One Piece is NOT based on The Mysterious Cities of Gold

[BeariousJones]

Not sure if exists or not. But I haven't heard of it so forgive me if posted already.

I am creating this thread for edd war d. new gate since he can't being a newbie. He states that the story template for One Piece is based on a 1982 cartoon series called "The Mysterious Cities of Gold". I believe there was a thread for "Vicky the Viking", right? It's a good read, watch, and listen.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_the_Viking
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King%27s_Fifth
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec

! @edd:
! > Certainly it deserves its own thread, but I cannot create a new thread, since I am a Newbie here.
If somebody else wants to announce that probably the whole One Piece storyline is foreshadowed in a series from 1982 it would be awesome.
The series is called "The Mysterious Cities of Gold".

Oda practically copied Nico Robin and all the other stuff from it.
It also gives the idea for the intersection between four places to find the Golden City (which is equal to Raftel there, since it had only one season for 20 years).

If you do not want to watch its 39 episodes, you might feel free to watch the summarizing video that I recently uploaded:

! @edd:
! > The Mysterious Cities of Gold was inspired by the novel "The King's Fifth". There were two characters introduced named Roa and Zuñiga (the Zou-elephant is named "Zunisha") - an initially comedy duo who are Mendoza's cronies**.** They also have similar names to the name of the ship in the book, the Santa Pedro_._ Both are not brave at all and the smaller, bigger one (Sancho) is stuttering. In the last village they visit they secretly break out of their chamber as they are suspected to be dangerous Spaniards unlike the children. Furthermore they fight for their first time to help Mendoza who gets clubbed by two guards.
–

The Jaguar-warriors are giants that pursue the crew the first time when they enter their territory. They use heavy iron arrows and seem to be pretty belligerent. They seem to resemble a Northern species (Vikings, of course) and to protect that stone stature of Big Mom. Their leader is the red bearded one. They meet him again, as he suffers from dehydration. He respects Esteban, who is the only one who gives him some of his water. His physical strength is immense as he easily pushes Sancho and Pedro aside.

The Lucci-warrior rescues Esteban, Zia and Tao from the Spaniards as they break out from that prison after they entered the New World. He seems to be some kind of officer in his tribe. I do not remember his name, but he was firstly shown with a companion.

Both Zou and Skypiea look like the Incan/ Mayans Cities in TMCOG. Zia's father said they have to intersect the diagonals between the "three ruined cities and the mountain of the burnin shield". Zou is now after Jack's attack a ruined city, too. Remember, that on the moon Enel discovered such an Incan/ Mayan (ruined) city, too.

I still believe, that the Olmecs are loosely inspiring for the Tenryuubito.
I highly recommend to watch the 39 episodes!

[KageKageKing]

You know, I could also say it is based on Treasure Island. They even have a Silver.

[Monkey King]

@BeariousJones:

Not sure if exists or not. But I haven't heard of it so forgive me if posted already.

I am creating this thread for edd war d. new gate since he can't being a newbie. He states that the story template for One Piece is based on a 1982 cartoon series called "The Mysterious Cities of Gold". I believe there was a thread for "Vicky the Viking", right? It's a good read, watch, and listen.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_the_Viking
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mysterious_Cities_of_Gold
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec

A fuck ton of what's mentioned in there is not created by that series at all.
The design of Meso-American things is….get this...from Meso-American things. Not an 80's cartoon series.
A search for a gold city was not made by the series...that's the real life legend of El Dorado.
The use of term New World is a real life thing referring to this day in some uses, to the Western Hemisphere. Versus the Old World of Eurasia and Africa.
Enel discovered vague nondescript ruins with robots, and Zou has had architecture clearly based off the ancient middle east, not Meso-America.

[RomanceDawn]

Yeah I was going to say a lot of whats pointed out all comes from real life inspiration.

And story points like Nico Robin being the sole survivor of some culture, who knows outrageous information and the government is trying to silence/control that knowledge isn't unique to One Piece, Mysterious Cities of Gold, or anything else for that matter.

[sanji''s_dad]

One piece takes stuff from many sources not just one such as pirate names and building designs.

[joekido the Second]

One Piece is meant to be multi-cultural and have many real world elements in it
Many fictional series intend to do that.

[edd war d. new gate]

Thanks for your efforts @BeariousJones!

@Monkey:

A fuck ton of what's mentioned in there is not created by that series at all.
The design of Meso-American things is….get this...from Meso-American things. Not an 80's cartoon series.
A search for a gold city was not made by the series...that's the real life legend of El Dorado.
The use of term New World is a real life thing referring to this day in some uses, to the Western Hemisphere. Versus the Old World of Eurasia and Africa.
Enel discovered vague nondescript ruins with robots, and Zou has had architecture clearly based off the ancient middle east, not Meso-America.

What kind of argument is "lots of […] comes from real inspiration"?!
Basically everything comes from real life inspiration. But the basic story line of One Piece comes from the real life inspiration "The Mysterious Cities of Gold" (which was inspired by the King's Fifth (which was inspired by the Incan/ Mayan culture (which was inspired by natural circumstances in SA (which was inspired by flora and fauna (which was inspired by the existence of the earth)))).

Be sure to watch the series! It cannot be overseen what Oda did there. Similarities about terms like "The New World", "giant turtles and big lizards" or even "El Dorado" (which is already mentioned in the Intro but never during the 39 episodes) are not the point. They themselves are meaningless.
But in the light of other things they get quite a meaning, too.

Zia and Zia's story is basically copied. The poneglyphs are just summed up by that golden cube and the Quipus. The Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny are inspired by the Esperanza and the Solaris. Big Mom having the Devil Fruit of the Earth Goddess Pachamama and Kaido having the mythical Zoan devil fruit of "The Winged Sperpent" are already foreshadowed.

I even could tell loosely how they would find Raftel before Chapters 817/818 were released.
And if Oda would use the story line for the rest of One Piece, I - and now also you - know what the "One Piece" will be.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@joekido:

One Piece is meant to be multi-cultural and have many real world elements in it
Many fictional series intend to do that.

Therefore it is said to be a template, not a 1:1 copy.

[Razh]

Well, it wouldn't be weird if Oda borrowed some stuff from this. It's not like he hasn't done it before. I'm not that familiar enough with the material here and what the inspiration for it was, so I can't say, but I doubt it will all be the same just because some plot points were overlapping so far.

In before hell breaks loose in this thread. :ninja:

[edd war d. new gate]

@Razh:

I'm not that familiar enough with the material here and what the inspiration for it was, so I can't say, but I doubt it will all be the same just because some plot points were overlapping so far.

I cannot say it often enough - watch these 39 episodes..~ (;
Of course, it is not the same. But things like the …

• Knock Up Stream,
• the Klabautermann,
• both ships of the Straw Hats,
• Big Mom,
• Kaido,
• the National Treasure of Marie Jois,
• Nico Robin,
• Poneglyphs,
• the Road Poneglyphs to find Raftel
• and even One Piece are actually foreshadowed.

Edit:
These are only a few examples - you really should watch the whole 39 episodes to understand.

[SomeRandomGuy]

@edd:

• the Klabautermann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klabautermann

I can't say for sure, but it's starting to look more and more like you're trying to squeeze blood from a stone. Most everything I'm seeing so far are common literary devices that go back to times of antiquity.

This is a lot like someone trying to say any new series that uses ninjas or nine-tailed foxes is copying Naruto. It seems like you've got a serious case of the "Simpsons did it."

[Razh]

Maybe it would be better to reserve the judgment before seeing the actual thing?

