Easter Egg

An Easter egg broadly refers to any "hidden" message or feature in a given work, ranging from books and films to computer programs and video games. They are (much like their namesake holiday game) primarily meant as bonuses to amuse particularly dedicated and/or lucky observers.

One Piece, particularly in the manga and anime, features a wide variety of Easter eggs, most prominently background characters such as Pandaman.

The Different Kinds of Easter Eggs


Oda is renowned for featuring many different kinds of Easter eggs in One Piece. The most famous and frequently seen kind of easter eggs are the joke characters (also known as easter egg characters). The most notable joke character is Pandaman who appears throughout the series, in several different guises and incarnations. Other kinds of easter eggs are the fictional brands like Doskoi Panda and Criminal, but also the slight references to Oda himself seen for instance on spines of books.

Characters
(Note: The second unnamed easteregg shown above appears in the canon series as one of the long animals that live on Long Ring Long Land.)

Easter Eggs in One Piece Volumes
Easter eggs can be found on many of the inside covers of published One Piece Volumes.

Easter Eggs on Volume Inside Covers (Back)
On Volumes 25-70 (with the exception of Volumes 63 and 64), there is a hidden easter egg series that follows the adventure of Pandaman.

The inside back covers of volumes 36-38 are blank after Pandaman gets eaten by a large fish on the inside back cover of Volume 35. However, a close-up shot of Pandaman on the inside front cover of Volume 38 (shown above) reveals that Pandaman had simply been underwater the whole time, hence proving that the easter egg series had been going on in these volumes despite no easter eggs being depicted on the inside back covers. Pandaman visibly returns on the inside back cover of Volume 39, and his story continues on nearly every volume's inside back cover until Volume 70; he has been absent on the inside back covers since, appearing on the inside front covers instead.

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