One piece and cultural references

Solid

Today when I had a religion class about hinduism, I got to learn that Braham, is the name for a indian priest, and there happens to be a characters named Braham, one of the shandians with the dual pistols. It was quite cool that Oda gave him a name like that.

So anyone else got some references that you can draw in the OP verse? I believe we could find some really intresting stuff in this subject.

I know one more thing that some may heard from me before. Whitebeards weapon, looks like a Guan Do, a chinese war spear that was "invented" by Guan Yu aka God of War, very fitting to the most powerful man in One Piece.

EDIT: Ops, I was wrong about the brahamn part, because appearnlty the indian priests are Brahmins!

CCC

(I've also included allusions, which could be considered cultural references, but are a bit different)

-Ace's original back tattoo was the Buddhist manji symbol
-Enel's drums are a reference to Raijin, the Thunder God, and nearly every one of his large scale attacks are named after Lightning/Thunder gods of various world cultures.
-Ms. Goldenweek's name references a week in April/May when Japan has several holidays in a row (Children's Day among them). Ms. Doublefinger's name refers to New Year's Day, represented by holding the pointer finger of each hand up (for 1/1). The other female agents' names are obvious…
-Kumadori is entirely based on Kabuki actors (voice, makeup, stances).
-Elbaf is obviously Valhalla...
-The Shandians are a loose interpretation of Native Americans.
-Ryuuma is actually a character from some other story (a dragon slaying samurai). Oda confirmed this.
-Absalom is a Bible figure who was supposedly very good-looking, but evil. He also had notably long hair...
-Odz = norse god/giant
-Aokiji and Kizaru's faces are based on Japanese actors Yusaku Matsuda and Kunie Tanaka respectively.
From One Piece Wikia:
For Aokiji: "The character the actor played in the TV series and movie "Detective Story" (Tantei Monogatari) even had a similar hairstyle and wore the same sleepmask design.
"
Kizaru: "Along with that, Kizaru's clothes and real name, Borsalino, are apparently based on a movie character that Kunie Tanaka played in his youth. The character, Borsalino, from the old Japanese film "Truck yarou", wore a suit and shades similar to Kizaru's design."

Kunie Tanaka

Kaos

@Solid:

Today when I had a religion class about hinduism, I got to learn that Braham, is the name for a indian priest, and there happens to be a characters named Braham, one of the shandians with the dual pistols. It was quite cool that Oda gave him a name like that.

So anyone else got some references that you can draw in the OP verse? I believe we could find some really intresting stuff in this subject.

I know one more thing that some may heard from me before. Whitebeards weapon, looks like a Guan Do, a chinese war spear that was "invented" by Guan Yu aka God of War, very fitting to the most powerful man in One Piece.

EDIT: Ops, I was wrong about the brahamn part, because appearnlty the indian priests are Brahmins!

Nearly every name or thing in One Piece is a cultural reference, Skypiea is full with them, specially religion related ones:

Gan Fall: Gonfaloniere
Shandia: Native american Sandia tribe
Shandora: El Dorado
Mantra: Religious poem
Satori: Enlightment in Buddhism
Shura: Divisions of the Coran
Gedatsu: Liberation in Buddhism
Om: Sacred sylabe in Hinduism
Holy: Duh
Yama: Lord of Death in Hinduism
Kashi (how Karugara and his tribe called the snake): Sacred city in India

GaoGaiGar

@CCC:

(I've also included allusions, which could be considered cultural references, but are a bit different)

-Ryuuma is actually a character from some other story (a dragon slaying samurai). Oda confirmed this.

Not just 'some story.' One of Oda's own earlier one-shot manga. In particular, 'Monsters', from his WANTED! collection. You can read it here. It's pretty awesome, in fact.

http://www.onemanga.com/Wanted_Oda_Eiichiro_Tanpenshu/4/01/

I do like the Aokiji/Kizaru trivia though, those guys are awesome.

My favorite details have always been in the references to real pirates. The real names of Blackbeard and Whitebeard, especially. Marshall D. 'Teach' and 'Edward' Newgate. The two quoted together make 'Edward Teach', the name of the real life Blackbeard.

wildfury

The only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Paulie..his entire look was based off of a model in an ad!

Someone posted a picture here a while back, and the similarities were undeniable. I can't remember most of the details, but it was an ad for a well known brand name…maybe someone else remembers.

Solid

yeah, it was Hugo Boss. The same brand that Oda bought his tuxedo from in his wedding. ^^ Its hard to find a pic of such an old ad though. I remember seeing it several times irl.

wildfury

Oh, that's right! Thanks for reminding me .

I found it on the forum again:

@Serenity:

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7352/pauliehugoma6.jpg

From this 'inspiration' thread.

I wonder what that ad was for…there's not much of a focus on any one item :blink:.

Captaingod

I've been wondering if Oda is a fan of Seinfeld, I don't have enough proof yet, but so far the only names I could see a direct connection with was T-Bone, Jerry and Peterman, if he names one Kramer or Newman I can be sure

Rockschmock

@wildfury:

The only one I can think of that hasn't been mentioned is Paulie..his entire look was based off of a model in an ad!

Also, Paulie might be an allusion to the Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli district in Hamburg (city where a famous pirate got executed btw), where they used to produce ropes. Today it's a place for strip clubs, prostitutes, parties and basically everything Paulie would find scandalous. Indication's that his name was pronounced Pa-u-ri in Japanese rather than Po - o - ri.

zerocustom1989

The Skypiea Arc reminds me of Laputa.

The propellers on the Maxim, are very similar to Miyazaki's style in Castle in the Sky.