Dragonball & One Piece: A Match Made In Heaven?

Pain · Post by **Pain** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:27 pm

Dragonball has had its' fair share of influences on numerous manga titles since its release, but none were influenced as heavily as the now "Highest Selling Weekly Shōnen Jump Title Ever", One Piece. This series has been running since 1997, and has spanned 550+ chapters. It's truly "The Successor Of Dragonball", itself.

But, more to the point, One Piece has had more run-ins with Dragonball than we can shake a stick at. From merchandise, to voice actors, and even a crossover, the two series seem to be very close. But I want to know where this close friendship between the series started. Was Toriyama a fan of One Piece from the start? What made these two titles so close to each other?

B · Post by B » Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:30 pm

Oda wouldn't shut up about how much he wants to fellate Toriyama, and Toriyama's kids love One Piece. Plus, both manga basically took over Japan. It was inevitable the two would cross paths, especially since they run in the same magazine.

It'll happen again thirty years from now when One Piece is over and takes a successor.

ShinRogafuken · Post by **ShinRogafuken** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 4:49 pm

The Toriyama family are One Piece fans. And the Oda family are Dragon Ball fans.

Chuquita · Post by **Chuquita** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 5:01 pm

I find how many seiyuu the two series share amazing. X3

I hear Luffy whenever Kuririn starts speaking in Kai. XD

Conversely, throughout all of Chopper's arc I was like "Wow, its a medical center run by Son Goku and Pikachu. This is awesome."
(Though an actual medical center run by the two of them wouldn't work out so hot; Goku would be too afraid to administer needles and Pikachu doesn't have any thumbs. o_o;;; )

The interview where Mr. Oda kept having to jog Mr. Toriyama's memory about characters Mr. Toriyama created was such a fun contrast in writing styles. Mr. Oda plans things out ages ahead of time while Mr. Toriyama does it mostly by the seat of his pants; I find both writing methods equally intriguing. (*Has written stories using both methods before*)

Vegeta Jr · Post by **Vegeta Jr** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:16 pm

Now what I think would be cool is for both mangaka to create a character for each other's series for a crossover special.

fps_anth · Post by **fps_anth** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 8:57 pm

It truly is the spiritual successor. Mayumi Tanaka playing Luffy is great, and I really hear Luffy when Kuririn speaks in Kai. Hearing Masako Nozawa and Ryusei Nakao in One Piece made me giddy

And, of course, there was Cross Epoch.

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:18 pm

Chuquita wrote:Conversely, throughout all of Chopper's arc I was like "Wow, its a medical center run by Son Goku and Pikachu. This is awesome."

I can't stop hearing Gash Bell when I listen to Chopper (they even act vaguely similar).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXOW3avfSNg

More on topic... I think we've had "what is the true successor to Dragon Ball!" threads before. They don't always end well...but I won't say why in case it causes it to happen! So let's just focus on the similarities between Dragon Ball and One Piece.

As Chu said, the styles of writing are extremely different, but both capture the spirit of adventure well. One Piece has proven itself able to stick to that adventure aspect for a long time, and I hope Oda never loses sight of that. As much as I like the later half of Dragon Ball (I just find the universe/cosmos fascinating), the story itself does lose a lot of that adventure. Especially when everyone can fly and/or teleport all over the place.

One Piece is kind of around the halfway mark right now. I wonder if once they cross it, things will change? I'm not completely caught up (avoiding spoilers!), but it seems like something big is going down in the manga right now; something so big that my friend thought the story might be coming to a close. Is it going to become One Piece Z after this?

JulieYBM · Post by **JulieYBM** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:42 pm

Bussani wrote: One Piece is kind of around the halfway mark right now. I wonder if once they cross it, things will change? I'm not completely caught up (avoiding spoilers!), but it seems like something big is going down in the manga right now; something so big that my friend thought the story might be coming to a close. Is it going to become One Piece Z after this?

Right now we're probably in the largest arc ever. This is bigger than Alabasta, Skypeia, or even Enies Lobby. This is huge right now.

