One Piece

One Piece (ワンãƒ"ース, Wan PÄ«su) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 19, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 76th volume released as of December 2014. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit, and his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" in order to become the next Pirate King.

The chapters have been adapted into an original video animation (OVA) produced by Production I.G in 1998, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999. Since then, the still continuing series has aired over 674 episodes. Additionally, Toei has developed thirteen animated feature films, two OVA's, and five television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a trading card game, and a large number of video games. The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The entire anime series was first licensed by 4Kids, which due to poor reception, shifted in 2007 to Funimation for an English-language release in North America.

One Piece has received wide critical acclaim, primarily for its art, characterization, humor and story. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including highest initial print run of any book in Japan and the first book to sell over three million copies in Oricon history. As of 2014, the series had over 380 million volumes in circulation worldwide, making it the best-selling manga series in history.

Overview

Setting

The world of One piece is populated by humans and numerous other races, including mermen and mermaids, "fishmen" (a race of fish/human hybrids), giants, and fairies. It is covered by two vast oceans (Grand line and New world), which are divided by a massive mountain range called the Red Line (赤い土の大陸（レッドライン）, Reddo Rain). The Grand Line (偉大なる航路（グランドライン）, Gurando Rain), a sea that runs perpendicular to the Red Line, further divides them into four seas: North Blue (北の海（ノースブルー）, Nōsu Burū), East Blue (東の海（イーストブルー）, Īsuto Burū), West Blue (西の海（ウェストブルー）, Uesuto Burū) and South Blue (南の海（サウスブルー）, Sausu Burū). Surrounding the Grand Line are two regions called Calm Belts (凪の帯（カームベルト）, kāmu beruto), similar to the Horse latitudes, which experience almost no wind and ocean currents and are breeding ground for the huge sea creatures called neptunians (海王類, kaiōrui, lit. "sea kings"). Because of this, the calm belts are very effective barriers for those trying to enter the Grand Line. While marine ships, using sea-prism stone (海楼石, kairōseki) to mask their presence, can simply pass through, most have to use the canal system of Reverse Mountain (リヴァース・マウンテン, Rivāsu Maunten), a mountain at the first intersection of the Grand Line and the Red Line. Sea water from each of the four seas runs up that mountain and merges at the top to flow down a fifth canal and into the first half of the Grand Line. The second half of the Grand Line, beyond the second intersection with the Red Line, is also known as the New World (新世界, Shin Sekai).

The currents and weather on the Grand Line's open sea are extremely unpredictable, whereas in the vicinity of islands the climate is stable. What makes it even harder to navigate is the fact that normal compasses do not work there. A special compass called a Log Pose (記録指針（ログポース）, Rogu Pōsu) must be used. The Log Pose works by locking on to one island's magnetic field and then locking on to another island's magnetic field. The time for it to set depends on the island. This process can be bypassed by obtaining an Eternal Pose (永久指針（エターナルポース）, Etānaru Pōsu), a Log Pose variation that is permanently set to a specific island and never changes.

The world of One Piece is filled with anachronisms, like the Transponder Snails (電伝虫, Den-Den Mushi), snail-like animals that can be attached to electric equipment and function as rotary phones, fax machines, surveillance cameras, and similar devices. Dials (貝（ダイアル）, daiaru), the shells of certain sky-dwelling animals, can be used to store kinetic energy, wind, sound, images, heat, and the like and have various applications.

A Devil Fruit (悪é­"の実, Akuma no Mi) is a type of fruit which when eaten confers a power on the eater. There are three categories of Devil Fruit. Zoan (動物系（ゾオン）, Zoon) fruits allow the user to fully and partially transform into a specific animal (real or otherwise [some fruits allow a person to turn into mythical beast such as a phoenix or a dragon.]). Logia (自然系（ロギア）, Rogia) fruits give control over and allow the user "to change their living body structure into the powers of nature". Paramecia (超人系（ãƒ'ラミシア）, Paramishia) is a catch-all category for fruits that give the user superhuman abilities. They are said to be incarnations of the Sea Devil himself, and as a result, Devil Fruit users cannot swim in sea water, as "they are hated by the sea". Sea-prism stone also has this effect. When even partially submerged in sea water, they lose all of their strength and coordination, although some abilities remain, such as Luffy still being able to stretch after being totally submerged. "Moving" water, such as rain or waves, does not have this effect. When a Devil Fruit user dies, the powers will be reincarnated into a new Devil Fruit.

