One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda has released original Detective Conan artwork in honor of the latter manga series’ 30th anniversary.
The art, posted on X (formerly Twitter) by @PewPiece, features Shinichi Kudo, aka Detective Conan himself, in Oda’s One Piece art style on what appears to be a framed watercolor. Kudo carries a congratulatory message (祝 roughly translates to "congratulate") across his bangs. Eiichiro Oda and the creator of Detective Conan (also known as Case Closed), Gosho Aoyama, previously took part in a joint interview in which they both expressed appreciation for similarities in their career paths, especially as they both reached their 100th-volume milestone at the same time.
Detective Conan and One Piece are two of the longest-running manga and anime of all time and have had almost identical timelines. Both premiered as manga in the 1990s -- Detective Conan in 1994 in Weekly Shōnen Sunday and One Piece in 1997 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Each respectively received anime adaptations two years after their premieres, both of which are still running. Currently, Detective Conan sits at 104 manga volumes and 1,109 episodes, while One Piece is at 107 volumes and 1,089 episodes.
However, outside of their long-term successes and having teenage male protagonists, the two series are fairly different. Detective Conan is a mystery thriller that revolves around Shinichi Kudo, a brilliant high school detective who is transformed into a child after being exposed to poison. To conceal his true identity, Shinichi adopts the alias Conan Edogawa, named after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edogawa Rampo, two famous real-life mystery writers. As Conan, Shinichi continues to solve criminal cases while searching for a cure to reverse his condition. The central plot involves Conan assisting his friend and love interest, Ran Mouri, and her detective father, Kogoro Mouri, in solving various murder mysteries.
Conversely, One Piece is an action-adventure series that follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate who seeks to become the Pirate King by finding the legendary One Piece treasure. Endowed with the ability to stretch like rubber after consuming a Devil Fruit, Luffy embarks on a grand adventure alongside his eclectic and endearing crew, the Straw Hat Pirates. Their journey across perilous seas is marked by encounters with formidable adversaries, the forging of alliances and the unraveling of the world's secrets.
Outside their joint interview in 2022, which was implied to be their first meeting, the relationship between the authors is unknown. However, Oda’s congratulatory art is certainly a gesture of respect to a fellow popular manga creator in their joint ventures.
The Detective Conan anime is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Prime Video, while One Piece is available to watch on both these platforms as well as Netflix and Hulu. Both manga are licensed in North America by VIZ Media.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
