November 11 marks the birthday of Zoro Roronoa from ONE PIECE, so the official profiles have commemorated the occasion in 2022 with several posts. Firstly, the official Twitter @Eiichiro_Staff shared an image of the character with a celebration message. You can see it below: 6o2t6j
They also hosted a Twitter space featuring Zoro’s Japanese voice actor Kazuya Nakai and Smoker’s Japanese voice actor Mahito Ohba. Besides the above, the official Twitter of the “One Piece” portal site @OPcom_info shared a special 2022 birthday illustration and celebration message for Zoro Roronoa:
Meanwhile, the official recommended hashtag for the celebration is #ゾロ誕生祭2022. Many fans are using it to celebrate the badass character’s birthday with special illustrations and scenes from the ONE PIECE anime, as well as the manga.
Zoro is the favorite Straw Hat for many, and his backstory has long been a mystery, but we got several clues that he is linked to the samurais and the Shimotsuki Family in the Wano Country arc. Shimotsuki (霜月, “month of frost”) is the traditional name of the month of November in the Japanese calendar.
There is a Japanese phrase which goes “nishi muku samurai”. It’s used to months that don’t have 31 days (February, April, June, September and November). The literal meaning is “a samurai that faces the West”, and can be divided into “ni”, “shi”, “mu”, “ku” and “samurai”.
“Ni” means 2, which stands for February. “Shi” means 4, which stands for April. “Mu” means 6, which stands for June and “ku” means 9 and stands for September. “Samurai” implies 11, and it stands for November. Zoro’s birthday being November 11 can’t be a coincidence, and you can read about more clues in the Roronoa Zoro Backstory article.
Episode 1040 of the anime will release this Sunday on November 13, which is also when the ONE PIECE manga will release chapter 1066. You can watch the anime on Crunchyroll, while you can catch up to the latest manga chapter for free on either the VIZ website or the MANGA Plus website.
Source: Official Twitter
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha / Toei Animation