Haki (覇気, lit. "Ambition") is a latent ability every living being in the world of One Piece possesses, though it is quiescent in most. It comes in three varieties: Color of Observation Haki (見聞色の覇気, Kenbunshoku no Haki) allows to sense the presence of other beings and predict their movement. Color of Armament (武装色の覇気, Busōshoku no Haki) allows one to envelop body parts and even inanimate forms with a force akin to an invisible armor that possesses defensive/offensive properties, which also allows one to inflict harm upon Devil Fruit users. The rare Color of the Conquering King (覇王色の覇気, Haōshoku no Haki) enables one to intimidate or render beings of weak determination unconscious.

Plot

The series begins with the execution of Gol D. Roger, a man known as the King of the Pirates (海賊王, Kaizokuō). Just before his death, Roger announces that his treasure, the One Piece (ひとつなぎの大秘宝 (ワンãƒ"ース), Wan PÄ«su), will be available to anyone who finds it, causing the Great Pirate Era (大海賊時代, Dai Kaizoku Jidai) to begin. As a result, countless pirates set out to the Grand Line to look for the treasure.

Twenty-two years have passed since Roger's execution, and Monkey D. Luffy, a young man inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate Red Haired Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the One Piece and become King of the Pirates. In an effort to organize his own crew, the Straw Hat Pirates (麦わら海賊団篇, Mugiwara Kaizoku-dan), Luffy befriends a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro and they sail off to find the One Piece. They soon meet Nami, a navigator and thief; Usopp, a sniper and a liar; and Sanji, a womanizing chef; leading to confrontations with Buggy the Clown, Captain Kuro and Don Krieg. Later, Luffy encounters Arlong, a fishman and member of the former Sun Pirates who thinks that fishmen are superior to humans. After Luffy defeats Arlong, Nami officially joins Luffy's crew and the Navy places a bounty on Luffy's head. Luffy then meets Captain Smoker, a navy captain that can turn into smoke. He briefly captures Luffy, but Luffy is saved by his father Monkey D. Dragon After making their way through the Grand Line, the group meets Nefeltari Vivi, a princess who wants to help save her country, the Alabasta Kingdom, from the crime syndicate Baroque Works. They later befriend the doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer Tony Tony Chopper while in Drum Island.

The Straw Hat Pirates make their way to Alabasta, leading to battles with Baroque Works and their leader, Sir Crocodile. Luffy eventually defeats Crocodile and liberates Alabasta. Soon after, Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former member of Baroque Works joins Luffy's crew. They soon meet Blackbeard, whose dream is also to become Pirate King. After going up to the floating island of Skypiea, the crew gets involved in a war between the Skypieans and the Shandorians, leading to a confrontation against the island's ruler Eneru, who has the power of lightning. Luffy defeats Eneru to save Skypiea and end the war. The crew soon meets the navy admiral Aokiji, who reveals that Robin was involved in searching for Poneglyphs, which are stones with markings left by an ancient civilization to reveal the missing 100 years of history that the World Government had erased. The group goes to Water 7, confronting the cyborg shipwright Franky and find that their ship, Going Merry, has sailed for the last time and must be dismantled leading to Usopp's temporary departure from the Straw Hats. However, Cipher Pol No. 9, the World Government's intelligence agency captures Robin and Franky for information regarding the Poneglyphs and the ancient weapons that may come from them. Franky breaks free from the government after burning his blueprints for one of the weapons and teams up with the Straw Hat Pirates to declare war on the government, resulting in battles between CP9 and its minions. The final long battle with CP9 ends when the crew saves Robin. Franky builds a new ship, the Thousand Sunny, for the Straw Hats and officially joins the crew. Soon after, the crew helps a musician skeleton named Brook find his shadow in Thriller Bark, which has been stolen by Gekko Moriah. After defeating Moriah, Brook joins Luffy's crew.

