Best One Piece Characters Created For The Anime

With over 1000 manga chapters and 1000 anime episodes in total, One Piece is infamous for being one of the longest pieces of fiction ever created. Naturally, this also means that it features an extensive cast made up of literally thousands of characters, all with their own designs, backstories, personalities, and abilities.

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As if all the characters Eiichiro Oda created for the original manga weren’t enough, Toei Animation created even more to make them appear in filler episodes and story arcs of its animated adaptation. Curiously enough, despite being completely non-canonical, many of these characters ended up becoming fan favorites and felt like they always belonged in this fascinating world. The One Piece anime has a fair share of remarkable anime-original characters, and the following eight are the best in the entire show.

8

Alpacacino

A Bazooka That “Ate” The Alpaca Devil Fruit

• Debut: Episode 575
• Arc: Z’s Ambition Arc

The main antagonist of the Z’s Ambition Arc (which is directly connected to the movie, One Piece Film: Z) is Shuzo, an intimidating but pretty generic member of the Neo Marines. However, while he doesn’t stand out very much, his weapon of choice/pet Alpacacino certainly does, to the point that he became a very popular character among fans.

As its name implies, Alpacacino is a powerful bazooka that ate an unnamed Devil Fruit that allows it to transform into an alpaca. The concept of objects “eating” Zoan Devil Fruits already existed in One Piece before, but there aren’t many canonical examples of this weird occurrence in the manga, so it’s always nice to have another character that reflects it, even if it was created for the anime. On top of that, Alpacacino is so adorable, funny, and wacky that it feels like Oda could have created it.

7

Don Accino

A Powerful Villain From A Filler Arc

• Debut: Episode 326
• Arc: Ice Hunter Arc

The Ice Hunter Arc introduced viewers to the Accino Family, a family of bounty hunters with weird designs and abilities, and its most noteworthy member was their patriarch, the one and only Don Accino. For starters, his bizarre and goofy design makes him fit perfectly in the world of One Piece, so it should be no surprise to learn that he was designed by Eiichiro Oda himself.

With his lazy and arrogant personality, Don Accino was very easy to hate, but also quite memorable because of it. However, the most interesting aspect of this character was his Devil Fruit, the non-canonical Atsu Atsu no Mi, which allows him to produce immense amounts of body heat and even shoot balls of heat from his hands at his opponents. Not only is it surprisingly similar to the Netsu Netsu no Mi (which was eaten by Charlotte Oven), but it also made Don Accino into quite a formidable fighter, which is especially impressive for a filler villain.

6

Lily Enstomach

A Giant That Can Alter Her Size At Will

• Debut: Episode 575
• Arc: Z’s Ambition Arc

The main character of the Z’s Ambition Arc (aside from the Straw Hats Pirates) is Lily Enstomach, who already stood out from the get-go because she’s a giant, and the anime hasn’t actually introduced many original characters that belong to this race. However, another fascinating fact about Lily is that she ate the Mini Mini no Mi, a non-canonical Devil Fruit that allows her to shrink herself at will.

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The concept of a giant that can shrink down to the size of a regular human is quite brilliant, not to mention that Lily can also use her powers to make herself even smaller and to turn Luffy into a giant by enlarging herself inside his rubber body. Additionally, Lily’s gluttonous and goofy personality made her quite a likable character, and she perfectly matched Luffy’s signature silliness.

5

Sebastian

A Blind Pirate Who Is Also Part Of A Rare Hybrid Species

• Debut: 3D2Y: Overcome Ace’s Death! Luffy’s Vow to his Friends

In the world of One Piece, wotans are a hybrid species between giants and fish-men, and they are so rare that only one canonical wotan has appeared in the story: Big Pan, from the Foxy Pirates. However, the special episode 3D2Y: Overcome Ace’s Death! Luffy’s Vow to his Friends introduced another wotan character who is even more interesting, Sebastian from the World Pirates.

Due to his rare mixed biology, he’s extremely strong, very durable, and can even breathe underwater, and all these properties naturally make him quite a dangerous opponent. While Sebastian is blind, he can overcome this disadvantage by using Observation Haki (similarly to Fujitora), not to mention that it made him completely immune to Boa Hancock’s Devil Fruit powers. This is such an interesting wotan character that it’s a real shame Oda hasn’t created another one for the manga yet.