But I totally agree, One Piece is something even greater made from DragonBall's success in being able to inspire the generation of Mangaka that is has...

fps_anth · Post by **fps_anth** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:06 pm

JulieYBM wrote:
Bussani wrote: One Piece is kind of around the halfway mark right now. I wonder if once they cross it, things will change? I'm not completely caught up (avoiding spoilers!), but it seems like something big is going down in the manga right now; something so big that my friend thought the story might be coming to a close. Is it going to become One Piece Z after this?
Right now we're probably in the largest arc ever. This is bigger than Alabasta, Skypeia, or even Enies Lobby. This is huge right now.

But I totally agree, One Piece is something even greater made from DragonBall's success in being able to inspire the generation of Mangaka that is has...

The current arc is fucking unbelievable. It's already my favourite arc in One Piece, and I'm sure it's just going to get better and better as time goes on.

One Piece Z? Perhaps. If there's a time skip, or something major happens during the upcoming events (which is very damn likely), then it just might happen. Who knows?

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:16 pm

fps_anth wrote:
JulieYBM wrote:
Bussani wrote: One Piece is kind of around the halfway mark right now. I wonder if once they cross it, things will change? I'm not completely caught up (avoiding spoilers!), but it seems like something big is going down in the manga right now; something so big that my friend thought the story might be coming to a close. Is it going to become One Piece Z after this?
Right now we're probably in the largest arc ever. This is bigger than Alabasta, Skypeia, or even Enies Lobby. This is huge right now.

But I totally agree, One Piece is something even greater made from DragonBall's success in being able to inspire the generation of Mangaka that is has...
The current arc is fucking unbelievable. It's already my favourite arc in One Piece, and I'm sure it's just going to get better and better as time goes on.

One Piece Z? Perhaps. If there's a time skip, or something major happens during the upcoming events (which is very damn likely), then it just might happen. Who knows?

Disclaimer right away; I'm still playing catch up, and have very little idea what's actually going on in the manga at the moment. With that said...

The way my friend put it, it sounds like everything that's been built up to is kind of happening, the kind of stuff that you'd expect to be the end of the story altogether. I wasn't expecting a time skip exactly, but it sounds like one of those 'you thought you knew everything? Well it all just went out the window' sort of moments. Kinda like, "Hey Kakarrot you're an alien. Piccolo too."

JulieYBM · Post by **JulieYBM** » Sun Aug 23, 2009 11:34 pm

Bussani wrote:
fps_anth wrote:
JulieYBM wrote: Right now we're probably in the largest arc ever. This is bigger than Alabasta, Skypeia, or even Enies Lobby. This is huge right now.

But I totally agree, One Piece is something even greater made from DragonBall's success in being able to inspire the generation of Mangaka that is has...
The current arc is fucking unbelievable. It's already my favourite arc in One Piece, and I'm sure it's just going to get better and better as time goes on.

One Piece Z? Perhaps. If there's a time skip, or something major happens during the upcoming events (which is very damn likely), then it just might happen. Who knows?
Disclaimer right away; I'm still playing catch up, and have very little idea what's actually going on in the manga at the moment. With that said...

The way my friend put it, it sounds like everything that's been built up to is kind of happening, the kind of stuff that you'd expect to be the end of the story altogether. I wasn't expecting a time skip exactly, but it sounds like one of those 'you thought you knew everything? Well it all just went out the window' sort of moments. Kinda like, "Hey Kakarrot you're an alien. Piccolo too."

Great analogies friend, that's exactly what's happening right now, although the story is far from over. If I can make the analogy, right now--everything that's been built up--is sort of coming to an end, sort of like the culmination of the end of the Namek arc, except spread over 550 chapters...

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 12:05 am

You guys are getting me all giddy with the One Piece talk...

(I just finishes Enies Lobby, only 120 chapters until I'm caught up!)

Shoryuken · Post by **Shoryuken** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 1:22 am

The way I see it some of the main characters of One Piece have similar traits as them from Dragon Ball:

Luffy - Son Goku; Same happy go lucky nature
Zoro - Vejita; Honor bound warrior and second to the main character in strength.
Nami - Bulma; The strong female lead.

But it does not stop there. Even in Bleach we have the same pattern:

Ichigo - Goku; Same willpower.
Ishida - Vejita; Again a warrior of pride.
Orihime - Bulma; Female deutagonist.

But then again I suppose this is how the blue print for the roster of every shounen manga.