After arriving at Saboady Archipelago, the crew preapres to sail to the New World, the second half of Grand Line. While there, they befriend Silvers Rayleigh, a former member of Roger's pirate crew who they ask to coat their ship so they can travel underwater. The crew eventually gets separated during a battle with Bartholomew Kuma, a huge cyborg under the control of the Navy, at the Sabaody Archipelago, with Luffy being sent to the all-female island Amazon Lily. Having learned that his older brother and the son of Gol D. Roger, Portgas D. Ace has been detained at the government prison Impel Down, Luffy goes there and liberates several people from the prison, including the fishman Jimbei and some old enemies. Luffy soon learns that Ace is at Marineford to be executed at Navy headquarters. However, war breaks out between the Navy and a group of pirates led by the legendary pirate, Whitebeard. In the ensuing chaos, Whitebeard and Ace are killed. At Rayleigh's request, Luffy has the Straw Hats undergo rigorous training regimens, some under the tutelage of prominent figures.

Two years later, the crew regroups at Sabaody Archipelago and journeys to Fishman Island to enter the New World. During this time, a group of fishman pirates appear, seeking supremacy against humans, and hold a coup d'état to decide the fate of the island. However, after Nami forgives Jimbei for releasing Arlong into the East Blue, the Straw Hats defeat the fishmen pirates, saving the island. The Straw Hats leave Fishman Island and finally reach the New World, but not before starting a feud with Big Mom, one of the "Four Emperors", the strongest pirates in the New World. Entering the half-burning and half-freezing island, Punk Hazard, the crew encounters an old friend and one of the new Warlords, Trafalgar Law, and they form an alliance to take down the Four Emperors in the New World. The alliance is drawn into a fierce battle against Caesar Clown, the scientist responsible for the destruction of Punk Hazard four years earlier. After Caesar's defeat, the alliance goes to Dressrosa, a kingdom ruled by Donquixote Doflamingo in an attempt to destroy the Smile factory as the next phase to defeat one of the Four Emperors, Kaido.

Production

While working as an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Eiichiro Oda began writing One Piece in 1996. From there, it started as two one-shot stories entitled Romance Dawnâ€"which would later be used as the title for One Piece's first chapter and volume. They both featured the character of Luffy, and included elements that would later appear in the main series. The first of these short stories was published in August 1996 in Akamaru Jump and later in One Piece Red. The second was published in the 41st issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1996 and reprinted in 1998 in Oda's short story collection, Wanted!.

Oda originally planned One Piece to last five years, and he had already planned out the ending, but he found himself enjoying the story too much to end it in that amount of time and now has no idea how long it will take to reach that point. Nevertheless, the author states, as of July 2007, that the ending will still be the one he had decided on from the beginning and he is committed to seeing it through to the end, no matter how many years it takes.

When creating a Devil Fruit, Oda thinks of something that would fulfill a human desire; he added that he does not see why he would draw a Devil Fruit unless the fruit's appearance would entice one to eat it. The names of many special attacks and other concepts in the manga consist of a form of punning, in which phrases written in kanji are paired with an idiosyncratic reading. The names of Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, and Franky's techniques are often mixed with other languages, and the names of a number of Zoro's sword techniques are designed as jokes; for example, some of them look fearsome when read by sight but sound like kinds of food when read aloud (like Zoro's signature move, Onigiri, which is rendered as demon's cut but may also mean rice dumpling). Eisaku Inoue, the animation director, has said that the creators did not use these kanji readings in the anime since they "might have cut down the laughs by about half." Nevertheless, Konosuke Uda, the director, said that he believes that the creators "made the anime pretty close to the manga."

Oda was "sensitive" about how his work would be translated. The English version of the One Piece manga in many instances uses one onomatopoeia for multiple onomatopoeia used in the Japanese version. For instance, "saaa" (the sound of light rain, close to a mist) and "zaaa" (the sound of pouring rain) are both translated as "fshhhhhhh." Unlike other manga artists, Oda draws everything that movesâ€"including crowds, animals, smoke, clouds, and oceansâ€"himself to create a consistent look while leaving his staff to draw the backgrounds based on sketches drawn by Oda.

