Artist Boichi, fresh from the end of Dr. Stone, writes an incredible One Piece chapter. Will he lend more of his talents to the manga?
By announcing the special one-shot A play chapter scheduled for Tuesday, April 5, creator Eiichiro Oda has revealed that the chapter will be illustrated by an acclaimed manga artist Boichi.
Boichi has just completed a five-year gig with Riichiro Inagaki as an artist for Dr Stone which ended earlier this month. By working on Dr Stone, Boichi stood out as an extraordinary manga artist. In 2018, he won the top prize in the Shonen category at the 64th Shogakukan Manga Awards for his work on Dr Stone. A year later, he won the grand prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival in the manga category, for his work on his own Origin manga. His work must have caught the attention of A play‘s Oda because, in 2019, Oda asked him to join his “One Piece Cover Comic Project”, which invites mangakas to reinterpret a A play chapter in their own style. Boichi began the project with a reshoot of the climactic fight in A play #51 between Roronoa Zoro and Dracule Mihawk. While Oda’s original chapter artwork is solid, Boichi’s interpretation takes its visual enjoyment to another level. It makes a reader wonder how much better A play could have been if Boichi had illustrated it from the start.
With such experience and such success, it seems quite normal that Oda invites Boichi again to illustrate another classic. A play fight between Nami and Kalifa, the assassin and member of the world government’s CP9 organization. As with the fight between Zoro and Mihawk, the original Nami vs. Kalifa contest, which took place in A play #411-412, is drawn somewhat chaotically with an abundance of visual chatter that distracts the reader’s view from the action.
If his past work is any indication, Boichi’s laid-back style will not only give the characters more definition, but also clean up the artistic clutter so the reader can focus on what’s most important in any manga fight scene. , the interaction between opponents. Nami and Kalifa’s fight is an exciting point in the story, so it will be interesting to see how Boichi’s style amps up the tension of an already thrilling fight.
While the next quality of Boichi Rivals chapter is guaranteed, its past success with A playOda’s clear appreciation for his works and his recent “release” from work on Dr Stone ask the question: if he will have more opportunities to illustrate A play, possibly in a permanent or semi-permanent role. It is unlikely that the A play fanbase would oppose the change. Indeed, after the April release, fans may prefer Boichi like A play‘s illustrator goes ahead.
About the Author
Comments are closed.