's a "grudge" or they just try to explore One Piece's popularity, but yeah, they're always this aggressive towards the series and Oda. Pretty pathetic but nothing new really.

Anyway, Sankaku is like the The Sun of anime/manga news.

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

Oda does some great work. He seemed sort of boastful, if he was serious.
But I think he has sort of reached a level of greatness, that it is odd he thinks he is considered he is like everyone else.

[No Maam]

But then again, how would they rank mangaka? By seniority? Bleach's been running for 11 years, so should Kubo also get some fancy title?

Anyhow, what does this interview really say?

I'm just saying I can sort of understand if he wouldn't like to be considered as the same type of creator as these two.

Not sure about how you would do that, though. But Kubo would certainly deserve a "fancy" title alright.

And I think I know which.

Spoiler:

[Darkstorm]

Aside from their pathetic spin on it, Sankaku are treating this as something new?

[fistsofrage]

Yeah, I agree that having a goal would probably make one piece even better as a manga. Goals are always a good motivator.

[Conekiller]

Oda is such a cool dude, he wants to inspire direct competition between the Mangaka. He wants them to strive to be better than they are by dangling a new carrot over their head.