When a reader asked Oda who Nami is in love with, Oda answered that there will not likely be any romance among the Straw Hat Pirates. Oda explained that he does not portray romance in One Piece as the series is a shōnen manga, and the young boys who read the manga are not interested in romance.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump starting on July 19, 1997. The chapters have been published into tankōbon volumes by Shueisha since December 24, 1997. As of December 27, 2014, there are 763 chapters and 76 tankōbon volumes.

The One Piece series was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media, who publishes it chapterwise in the manga anthology Shonen Jump, since the magazine's launch in November 2002, and in bound volumes since June 2003. In 2009, Viz Media announced the release of five volumes per month in North America during the first half of 2010, greatly increasing that number. In the United Kingdom, the volumes were published by Gollancz Manga, starting March 2006, until Viz Media replaced it after the fourteenth volume. In Australia and New Zealand, the English volumes have been distributed by Madman Entertainment since November 10, 2008. In Poland, Japonica Polonica Fantastica is publishing the manga â€" as of January 2014, twenty six volumes have been released.

Original video animations

Three original video animations (OVAs) have been released in Japan. The first, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzack!, was produced by Production I.G for the Jump Super Anime Tour of 1998 and directed by Gorō Taniguchi. It is 29 minutes in length and features character designs by Hisashi Kagawa. Luffy, Nami, and Zoro are attacked by a sea monster that destroys their boat and separates them. Luffy is found on an island beach, where he saves a little girl, Medaka, from two pirates. All the villagers, including Medaka's father, have been taken away by Ganzack and his crew as forced laborers. After hearing that Ganzak also stole all the food, Luffy and Zoro rush out to get it back. As they fight the pirates, one of them kidnaps Medaka. A fight starts between Luffy and Ganzack, ending in Luffy's capture. Meanwhile, Zoro is forced to give up after a threat is made to kill all of the villagers. The people from the village rise up against Ganzack, and while the islanders and pirates fight, Nami goes and unlocks the three captives. Ganzack defeats the rebellion and reveals his armored battleship. Now it is up to the Straw Hats to "Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!" and prevent him from destroying the island.

The second OVA, One Piece: Romance Dawn Story, was produced by Toei Animation in July 2008 for the Jump Super Anime Tour. It is 34 minutes in length and based on the first version of Romance Dawn, the pilot story for One Piece, but includes the Straw Hat Pirates up to Brook and their second ship, the Thousand Sunny. In search for food for his crew, Luffy arrives at a port town, defeating a pirate named Crescent Moon Gally on the way. He meets a girl named Silk in town, who was abandoned by attacking pirates as a baby and raised by the mayor, which has caused her to value the town as her "treasure". The villagers mistake Luffy for Gally and capture him just as the real Gally returns. Gally throws Luffy in the water and plans to destroy the town, but Silk saves him and Luffy goes after Gally. His crew arrives to help him, and with his help, he recovers the treasure for the town, gets some food, and destroys Gally's ship. It was later released as a triple feature DVD with Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! and Tegami Bachi: Light and Blue Night, that was available only though a mail-in offer exclusive to Japanese residents.

The third OVA, One Piece Film Strong World: Episode 0, is the animated version of the One Piece Manga Special called "Chapter 0" which shows how things were before and after the death of Roger. It is also the introductory chapter to the long-awaited tenth film, Strong World.

Anime series

Toei Animation produced an anime television series based on the manga chapters, also titled One Piece. The series premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on October 20, 1999. Since then, the still continuing series has aired more than 650 episodes and has been exported to various countries around the world.

The first attempt at an English Language adaptation of One Piece was attempted by Odex who licensed the first 104 episodes in Singapore, which were split between two seasons. Because of the bad VCD sales and low television ratings, attempts at a third season of 52 episodes, and a DVD box set release were both scrapped, and most voice actors were replaced for season 2.