So far, it's just hearsay but even if I'd like to watch the suggested material and see for myself, I'm not sure if I have the time for it. So I'm in a dilemma.

[edd war d. new gate]

@SomeRandomGuy:

I can't say for sure, but it's starting to look more and more like you're trying to squeeze blood from a stone.

I think you also did not get the point.
Of course, it is not about the Klabautermann. This is about an accumulation of small and big references. The Klabautermann is only one small reference out of hundreds.
Actually, the Klabautermann was not even shown in the Mysterious Cities of Gold, but a corposant which Oda also has drawn when he presented Enel on that space ship of the space pirates.

But still - this was totally meaningless, if there weren't all the other hundreds hints of being a template for One Piece. Especially Nico Robin was clearly inspired by this very season.
You should watch the series before starting to judge if it was fitting or not.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Razh:

Maybe it would be better to reserve the judgment before seeing the actual thing?

So far, it's just hearsay but even if I'd like to watch the suggested material and see for myself, I'm not sure if I have the time for it. So I'm in a dilemma.

You are the hero the idea deserves. Thank you!

[Monkey King]

@edd:

What kind of argument is "lots of […] comes from real inspiration"?!

It's an argument you need to hear if you think half of that is original to that cartoon.

Basically everything comes from real life inspiration. But the basic story line of One Piece comes from the real life inspiration "The Mysterious Cities of Gold" (which was inspired by the King's Fifth (which was inspired by the Incan/ Mayan culture (which was inspired by natural circumstances in SA (which was inspired by flora and fauna (which was inspired by the existence of the earth)))).

You seem to think that the middle man has to exist here for some reason. It does not.
Also Inca's are not Meso-American. You're meaning to say "Aztec/Mayan".

Be sure to watch the series! It cannot be overseen what Oda did there.

I don't have time to watch an entire TV series for a small internet debate. You need to make your argument better or maybe realize you don't have one.

Similarities about terms like "The New World","giant turtles and big lizards" or even "El Dorado" (which is already mentioned in the Intro but never during the 39 episodes) are not the point. They themselves are meaningless.
But in the light of other things they get quite a meaning, too.

Three of the most generic age of exploration and adventure story tropes don't gain meaning ever. Particulary the New World one which is not even a trope but a literal proper term still used to refer to the Americas to this day. It's even used in taxonomy for crying out loud.

Zia and Zia's story is basically copied.

I think I'd get dizzy thinking about how many "mysterious girl with big secrets that clings to our hero" there are in anime alone.

The poneglyphs are just summed up by that golden cube and the Quipus.

Or really dozens of adventure stories involving some sort of archaeological secrets with old languages.
Including real life where you have people trying to figure out old dead scripts to learn more about history and tombs and such.

The Going Merry and the Thousand Sunny are inspired by the Esperanza and the Solaris.

So the Thousand Sunny is inspired by a solar powered ship how? Is it because it's a vehicle upgrade? Have you ever played a JRPG in your entire life?

Big Mom having the Devil Fruit of the Earth Goddess Pachamama and Kaido having the mythical Zoan devil fruit of "The Winged Sperpent" are already foreshadowed.

What powers are those? Because looking up the mythical figures Pachamama would have earthquake powers. So um…no.

I even could tell loosely how they would find Raftel before Chapters 817/818 were released.

Loosely most people could tell something would exist similar to that.

And if Oda would use the story line for the rest of One Piece, I - and now also you - know what the "One Piece" will be.

Well perfect then. Spoil me right now as to the answer.

[Razh]

At least he made an argument after watching something. You can provide counter arguments, but you can't really do the job right if you haven't watched it as well.

Can someone watch this so I don't have to?

[edd war d. new gate]

@Monkey:

You need to make your argument better or maybe realize you don't have one.

I uploaded a summarizing video of ~32 minutes, yesterday. That should be argument enough so far.
Again: First watch, then judge.
Therefore I won't defer to your other points, since it was becoming ridiculous.

@Monkey:

Spoil me right now as to the answer.

As it was of interest by others, who did not understand the - more or less confusing - ending of The Mysterious Cities of Gold, I will answer this question as I did few hours ago on Youtube (- edited):

The One Piece in the story aka "the big treasure" is the device that was stolen at the very end of the Olmec-servant of Menetor [= aliens/ possibly leading Tenryuubito] from the [first] Golden City [= Raftel]. The wanted to use it to let their species live eternally.
Without Tao's Jar it was incomplete, unstable and finally was stabilized (by Esteban's [= Luffy] father in a suicide mission) before it could destroy the whole world. It bears the power of the "inner sun".
Once the two old kingdoms Hiva (in Japan: "Mu") and Atlantis [- the kingdoms of the West/ East -] knew how to use the power of the sun peacefully. Alas, a war broke out "because of a reason that is too trivial to remember" and they used sun weapons, so both completely vanished. Since it is a quite dangerous device, the entrance to the Golden City [= Raftel] can only be opened by innocent (children) with the two medaillons, who were given to them. In the One Piece series this could refer to the "D.".. ~

[Helter Skelter]

Oh crap, it's happening again. Guys, if you think a post/thread is stupid, just ignore it. Why argue?

[Shadowgreed]

so the one piece is an artifact that complements three others (ancient weapons)?

[Monkey King]

@Razh:

At least he made an argument after watching something. You can provide counter arguments, but you can't really do the job right if you haven't watched it as well.

Can someone watch this so I don't have to?

I think it's p funny that he thinks he's won a great victory by having you join his side lol.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@edd:

The One Piece in the story aka "the big treasure" is the device that was stolen at the very end of the Olmec-servant of Menetor [= aliens/ possibly leading Tenryuubito] from the [first] Golden City [= Raftel]. The wanted to use it to let their species live eternally.
Without Tao's Jar it was incomplete, unstable and finally was stabilized (by Esteban's [= Luffy] father in a suicide mission) before it could destroy the whole world. It bears the power of the "inner sun".
Once the two old kingdoms Hiva (in Japan: "Mu") and Atlantis [- the kingdoms of the West/ East -] knew how to use the power of the sun peacefully. Alas, a war broke out "because of a reason that is too trivial to remember" and they used sun weapons, so both completely vanished. Since it is a quite dangerous device, the entrance to the Golden City [= Raftel] can only be opened by innocent (children) with the two medaillons, who were given to them. In the One Piece series this could refer to the "D.".. ~

I'm hesitant to watch your video because rambling bizarrely strung along words are generally worse in audio form then in text.
For instance I can tell you're kind of sort of telling me what the One Piece is here, but you never actually say what it is. Mostly you start to then keep trailing off into stuff that talks as if your audience are also experts on Aztec Treasure Island Dorado Castle in the Sky.
Like the firmest answer here is "it bears the power of the inner sun".

What the fuck does that mean.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

your posts

[edd war d. new gate]

@Shadowgreed:

so the one piece is an artifact that complements three others (ancient weapons)?

I do not think so, since the "One Piece" actually should be used only peacefully (probably inspired by nuclear power).
The treasure should provide the Olmec with enough energy to stay eternally young.
But in The Mysterios Cities of Gold there might be something else that could forshadow Uranus.

Based on the idea that Uranus will be some kind of weapon somewhere "above the sea" (to distingusih it from Pluton and Poseidon), it might either be the Olmecs' over powered space ship and/ or the "sun gun" (as it was used by the self-defending system of the Golden City).
The last one might be the more interesting one, since it might have been inspired by the "Sun Gun". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_weapon#Orbital_weaponry

[Razh]

@Monkey:

I think it's p funny that he thinks he's won a great victory by having you join his side lol.