Oh and did I forget to mention that each of these heroes have their individual monstrous transformations (along with Naruto):

Goku - Oozaru
Ichigo - Demonic Hollow
Naruto - Kyuubi

DemonRin · Post by **DemonRin** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:02 am

I love both series'!
I Grew up with DB, it's my good old Friend I'll love forever

One Piece is my newest best friend!

I remember having a talk with another fan who likes both series', and the inevitable "Who would Win, Son Goku or Luffy?" Came up.
Most everyone who gets into this debate has to agree that you have to Nerf Son so that he can only go Super Saiyan 1 so Luffy can keep up with Gear 2nd, however I had another notion, and to all of you DB and OP fans here, I want to ask.

We all know Son would thrash Luffy if he could use all of his power (you would have to Nerf him to make it fair)
BUT. Who would win in this Match-up?
Son Goku (up to SS3, his Highest Form in the Manga) Or
Nightmare Luffy?

fps_anth · Post by **fps_anth** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 2:16 am

Bussani wrote: The way my friend put it, it sounds like everything that's been built up to is kind of happening, the kind of stuff that you'd expect to be the end of the story altogether. I wasn't expecting a time skip exactly, but it sounds like one of those 'you thought you knew everything? Well it all just went out the window' sort of moments. Kinda like, "Hey Kakarrot you're an alien. Piccolo too."

Nothing that major has happened yet, and if it did, then I'd expect a "One Piece Z" anime

It's more of a Star Wars thing going on right now. People who are caught up know what I mean

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 3:38 am

I have this irking feeling that once the Straw Hats make it to the New World, the series will indeed have a name change, "One Piece New World", heh.

But yeah, Dragon Ball and One Piece do have a lot of similarities due to said reasons before, not to mention they're both animated by Toei, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more crossovers in the future. Let alone making it to the stateside since FUNimation dubs both series'. I want my animated Cross Epoch special already. They have a Dream 9 hour slot with both shows, so why not? Yeah, the one-shot is short, but I'm pretty sure they can make up their own material along with it as well. Wouldn't it be awesome to see the Vegeta Sky Pirates fight the Dr. Gero Crew before they go go off to meet with the others? I can only imagine who'd they put in the crew. Dr. Gero (obviously), Nos. 17, 18, 19, Cell, Crocodile, Mr. 1, Ms. Doublefinger, etc., the possibilities are endless.

Kezellz · Post by **Kezellz** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:03 am

I love both of them, and I never heard of a DBZ fan who didn't like One Piece

Especially with the OP anime with the same sounds as from DBZ. I remember first watching it, episode 1, Alvida shooting with the cannons, and I thought *OMG there comes ki blasts out of the cannons*

Bussani · Post by **Bussani** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 4:27 am

Shoryuken wrote:Vejita; Honor bound warrior

Vegeta. Honorable. Does not compute!

I think Zoro would be the Piccolo.

Kezellz wrote:I love both of them, and I never heard of a DBZ fan who didn't like One Piece Especially with the OP anime with the same sounds as from DBZ. I remember first watching it, episode 1, Alvida shooting with the cannons, and I thought *OMG there comes ki blasts out of the cannons*

Those sort of sound effects are reused in tons of anime. Check it out; the Ragna Blade spell from Slayers sounds like a Super Saiyajin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9P2B6v-0HY

I think they're just generic sounds that more than one company might use.

Sebastian (SB) wrote:"One Piece New World"

Exactly the name I imagined. I don't know if Oda's the sort to rename the manga, though. We'll see.

B · Post by B » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:21 am

Bussani wrote:
Sebastian (SB) wrote:"One Piece New World"
Exactly the name I imagined. I don't know if Oda's the sort to rename the manga, though. We'll see.

Toei will take care of that for them.

ShinRogafuken · Post by **ShinRogafuken** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 7:07 am

Yeah, I gotta admit I like One Piece more than Dragon Ball now, and I really like how similar the 2 series are. It works out well.

But don't think that either Dragon Ball fan is also a One Piece fan, I've found that out not to be true.

Kanzenshuu

Dragonball & One Piece: A Match Made In Heaven?

Dragonball & One Piece: A Match Made In Heaven?

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