Brook/Misc.

Early Concepts


An early concept of Brook was revealed in One Piece Green: Secret Pieces.

The concept of Brook as a skeleton musician, had already been thought up by Oda the first time he drew Laboon. Brook's overall design, however, was not finalized back then but the basic idea was kept for a long time until Brook was finally revealed.

Takoyaki
In the anime, when Brook first joined the Straw Hats for dinner, the dinner that was being served was a banquet of varied octopus-based cuisine, among which were Takoyaki balls made by Sanji.

While this scene does not differ from the manga much due to the dinner's food not being specified in the latter, it does provide a possible contradiction to what is stated in the manga in a later scene. Namely, when Brook and the rest of the Straw Hats enjoy some Takoyaki as a reward for saving Hatchan, Brook states that it was the first time he enjoyed Takoyaki. However, it is only a possible contradiction, as Brook is not seen partaking of Sanji's Takoyaki.

Duels with Ryuma
The flashback of the first duel between Brook and Ryuma is handled differently in the manga and anime versions:

Originally in the manga, the duel against Ryuma is so fierce that pieces of Brook's bones are broken and fly off in the process as he takes hits from the zombie. While the duel is much longer with more moves portrayed in the anime, it is noticeably less violent by the fact that though Brook is attacked by Ryuma, there is only one instance where a few pieces of bone are broken off by the attacks.

The duel ultimately ends violently with Ryuma stabbing his sword through Brook's skull and creating a huge crack which fortunately "healed" over time. The duel in the anime ends considerably much different with Ryuma threatening to stab Brook's skull instead of stabbing through it like in manga.

While the anime portrayed the fight in the flashback less violently, it however portrayed the rematch between the two with the same intensity as in the manga. It showed scenes wherein Brook was stabbed by Ryuma with normally fatal but otherwise bone cracking strikes.

Tea Cup
When informing Luffy's group on what transpired on the Thousand Sunny as it docked near Punk Hazard, his Jolly Roger on his tea cup is different. Neither are identical to his pre-timeskip personalized Jolly Roger, with the manga depicting his cane twice and is missing his top hat, while the anime shows the classic crossbones.

Translation and Dub Issues
In the 4Kids English dub adaption of the anime, the sequence in which the Straw Hats encountered Laboon was cut for various reasons. Due to this, aside from parts of the story being changed in order to coincide with the cut, a plot hole was created in the 4Kids version of the anime concerning an integral part of Brook's character, namely Brook's relationship with the whale. Though the 4Kids dub stopped at the start of the Jaya Arc, the plot hole created still stands. At the time it was not known that Brook was planned to be a member of the Straw Hats; however, had the 4Kids dub continued, it would have left Brook with little reason to join their crew.

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Gigant Battle

Anime and Manga Influences
Brook, like the rest of various characters introduced in the Thriller Bark Arc, is based on certain elements taken from The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Addams Family, and various zombie movies.

Other Media

 * Brook appears in every year of One Piece Premier Show. He also appeared in the 2018, Segment 2 show of One Piece Water Battle and the 2013 season of Sanji's Pirates Restaurant
 * One of the Tokyo One Piece Tower's exhibits, "Brook's Horror House", centers around the musician, and a statue of Brook appears as part of Straw Hat Crew's Great Feast. Brook appears in most Tokyo One Piece Tower special animations and stage shows, including the first and third Live Attraction shows, One Piece 4D, The Great Treasure of Tongari Island, and Immersive Theater: When the Box of Time Opens.
 * Brook and the crew helps Toratsugu save Kikuhime from Lark in One Piece Art NUE.
 * Brook appears in the teamLabCamera attractions in the Digital Art Island Adventure event.
 * Brook appears in Straw Hat Pirates vs. Marines vs. Seven Warlords Holographic Battle Theater and One Piece Dramatic Stage THE METAL ~Marineford of Remembrance~.
 * Brook appears in Super Kabuki II: One Piece during the retelling of the Sabaody Archipelago Arc.
 * Brook appears in the first two shows of One Piece Water Spectacle.
 * An animatronic of Brook appeared in J-WORLD Tokyo, strumming his guitar, singing, and laughing.
 * Brook appears in the Zoro, Nami, and Vivi-centered versions of the Hungry Days commercials.
 * Brook was set to appear in ONE PIECE LIVE STAGE ～Tower of Steel～, but it was postponed indefinitely.
 * Brook appeared in Act 2 of the brass entertainment show One Piece Oto Utage to perform Binks' Sake.
 * A bronze statue of Brook was dedicated at Fureai Hiroba Square in Mifune Town as part of the Kumamoto Revival Project.

