Legendary Dragon Ball Editor Confirms Oda is the Last Big 3 Shonen Author to Still Draw on Paper, Toriyama Gave Up on it Long Ago
“Something authentic has been lost” – is exactly what a Dragon Ball editor thinks about the manga industry’s switch from manual to digital tools for drawing. However, there is one person in the industry who is still set in his ways and refuses to convert. And it’s none other than Eiichiro Oda.
Oda is the writer of one of the big three in the Shonen anime space. One Piece has been continuing for decades, and over the years, it has received above 1100 chapters. Still, the author has refused to change his drawing technique and chooses ink and paper over a soulless digital tool.
Akira Toriyama’s switch to digital drawing tools made his drawings less expressive in Dragon Ball
On March 20, 2025, a few famous manga and anime industry professionals appeared in a live-streamed KosoKoso podcast. The panel also included Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru, the character designer for Dragon Ball Z and GT. Another notable personality was Kazuhiko Torishima, the former Dragon Ball editor for Shonen Jump.
Oda is one of the last remaining artists still drawing on paper
— Enomis (@Venixys) March 22, 2025
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In the podcast, Torishima talked about how Akira Toriyama‘s switch from using a G-Pen (a type of dip pen used by mangakas) to digital drawing tools made his lines less expressive than they previously were. Other artists had noticed the same phenomenon, but they could not voice it or follow their hearts since they were pushed towards digital means by the editorial department.
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Torishima further noted that nowadays, almost all mangakas use digital tools. While this might make the publication procedure much easier, the same can’t be said about the creation process.
Osamu Tezuka, who is often referred to as the ‘father of manga,’ also experienced something similar. After turning 55, he could no longer draw soft and feminine lines. The problem is tied to decreasing flexibility in the wrist due to aging. Unfortunately, digital drawing tools cannot fully compensate for it.
Eiichiro Oda has resisted the usage of digital drawing tools
Torishima mentioned that while most mangakas were pushed to use digital tools, Eiichiro Oda resisted it. In fact, to this day, the author still uses ink and paper. In 2020, the official Instagram page of One Piece staff posted a video of Eiichiro Oda deciding the color scheme for a cover page of the manga.
In the post, it is clearly mentioned that the actual illustration was hand drawn and analog, while the video shows the author using digital tools to simply choose his preferred color scheme. Thus, it can be concluded that Eiichiro Oda uses digital tools for his preliminary sketches and to test out ideas. After the work is finalized, he draws everything by hand.
In the podcast, Torishima also commented that in the past, due to paper drafts of manga chapters, original pages could be shown to visitors. However, with only digital files remaining today, that is no longer the case. In the view of industry professionals, something authentic has been lost forever, and it feels like moving backward rather than stepping forward.
One Piece and Dragon Ball manga are available to read on Viz Media.
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