4

Shepherd (Condoriano)

The Star Of One Of The Funniest Scenes In The Entire Series

• Debut: Episode 199
• Arc: G-8 Arc

The G-8 Arc is highly regarded by most fans as the best filler arc in the One Piece anime, mainly due to its comedic writing and memorable anime-original characters. One of the best examples of the latter is Shepherd, a Marine Commander who is tasked with inspecting the titular G-8 Marine Base, until he gets wrapped up in the Straw Hats’ silly antics.

Since Nico Robin stole his identity, the other Marines on the base suspect him of being a member of the Straw Hat Pirates and throw him into a cell alongside Usopp and Zoro. To maintain Robin’s façade, Usopp claims that Shepherd is actually named “Condoriano” and that he can’t remember who he is because he lost his memories. This hilarious scene has become extremely popular among One Piece fans, and it cemented Condoriano as one of the most beloved filler characters in the entire anime.

3

All-Hunt Grount

One Of The Coolest And Most Interesting Marine Captains In The Series

• Debut: Episode 780
• Arc: Marine Rookie Arc

The main antagonist and the main star of the Marine Rookie Arc is a young Marine Captain known as All-Hunt Grount, who has such a unique and interesting design that it’s really disappointing that he’s 100% exclusive to the anime and has never appeared in the manga. Of course, the fact that he has such a solid design makes sense because he was created by Eiichiro Oda himself, in collaboration with the anime team.

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Due to his aggressive, arrogant, and prideful personality, Grount formed a brief and fascinating rivalry with Monkey D. Luffy, and he’s so strong that he was able to put up a good fight against the protagonist on more than one occasion. This is because his power is directly tied to his tragic backstory: many years ago, Grount ate a mysterious, unnamed Zoan Devil Fruit that allows him to turn his left arm into the arm of a deadly monster with red fur. Since he can’t control this monstrous arm, he accidentally destroyed an entire island with it, until he was stopped by Kuzan. At the end of the day, All-Hunt Grount has all the makings of a memorable One Piece character (an interesting backstory, a solid design, unique Devil Fruit powers, etc.), and he’s definitely one of the best antagonists that Toei has created exclusively for the anime.

2

Nami’s Fan Girl

The Lovable Main Character Of One Of The Best One Piece Animated Projects

• Debut: One Piece Fan Letter

One Piece Fan Letter is a TV special that Toei Animation released on the 25th anniversary of the show, and it quickly became one of its best and most celebrated episodes. However, it’s not entirely original, as it’s a loose adaptation of an official novel titled Straw Hat Stories, which means that most of its characters were not created for the anime. However, there is one notorious exception because the main character of One Piece Fan Letter did not appear in the original novel.

The unnamed girl, who is a huge fan of Nami, is an endearing and relatable character who perfectly reflects the themes of this special: she admires Nami so much that she dresses up just like her, and she tries her hardest to deliver her a special letter that she wrote for her, but it’s more than satisfied with just looking at her from a distance. Like many other characters, one of the Straw Hats inspired her to chase her dreams, and her emotional story proved how alive this fictional world is, even when the main characters are not on-screen.

1

Jonathan

A Respectable Vice Admiral Who Wants The Best For His Marine Base

• Debut: Episode 196
• Arc: G-8 Arc

Of all the lovable characters who were introduced in the excellent G-8 Arc, Vice Admiral Jonathan is arguably the best and most popular one. As the main antagonist of the arc, this marine comes off as intimidating and imposing at first, mainly due to his great design. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s also supposed to be a protégé of Akainu, the most ruthless Marine in the entire world of One Piece.

However, and to the surprise of most viewers, Jonathan is nowhere near as violent as his mentor, since he’s quite laid-back, friendly, and analytical, not to mention that he has an endearing relationship with his wife, Jessica. At the end of the G-8 Arc, he reveals that he never intended to capture the Straw Hat Pirates, but he used their sudden appearance as an opportunity to make his soldiers work together and prove that the G-8 base didn’t deserve to be shut down. Because of his actions, design, and personality, Jonathan became a major fan favorite, and he even went on to make many brief cameos in subsequent episodes of the anime.

One Piece

Release Date

October 20, 1999

Network

Fuji TV

Directors

Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou

Writers

Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda

• 

  Mayumi Tanaka

  Monkey D. Luffy (voice)

• 

  Kazuya Nakai

  Roronoa Zoro (voice)