Monsters (manga)

Monsters (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese one-shot manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It was published by Shueisha in the Autumn Special issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump in October 1994. An original net animation (ONA) adaptation titled Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation (MONSTERS 一百三情飛龍侍極) was produced by E&H Production and premiered on Netflix in January 2024.

Characters

 * Ryuma de King (リューマ・ド・キング) / Shimotsuki Ryuma (霜月リューマ)
 * A wandering samurai who holds the title as the strongest swordsman. By the events of One Piece, his corpse and sword are stolen by Gecko Moria to serve him on Thriller Bark. He ultimately entrusts his sword to Roronoa Zoro.
 * A wandering samurai who holds the title as the strongest swordsman. By the events of One Piece, his corpse and sword are stolen by Gecko Moria to serve him on Thriller Bark. He ultimately entrusts his sword to Roronoa Zoro.


 * Flare (フレア)
 * A young woman working as a waitress at a bar in a small town. She was the sole survivor of a dragon attack that destroyed her village, leading her to respect Cyrano who she falsely believed to be her savior.
 * A young woman working as a waitress at a bar in a small town. She was the sole survivor of a dragon attack that destroyed her village, leading her to respect Cyrano who she falsely believed to be her savior.


 * Cyrano (シラノ)
 * A master swordsman second to King, the strongest swordsman. He is in fact a thief who orchestrated the Great Disaster seven years ago that left Flare the only survivor of her village.
 * A master swordsman second to King, the strongest swordsman. He is in fact a thief who orchestrated the Great Disaster seven years ago that left Flare the only survivor of her village.


 * D.R. (ディーアールの)
 * A thief in town who frames Ryuma for stabbing him. He is in fact a cohort of Cyrano who framed Ryuma.
 * A thief in town who frames Ryuma for stabbing him. He is in fact a cohort of Cyrano who framed Ryuma.


 * Restaurant Owner (マスター)
 * The master and bartender of the cafe that Flare works at.
 * The master and bartender of the cafe that Flare works at.


 * Roronoa Zoro (ロロノア・ゾロ)
 * A central character of One Piece who inherits Ryuma's sword on Thriller Bark in the future.
 * A central character of One Piece who inherits Ryuma's sword on Thriller Bark in the future.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, the Monsters one-shot was published by Shueisha in 1994 in the Autumn Special issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump (with cover date October 30). The chapter was collected in the ''Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Short Stories'' volume, which released on November 4, 1998. The character Ryuma would later appear as a zombie in Oda's One Piece manga series during the Thriller Bark story arc, thus officially linking the events of both works.

Viz Media published the one-shot digitally on January 22, 2024.

Original net animation
In July 2023, it was announced that Monsters would be receiving an anime adaptation, which was later revealed to be an original net animation that would go on to premiere worldwide on Netflix on January 21, 2024,  and January 23 in Japan. Medialink sub-licensed the ONA in Asia-Pacific for streaming on their Ani-One Asia YouTube channel.

The ONA was directed by Sunghoo Park, who was also in charge of composition, and animated by his studio E&H Production. Takashi Kojima served as character designer, with Fuminao Akai as art director, Ryoji Nagasawa as color designer, Lee Ju-Mi as director of photography, Keisuke Yanagi as editor, and Akiko Fujita as sound director. The music was composed by Hiroaki Tsutsumi and produced by Takeki Kobayashi.