Oda Reveals Why He Doesn’t Revive Dead Characters

This article contains spoilers from One Piece’s Elbaf Arc.

Key Takeaways

• Oda killed few characters pre-timeskip, but more have died post-timeskip.
• Oda has strict rules against reviving dead characters in One Piece.
• Deaths in the final saga will increase, but with purpose and not for shock value.

Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, has many rules when it comes to writing his manga. By following these rules, Oda has created what can be considered to be the greatest manga of all time and, for many people, the greatest story ever told. One Piece is special in many ways, and Oda has only managed to make it as special as it is by adhering to what appealed to his childhood self. One of these things is the idea of rejecting character revivals in his story.

As fans know, One Piece doesn’t really see characters being brought back from the dead. There is a big reason for this and Oda has previously spoken about it in great detail, which is exactly what is being discussed here.

The Many Dead Characters Of One Piece

• Oda Killed Very Few Characters Before The Timeskip
• More Characters Have Started Dying In Post Timeskip One Piece

Among the One Piece fans, a common belief is that Oda doesn’t like to kill off his characters. This is true in part, and Oda himself has spoken of the fact that he prefers to not kill his characters at all. But, that does not mean that Oda does not kill off his characters, and it certainly doesn’t mean that One Piece lacks an intensity in any way. For instance, in the pre timeskip of One Piece, two major deaths, those of Whitebeard and Ace, shook the entire world of One Piece for good. Oda’s deaths are significant and the impact that they have on not just the ongoing arc, but the following arcs as well, is incredible. That is precisely why Oda only chooses to kill characters that affect the overarching plot in many ways, and shake the entire world.

In the post-timeskip of One Piece, Oda has killed multiple characters. This essentially shatters the idea that he does not kill his characters and while that fake outs do happen in One Piece, a significant portion of characters do end up dying in one way or another. For instance, fans saw Vergo and Monet die early on in the Punk Hazard. In Whole Cake Island, Pedro ended up dying, and in the following arcs, more characters continued to die. In Wano Country, fans saw the likes of Izo and Ashura die, along with Shimotsuki Yasuie. Meanwhile, the Yonko Kaido and Big Mom’s whereabouts remain unknown following the events of the Wano arc.

In the Final Saga, Oda has kicked things up a notch and killed more characters than ever before. In just the Egghead Island arc, Oda has successfully managed to kill the original Vegapunk body, Saint Donquixote Mjosgard, King Cobra of Arabasta, Vegapunk’s satellites, and even Saint Saturn. Clearly, Oda is more serious than ever before about killing off his characters, and of course this will continue as the series gets more intense than ever before with the Elbaf Arc.

When one speaks of killing off characters, the idea of reviving them comes up as well. Oftentimes, fans find themselves deeply connected to the many characters in a particular story. When they are killed off, they feel as if a big part of what made them like the series was taken away from them and that is precisely why a lot of them want characters to return. However, in the case of One Piece, Oda has strictly forbidden characters from returning. Characters whose fate is left mysterious can return later down the line, as was the case with Saul, but those who actually end up dying don’t ever truly return.

Oda Reveals Why He Won’t Bring Back Dead Characters

Oda Doesn’t Want Dead Characters Returning

Oda has previously spoken about the characters that he killed off, and said that while he has to kill off characters at some points, he doesn’t like to do it too often. This is because, at the end of the day, he wants to draw big banquets following each arc in One Piece, and if characters die left, right, and center, there wouldn’t be a point in holding any banquets. Oda wants to end One Piece in a big party, and if all the good characters die, Luffy’s journey would be for absolutely nothing.

At the same time, Oda has also said that character revivals for those who do end up dying are strictly out of the question and here is his reason why:

Question: Why didn’t you create a manga like some other mangakas where dead characters revive?

Oda: Revival of a human isn’t natural, right? (laugh) If a mangaka ends up reviving the dead, he shouldn’t have killed that character in the first place. My characters don’t die even if they are thrown into a desperate situation.

On top of that, I have been hating the revival of dead characters ever since I was a kid. It made me doubt a mangaka, like “The reason why this mangaka revived a certain character may be because the character was popular…” I won’t do what I doubted as a kid and I’ll do what I wanted a mangaka to do.

10 years have passed since OP started, but my criteria hasn’t changed that I should satisfy my 15-year-old self. – Oda

Why More Deaths Are On The Way In One Piece’s Final Saga

The Final Saga Will See More Characters Than Ever Before Die

The final saga of One Piece has officially begun and, as is clear from the Egghead Island arc, deaths are now going to increase more than ever before. Egghead alone saw Oda kill off more than five characters, which is unheard of. This means that as the story continues, more characters will continue to die and the series will see more important characters, such as those of the same stature as the likes of Whitebeard and Ace, die as well. That said, fans shouldn’t get too excited, because Oda still won’t kill off the characters that are needed for the story to be light-hearted.

At the end of the day, One Piece manages to create incredibly exciting plotlines and it does so without needlessly killing off characters. A significant portion of the fans tend to think that deaths make a story more mature and, consequently, better suited to adult tastes. Of course, this childish way of thinking is completely absurd, as deaths do not make a story good or bad. Characters not dying in a story or dying more in a story has little to do with whether the plot itself is good or if the world itself is rich and engaging. One Piece will continue to follow the formula that Oda established years ago, and regardless of whether characters die or not, at the end of the day, One Piece will maintain a heartwarming and positive tone, with the story ending in a giant banquet, as Oda has stated previously. There will never be deaths just for the sake of it in One Piece, regardless of what many fans might want.

One Piece is available to read via Viz Media. The series can be read by the fans officially and for free on the Shonen Jump and the Manga Plus apps. The release date for the next chapter of One Piece, One Piece 1132, is set to be December 1, 2024.