SBS Volume 21

Mid-Alabasta SBS — heavy on Baroque Works trivia (member tea preferences), Sand-Sand-Clan ↔ Alabasta-Rebellion identity reveal (the rebels in Volume 19 are the SAME PEOPLE as Crocodile’s Sand-Sand Clan members in earlier panels), and an extended end-of-volume essay on anime production (the Uda Kōnosuke series-director credit) — which is unusually load-bearing because it answers years of fan letters about Oda’s anime involvement.

Q&A

Q: Mr. 4 SBS opener (parody)

D: Hello. In Volume 19, someone started the SBS the way Miss Merry Christmas would start it. So I’d like to start it the way Mr. 4 would do it. -Black Den Den Mushi Fan Club Vice President-

“SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS… (to be continued)”

O: Too long. Sorry.

Q: “Essuuuu” replacement greeting

D: Whenever you begin the SBS Corner, you usually say “Start the SBS”, right? That’s so boring. SO… I thought up THIS! “ESSUUUUUU!” What do you think? It’s a rip-off of “Ohhaaa”!

O: No, no, no no no! No one will use an imitation like that! You need… a bit more originality!

Q: Left-hand drawing — the missing 3

D: In the SBS from Volume 19, someone said “Draw all 6 crew members with your left hand”, but you only drew Luffy, Zoro and Nami. Draw the other 3.

O: H… here. P-please, give me a break.

Q: One Piece anime regional broadcast

D: They don’t show One Piece on TV where I live… How can we stand for such atrocities?

O: After checking with the animation company, as of Dec. 4, 2001, One Piece is shown on 27 stations nationwide, and it’s just started running in Taiwan. There are three prefectures in which it doesn’t air, however: Aomori, Yamaguchi and Oita. … One Piece is a program on the Fuji TV network, so write a letter saying “I want to see One Piece” to the Fuji station in your prefecture. If the station hears a large outcry, they may consider it.

Q: Megu-chan question (OMITTED)

D: To Eiichirou Oda-sensei-sama: [OMITTED] -by Those Who Say Meguko-

O: Yes, uhhhh. Well, why don’t I get right down to it and answer this question? Uhhhhh… Uhhhhhh… Yes. Uhhhhhhh… Yes. Uhhh…

Chapter 189, Page 66

No questions, just a little game made by a reader.

Q: Baroque Works tea preferences

D: What are “Orange Pekoe” and “Apple Tea”?

O: Oh I’m sure you can figure out what Apple Tea is, right? It’s a type of tea. And orange pekoe is another kind of tea. It’s true that all the members of the BW like different kinds of tea.

• Mr. 3 likes “Earl Grey”
• Miss Goldenweek likes “green tea”
• Mr. 5 likes “gunpowder tea”
• Miss Valentine likes “lemon tea”

They drink it at a lot of different places. But Mr. 2 likes “takopa” (takoyaki party).

Q: Sand-Sand Clan = Alabasta Rebellion identity reveal

D: I noticed something when I was re-reading the books. I’m talking about this person on the left in Volume 18, page 162, 2nd panel, and this person on the right in Volume 19, page 15, 5th panel. Are they the same person?

O: Yes. That’s right. You’re quite correct. If you look at the current “Rebellion”, you’ll see a lot of members of the “Sand-Sand Clan” in it. Well spotted. It’s pretty easy to tell when they’re lined up like this, right? Oh, and just to confuse you a little, most of the people in the Rebellion call Koza “Koza-san”, but sometimes you hear “Koza” or “Leader”. Those people were probably former Sand-Sand Clan members.

Q: Sam cameo backstory (Alabasta crowd)

D: I was astonished when I read Volume 19! Because in the first panel of page 104, Sam is among the people running about! Why is he in Alabasta? Why is he drunk again? Tell me!! -by Takashima 192-

O: Oooh. I was surprised, too. I totally forgot I had drawn him. That’s him all right, it certainly is. Chapter 171, page 104. Why is he there? Listen up… Today was his second daughter’s wedding. Sam’s wife left him to raise all of their daughters the summer his eldest turned 8. His second daughter was a delinquent. Quite the troublemaker… They fought often, and there were days when she ran away from home. Today, she is being married. Though he puts up a strong front by saying, “Finally I can rest easy now that you’re gone!”, he actually feels a little lonely but happy for his daughter. And so he said, “I can’t stay sober tonight!” and he drank and drank and walked and drank, and before he knew it, he was in the middle of Alabasta. The people around him were making all kinds of noise so he started yelling too, though for a different reason than the other citizens.

Q: Buggy underwear

D: Sensei, on TV I heard someone say, “The next big thing will be Buggy underwear”. Would you like to buy some Buggy underwear, Oda-sensei?

O: No.

Chapter 192, Page 126

Another game made by a reader.

Chapter 194, Page 164 — Anime production essay (8-point breakdown)

O: Ahem. I’ve been receiving a ton of questions about the anime so I’m going to tell you how much I’m involved in it.

1. First of all, I am a manga artist so I don’t make anime. What I can do is help out with the character designs for anime-original episodes. Nothing major. So basically, the One Piece world I’ve created in my manga is entrusted to others to be adapted in the anime.

2. “THE” UDA KOUNOSUKE — listed as the “Series Director”. That’s basically “head director”.

3. For the OP anime, there are 7 directors including Uda-san that take turns making episodes because you can’t make a 30-minute episode in just one week. Every episode’s director is listed at the end of the ending credits.

4. If his opinions and mine do not meet, Luffy instantly ceases to be Luffy and the world becomes entirely different. … the reason that doesn’t happen, and in fact, becomes even more memorable in the anime, is thanks to Uda-san and his crew of Director-Fighters.

5. By “directing”, I’m talking about music, sfx, voice acting and character expressions, so I’m truly grateful to all the people involved in the anime. Oh, by the way, my very own editor Habu-yan does the “scenario checking”.

6. All in all, what I really wanted to point out were the credits that you audience probably ignore.

7. I know I made him sound very formal earlier, but Uda-san is really a cool, friendly man. Sometimes when I have a meeting with the anime staff, I go out and have lunch or dinner with Uda-san and the producers (they’re fun, too). Usually though, I just leave the anime work up to them and enjoy it as a viewer, just like all of you do. I even cry sometimes.

8. And that concludes this SBS. See you next volume.

Notable canon-leaks

• Sand-Sand Clan ↔ Alabasta Rebellion identity dual-canon — Oda confirms the rebellion’s anonymous mass is populated by Crocodile’s former Sand-Sand Clan members. The “Koza” / “Koza-san” / “Leader” form-of-address split in the rebel ranks is a covert who-knew-Koza-from-the-old-clan identity-tell. Cross-link Alabasta arc threads.
• Baroque Works tea preferences canonized — fixed character-trait micro-lore. Mr. 3 / Goldenweek / Mr. 5 / Miss Valentine / Mr. 2 all have named tea identities; this is the kind of off-page minutiae Oda treats as canon when later asked.
• Sam cameo backstory canonized — a single-panel-extra in Ch. 171 is given a full family backstory (estranged daughter’s wedding, lost custody, day-drinking). Demonstrates Oda’s every-background-character-has-a-life design philosophy that becomes load-bearing for later cover-stories.
• Oda’s anime involvement = character-design support only. Series direction is fully delegated to Uda Kōnosuke + 7 rotating episode directors. This frames every later anime divergence (anime-original arcs, filler) as outside Oda’s authorship — important for distinguishing canon from anime-canon.
• Editor Habu-yan does anime scenario-checking — the editor-as-anime-bridge frame.