According to Tite Kubo, "Zombiepowder." originated as an idea for a samurai manga which would have been titled "Samurai Drive." This initial conception of the story had very little in common with the end product, as it did not feature western elements or the titular zombie powder. It did star a version of Gamma, however, who still bore an over-sized sword and bounty, and featured scifi technologies. With respect to the premise of "Zombiepowder.", the author stated that the theme was fighting, and a world where the hope for resurrection lay not in god, but obtaining a mysterious substance. Tite Kubo did not comment on his influences for the series, but critic Theron Martin believed its tone, setting, and style drew heavily on the cyberpunk manga "Battle Angel Alita", the dark fantasy manga "Berserk", and fellow sci-fi/western manga "Trigun", and A.E. Sparrow of IGN noted the obligatory genre influence of martial arts anime "Dragon Ball Z". The series also borrows terminology from the music industry, referring to each chapter as a track, the bonus omake content in each volume as B-Sides, and naming primary character Elwood after a record label founder.