Earlier this year, an animated short called One Piece Fan Letter was released, celebrating the anime’s 25th anniversary.

According to an interview published in Newtype Magazine (via ryokutya2089), Nintendo Miis played a pivotal role in the short’s creation. In the interview character designer and animation director Mori Keisuke reportedly says that the short’s director and co-writer Megumi Ishitani used the Mii creator as a starting point to design the characters.

Ishitani explained that the Mii creator method helps to narrow down the defining features of each character, eliminating the risk of overdesigning them by accident. The Miis were then “One Piece-ized” to fit the style of the anime.

This method was great. With a drawing, you can sometimes go overboard with the details, but with a Mii you can narrow down the elements and make it easier to see what makes the characters unique.

Nintendo themselves have also used the Mii creator method for their own games, most famously with The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, where it is particularly noticeable with many of the side characters.

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