In 2004, 4Kids Entertainment acquired the license for distribution of One Piece in North America. 4Kids collaborated with Viz Media to distribute the series for home video release. This dub was heavily edited for content, as well as length; reducing the first 143 episodes into 104. Such edits included changing the appearance of guns, replacing Sanji's cigarettes with lollipops, and story edits pertaining to violence or the mention of death. 4Kids originally created an English version of the original opening theme; however, the music was replaced with an alternate score composed by their in-house musicians. The series premiered in the United States on September 18, 2004 on the Fox network as part of the Fox Box block, and later aired on Cartoon Network in the Toonami block in April 2005. 4Kids released a statement in December 2006 confirming that it cancelled the project. In July 2010, an interview was conducted between Anime News Network and Mark Kirk, the Vice President of Digital Media for 4Kids Entertainment. In this interview, Kirk explained that 4Kids acquired One Piece as part of a package deal with other anime, and that the company did not actually watch any of the series before acquiring it. However, once 4Kids realized One Piece would not work with their intended demographic, the company decided to edit it into a more child-oriented series until they had an opportunity to legally drop the license. Kirk said the experience on producing One Piece "ruined the company's reputation." Since then, 4Kids established a more strict set of guidelines, checks, and balances to determine what anime the company acquires.

Following the 4Kids dub in 2006, Funimation began production on an English-language release of One Piece. In an interview with voice actor Christopher Sabat, Sabat stated that Funimation had been interested in acquiring One Piece from the very beginning, and produced a "test episode," in which Sabat played the character of Helmeppo and Eric Vale played the part of the main character, Monkey D. Luffy (they would later go on to provide the English voices for Roronoa Zoro and Sanji, respectively). After producing a new English voice dub, which featured minimal edits compared to the 4Kids dub, the company released its first unedited, bilingual DVD box set, containing 13 episodes, on May 27, 2008. Similarly sized sets followed with fourteen sets released as of October 26, 2010. The Funimation dubbed episodes premiered on Cartoon Network on September 29, 2007 and aired until its cancellation on March 22, 2008. The remainder of Funimation's dubbed episodes continued to be aired on Australia's Cartoon Network, and then shifted into reruns of the Funimation dub before being replaced by Total Drama Island. On October 28, 2011, Funimation posted a press release on their official website, confirming the acquisition of episodes 206â€"263 and the aspect ratio, beginning with episode 207 onwards, will be changed to the 16:9 widescreen format. On May 18, 2013, the uncut series began airing on Adult Swim's revived Toonami block from episode 207 onwards.

Funimation, Toei Animation, Shueisha, and Fuji TV announced in May 2009 that they would simulcast stream the series within an hour of the weekly Japanese broadcast. This free, English-subtitled simulcast is available at www.onepieceofficial.com. Originally scheduled to begin on May 30, 2009 with episode 403, a lack of security resulted in a leak of the episode. As a result, Funimation delayed the offer until August 29, 2009 at which point it began with a simulcast of episode #415.

In early February 2013, Manga Entertainment announced that it will start releasing the Funimation dub of One Piece in the United Kingdom in 4 disc collection format, starting on May 27, 2013.

In early November 2013, Crunchyroll announced that it will start simulcasting One Piece from November 2, 2013 in the territories United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America. They announced in February, 2014 that they would start backlogging the One Piece episodes with 25â€"30 episodes per week starting from March 1, 2014.

Anime films

Thirteen animated films based on the One Piece series have been released in Japan. The films are traditionally released during the Japanese school spring break since 2000. The films feature self-contained, completely original plots or alternate retellings of story arcs with animation of higher quality than what the weekly anime allows for. Funimation Entertainment has licensed the eighth, tenth, and twelfth films for release in North America.

Video games

The One Piece franchise has been adapted into multiple video games published by subsidiaries of Bandai and later as part of Namco Bandai Games. The games have been released on a variety of video game and handheld consoles. The series features various genres, mostly role-playing gamesâ€"the predominant type in the series' early yearsâ€"and fighting games, such as the titles of the Grand Battle! sub-series.

