SBS Volume 13

SBS
R (reader)

O (Oda)

'''R: I've been thinking about a great topic for about 5 years now. And that topic is, "Why is it that in battle manga, the bottom half of people's clothes never get destroyed??!!"'''

O: If they fought naked, wouldn't it kind of change the emphasis of the manga?

'''R: About Tashigi-san, who appears in Volume 11 - On page 119, she acts completely near-sighted, but when she's looking at the katana on page 132, she put her glasses up on purpose, and on page 161, when she runs up late, she isn't wearing them at all. Are they just for style?'''

O: It's not really for style, it's because she's slightly short-sighted. She can see things close up, but when they get farther away, they start to get blurry. I think. Probably.

'''R: To Oda-sensei - Why did you make the "SBS Corner"? (cat)'''

O: A cat... that's a cat...? So why did I create it? When I read comics years ago, a lot of authors used to put these kinds of things in their books. Because I enjoyed them so much, I decided that if was a manga artist, I would put them in my books. That's why I made it. You know... if that's supposed to be a cat...

'''R: When you say the "21 Oo-Wazamono", what do you mean by "Wazamono" and "21"? And then for the "Yubashiri", you said "unravelled edge with a small T". What the heck does that mean?! Huh???? I have no idea.'''



O: Ahh, well. Even if you don't understand it, it's good enough if the sound of it leaves a great impression in your mind. I'll give a little explanation about katanas here.


 * This is "Wado-Ichimonji"(1), which Zoro carries as a memento of Kuina. For this katana, the "level" is "O-Wazamono", the "make" is "White-Painted Scabbard Long Sword" (this is a type of outward appearance for swords. It means the blade is painted white), and the "blade" is a "straight edge".


 * For swords, the levels go Saijou-Oo-Wazamono, Oo-Wazamono, Ryou-Wazamono, Wazamono, and then normal swords. Wazamonos are excellent blades. When they say "12 Saijou-Ou-Wazamono", it means there (appears to be) only 12 blades in the world that are stronger. That's what that means.


 * When discussing blades, there are two types of edges: suguha or "straight edge"(2), and midareba or "unravelled edge"(3). These are types of patterns you can make on the blades when you create them. But since there are many patterns for an "unravelled edge", they turn into an "unravelled edge with a ".

R: Are those glasses that Usopp wears when he fights?

O: Those are goggles. "Sniper goggles". At first he only wore them for looks, but in Loguetown he got the brand new model from "North Blue". The scene on the right was supposed to be the first page of chapter 98, in volume 11. The number of pages went over the limit, so we scrapped it. It's got sunglasses on it to eliminate glare when he's aiming, and it can flip up and turn around and stuff like that, so Usopp really liked it.

(Page on the right)

Usopp: Hmmmm? Hmmmm. Ooooooh. Damn!! I like these goggles!!

Lady: You got an eye for the good stuff. That's the newest model from "North Blue". It came with the Marines when their annual import ship came by.

Usopp: I also want this watch, and this magnet! Oh, don't you have any raw eggs?!

Lady: Go to the supermarket for that!!

'''R: Hello, Oda-sensei. This is confusing to me, so please answer clearly. Is the stuff that you draw on Sanji-san's chin a BEARD? Or is it just a SHADOW? If it's a beard, please make him shave it off.'''

O: IT IS A BEARD! I WILL NOT MAKE HIM SHAVE IT OFF!! THE SBS IS OVER!! OVER... over... over...