Just common courtesy. I'm in no way saying you're typing crap in your replies.

I'd really like to watch some of this stuff just to see if it's as glaringly similar as edd here claims, but don't know how to fit it in between work, training, close ones, reading Dark Tower and playing Divinity OS. I mean just from skimming that summary video on Youtube, I noticed similarities, perhaps too many for it to be pure coincidence. And reading wikia entry doesn't really provide a good picture.

But even if Oda did use this as a "template", I doubt he's going to template the shit out of it all the way through to the end.

[Robby]

@BeariousJones:

I am creating this thread for edd war d. new gate since he can't being a newbie.

There are reasons new members aren't allowed to make threads.

One of them is that they should generally field stuff through conversation and get a feel for a theory and ideas that have been tossed around before before making something that may or may not be new, or that might not be deserving of it's own thread.

In the future, please don't do it for them, let them learn a little patience until they've met the minimum trial period.

@edd:

I uploaded a summarizing video of ~32 minutes, yesterday. That should be argument enough so far.
Again: First watch, then judge.
Therefore I won't defer to your other points, since it was becoming ridiculous.

As it was of interest by others, who did not understand the - more or less confusing - ending of The Mysterious Cities of Gold, I will answer this question as I did few hours ago on Youtube (- edited):

The One Piece in the story aka "the big treasure" is the device that was stolen at the very end of the Olmec-servant of Menetor [= aliens/ possibly leading Tenryuubito] from the [first] Golden City [= Raftel]. The wanted to use it to let their species live eternally.
Without Tao's Jar it was incomplete, unstable and finally was stabilized (by Esteban's [= Luffy] father in a suicide mission) before it could destroy the whole world. It bears the power of the "inner sun".
Once the two old kingdoms Hiva (in Japan: "Mu") and Atlantis [- the kingdoms of the West/ East -] knew how to use the power of the sun peacefully. Alas, a war broke out "because of a reason that is too trivial to remember" and they used sun weapons, so both completely vanished. Since it is a quite dangerous device, the entrance to the Golden City [= Raftel] can only be opened by innocent (children) with the two medaillons, who were given to them. In the One Piece series this could refer to the "D.".. ~

No, One Piece is not based on MCoG. I grew up on the show and rewatched it about a year ago. They draw some inspiration from similar places historically and general storytelling tropes, but no, it's not a thing in and of itself.

And are you even taking into account the follow up MCoG series, or just the original one from the 80's that aired on Nickelodeon?

What about the anime Nazca? That also had similar elements.

Hell, most of the arguments you're making could just as easily apply to Nadia: Secret of Blue Water. (WHich in turn can be pointed at Miyazaki's Laputa, and Jules Verne stories) Or Disney's Atlantis.

Now, if you want to make an argument for Atlantis being based of Nadia, okay.

But "ancient civilization has mega weapon" or "ancient civilization was actually aliens" are… not new things. Hell, Noozles, which was also an anime from the same time period, and which also ran on Nickelodeon, which was about talking magical Koala bears, had almost the same ending. Or Mighty Max.

So no. MCoG was almost assuredly not a major inspiration for One Piece. (if it was we'd almost certainly have a dark skinned character among the crew,) It wasn't that big a deal for the six months it aired in Japan, when Oda was six years old. It's much more famous stateside where Nick actually reran it for several years, and in France which co-funded it.

Vicky the Viking, on the other hand, Oda has openly admitted to having inspired him, so there was a reason to make a thread for that, and he cites his influences pretty readily.

If there was any inspiration from MCoG,
a)Oda would have brought it up by now as an influence

b)the story is set well enough now that we actually do have a pretty decent idea of what One Piece is, and what the deal with D's is, and no, its not going to be the same as MCoG. There are a number of threads where it's been discussed at length, look them up.

c) the series isn't THAT obscure. If the parallels were really that blatant and clear and obvious, do you really think no one else would have cottoned to it by now? When we've got things like lining up the shichibukai to an obscure RPG video game? Or picking up within minutes when Oda references some old folk tale or song or makes an unusual pun? When obsessive experts from all over the place with a multitude of expertise study the series at lenght, on this site and others?

its not going to be the same ending,or premise, and you are only leaping to and making connections because you personally haven't seen or read that much material... so if you see two things even superficially similar, based on having the same ancient culture in them or something, you jump to the conclusion that they must be related somehow.

It's not.

This is the sort of logic that would watch Saiyuki and think it was loosely inspired by Dragonball.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Monkey:

I don't have time to watch an entire TV series for a small internet debate.

This nonsense aside, it might actually be a show worth your time if you could find it in a language that isn't english. Early 80's dubbing with actual little children… it was near impossible for me to get through, and I had a childhood fondness for the show.

[Don Quichotte De Flamingo]

Iam again and again baffled of those knowledge walls from you, Robby

[HeartOfDarkness]

I fucking love the show, but yea the voice acting was the most painful thing about my experience with it.

[BeariousJones]

@Robby:

There are reasons new members aren't allowed to make threads.

One of them is that they should generally field stuff through conversation and get a feel for a theory and ideas that have been tossed around before before making something that may or may not be new, or that might not be deserving of it's own thread.

And no, One Piece is not based on MCoG. I grew up on the show and rewatched it fairly recently. They draw some inspiration from similar places historically and general storytelling tropes, but no, it's not a thing in and of itself.

And are you even taking into account the follow up MCoG series, or just the original one from the 80's that aired on Nickelodeon?

What about the anime Nazca? That also had similar elements.

Hell, most of the arguments you're making could just as easily apply to Nadia: Secret of Blue Water. (WHich in turn can be pointed at Miyazaki's Laputa) Or Disney's Atlantis.

Now, if you want to make an argument for Atlantis being based of Nadia, okay.

But "ancient civilization has mega weapon" or "ancient civilization was actually aliens" are… not new things. Hell, Noozles, which was also an anime from the same time period, and which also ran on Nickelodeon, which was about talking magical Koala bears, had almost the same ending.

So no. MCoG was almost assuredly not a major inspiration for One Piece. (if it was we'd almost certainly have a dark skinned character among the crew,) It wasn't that big a deal for the six months it aired in Japan, when Oda was six years old. It's much more famous stateside where Nick actually reran it for several years, and in France which co-funded it.

Vicky the Viking, on the other hand, Oda has openly admitted to having inspired him, so there was a reason to make a thread for that, and he cites his influences pretty readily.

If there was any inspiration from MCoG, a)Oda would have brought it up by now as an influence
b)the story is set well enough now that we actually do have a pretty decent idea of what One Piece is, and no, its not going to be the same as MCoG.
c) the series isn't THAT obscure. If the parallels were really that blatant and clear and obvious, do you really think no one else would have cottoned to it by now? WHen we've got things like lining up the shichibukai to an obscure RPG video game? its not going to be the same ending, and you are only leaping to and making connections because you personally haven't seen or read that much material... so if you see two things even superficially similar, you jump to the conclusion that they must be related somehow.

I posted it because to my recollection it hasn't been stated in this forum to be debated. I know there are reasons new posters can't make threads…I thought it was decent enough theory to make a thread for. If it isn't thread worthy, my bad.

So you watched this series too!? Good to know! Well you seem to have a different perspective than "edd war d new gate" from what you stated. I guess I don't understand why you say Oda couldn't have POSSIBLY used MCoG as some sort of template. Just because Oda hasn't stated it inspired him doesn't mean it didn't. I doubt Oda has listed EVERYTHING that inspired him to make One Piece. He also probably watched more shows than Vicky the Vicking in his childhood. Did MCoG air reruns once it was over? He may have not said it because there is too much parallel information? :sad: I don't know(grasping at straws) but it seems too dismissive to outright say no without at least debating him...not me.