The series debuted in Japan on July 19, 2000 with From TV Animation - One Piece: Become the Pirate King!. As of 2013, there are currently over 30 games based on the franchise. Additionally, One Piece characters and settings have appeared in various crossover games, such as Battle Stadium D.O.N and Jump Ultimate Stars, which feature characters from other Shonen Jump franchises.

Music

Myriad soundtracks were released to the anime, films and the games. The music for the One Piece anime series and most of its films were directed by Kohei Tanaka and Shiro Hamaguchi. Various theme songs and character songs were released on a total of 49 singles. Most of the songs are also featured on six compilation albums and on 16 soundtrack CDs.

As of 2013, the One Piece anime series uses 35 pieces of theme music; sixteen opening themes and nineteen ending themes. Since episode 279, the ending themes were omitted and the opening themes, starting from episode 326 onwards, were extended by 40 seconds. For the first 206 episodes of Funimation's English-language release of the series, various voice actors dubbed the opening and ending themes, before using the Japanese versions for episodes 207 onwards due to licensing reasons. The 4Kids English adaptation uses an alternate score as well as its own opening theme.

Light novels

A series of light novels was published based on the first OVA, certain episodes of the anime TV series, and all but the first feature film. They featured art work by Oda and are written by Tatsuya Hamasaki. The first of these novels, One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzak!, based on the OVA, was released on June 3, 1999. On July 17, 2000, followed One Piece: Logue Town Chapter, a light novel adaptation of the anime TV series's Logue Town story arc. The first feature film to be adapted was Clockwork Island Adventure. The book was released on March 19, 2001. On December 25, 2001, followed the second and so far last light novel adaptation of an anime TV series arc in One Piece: Thousand-year Dragon Legend. The adaptation of Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals was released on March 22, 2002, and that of Dead End Adventure on March 10, 2003. Curse of the Sacred Sword followed on March 22, 2004, and Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island on March 14, 2005. The light novel of The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle was released on March 6, 2006 and that of The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta on March 7, 2007. The newest novel adapts Episodes of Chopper Plus: Bloom in the Winter, Miracle Cherry Blossom and was released on February 25, 2008.

Art and guidebooks

Five art books and five guidebooks for the One Piece series have been released. The first art book, One Piece: Color Walk 1, released June 2001, has also been released in English on November 8, 2005. The second art book, One Piece: Color Walk 2, was released on November 4, 2003, the third, One Piece: Color Walk 3 â€" Lion, was released January 5, 2006, and the fourth art book, subtitled Eagle, was released on March 4, 2010. The fifth art book, subtitled Shark, was released on December 3, 2010. The first guidebook, One Piece: Red â€" Grand Characters was released on March 2, 2002. The second guidebook, One Piece: Blue â€" Grand Data File, was released on August 2, 2002. The third guidebook, One Piece: Yellow â€" Grand Elements, was released on April 4, 2007, and the fourth guidebook, One Piece: Green â€" Secret Pieces, was released on November 4, 2010. An anime guidebook, One Piece: RAINBOW!, was released on May 1, 2007, and covers the first 8 years of the TV show.

Other media

Other One Piece media include a trading card game by Bandai named One Piece CCG and a drama CD centering around the character of Nefertari Vivi released by Avex Trax on December 26, 2002.

One Piece's Chopper gets a new Hello Kitty-esque style in the newly released previews of the new One Piece and Hello Kitty collaboration. For this collaboration, One Piece takes a journey, crossing over into the world of Hello Kitty.

The characters of One Piece have also featured in cross-over episodes with the anime adaptation of Toriko. The first of these episodes, which marked the beginning of Toriko's anime adaptation, aired on April 3, 2011. A second crossover episode, also featuring characters from Dragon Ball Z, aired on April 7, 2013.

Reception

Manga

In 2008, One Piece became the highest-circulating manga series. In 2010, Shueisha announced that they had sold over 260 million volumes of One Piece; volume 61 set a new record for the highest initial print run of any book in Japan with 3.8 million copies (the previous record belonging to volume 60 with 3.4 million copies). Volume 60 was the first book to sell over two million copies in its opening week on Japan's Oricon book rankings, and later became the first book to sell over three million copies in the chart's history. As of 2013, the series had over 345 million volumes in circulation worldwide, of which 300 million were printed in Japan alone, making it the best-selling manga series in history.

