Highlights
- Toei Animation celebrates One Piece anime’s 25th anniversary with a nostalgic recap video showcasing key story arcs and moments.
- The Wano Country Saga takes center stage in the recap video, leading into the final act of the saga and the Egghead Arc of the Final Saga.
- One Piece’s 25th anniversary brings various events, including a 24×7 streaming of the anime, a World Tournament for the Card Game, and a special Las Vegas Sphere debut.
Having premiered back in 1999, Toei Animation’s adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’sOne Piece, has gone on to become the most successful anime franchise in the company’s history, recently dethroning its predecessor Dragon Ball. Over the course of 25 years, the One Piece anime has followed the travels of the Straw Hat Pirates led by their Captain Monkey D. Luffy, as they set out to conquer the Grand Line and claim the Pirate King’s fabled treasure.
To commemorate the One Piece anime’s upcoming 25th anniversary in October 2024, Toei Animation has released a recap video on YouTube, which stitches together moments from every single canon story arc in the franchise, in a poignant trip down memory lane. Additionally, a host of other initiatives have also been planned to celebrate this momentous year in One Piece’s history, paying tribute to a true titan of shonen anime.
Revisiting The Straw Hats’ Entire Journey
At a duration of just under eight minutes, this recap video revisits a few critical moments and frames from the Straw Hat Pirates’ journey through the East Blue, Paradise, and the New World. With over 1100 episodes and counting, One Piece’s narrative is an epic in every sense of the word, and this goes double for Eiichiro Oda’s detailed world building that has garnered a great deal of acclaim since the manga began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997.
Toei Animation’s recap video shares some similarities with VIZ Media’s ROAD OF NARUTO trailer for Naruto’s 20th Anniversary in 2022, in terms of its structure and concept, albeit, without any redrawn animation. Starting out with visuals from the special version of One Piece’s first opening “We Are” created for Episode 1000 of the anime, the video jumps right into the start of Luffy’s journey in the East Blue.
Scenes from the Romance Dawn Arc, Orange Town Arc, Syrup Village Arc, Baratie Arc, and the Arlong Park Arc, rush into view as the soundtrack piece, “To The Grand Line” imbues a sense of nostalgia to these snippets from the Straw Hat Pirates’ early days. Next, the stage shifts to their adventures in the Grand Line, with clips from their exploits in the Arabasta Saga and Skypiea Saga.
The following segment of the video spans through the Water 7 Saga, Thriller Bark Saga, Summit War Saga, Fish-Man Island Saga, Dressrosa Saga, and the Whole Cake Island Saga, before segueing into the early episodes of the Wano Country Saga, with the soundtrack piece “Going Merry Ship, Fly!” scoring these scenes.
Onward To The Final Saga
Starting with the Raid on Onigashima which forms the massive final act of the Wano Country Saga, the score in the backdrop immediately shifts to “Overtaken,” a piece of music that is synonymous with Luffy and One Piece as a whole. Although it has cropped up on several occasions during critical battles in the series, its most iconic usage came from the march to Arlong Park, near the end of the opening East Blue Saga.
The Wano Country Saga was given a considerable amount of screen time when compared to some of the other story arcs in the series, due to its length and overall significance at this juncture in the franchise. After wrapping up the battle in Onigashima with the debut of Gear 5 and Luffy’s defeat of Kaido, the scene shifts once again to Egghead, where the anime is now partway through the opening arc of the Final Saga. It is no exaggeration to say that One Piece is enjoying a considerable amount of the spotlight, since the end of Luffy’s journey is now finally in sight, although there are still a few exciting things on the horizon to look forward to.
What’s In Store For One Piece’s 25th Anniversary?
As specified on the web page for the One Piece anime’s 25th anniversary celebrations, there are a number of ongoing and upcoming events and announcements that will premiere throughout the course of the year, in honor of this occasion. For instance, one venture called “Anytime One Piece” has the One Pieceanime streaming 24×7 on the officialOne Piece YouTube channel in Japan, since October 29th 2023, although the stream’s availability is restricted to certain geographical regions at the moment.
March 2024 also saw the end of the inaugural World Tournament for the One Piece Card Game, which was won by GuanRong, a Malaysian player, emerging triumphant as the first One Piece Card Game world champion. The One Piece Card Game has also released a special 25th Anniversary Edition Card Set, illustrating how many different initiatives have been planned across the franchise’s many arms.
On the other side of the world from June 10-16, 2024, One Piece will also make its debut on the outer surface of the Las Vegas Sphere, known as the Exosphere, with a 90-second visual sequence created specially for this event. This week-long celebration of One Piece also includes a four-hour takeover party on Tuesday, June 11, with Kazuki Yao, the voice actor of Franky in attendance, alongside some of Toei Animation’s executives.
This event will coincide with the soft launch of a new English YouTube channel for One Piece, which aims to expand the franchise’s global reach to a wider audience. Finally, the ONE PIECE DAY ’24 event has also been announced for August 10-11 at Makuhari Messe on the outskirts of Tokyo. There will also be a live stream for viewers who cannot attend the in-person event, with further details available on the official website.
A Milestone For Toei Animation’s Most Lucrative Franchise
Cumulatively, the last few years have seen One Piece’s global appeal soar due to a number of factors, ranging from the epic conclusion of the Wano Country Arc and the start of the Final Saga in the manga and anime, to the acclaimed Netflix live-action adaptation. There has also been a lot of speculation surrounding the upcoming reboot of the anime by WIT Studio, titled The One Piece, which will give the series a contemporary update for a new era. At present, there is no better time to be a One Piece fan, and things will likely only get even more exciting from here on in.
One Piece is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
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