Pandaman

Pandaman is a joke character created by Eiichiro Oda, and one of the most prominent easter eggs in One Piece.

Originally designed for a Shonen Jump character creation contest, Pandaman has gone on to make cameo appearances in nearly every chapter of the manga, every episode of the anime, every film, and more. He is particularly prominent in several of the video games, even being playable in the first Grand Battle! and its immediate sequel.

In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Pandaman was voted the 39th most popular character in One Piece.

Appearance
Pandaman's most distinctive feature is his head, which is stylized to look like his namesake (and sometimes emblazoned with the word PANDA). Whether this is a mask or his real face is unknown.

Meanwhile, his physique can vary wildly from appearance to appearance. Though most "official" portraits (including Oda's original contest submission) depict him as tall and well-muscled, many of his cameos in the actual manga and anime depict him as slimmer, if not outright scrawny, to keep him better-hidden in crowd scenes.

Apart from his black trunks and lace-up boots, Pandaman usually goes undressed, and may bear a pair of heart tattoos on his pectorals, and bamboo tattoos on his arms. At times, however, he has been seen in civilian, pirate, or even Marine attire.

Pandaman does not always make cameos in the flesh. Indeed, cameos of his name have appeared scattered throughout the series in both katakana and romaji script.

Pandawoman
Pandaman is said to be in love with Pandawoman, but it is unknown if these feelings are reciprocated.

Tomato Gang
Pandaman, unfortunately, is also constantly on the run from Tomato Gang, a debt collector to whom Pandaman owes money.

Unforgivable Mask
Pandaman's greatest rival, Unforgivable Mask, is hired by Tomato Gang to track Pandaman down and retrieve the money he owes Tomato Gang.

Abilities and Powers
While Pandaman has demonstrated no combat ability in any of his appearances, he does - according to Oda's contest write-up - have a small repertoire of attacks:
 * S.P.D. - Bamboo Leaves Panda Drop (S・P・D (笹の葉パンダドロップ))
 * G.P.D. - Giant Panda Deathlock (G・P・D (ジャイアントパンダデスロック)).

Oda also mentions jokingly that Pandaman has a strength of "3,333,333 power" after eating bamboo and before meals.

In his playable appearances in Grand Battle! and Grand Battle! 2, Pandaman uses a variety of wrestling-based attacks, with the Giant Panda Deathlock in particular portrayed as a brutal backbreaker drop; aside from these, he also possesses the ability to summon Panda Sharks against enemies. Meanwhile, Gigant Battle! portrays him with the ability to fire an energy beam by crossing his forearms.

History
Pandaman was originally created by Oda for an event called the New Superman Contest (新超人コンテスト). This contest allowed artists to submit character designs for wrestlers to be included in the popular anime and manga series Kinnikuman. In December 16, 1998, the comic in which these designs would be included, "Kinnikuman 77 no Nazo", was released and Pandaman was listed as entry number 12.

According to Oda, Pandaman is a man of unknown age who originated from Tibet with the mortal blow techniques: Bamboo Leaves Panda Drop, and Giant Panda Deathlock. He was abandoned in a bamboo thicket as an infant and was raised by Giant Pandas. Pandaman would often say that he had seen Kaguyahime. However as no one would believe him, he was often picked on. Since then, Pandaman resolved to become a strong demon superhero. Apparently at some point in time, Pandaman used to be a rich guy living on a certain island until he got into some trouble. Pandaman apparently owed a large sum of money. Since then, the debt collector, Tomato Gang, has been chasing Pandaman in order to collect his debt. Tomato Gang also hired Pandaman's rival Unforgivable Mask to catch him.

Pandaman made his first appearance in Chapter 44 where Gin first showed up in the Baratie. He was later revealed and identified by Oda in one of the SBS questions of the next volume. In the anime, Pandaman made his first appearance in an actual episode in an earlier scene amongst the Black Cat Pirates. Since his first appearance he has been in every arc, with exception of the Amazon Lily arc, where Pandawoman replaced him due to the circumstances surrounding the arc.

Oda later confirmed in SBS form that Pandaman is in love with Pandawoman; but it is currently unknown if the feelings are mutual. There is even a Zombie Pandaman in Episode 351, shown chasing Usopp and Chopper with the other Absalom's zombies.

Special Episode
Pandaman has appeared most of the time as a hidden character that no one else seems to care about or notice, whose actions apparently do not affect the main plot at all. However, in one special episode of the anime, not only did the main characters actually take notice of him, but he was also made the center of attention (although he wasn't revealed to be Pandaman until near the end):



In the special setting in an alternate universe based on feudal Japan, Pandaman owed a large sum of money to Buggy and his gang, the Clown Family. Because of this, they searched high and low around town for him. This eventually led to them to Orika's house where Pandaman was being cared for by her and her mother. Due to his nickname that everyone around town call him being "Tot-san" (which means 'father' in Japanese), Buggy and his men assumed that Orika was his daughter.

After Buggy's men were beaten off by Detective Luffy, Buggy plotted to sell Orika off to pay for Pandaman's debt as well as get rid of Luffy with the aid of a corrupt Bugyō, or magistrate. It was only with the appearance of Vivi and Pandaman himself that Buggy and the Bugyō's plans were foiled.

Later, Pandaman was seen interacting with the rest of the main characters in Onami's restaurant celebrating Christmas.

Manga and Anime Influences
Taking into account that Oda originally designed Pandaman for a contest that would choose designs for Choujin in the Kinnikuman manga, Pandaman's design is based on the concept of a themed pro wrestler. This concept normally, if not stereotypically, consists of usually a pro wrestler wearing a colorful themed costume that sometimes comes with a mask; Pandaman's theme is unsurprisingly a panda. This concept of a masked wrestler is shared by another One Piece character, Jesus Burgess, who is a more typical lucha libre fighter. Further, the specific combined concept of pro wrestling and a panda theme is shared with yet another character, Spandam, who wears a mask over his damaged, Panda-resembling face like the one worn by the professional wrestler, Mankind.

The person Pandaman keeps telling people he saw Kaguyahime but keeps getting picked on in return. Kaguyahime is a character from a popular Japanese myth; according to the myth, Kaguyahime is a mystical princess from the moon. She was found inside a bamboo stalk by a kindly woodcutter after he had chopped the stalk down, and was adopted and raised by the woodcutter and his wife. Parts of Pandaman's profile and history can be connected to this myth in some way.

Playable Appearances

 * Grand Line Dream Adventure Log
 * Grand Battle!
 * Grand Battle! 2

Enemy Appearances

 * One Piece: Treasure Wars
 * One Piece Romance Dawn: The Dawn of the Adventure

Support Appearances

 * One Piece: Gigant Battle
 * One Piece: Gigant Battle! 2 New World

Non-Playable Appearances

 * One Piece: Become the Pirate King!
 * Birth of Luffy's Dream Pirate Crew!
 * One Piece Grand Battle 3
 * One Piece: Pirates Carnival
 * One Piece (Game Boy Advance)
 * One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
 * One Piece: Pirate Warriors
 * One Piece Treasure Cruise

Trivia

 * He has a similar nature to the main character of the children's book Where's Waldo.
 * He is the only character thus far to have an odd numbered bounty (as seen in the ninth movie).
 * He was also a prisoner in Level 5 of Impel Down, and can be seen in a list Bentham (disguised as Hannyabal) was reading; he was also seen amongst the group of Impel Down escapees.
 * A pirate group with a panda figurehead and jolly roger can be seen fighting with the Rumbar Pirates.
 * Pandaman made a cameo appearance in One Piece: Pirate Warriors as a coin to power up the player's character.

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