Edit: It seems you edited your response for him to reply to, not I, while I typed my response. I've learned my lesson.

[Monkey King]

@BeariousJones:

I posted it because to my recollection it hasn't been stated in this forum to be debated. I know there are reasons new posters can't make threads…I thought it was decent enough theory to make a thread for. If it isn't thread worthy, my bad.

So you watched this series too!? Good to know! Well you seem to have a different perspective than "edd war d new gate" from what you stated. I guess I don't understand why you say Oda couldn't have POSSIBLY used MCoG as some sort of template. Just because Oda hasn't stated it inspired him doesn't mean it didn't. I doubt Oda has listed EVERYTHING that inspired him to make One Piece. He also probably watched more shows than Vicky the Vicking in his childhood. Did MCoG air reruns once it was over? He may have not said it because there is too much parallel information? :sad: I don't know(grasping at straws) but it seems too dismissive to outright say no without at least debating him...not me.

So now we have Robby, saying he's not only watched it but intimately so and recently again, echoing the strong hunch the rest of us (except for Razh) had that for the umpteenth time someone was attributing old tropes and real life inspirations to some random one rosetta stone of a thing that holds all of Oda's secrets.

But no sure, keep up the struggle.

[Robby]

@BeariousJones:

I guess I don't understand why you say Oda couldn't have POSSIBLY used MCoG as some sort of template.

I'm not saying it isn't possible.

It's just not likely.

The show wasn't a big deal in japan and didn't air for very long, when Oda was still pretty young… and Oda has talked about his major influences quite a bit over the last twenty years in various articles, art books, SBS answers and interviews. And as far as I know, it's never come up.

If he's even aware of it, if it's inspired him at all, its been very minutely compared to other things and is not a major influence, certainly not the backbone of the entire plot. Something that big in his life he would have mentioned by now.

Hell, we know he discovered Game of Thrones last year and were able to see that rubbing off and showing up as inspiration all over the place almost immediately.

@BeariousJones:

Did MCoG air reruns once it was over?

Unless something is stupendously popular, Japan doesn't do anime reruns much. (Its part of the reason they have weekly shows that go into hundreds of episodes) Its not like stateside television where something gets syndicated and you can see the same 26 episodes dozens of times over the course of several years five days a week.

[Razh]

@Monkey:

So now we have Robby, saying he's not only watched it but intimately so and recently again, echoing the strong hunch the rest of us (except for Razh) had that for the umpteenth time someone was attributing old tropes and real life inspirations to some random one rosetta stone of a thing that holds all of Oda's secrets.

Uh, sure buddy.

It's like being a douche should be considered a virtue.

[BeariousJones]

@Monkey:

So now we have Robby, saying he's not only watched it but intimately so and recently again, echoing the strong hunch the rest of us (except for Razh) had that for the umpteenth time someone was attributing old tropes and real life inspirations to some random one rosetta stone of a thing that holds all of Oda's secrets.

But no sure, keep up the struggle.

Umm…okay. Thanks for your input.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Robby:

I'm not saying it isn't possible.

It's just not likely.

The show wasn't a big deal in japan and didn't air for very long, when Oda was still pretty young… and Oda has talked about his major influences quite a bit over the last twenty years in various articles, art books, SBS answers and interviews. And as far as I know, it's never come up.

If he's even aware of it, if it's inspired him at all, its been very minutely compared to other things and is not a major influence, certainly not the backbone of the entire plot. Something that big in his life he would have mentioned by now.

Hell, we know he discovered Game of Thrones last year and were able to see that rubbing off and showing up as inspiration all over the place almost immediately.

Unless something is stupendously popular, Japan doesn't do anime reruns much. (Its part of the reason they have weekly shows that go into hundreds of episodes) Its not like stateside television where something gets syndicated and you can see the same 26 episodes dozens of times over the course of several years five days a week.

Alright cool. Appreciate the information and time you put in your responses.

[HTC]

@HeartOfDarkness:

I fucking love the show, but yea the voice acting was the most painful thing about my experience with it.

I watched it when i was a kid, with french language and portuguese subs.

Watched it again about 2 and a half years ago, with english language: personally, i prefer the french version.

[edd war d. new gate]

There are some interesting thoughts that you brought into the discussion.

@Robby:

"Are you even taking into account the follow up MCoG series?"

I did take it into account, but did not defer to it, yet. My idea is only about the first season with its 39 episodes from 1982.
The second season was only published in 2012. This was long time after Oda already planned the basic story line of OP.
Therefor I think that he will not refer to it. But of course, he still could in some (minor) way.

@Robby:

"What about the anime Nazca?"

Regarding One Piece (starting 1997), the most signifcant difference between "Nazca" (1998) and "TMCoG" (1982) is the whole setting.
While TMCoG states in 1532 (or so..~), Nazca primarily is somewhere close to our time.
I have not watched it fully, yet. But as I switched through the episodes and read the whole plot,
I cannot recognize half as much similarities as TMCoG has.

@Robby:

"Hell, most of the arguments you're making could just as easily apply to Nadia: Secret of Blue Water."

At first glance, "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" (1990) appears to be more familiar.
But even this series was more loosely than TMCoG. Furthermore, TMCoG is not (only) about Atlantis.
It is more about Hiva ((in Japan: Mu) and Atlantis)).
Even the blue jewel that Nadia possesses does not resemble anything in OP, does it? For example, the sun hat of Luffy does.
Furthermore it also lacks the sheer amount of similiarities TMCoG to OP has.

@Robby:

"Hell, Noozles […] had almost the same ending. Or Mighty Max."

Noozles (from 1984) is about Koalas - as I read about it and its ending it does not even get close to be in line.
It lacks the amount of similarites TMCoG has as well regarding the complete story line.
Therefor it might have only a pretty small influence.
Mighty Max (from 1992) just has the same issue. Of course, it deals with aliens and stuff.
But unlike TMCoG it does not predict the basic story line of OP at all.
Remember the reason why the Olmecs in TMCoG want the "big treasure" (aka One Piece) -
they need this very energy device to stay eternally young.

By and large, all of the series you mentioned o far aired while after TMCoG was released in 1982.
Even if there were similiarities to One Piece that were also shown in TMCoG,
it still would appeal that were taken from TMCoG rather being taken from them to OP.
As for the systematic and historical arguement it would not count as a refutation.

@Robby:

"If it was we'd almost certainly have a dark skinned character among the crew."

We originally have/had - Nico Robin (aka Zia) and Usopp (loosely aka Tao).
Remember that there skin colour was changed during the last years for apparently no reason.
First, both had darker skin colour.

@Robby:

"If there was any inspiration from MCoG,
a)Oda would have brought it up by now as an influence."

I am not so sure about this point.
Unlike "Vicky" TMCoG actually explains what the Void Century and the One Piece is all about -
maybe the two most mysterious things in OP. And even more. For example, why Oda chose the two SH's ships.
To say that Vicky was very influencing is differently.
Eventhough I assume he will defer to it during an arc with giants and Shanks,
who seemingly represent vikings, he does not foreshadow anything bigger for the plot, yet.

@Robby:

"The story is set well enough now that we actually do have a pretty decent idea of what One Piece is."

I read in numerous forums through many threads and actually did neither get a unified, nor satisfying answer.
I'd appreciate it if you told in short terms what it might be.

@Robby:

"If the parallels were really […] clear and obvious, do you really think no one else would have cottoned to it by now?"

I wondered the same. But to be honest, it would not be too surprising if not.
Most of the OP readers are not older than 25. If they watched TMCoG once, it probably would have been in their very early childhood.
Even fewer would remember single details that actually resembles circumstances in One Piece.
And then, there are people thinking: If it was that obvious, someone else would have said it already.
I considered the Japanese community to be the closest to come to my conclusion, because they might understand many things better,
because they do not suffer from any language barrier (- which I do twice).
But as I said in the video - in Japan it is not even known by the series' name in English.
In Japan it is called "Esteban, Child of the Sun".
Even if there was somebody reading that title coincidentally, he would not even become suspicious about it regarding One Piece.
I have been looking through the internet and - nobody seems to have it even considered (in the English/ German speaking community)
which at least should have happened once.

@Robby:

"[…] because you personally haven't seen or read that much material."

That is an unobjective assumption so far and not true. Omit that, please..~

@Robby:

"So if you see two things even superficially similar, based on having the same ancient culture in them or something,
you jump to the conclusion that they must be related somehow."

That it also not the case. Firstly, I convinced myself that it was not only about a few points, but about the big picture.
Of course, it als could have been setted in some other time and with the background of a different ancient culture.
Still, some similarities are that incisive that even the smaller ones get a meaning.

So, are there any other thoughts?
I would like to discuss them.

–
P. S.:
To change the thread into "One Piece is NOT based on The Mysterious Cities of Gold"
from "Template for One Piece = 1982: The Mysterious Cities of Gold" does not change its probable cause and therefor is quite unnecesarry.
This very change actually emplifies a rather arbitrary and less factual, objective discussion.
Alas, it seems biased.

[firelord111]

give it a rest buddy

[silversatyr]

I've watched both and they have similarities but I always took that to mean they took inspiration from the source materials. To say One Piece copied a cartoon that is based on an adventure to find hidden treasures (and the aforementioned City of Gold) is just plain silly.

Besides, Oda is pretty damn open about when he is inspired by something. He wouldn't forget to add a major inspiration to his list of 'hey, btw, this inspired me guys, major kudos for that' because he isn't an asshole like that. He's actually a very modest guy and he's given a lot of names out over the years of what has inspired him when writing One Piece. City of Gold? Not one of those.

It's a pretty damn safe bet that there's no cross-over there, so… chill brah. It was an interesting theory, but that's all it is. If there was something more to it all those experts who love both shows would have pointed it out before because they don't miss much at all, and something as big as a connection between the two that indicates major inspiration would have been discovered and hashed out years ago.

They just used some of the same base material to build their stories is all.

[edd war d. new gate]

@silversatyr:

To say One Piece copied a cartoon that is based on an adventure to find hidden treasures (and the aforementioned City of Gold) is just plain silly.

It was nowhere stated that is a 1:1 copy. TMCoG could rather be a template for the basic story line of One Piece. That is a huge difference.
And it was not only said to be about "adventure to find a hidden treasure in a golden city". There is much more to it. Again, I recommend to watch the series and/ or the summarizing video I uploaded and the thread opener set in "spoiler".

It would be helpful if you were reasoning, why you disagree.

[silversatyr]

I have watched the series, as I already stated. Both of them. I don't see any way it could be a template for One Piece. It's a theory at best, and a wonky one at that.

[edd war d. new gate]

Edited:
Ah, sorry. Haven't seen that you edited your reply from before. Please, consider what I answered to Robby:

@edd:

Originally Posted by Robby
"If the parallels were really […] clear and obvious, do you really think no one else would have cottoned to it by now?"

I wondered the same. But to be honest, it would not be too surprising if not.
Most of the OP readers are not older than 25. If they watched TMCoG once, it probably would have been in their very early childhood.
Even fewer would remember single details that actually resembles circumstances in One Piece.
And then, there are people thinking: If it was that obvious, someone else would have said it already.
I considered the Japanese community to be the closest to come to my conclusion, because they might understand many things better,
because they do not suffer from any language barrier (- which I do twice).
But as I said in the video - in Japan it is not even known by the series' name in English.
In Japan it is called "Esteban, Child of the Sun".
Even if there was somebody reading that title coincidentally, he would not even become suspicious about it regarding One Piece.
I have been looking through the internet and - nobody seems to have it even considered (in the English/ German speaking community)
which at least should have happened once.

@silversatyr:

I have watched the series, as I already stated. Both of them. I don't see any way it could be a template for One Piece. It's a theory at best, and a wonky one at that.

That is what you wrote before. But why do you think is it "wonky"? What are your arguments?

[sanji''s_dad]

@Robby:

There are reasons new members aren't allowed to make threads.

One of them is that they should generally field stuff through conversation and get a feel for a theory and ideas that have been tossed around before before making something that may or may not be new, or that might not be deserving of it's own thread.

In the future, please don't do it for them, let them learn a little patience until they've met the minimum trial period.

No, One Piece is not based on MCoG. I grew up on the show and rewatched it about a year ago. They draw some inspiration from similar places historically and general storytelling tropes, but no, it's not a thing in and of itself.

And are you even taking into account the follow up MCoG series, or just the original one from the 80's that aired on Nickelodeon?

What about the anime Nazca? That also had similar elements.

Hell, most of the arguments you're making could just as easily apply to Nadia: Secret of Blue Water. (WHich in turn can be pointed at Miyazaki's Laputa, and Jules Verne stories) Or Disney's Atlantis.

Now, if you want to make an argument for Atlantis being based of Nadia, okay.

But "ancient civilization has mega weapon" or "ancient civilization was actually aliens" are… not new things. Hell, Noozles, which was also an anime from the same time period, and which also ran on Nickelodeon, which was about talking magical Koala bears, had almost the same ending. Or Mighty Max.

So no. MCoG was almost assuredly not a major inspiration for One Piece. (if it was we'd almost certainly have a dark skinned character among the crew,) It wasn't that big a deal for the six months it aired in Japan, when Oda was six years old. It's much more famous stateside where Nick actually reran it for several years, and in France which co-funded it.

Vicky the Viking, on the other hand, Oda has openly admitted to having inspired him, so there was a reason to make a thread for that, and he cites his influences pretty readily.

If there was any inspiration from MCoG,
a)Oda would have brought it up by now as an influence

b)the story is set well enough now that we actually do have a pretty decent idea of what One Piece is, and what the deal with D's is, and no, its not going to be the same as MCoG. There are a number of threads where it's been discussed at length, look them up.

c) the series isn't THAT obscure. If the parallels were really that blatant and clear and obvious, do you really think no one else would have cottoned to it by now? When we've got things like lining up the shichibukai to an obscure RPG video game? Or picking up within minutes when Oda references some old folk tale or song or makes an unusual pun? When obsessive experts from all over the place with a multitude of expertise study the series at lenght, on this site and others?

its not going to be the same ending,or premise, and you are only leaping to and making connections because you personally haven't seen or read that much material... so if you see two things even superficially similar, based on having the same ancient culture in them or something, you jump to the conclusion that they must be related somehow.

It's not.

This is the sort of logic that would watch Saiyuki and think it was loosely inspired by Dragonball.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

This nonsense aside, it might actually be a show worth your time if you could find it in a language that isn't english. Early 80's dubbing with actual little children... it was near impossible for me to get through, and I had a childhood fondness for the show.

In bears defense its not actually his fault since he did not start this trend since we have had new posters message people with stars in their names to make threads for them and when the thread starts off with i am making this thread for ''insert new person here'' who just get their ideas from youtube videos other new people do the same.

They also want people with stars to make topics for them since people take what they want posted more seriously when someone with stars in their name posts it as well so it encourages them to keep asking so it would be good to make this a topic/thread at the start of the forum telling people not to make threads for new people so this does not get out of hand lol.

We already have more than one place for people to post their stuff we need to discourage people making topics so that the topics/threads we already have for that stuff gets used it would suck if these forums turned into the mangastream forums they use to have were every time someone had something to post they would make a new topic/thread lol..

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@edd:

There are some interesting thoughts that you brought into the discussion.

I did take it into account, but did not defer to it, yet. My idea is only about the first season with its 39 episodes from 1982.
The second season was only published in 2012. This was long time after Oda already planned the basic story line of OP.
Therefor I think that he will not refer to it. But of course, he still could in some (minor) way.

Regarding One Piece (starting 1997), the most signifcant difference between "Nazca" (1998) and "TMCoG" (1982) is the whole setting.
While TMCoG states in 1532 (or so..~), Nazca primarily is somewhere close to our time.
I have not watched it fully, yet. But as I switched through the episodes and read the whole plot,
I cannot recognize half as much similarities as TMCoG has.

At first glance, "Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water" (1990) appears to be more familiar.
But even this series was more loosely than TMCoG. Furthermore, TMCoG is not (only) about Atlantis.
It is more about Hiva ((in Japan: Mu) and Atlantis)).
Even the blue jewel that Nadia possesses does not resemble anything in OP, does it? For example, the sun hat of Luffy does.
Furthermore it also lacks the sheer amount of similiarities TMCoG to OP has.

Noozles (from 1984) is about Koalas - as I read about it and its ending it does not even get close to be in line.
It lacks the amount of similarites TMCoG has as well regarding the complete story line.
Therefor it might have only a pretty small influence.
Mighty Max (from 1992) just has the same issue. Of course, it deals with aliens and stuff.
But unlike TMCoG it does not predict the basic story line of OP at all.
Remember the reason why the Olmecs in TMCoG want the "big treasure" (aka One Piece) -
they need this very energy device to stay eternally young.

By and large, all of the series you mentioned o far aired while after TMCoG was released in 1982.
Even if there were similiarities to One Piece that were also shown in TMCoG,
it still would appeal that were taken from TMCoG rather being taken from them to OP.
As for the systematic and historical arguement it would not count as a refutation.

We originally have/had - Nico Robin (aka Zia) and Usopp (loosely aka Tao).
Remember that there skin colour was changed during the last years for apparently no reason.
First, both had darker skin colour.

I am not so sure about this point.
Unlike "Vicky" TMCoG actually explains what the Void Century and the One Piece is all about -
maybe the two most mysterious things in OP. And even more. For example, why Oda chose the two SH's ships.
To say that Vicky was very influencing is differently.
Eventhough I assume he will defer to it during an arc with giants and Shanks,
who seemingly represent vikings, he does not foreshadow anything bigger for the plot, yet.

I read in numerous forums through many threads and actually did neither get a unified, nor satisfying answer.
I'd appreciate it if you told in short terms what it might be.

I wondered the same. But to be honest, it would not be too surprising if not.
Most of the OP readers are not older than 25. If they watched TMCoG once, it probably would have been in their very early childhood.
Even fewer would remember single details that actually resembles circumstances in One Piece.
And then, there are people thinking: If it was that obvious, someone else would have said it already.
I considered the Japanese community to be the closest to come to my conclusion, because they might understand many things better,
because they do not suffer from any language barrier (- which I do twice).
But as I said in the video - in Japan it is not even known by the series' name in English.
In Japan it is called "Esteban, Child of the Sun".
Even if there was somebody reading that title coincidentally, he would not even become suspicious about it regarding One Piece.
I have been looking through the internet and - nobody seems to have it even considered (in the English/ German speaking community)
which at least should have happened once.

That is an unobjective assumption so far and not true. Omit that, please..~

That it also not the case. Firstly, I convinced myself that it was not only about a few points, but about the big picture.
Of course, it als could have been setted in some other time and with the background of a different ancient culture.
Still, some similarities are that incisive that even the smaller ones get a meaning.

So, are there any other thoughts?
I would like to discuss them.

–
P. S.:
To change the thread into "One Piece is NOT based on The Mysterious Cities of Gold"
from "Template for One Piece = 1982: The Mysterious Cities of Gold" does not change its probable cause and therefor is quite unnecesarry.
This very change actually emplifies a rather arbitrary and less factual, objective discussion.
Alas, it seems biased.

You should be grateful to the mods since they're actually letting this topic/thread to still exist since they could have deleted it instead of changing the name.

[edd war d. new gate]

@sanji''s_dad:

You should be grateful to the mods since they're actually letting this topic/thread to still exist since they could have deleted it instead of changing the name.

Well. I am. But why should they delete it? Hopefully not, because there are different opinions.

[sggupta]

@edd:

.

the similarites between the series seemed flaky to begin with,mostly consisting of generic stuff like monkeyking said,and robby having seen the series and telling his view seems enough for me to think that yeah,one piece does not take the template at all.not to mention that even if you put aside the large,big picture stuff,i really doubt "the mysterious cities of gold" had shounen style fighting or the intense dramatic storytelling that one piece has,correct me if am wrong.
also,you say that equivalent of one piece treasure in this series is an energy source which would help them have eternal youth.that really just sounds wrong,and not in any way representative of what the one piece should be about.not to mention you have not even mentioned the core ideology and theme of one piece and how it is present in the show,which is mostly about freedom,dreams and inherited will.and aside from the other stuff like friendship,loyalty,honour,trust etc.
also,here's an interesting and pretty good article which i think shows the general opinions regarding what one piece will be:http://onepiecepodcast.com/2015/07/22/the-one-piece-connection/

[edd war d. new gate]

@sanji''s_dad:

who just get their ideas from youtube videos other new people do the same.

Well. Fortunately, I made this very video on my own. I even watched the series myself and came up with the idea - seemingly - at first.

@sggupta:

and robby having seen the series and telling his view seems enough for me

That is quite subjective. I recommend to make an unbiased opinion on your own.
Until now - I am still waiting for his response - he did not provide anything with substance.
With due respect to his knowledge of different literature, nothing of that what he responded, catches up to the amount of similarities with TMCoG by now.

@sggupta:

i really doubt "the mysterious cities of gold" had shounen style fighting or the intense dramatic storytelling that one piece has,correct me if am wrong.

Of course, it has not. As I wrote multiple times it is not a copy. It is only a template. That is a huge difference. There aren't half as much fighting scenes in TMCoG, since it was not intended. As I explained in the video I uploaded, it is not even about the characters but rather about the story line's vertices.

@sggupta:

also,you say that equivalent of one piece treasure in this series is an energy source which would help them have eternal youth.that really just sounds wrong,and not in any way representative of what the one piece should be about.

Why does it sound wrongly? What do you know about the One Piece that it should be? Actually nothing that was stated in One Piece itself, since Oda never stated anything besides that the One Piece will not just be something like "a nice travel or friendship". Eventhough the Podcast is well made, it actually does not state anything certain, too.

@sggupta:

not to mention you have not even mentioned the core ideology and theme of one piece and how it is present in the show,which is mostly about freedom,dreams and inherited will.and aside from the other stuff like friendship,loyalty,honour,trust

That was not necessary, as it was argued the wrong direction. Again, as I said OP is comparable to TMCoG (- not the other way around), because of several, incisive plot points, but not because of certain motives or details.
TMCoG provides a scaffold and Oda filled it with quite a colourful content.

[sggupta]

@edd:

Well. Fortunately, I made this very video on my own. I even watched the series myself and came up with the idea - seemingly - at first.

you seem to have confused sanji's_dad post with mine,as i didn't write that.

That is quite subjective. I recommend to make an unbiased opinion on yoOf course, it has not. As I wrote multiple times it is not a copy. It is only a template. That is a huge difference. There aren't half as much fighting scenes in TMCoG, since it was not intended. As I explained in the video I uploaded, it is not even about the characters but rather about the story line's vertices.

Until now - I am still waiting for his response - he did not provide anything with substance.
With due respect to his knowledge of different literature, nothing of that what he responded, catches up to the amount of similarities with TMCoG by now.

true enough,i didn't say otherwise.i really don't know how you would compare two series and objectively decide whether one was based on the other,without treating them like information and disregarding things like characters,theme,story and storytelling,art,direction etc.And honestly,i don't have any desire to be objective regarding this.in the end,these are just opinions,and robbie's seems more convincing to me

Why does it sound wrongly? What do you know about the One Piece that it should be? Actually nothing that was stated in One Piece itself, since Oda never stated anything besides that the One Piece will not just be something like "a nice travel or friendship". Eventhough the Podcast is well made, it actually does not state anything certain, too.

well,because it's just greedy and not good,and is not dramatically powerful enough?imo,in a story where the most powerful moments are powered by feeling of friendship,loyalty,trust,honour and just generally "noble/good" things,for the titular treasure to be just about eternal youth,without any other dreams,hopes,aspirations just seems wrong to me.
but no point in debating about this.we will probably know what the one piece is around 10 years,so we can see whether it is the same or not then

[edd war d. new gate]

@sggupta:

you seem to have confused sanji's_dad post with mine,as i didn't write that.

Sorry - I will edit that immediately

@sggupta:

not dramatically powerful enough?

That is at least honest. With that I am completely fine. I did not intend to create a theory like others with dramatical music and movie scenes, since I am used to keep things sober.

@sggupta:

imo,in a story where the most powerful moments are powered by feeling of friendship,loyalty,trust,honour and just generally "noble/good" things,for the titular treasure to be just about eternal youth,without any other dreams,hopes,aspirations just seems wrong to me.

I think hereby I got it. And in some way I can comprehend your point. But still, that does not affect the story line itself.
Of course, TMCoG also has its emotional sides, since both Esteban and Zia look for their fathers (- Zia's father eventually dies). But the intense emotional side is a - more or less - unique characteristic of OP. TMCoG originally should educate children about the Incan/ Mayan history (- at each episode's end there a short documentary about old habits in Meso-/ Southamerica).

@sggupta:

we will probably know what the one piece is around 10 years,so we can see whether it is the same or not then

Yes. And maybe it is clarified even before. Then we might meet again, here or in some other thread. I just want the OP community to be aware of this very possibility and to keep it in mind.

[sggupta]

@edd:

That is at least honest. With that I am completely fine. I did not intend to create a theory like others with dramatical music and movie scenes, since I am used to keep things sober.

just to be clear,i was not talking about your video(i haven't yet seen it).
i was rather talking about the origin of one piece not being dramatically powerful

[Monkey King]

@edd:

Regarding One Piece (starting 1997), the most signifcant difference between "Nazca" (1998) and "TMCoG" (1982) is the whole setting.
While TMCoG states in 1532 (or so..~), Nazca primarily is somewhere close to our time.

One Piece is based off something vaguely akin to modern times and definitely definitely not the 1500's.

We originally have/had - Nico Robin (aka Zia) and Usopp (loosely aka Tao).

Neither one of whom is dark skinned. Unless you're going by the anime in which case why are you going by the anime.
I mean I can see the argument that Usopp still comes across more dark in general in the manga, but Robin as dark skinned is entirely an invention of the anime.
You should probably read the manga and base arguments off the manga if you're going to make threads fundamentally questioning Oda's own work. Seems pretty logical.

Remember that there skin colour was changed during the last years for apparently no reason.
First, both had darker skin colour.

Probably because they were never dark in the manga (which yes in case you are unawares, has color pictures produced too).

And even more. For example, why Oda chose the two SH's ships.

Because vehicle upgrades are a huge thing in JRPG like plots. Which One Piece sometimes resembles at least in terms of a wandering party of personalities questing around.
Seriously, haven't you played a Final Fantasy game? They're always hoisting some new vehicle on you as you progress in the game.

That is an unobjective assumption so far and not true. Omit that, please..~

But it seems very true. You keep listing tropes that Robby was easily able to come up with other examples of, even I was. The JRPG vehicle upgrade thing immediately springs to mind. FFVI even has your first vehicle get blown the hell up, and then you get a new one to replace it.
Oda is pretty much confirmed to have played the Romancing Saga games, which are like the less popular hard mode versions of the FF series. So gee I wonder if a Japanese man of Oda's age has played the classic FF games. Gonna go with "yes".

Of course, it als could have been setted in some other time and with the background of a different ancient culture.

One Piece isn't using the background of a particular culture though. It's using like…all the cultures it can. Every island nearly has a new culture Oda uses as influence. The only place where Meso-American culture was used was Skypiea, I don't know why you're so hyper-focused on that. You erroneously identified Zou's architecture as Meso-American (it's ancient middeastern) but still I don't get it. Oda is not super focused on Meso-America.
Which by the way the Olmec culture was ancient, and Mayan culture goes back that far. But the Incas and Aztecs were not ancient.

Ancient means something specific. It isn't a synonym for "old". "Ancient" is basically history from before the middle-ages. So from around 500 AD back. It's a bit euro-centric but there you go.

[sggupta]

@Monkey:

One Piece isn't using the background of a particular culture though. It's using like…all the cultures it can. Every island nearly has a new culture Oda uses as influence. The only place where Meso-American culture was used was Skypiea, I don't know why you're so hyper-focused on that. You erroneously identified Zou's architecture as Meso-American (it's ancient middeastern) but still I don't get it. Oda is not super focused on Meso-America.

yeah,completely agree with this.there are so many cultural influences in one piece ,and really personally i haven't seen anything that comes close in this regard

[Robby]

I was willing to leave this open for the sake of the newbie grasping that "Oh, my idea is very mistaken and based on personal whim and nothing even remotely concrete."

That hasn't happened, so there's not really any reason for this to stay open.

@edd:

Well. I am. But why should they delete it? Hopefully not, because there are different opinions.

There's opinions.

There's facts.

There's legitimate discoveries that change everything.

This is none of those things.

This is wild fanfiction theory-monning based on literally nothing at all.

Nothing said by Oda, nothing visual, nothing more than an extremely minor similiarity in vague plots and a little bit of common source material from one arc. And to make matters even worse, considering the skin tones you are citing, you seem to be basing your opinions off the anime, which is not the same as the source material in a LOT of ways.

Do you even know about Enel's cover story arc that actually showcases some of the history and reveals a lot of the meta-plot?

I mentioned Noozles and Mighty Max and Nadia and Laputa, as examples completely off the top of my head, that also involved ancient civilizations fighting over maguffins. I mentioned Nazca because it also uses heavy visuals from the period. It's all completely superficial and vague and only related in the most minor of ways. (And yes, Noozles endes with them being space aliens and flying off into the sunset.) I could also mention Escaflowne, YuGiOh, transformers, Gamera, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tolkien's The Silmarillion, Discworld, and pretty much any fantasy JRPG made in the last 20 years. And the ancient Greek writings of Plato.

The things you are pointing to are not unique or specific to MCoG, nor does it have any marks that are clear on One Piece. You look at the things Oda has mentioned as inspirational, Vicky the Viking, Mad Magazine, Dragonball, or more recently Game of Thrones, you can instantly see the inspiration and point to a dozen things that come from it (thousands in Dragonball's case.) You want the inspiration for One Piece? It's Dragonball, no shock, no hidden surprise, it's plain as day and everyone knows it and it's super obvious because… you can easily see it in the work, and anyone upon having this mentioned to them goes "of course!" instantly and without hesitation, and most people figure it out without even being told because it's there and its plain to see.

What you are trying to argue no one else is seeing or agreeing with, for a large number of reasons... mainly that you are so completely wrong as for your theory to just be gibberish, trying to connect things that have no connection. I can make similar far fetched connections to other series that are just as solid. If I felt, I'm sure I could make an argument just as convincing as yours about One Piece being inspired byLupin the Third, or the original Mobil Suit Gundam series or Captain Harlock which came out around the same time. But it's not so.

Except while there are lovable bandits at play, it has little to do with Lupin's capers, wheras Cowboy Bebop is a direct descendant. It has giant wars and battles for powerful objects and abuse of power but its not like Gundam.

And Harlock... actually, I could probably make a VERY convincing argument based around the Harlock/Galaxy Express universe, thinking about it. That actually is a major iconic inspirational series in Japan that Oda would absolutely know and it does have a lot of the exploring different locals, mentor bestowing iconic items, mentor death, sailing, giant goofy grins, badass manly men....

You'd have a much better argument saying Avatar the Last Airbender was inspired by MCoG, because at least there, the creators of the series have actually acknowledged the existence of the series and the smaller cast size (and races of the leads) lends itself to it somewhat. And they were inspired by it... and a million other things. They didn't base their work around it.

But no, you have not stumbled into the secret key that unlocks all of One Piece by finding an obscure series that barely aired in Japan that Oda has probably never even heard of..

And no, I'm not going to go into length on what the other standing theories are about the series, this forum is full of threads and discussions hundreds of pages long. That you, as a new member that doesn't even have thread creation privileges yet convinced someone else to make the thread for you, speaks to itself of the fact you haven't spent enough time looking at what is already here. what has already been discussed and debated and debunked and proven over a decade of heavy discussion and research, before making up your own half baked theory you want to share with the world.

But short version: ancient civilization came down from the moon, interbred, got labeled as half moons, aka D, then there was a huge conflict that wiped them all out, which yes, involved ancient weapons, and then the government covered it up.

Coincidentally, when you're keeping it that simple, it can also loosely be the plot of Final Fantasy 6, or Les Miserables. Its the details that make a story, not the inspiration or the loose loose similarities to a storytelling genre that goes back centuries.

But the history, the overall plot, the pacing, the characterization, the action? One Piece owes to a lot of things, but MCoG is not one of them, not in any way that's significant.

[HTC]

To be fair, if Oda had stated he based OP, even if partially, on this show, it would have provoke a rush to see it and possibly disclose some rather end stuff, like the way to reach Raftel which IMO is WAY too similar. It would be understandable if Oda chose NOT to disclose he based OP (even if loosely) on this show for this reason.

However, i suppose there's a good way to know for sure: just question it in a SBS and wait for Oda's reply. That should eliminate any doubt.

[Kylor]

Hm. Maybe there's a point to be made here, but probably not quite in the way the original poster intended, and certainly not to the extent of "the entire template of One Piece comes from this one 80's show, you guys." That's wrong, but there's some degree of truth in the general idea. The thing is, Mysterious Cities of Gold was not at all unique to children's anime of the time, particularly in the adventure genre. A LOT of those shows had the same basic look, and utilized similar plot points (treasure exists, go find treasure, also friends are good) though, as far as I'm aware, MCoG was the only one to have that Maya/Inca aesthetic. Nadia, which has already been mentioned, also follows this style, though it came much later, and Laputa can be seen as a sort of extension of that same thing. And it just so happens that those themes clearly rubbed off on OP in a big way. It's not all too likely that a young Oda watched MCoG and thought "yes, this is it, this shall be the template for my manga about punching," but he couldn't have avoided the movement of shows that MCoG was a part of, especially not when OP itself takes elements from them, mostly early on. It should also be said that all of these things, One Piece, MCoG, Laputa in particular, have aspects that can be traced as far back as classic adventure authors like Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, many of whom became known to Japanese youth through stuff like World Masterpiece Theater and its ilk. And yes, as it's been stated, One Piece's place in that variety of series is heavily diluted by elements from Dragon Ball and modern sensibilities, which are more focused around punching than exploration.

Basically, yes, One Piece and Mysterious Cities of Gold are inspirationally related, but not directly. More like… twice-removed inspiration cousins. Art is funny that way, things tend to have many sources and not all of them are stated or clear at all (we'd basically need to scan Oda's memories in order to find exactly what he drew from what in most cases) but they're still very much there. Actually, if there's interest, it might be kinda worthwhile to reexamine a few of those series, for comparing and contrasting purposes. Maybe nothing major would come up, but it might provide some degree of insight. Or rather, it would be an excuse to watch old adventure anime. I just really wanna do that, honestly.

[Monkey King]

@HTC:

like the way to reach Raftel which IMO is WAY too similar.

hey guyz i found a clip of Mysterious Cities of Gold on yutube

here's a nother one too that i found

Seriously. Go fucking read/watch more shit before even thinking of these threads people.

[HTC]

@Monkey:

hey guyz i found a clip of Mysterious Cities of Gold on yutube

here's a nother one too that i found

Seriously. Go fucking read/watch more shit before even thinking of these threads people.

Actually, i did watch this show, twice: did you watch it even once?

Why not watch 1st before commenting?

[Robby]

@HTC:

To be fair, if Oda had stated he based OP, even if partially, on this show, it would have provoke a rush to see it and possibly disclose some rather end stuff, like the way to reach Raftel which IMO is WAY too similar. It would be understandable if Oda chose NOT to disclose he based OP (even if loosely) on this show for this reason.

However, i suppose there's a good way to know for sure: just question it in a SBS and wait for Oda's reply. That should eliminate any doubt.

Good writers (which Oda is) don't just go "I liked that, I want to do something exactly like it down to the main twist!"

What they do instead is "I liked that, and am inspired by it. I want to do something similar at some point as maybe a nod or tribute or inspiration."

They don't set out to wholesale copy someone else's work from the main structure down to the final twist.

Bad writers can be too inspired by something and it becomes obvious really quick (Many many MANY fantasy novels are blatant Lord of the Rings ripoffs in terms of story structure, pacing, and world building), but Oda is not that. Oda, for instance, takes a famous actor or celebrity, and throws a little bit of their character design into a guy.

The admirals are all famous badass japanese actors. Most recently Diamante is based of a certain singer (can you guess which one?) but that was about his style and visual look only… he didn't then use music based attacks or have attack names based off of songs or anything that would make it straight obvious blatant parody that most other series would do... but something inspired by. Just in attitude and look, nothing more.

Oda takes inspiration from lots and lots and lots of sources, its one of the reasons his story has so much life and diversity in it. But at no point does he whole cloth steal or reuse other ideas note for note. He doesn't even like his editors suggesting things to him.

With the literal thousands of characters he creates, and constant regular occassions where there are obvious homages, would any sort of series that influenced him to that degree really go this far without any sort of real nod or mention? No.