Recently the creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda, became ill and was unable to complete his weekly chapter of One Piece for publication in Weekly Shonen Jump. Fans of One Piece were disappointed but most of all they wished Oda a speedy recovery. After reading the apology statement from Oda’s publishing team I started to wonder about Oda’s work schedule, so I investigated a bit and now I feel a little lazy in comparison, but grateful for my work life balance.
One Piece began in July 1997 and has been released every week in Weekly Shonen Jump ever since. Whilst there is no strict chapter length, weekly chapters tend to be between 13 and 22 pages, although they can occasionally be just one page. Newly released Manga often have longer first chapters in order to establish a relationship with the reader, often exploring the characters, world and setting up the initial goal / conflict. To release a manga chapter every week is a lot of work, and Eiichiro Oda’s work schedule is crazy. To achieve his weekly deadline Oda’s weekly routine is usually the following:
Monday–Wednesday: Planning layouts and writing dialogue.
Thursday–Saturday: Drawing and inking the chapter.
Sunday: Miscellaneous tasks (e.g., colouring, revisions).
His daily routine is like this:
Wake-up time: Around 5:00am.
Work hours: Up to 20 hours a day.
Sleep: Often just 2–3 hours per night.
Breaks: Minimal — sometimes skips meals.
Days off: Rare, only when Weekly Shonen Jump combines issues.
There is no doubt that Oda, who is 50 years old, lives and breathes for One Piece. He routinely works 19 -20 hours a day with little sleep and no weekends off. He lives in a separate apartment to his family, only seeing them once a week if it has been scheduled. He also only has one week off a year for a holiday with them.
Although Oda does have assistants he likes to be in total control of his work and gives them little to help with. They will mostly ink in the sketched drawings and help with backgrounds, however Oda likes to do the main characters, panels with action and movement as well as pages that need a full piece of artwork that is impactful all himself. His work in not just a manga or comic, it is his art, his life.
Oda works like this because he chooses to. I believe that he wants to keep One Piece moving at a speed that he will be able to reveal what ‘The One Piece’ is before retirement. Another Mangaka (manga creator) who used to follow a weekly publication schedule like Oda is Hirohiko Araki, creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures. Araki used to publish in Weekly Shonen Jump between 1987 and 2004, and 2004 to the present in Ultra Jump. Ultra Jump is a monthly version of Weekly Shonen Jump and is largely carried by the publication of JJBA.
As far as I could discover during his time working with Weekly Shonen Jump Araki’s schedule had some key differences to Oda’s, even including a day off to rest! During this time he would create about 30 pages per chapter for the magazine.
Araki’s weekly schedule during his time in Weekly Shonen Jump consisted of:
Waking up at 10am and starting to work at 11am, finishing work at midnight.
Monday: Finishing up the chapter storyboard.
Tuesday: Drawing the manuscript.
Wednesday: Drawing the manuscript.
Thursday: Finishing drawing the manuscript and handing it to the editor, as well as discussing next week’s chapter.
Friday: Resting
Saturday: Resting, maybe working on the storyboard
Sunday: Working on the storyboard.
Araki moved JJBA to the monthly publication, Ultra Jump, over 20 years ago at the age of about 45, believing that his health and lifestyle needed to come before his work. In doing so Araki believes that his youthful appearance at 65 is thanks to that change. In contrast to Oda’s work schedule Araki’s is much more relaxed, he’s even able to get a good night’s sleep and days off!
In contrast to his weekly schedule, Hirohiko Araki’s work pattern for monthly publication involves a four-day work week with:
Sunday and Monday: Rough drafts and story planning
Tuesday and Wednesday: Working with assistants
Thursday: Complete the pages.
His Fridays and Saturdays are days off, which he uses for inspiration through activities like traveling, visiting restaurants, and reading.
Araki still produces about 30 pages a month for Ultra Jump though his process now includes more realism and detailed composition in his manga.
Having read both One Piece and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures, I can assure you that they are worlds apart in style and context. However, both are incredibly written and illustrated in their own unique way. I feel that Araki’s work / life balance is more obtainable, however I am sure he used to have a similar work schedule as Oda’s at the beginning of JJBA. I personally struggle to see how Oda is still continuing his lifestyle, but I admire him for his dedication to his artwork, his child, his very own ‘one piece’.
I hope they both continue with their fantastic journey to enrich the world with their characters and stories. I will continue to read their manga along with the rest of the world, hopefully for many years to come.
BONUS TIME!
I wasn’t able to find a recent picture of Eiichiro Oda, he likes to disguise himself in interviews etc. One of the most recent interview pictures I found was from 2024, it is of Oda and Iñaki Godoy, who plays Luffy in the live action One Piece.
However, Araki has no problem showing off his youthful looks in 2025 at only 65!
Published: 2025.11.03