In 2007, Weekly Shōnen Jump's former editor-in-chief Masahiko Ibaraki credited One Piece as the reason for the magazine's first sales increase in eleven years. Volume 61 holds a manga publishing record in Japan, with 3.8 million copies published in its first printing alone, breaking its own previous records established by volumes 57, 59 and 60 (at 3.0, 3.2 and 3.4 million copies respectively). In addition to that, it also broke Japan's all time first print publishing record of all books, passing the previous record of 2.9 million copies, held by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Overall, the series has re-written Japanese record for first print manga publication 9 times with Volumes 24, 25, 26, 27, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61 and 63. The first week sales of volume 60, at 2,094,123 copies, also broke the Japanese all-time sales record for all books in its debut week, and is currently the only book to reach the 2 million mark in its first week. It is also currently the highest selling manga series of all time in Japan with over 290 million copies sold, and the fastest manga series to reach sales of 100 million in four years (2008â€"2012)

One Piece was the best-selling manga series during 2008 in Japan with 5 volumes sold. Volumes 50, 51 and 49 placed first, second, and fourth, respectively, on Oricon's list of best selling manga volumes, with sales of 1,678,208, 1,646,978, and 1,544 copies sold respectively. Additionally, Oricon conducted a popularity survey with Japanese male and female readers between with ages ranging from ten to forty to determine the "Most Interesting Manga of 2008". In that survey, the four One Piece volumes published that year, volumes 49, 50, 51, and 52, placed first with an approval rating of 45.9%. In ICv2's list of "Top 25 Manga Properties Fall 2008", One Piece made a 15th place. In 2010 One Piece had improved to 2nd in ICv2's list of "Top 25 Manga Propertiesâ€"Q3 2010".

According to Anime News Network, which gathers its rankings for Oricon, One Piece maintained its top spot in 2009 with 14,721,241 copies sold, more than second [Naruto] and third place [Bleach] combined. The four volumes released during that time frame 53, 54, 52, 55 ranked 1â€"4 respectively for single volume sales.

In 2010 One Piece again maintained its top spot with 32,343,809 copies sold, more than second Naruto, third Kimi ni Todoke, fourth Fairy Tail, fifth Bleach and sixth Fullmetal Alchemist combined.

ANN comments that the art style of the One Piece manga requires "time to get used to" with its "very simple" artwork and its designs, which appear "very cartoonish" at first. They also note that the influence of Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball) shines through in Oda's style of writing with its "huge epic battles punctuated by a lot of humor" and that, in One Piece, he creates a "rich tale" without focusing too much on plot. Active Anime describes the art work in One Piece as "wonderfully quirky and full of expression". Splashcomics comments that Oda's "pleasantly bright and dynamic" (German: "angenehm hell und dynamisch") art style suits the story's "funny and exciting" (German: "witzigen und ... spannenden") atmosphere.

EX lauds Oda's art for its "crispy" monochrome pictures, "great use of subtle shade changes" on color pages, "sometimes exquisite" use of angles, and for its consistency. Shaenon K. Garrity, who at some point edited the series for Shonen Jump, said that, while doing so, her amazement over Oda's craft grew increasingly. She states that "he has a natural, playful mastery of the often restrictive weekly-manga format", notes that "interesting things [are] going on deep in the narrative structure", and recommends "sticking through to the later volumes to see just how crazy and Peter Max-y the art gets." Mania Entertainment writer Jarred Pine comments that "One Piece is a fun adventure story, with an ensemble cast that is continuing to develop, with great action and character drama." He lauds Oda's artwork as "imaginative and creative" and comments that "Oda's imagination just oozes all of the panels". He also comments that "Oda's panel work [...] features a lot of interesting perspectives and direction, especially during the explosive action sequences which are always a blast", though he complains that the panels can sometimes get "a little chaotic".

