Eiichiro Oda explains his new anime Monsters’ story

Monsters has been creating quite a buzz with the Netflix anime adaptation – so here’s how Eiichiro Oda describes the story.

Before One Piece’s manga debut, Eiichiro Oda released a series of one-shots. These were later compiled in the “Wanted!” volume featuring five side stories. One of those stories follows the legendary swordsman Ryuma, who lived around 400 years ago and whose legend is still popular in the land of Wano.

Titled “Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation,” it is an original net animation that was announced in July 2023. The anime is all set for its premiere in January 2024. Sunghoo Park, the director of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 1, is directing the anime.

E&H Production, the studio behind Monsters anime is established by director Park. Following his work in Jujutsu Kaisen, Sunghoo Park is famous for his attention to detail.

Eiichiro Oda explains Monsters story in the manga

E&H production

In an extra panel at the end of the one-shot, Eiichiro Oda explains the reason behind the title. He explained: “A dragon-slaying manga, Monsters. I kinda forced the title when I made this manga. I mean, when I drew this, I was in the mood for titles with ‘ters’ ending a lot. Something like ‘Drifters’ ‘Southern All Stars’ or ‘Grift-ers’ and ‘Mobsters’ from movies. I really wanted to have a title like that, so when I decided on the basic storyline, I thought: ‘Ah, there will be a dragon and a bunch of strong guys. They’re all like monsters. That’s it: Monsters!'”

In the next point, he added: “Now for the story. The story revolved around the fact that I simply wanted to draw something like a dragon being slayed in a double-page spread. I also wanted to draw something about a clash between a rough Samurai and a noble knight.

“If I use cooking as an example, it would be something like eating a home-made samurai’s miso and a medieval knight’s marinade flavored by a cowboy film with a side of ‘dragon soup’ and a bottle of refreshing ‘chivalry rose’… ‘How is your dinner?’ ‘Lovely, chef, it tastes very acrobatic.’ ‘Thanks madam.'”

Lastly, Oda shared that he drew the Monsters manga as a 19-year-old. “I drew this when I just finished my job as an assistant to Kaidani Shinobu-sensei, and started to help Tokuhiro Masaya-sensei’s ‘Jungle no Ouja Taa-chan,'” he recalled.

“I can never forget; I was 19 and that was during… s-summer? Eh… fall? … Spring? Hrmm? Maybe summer? G-guts? Ah, I want to eat guts hotpot.”

Monsters will premiere on Netflix on January 21, 2024. As per Netflix, it’s official synopsis reads, “A Samurai’s path leads him to a waitress whose hometown was destroyed by a dragon. He doesn’t want any trouble – but it finds them anyway.”