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Eiichiro Oda Wished One Piece App Could Turn 'Erotic' Photos Into His Art Style

Shueisha and Bandai Namco Entertainment released the new One Piece Base app in Japan last week. Designed as a one-stop shop for all your One Piece needs, the app lets you read the manga and enjoy One Piece video content. One key feature converts any photo into the style of the manga's creator Eiichiro Oda for your profile picture. Of course, there are some limitations to which types of photos can be used, and Oda is (tongue-in-cheek) miffed about this.

The One Piece X (formerly Twitter) account first teased the new app on August 11.

Then, the One Piece XTwitter account announced the app's release on October 13 and noted fans not only can read the manga series but also enjoy themed games.

Upon the app's launch, Oda posted a message about how it can convert any profile photo into his art style. He praised the feature as fun, but ended off by saying (roughly translated), “You're probably thinking, 'Anything?' I know what you're thinking, everyone. So, I asked. 'Can erotic photos also be converted into One Piece illustrations?' 'That's restricted.' 'What?! Are you kidding me?!' I just confronted the editing department!! I said, 'I'm carrying everyone's expectations on my shoulders!' I lost, though.”

What Oda means by “erotic photos” and what sort of erotic photos are restricted on the One Piece Base app is unclear, though. Generally the Japanese term ero (エロ) refers to pornographic content of women. However, depending on the context, the word can also be used to describe risqué content of women. Add on top of this the way Oda draws some of the women in One Piece can be considered erotic. As such, what Oda and Weekly Shonen Jump magazine's editing department mean by erotic photos (エロい写真 eroi shashin) changes depending on context.

Update: Typo fixed. Thanks, Rob19ny.

Sources: One Piece X/Twitter account (link 2, link 3), Hachima Kikō