The North American releases of the English translation of volumes 39â€"43 in 2010 debuted at #5â€"9 on the New York Times Best Seller Manga list.

One Piece's 60th volume held the fastest selling record until February 2011, the manga beat its own record with its 61st volume, selling 2,086,080 copies in 3 days after its official sale (Feb 4â€"6). The manga again beat its own record with its 66 volume, selling 2,275,453 copies (April 30-may 6). In November 2013, full page ads were purchased in newspapers in all 47 prefectures of Japan along with the New York Times and China Times to celebrate the series selling 300 million copies in total.

Anime

In a review of the second DVD release of 4Kids Entertainment's dub, Todd Douglass, Jr. of DVD Talk called its adaptation a "shabby treatment" resulting in an "arguably less enjoyable rendition". Douglass said that the 4Kids original opening was "a crappy rap song" and that the removal of whole scenes leaves a "feeling that something is missing". He later went on to say that "Fans of the 'real' One Piece will want to skip picking [...] up [4Kids Entertainment's One Piece DVDs] until an uncut release is announced", and also stated that "kids may get into this version because it's what they have seen on TV." Margaret Veira of Active Anime praised the TV series' "great" animation, stating that "It gives life and stays true to the style and characters of the manga." and noting the fight scenes in particular as having "a lot of energy to them". Patrick King of Animefringe comments that the art style of One Piece is "very distinctive and fresh". In a review of the first Funimation DVD release for Mania Entertainment, Bryce Coulter comments that One Piece is "not your typical pirate adventure" and that mixed with "the right amount of random fun along with a shonen style storyline" it becomes "an appealing and fun romp". In a review of Funimation's second DVD release for Mania Entertainment, Bryce Coulter comments that "You can tell that they are giving One Piece the attention that was neglected by 4Kids" and that "One Piece is a great tale of high-seas fun that will leave you wanting more!"

In Indonesia, Global TV was reprimanded by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) for airing the anime TV series. Nina Armando, member of the KPI and lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said the show should not be aired at times when children are likely to watch.

Awards

Manga

The One Piece manga was a finalist for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize three times in a row from 2000 to 2002, with the highest number of fan nominations in the first two years.

The German translation of its 44th volume won the Sondermann audience award in the international manga category, a yearly comic award given in 7 categories by the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Frankfurter Rundschau, Spiegel Online and Comicforum since 2004, at the Frankfurt Book Fair Comics Centre in 2005.

In a 2008 poll by Oricon, Japanese teenagers elected it the most interesting manga.

In 2013, One Piece won the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize, alongside Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice.

Anime

The first opening of the One Piece anime TV series, "We Are!", won the Animation Kobe Theme Song Award of the year 2000. In February 2001, One Piece placed 9th among anime TV series in Japan. In 2001, the readers of Animage, a popular Japanese anime magazine, voted the anime TV series in 5th place of "The Readers' Picks for the Anime that should be remembered in the 21st Century". In June 2002, the Animage readers voted One Piece to be the 16th best new anime of the year 2001, and gave it another 16th place in 2004 in the category "Favorite Anime Series". In a 2005 web poll by Japanese television network TV Asahi One Piece was voted 6th "most popular animated TV series". Before the poll, Asahi TV broadcast another list based on a nation-wide survey in which One Piece placed 4th among teenagers. In 2006, it was elected 32nd of the Top 100 Japanese anime by TV Asahi and 21st by its viewers. Funimation's first DVD release of the series "One Piece: Season 1 First Voyage" was nominated for the Fifth Annual TV DVD Awards.

Events

One Piece is the first ever manga series to hold a "Dome Tour," in which events were held in famous dome venues of Osaka and Tokyo in spring 2011.

Events were held from March 25 to 27 at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, and from April 27 to May 1 at Tokyo Dome.

References

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official manga website of Weekly Shōnen Jump (Japanese)
• Official anime website of Toei Animation (Japanese)
• Official manga website of Viz Media
• Official website of Madman Entertainment
• Official anime website of Funimation Entertainment
• One Piece (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia