Two Jump rivals and friends: Naruto’s Masashi Kishimoto and One Piece’s Eiichiro Oda are well-known for their eccentric and lighthearted rivalry. This time, the topic is the tug of war over a name, and not just any name, but a name as big as Naruto’s. Yes, Sanji from One Piece was previously named Naruto.
Sanji has grown to become one of the world’s best-known anime characters. Fans who have never seen or read One Piece identify him simply by his name. He is frequently mentioned as one of the series’ most popular characters. He is also a well-known cosplayer, regularly spotted at anime events. In a 2018 poll, Sanji was voted the third-most-popular character in One Piece. He was not far behind Luffy and Zoro. This indicates Sanji’s popularity among series fans. But history had different plans for the name.
Eiichiro Oda intended a different name for Vinsmoke Sanji before the series commenced
Eiichiro Oda chose the name Naruto, which also happens to be the name of the protagonist in Masashi Kishimoto’s manga series. Considering this would have surely caused misunderstandings between the two characters, Oda opted to rename his character Sanji. The Green Databook offered this piece of information.
Sandman (or @Sandman_AP) on X (previously Twitter), an One Piece news interpreter, recently displayed an interview from 2015 in which Oda describes how Sanji’s initials centered on his twirling eyebrows. “Do you notice Sanji’s brows swirling?” Naruto is the swirling white and pink topping of Japanese noodles. Oda also stated that the name was changed due to the introduction of Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto manga, which appeared two years after Oda’s One Piece series.
“When the Naruto manga first started, I knew it was going to be a long-running series, so I quickly changed his name.” If Oda had stuck to that name, Kishimoto believes he would have changed Naruto’s name to something like “Menma” or “Shinachiku”, words related to ramen.
Know more about Vinsmoke Sanji from One Piece
Sanji was originally created with the design of a gunslinger. One Piece novels, publications, and other sources frequently feature details about original character designs and backgrounds not shown in the manga. Sanji’s original design was designed to mimic that of a gunslinger, according to One Piece Color Walk 1. This implies that Sanji would have fought with his hands, but Oda went in the opposite direction with Sanji’s final design. Sanji eventually evolved into a figure that only used his hands for cooking and his legs for battle.
Also, he plays the main character in a spin-off series. One of the most popular figures in the One Piece fandom is Sanji. Yto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki of Shokugeki no Soma stated that they would be creating a spin-off series called Shokugeki no Sanji in order to give Sanji fans more material to enjoy. There are six chapters in all, all of which are entirely devoted to Sanji and his time at the Baratie. Every Sanji lover should read the great spin-off series. It is accessible through the Shonen Jump app.
Steve Buscemi served as the model for Sanji. Oda has never been reluctant to express his admiration for both real-life and made-up figures. Oda frequently addresses these issues. Before Oda’s acceptance, many fans thought Sanji’s persona was based on Leonardo DiCaprio’s, who shares Sanji’s fondness for suits and charming demeanor. However, Oda has acknowledged that Sanji is in fact based on Steve Buscemi’s Reservoir Dogs character.
Source: Comic Book Rant
