Studio Ghibli Co-Founder And One Piece Author Considered Amongst Asia’s 100 Most Impactful People

The A100 annually recognizes the 100 most influential Asian Pacific leaders in culture and society from the previous year, along with additional honors for exceptional accomplishments. And for 2024, the list includes icons in the anime and manga industry, like Studio Ghibli co-founder and “The Boy and the Heron” film director Hayao Miyazaki and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda.

The Boy and the Heron won the prestigious Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film so it’s no wonder the director of said film is on the list. And Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece is the biggest selling manga in existence, surpassing even Batman’s overall comic sales. Both of them undoubtedly deserve their places on the list of the top 100 influential people in Asia.

(Hayao Miyazaki and Eiichiro Oda)

The list also includes Steven Maeda, the co-showrunner of the One Piece Live-Action series and Mackenyu, who played Roronoa Zoro in the series. OPLA quickly became a hit even among non-anime fans and served as their gateway to checking out the anime.

(Steven Maeda)

(Mackenyu as Roronoa Zoro)

The Honorees for A100’s top 100 influential Asians in the Entertainment category are as follows:

• ALEX NORSTRÖM
  Co-President and Chief Business Officer, Spotify
• ALEXANDER WOO, ZINE TSENG, BENEDICT WONG, ROSALIND CHAO & JESS HONG
  Executive Producer, Co-Creator, & Stars, 3 Body Problem
• ALIA BHATT
  Actor, Producer, Entrepreneur
• ANAND KINI
  EVP of Corporate Strategy, Comcast and CFO, NBCUniversal
• ANITA LEE
  Chief Programming Officer, TIFF
• ANNA SAWAI, MARI YAMAMOTO & REN WATABE
  Stars, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters
• ARJUN PULIJAL
  Artist Advocate, and Former President, Capitol Music Group
• BELLA POARCH
  Musician
• CALVIN YEE
  Partner, Egon Zehnder
• CARLA SERRANO & SUSIE NAM
  Global Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis Groupe and CEO, Publicis New York; & CEO, Publicis Creative US
• CELINE SONG, GRETA LEE, & TEO YOO
  Writer and Director & Stars, Past Lives
• CHARLI XCX
  Music Artist
• DAVID PARK
  Partner and Television Agent, UTA
• DEV PATEL
  Actor, Director, Producer, and Writer
• EIICHIRO ODA, STEVEN MAEDA, & MACKENYU
  Creator, Executive Producer, & Star, One Piece
• GINGER CHAN
  CMO, WME
• GRANT OGBURN
  Global Chief Growth Officer, UM
• HAYAO MIYAZAKI
  Director & Co-Founder, Studio Ghibli
• HOWARD LEE
  President, Discovery Channel Networks and TLC
• JANET YANG
  President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
• JAZZ TANGCAY
  Senior Artisans Editor, Variety
• JUNG KOOK
  Music Artist
• KEANU REEVES
  Actor
• LEE JUNG-JAE
  Actor and Filmmaker
• LUCIANE BUCHANAN
  Actor
• LULU WANG, SARAYU BLUE & JI-YOUNG YOO
  Showrunner and Director & Stars, Expats
• MAYA ERSKINE
  Actor
• PARRIS GOEBEL
  Choreographer and Creative Director
• PETER SOHN, BRENDA HSUEH, & LEAH LEWIS
  Writer, Director, & Star, Elemental
• RACHEL KONDO, HIROYUKI SANADA, & ANNA SAWAI
  Executive Producer and Co-Creator, Producer & Stars, Shōgun
• ROSEMARY PALACIOS, YINAN SHENTU, TJ & BOBBY PONTILLAS
  Director of Talent Outreach, Inclusion, and Creative Development, Puppeteer, Muppet & Animation Director, Sesame Street
• SAG-AFTRA
  Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
• STEVE AOKI
  DJ, Producer, and Entrepreneur
• STRAY KIDS
  K-Pop Group
• TAKASHI YAMAZAKI
  Director, Writer, and VFX Supervisor
• VIET THANH NGUYEN, PARK CHAN-WOOK & HOA XUANDE
  Pulitzer Prize-winning Author, Co-Showrunner and Director & Star, The Sympathizer
• WGA
  Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East

Gold House is organizing a Gold Gala event in Los Angeles on May 11 to commemorate the individuals being honored.

EIICHIRO ODA
Eiichiro Oda is a Japanese manga artist and the creator of the series One Piece. With more than 523.2 million tankōbon copies in circulation worldwide, One Piece is both the best-selling manga in history and the best-selling comic series printed in volume, in turn making Oda one of the best-selling fiction authors. The series’ popularity resulted in Oda being named one of the manga artists that changed the history of manga.

STEVEN MAEDA
Steve Maeda is the Executive Producer of One Piece on Netflix. Previously, he was the Executive Producer and Showrunner of Helix, Pan Am, Miami Medical, and Lie to Me. His other credits include Lost, The X-Files, CSI: Miami, Daybreak, Conviction, Salvation, Unforgettable, The Forgotten, and Harsh Realm. 

MACKENYU
After beginning his career in Japan and proving himself a versatile actor, Japanese-American actor Mackenyu has made himself one to watch in the U.S. with his portrayal of complex and powerful characters

Mackenyu was recently seen starring as Roronoa Zoro in Netflix’s live action series adaptation of One Piece. Based on the beloved long-running anime of the same name, the series follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his pirate crew of “Straw Hats” as they search for the greatest treasure ever, the famous mystery treasure named One Piece.

While known as the “Pirate Hunter,” Mackenyu’s Roronoa Zoro is part of Luffy’s Straw Hats and an infamous swordsman, known for always carrying three swords. The series debuted at Number 1 on Netflix in 46 countries and was renewed for a second season.

Mackenyu entered the spotlight when he landed the role of Wataya Arata in the Chihayafuru trilogy, which earned him the 40th Annual Japan Academy Newcomer of the Year Award in 2017. His other film credits include Cadet Ryoichi in Universal’s Pacific Rim: Uprising, the lead role in Over Drive, and the villainous Enishi Yukishiro in the Japanese blockbuster Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter. Mackenyu can also be seen as Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar and Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation, which are based on the beloved steampunk manga series.

HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Born in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 with Isao Takahata. Among his eleven animated features, Spirited Away (2001) broke every box office record in Japan, and won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival and the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) received the Osella Award at the 2004 Venice International Film Festival.

Miyazaki was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2005 Venice International Film Festival. The Wind Rises (2013) was nominated for the 2013 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature. In 2014, the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with an Honorary Oscar® for Lifetime Achievement. In 2024, he received the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature for his latest feature, The Boy and the Heron.

Source: Gold House