Trivia

 * Like other members of the Straw Hat crew, Brook has his own personal jolly roger: it is a skull without a jaw with Brook's trademark afro, a top hat, and a cane in place of the crossbones mark. His jolly roger is also shown on his travel mug and tea cup. His jolly roger was seen worn by one of fans.
 * Oda has also revealed a post-timeskip jolly roger. The design for this one includes a full skull and an afro, with his new glasses and hat. His afro and skull are encircled by bones with his single guitar as his cross-bones in the background.
 * During the beginning of the Punk Hazard Arc Brook is seen drinking from a tea cup with a slightly different personalized jolly roger. The anime adaptation shown yet another version.
 * A mug with his two canes jolly roger can be seen in Hands Up! while Brook play on the deck of the Thousand Sunny.
 * Brook is the oldest member of the Straw Hats, being 88 years old when he joins them, over twice the age of the next-oldest member at the time Franky.
 * Brook is one of two Straw Hats that was a captain of his pirate crew, the other being Jinbe.
 * Brook's height and age before the timeskip, 8'8" and 88 years old, could be related to the usual number of keys on a piano, 88.
 * Before Brook fulfilled the position of musician, there was a running gag where the crew needed a certain position filled, such as a cook or doctor. When the crew met to discuss this, Luffy would always insist that the position that needed filling was a musician. His reasoning is that pirates love to sing, and a musician is essential to a pirate crew. Luffy's request however would always be turned down by his crew for more practical solutions to the situation.
 * In Chapter 488 the first digit of his bounty is a 2. This was a mistake by Oda that was later corrected.
 * Since the introduction of Brook's bounty, there was speculation of whether his 33,000,000 bounty was active or not. In Chapter 600, Marines declared that his bounty was still active, thus ending the speculation.
 * Brook is one of two Straw Hats to have never ridden aboard the Going Merry, the other being Jinbe.
 * Brook's unique Laughter Style of "Yoho" is a stereotypical pirate line commonly found in various pirate related pop culture. It originates from “Dead Man's Chest”, the sea shanty from the book Treasure Island.
 * It is possible a partial inspiration for Brook's backstory came from the poem (and song by the British metal band Iron Maiden) "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It involves a mariner and his crew who are led out of the fog of Antarctica by an albatross, but the mariner shoots it down and curses his crew into calm waters. Through a game of dice, Death claims the lives of all his crew, but Life-in-Death claims the mariner, who is cursed to a fate worse than death by remaining on the bleak, foggy ship alongside his dead crew for ages, forced to relive all their deaths through the looks in their eyes, until finally acknowledging the beauty of life and its creatures, and released from drifting through the fog, ecstatically jumping for joy when he sees the first living people to approach and take him away, to tell his tale of warning, now a sadder but wiser man
 * In the 6th Japanese Fan Poll, he ranked 19th.
 * Brook is the only known person to have a wanted poster that is not formatted in the uniform style, instead the World Government used one of his old concert posters, and added the standard "WANTED" and "Dead or Alive", and replaced the "World Tour" with his bounty and the paragraph at the bottom.
 * In Episode 509, when Brook starts playing the composition to raise the people's spirits, the music played on his violin is the same piece played by Battler, "The song of the horn eaters", from the third movie. The music, however, was originally used to make animals start rampaging, rather than raise people's spirits.
 * Brook's model sheets in TOEI are named "Blook".
 * In One Piece Blue Deep: Characters World, Brook's post-timeskip height is said to be 277 cm, 11 cm taller than his pre-timeskip height. This appears to contradict what he said during his fight with Ryuma; that it was important for him to protect his afro because his body had stopped growing.
 * The idea of a skeleton musician was first conceived by Oda in the year 2000.
 * Brook's skull jokes and ice-based powers appear to be an allusion to dajare (駄洒落 (だじゃれ)), or the art of Japanese wordplay; especially in the fact that poorly-made jokes, such as the ones made by Brook, are usually met with reactions by a less enthused audience; which the typical response is to shiver and comment on a sudden chill in the room by saying, 寒い.... Dajare is also associated with "old man gags", fitting Brook's advanced age.
 * An Algerian-born, French-speaking rapper that goes by the stage name Soolking used a sample of Brook's distinct laugh in the intro of his song Guerilla. The rapper's stage name is also inspired by Brook's epithet, "Soul King".
 * Brook is the first Straw Hat to technically receive a bounty, as his 33,000,000 bounty was issued decades before Luffy was even born.
 * It is also worth noting that, owing to his Devil Fruit powers, Brook is the only member of the Straw Hats (and thus the only one of the franchise's main protagonists) to have died prior to the beginning of both the anime and the manga.

SBS-Based Trivia

 * Brook's birthday, April 3, comes from his Devil Fruit's name since 4-3 can be derived from yo-mi.
 * Brook's favorite food is curry. His least favorite food is lemons because he has no cheeks to make a sour face.
 * Brook eats ice cubes, the same as Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Robin.
 * Brook's favorite dish to cook is churrasco.
 * Brook likes fried egg, sunny side up, coddled with ketchup.
 * Brook's favorite type of island and season is autumn on a spring island.
 * Brook's specific numbers are 09 and 43 (4=Yo - 3=Mi, or revive).
 * Brook's specific colors are black and white.
 * Brook smells like tea.
 * If the Straw Hat Pirates were a family, then Brook would be the grandfather.
 * Brook's animal resemblance is a horse.
 * However, in Chapter 651 when all the Straw Hat Pirates, except Luffy and Nami, were represented as animals, Brook was shown as a giraffe.
 * If One Piece was set in the real world, then Brook would be from Austria.
 * Brook's thoughts are "Panties, Joke, Laugh, Tea, Tea", and like the rest of the Straw Hats, "Friendship".
 * When asked which flower Brook resembles the most, Nico Robin's Japanese voice actress replied he most resembles a rose.
 * Brook bathes once a week, the same as Luffy and Zoro.
 * Trafalgar D. Water Law calls Brook according to a nickname, Bone-ya.
 * Brook represents the prefecture of Tottori.
 * Brook typically sleeps at 12:00 A.M. and wakes up at 5:00 A.M.
 * If the Straw Hat Pirates were not pirates, then Brook would be a detective.
 * If the Straw Hat Pirates had a 50-meter race, then Brook would come in first place and win. Oda clarifies that Brook would win in a shorter distance race, because he is light in weight.