What is One Piece? The sequence’ mega-popularity, explained

Like its rubber protagonist, One Piece is a media franchise that may bend and stretch each which means. Created by manga artist Eiichiro Oda, One Piece portrays a younger boy named Luffy and his band of goofy pirates on their quest for a mystical treasure referred to as the One Piece. It began as a serialized comedian in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1997. Fast ahead over 25 years, and the sequence is nonetheless ongoing, with 1,000 chapters printed and over 100 volumes. Since its inception, the sequence has acquired a well-liked anime adaptation, a number of function movie variations, a number of video video games, and now a live-action sequence from Netflix.

One Piece is a cultural pressure each huge and area of interest on the similar time. Its sheer dimension has nearly served as its personal type of fortified naval gates that push some away — even longtime anime followers. Now, with the Netflix live-action sequence popping out on Aug. 31, these within the sequence will get a brand new entry level. A recent begin, if you’ll. But what is One Piece precisely, and why is it so common? Here is the cultural phenomenon referred to as One Piece, explained.

What is One Piece?

One Piece is a manga and anime sequence that follows Monkey D. Luffy, a younger boy with a dream to turn into the best pirate on the planet. As a toddler, he eats a mystical plant referred to as a Devil Fruit that grants him the facility to stretch like rubber. The sequence begins as Luffy ventures out into the world for the primary time and begins to amass a crew of pirates. The principal group grows over time however begins with the founding members of Luffy, Nami the navigator, and a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro (localized as Zolo in some Western variations of comedian). Eventually, Luffy and his crew turn into referred to as the Straw Hat Pirates, and his posse undertakes a sequence of swashbuckling adventures throughout the ocean.

Much of the enjoyment of One Piece comes from its whimsy. Throughout the sequence, Luffy travels the world from island to island, every with its personal setting and theme. It’s a moderately fantastical world full of anthropomorphized animals, dwelling skeletons, and extra delightfully odd beings. One second the crew can be in a winter wonderland; the subsequent, a tropical isle populated by giants. The sequence bursts with foolish and colourful particulars: Zoro wields a sword along with his mouth, a fearsome navy chief wears a cute bulldog hat, and characters don’t discuss with telephones, however moderately by way of particular “transponder snails” that may ship and obtain messages. Luffy himself is a carefree spirit; he simply desires to devour a delicious meal, and loves some good potty humor.

Image: Toei Animation/Crunchyroll

Despite the extra lighthearted parts of the sequence, a lot of One Piece facilities round themes of liberation. Over the course of his adventures, Luffy typically takes up arms in assist of his associates and conjures up others to stand up in opposition to pirate oppressors and state-sanctioned navy occupations alike. Typical to the conventions of a shonen manga, Luffy and the crew develop stronger and stronger with every subsequent combat. Lots of the story focuses on the moments the place Luffy overcomes a seemingly insurmountable problem and finds some kind of hidden energy. Gradually, these fights strengthen Luffy and his crew and take them nearer to his finish purpose of discovering the One Piece.

Why is it referred to as One Piece?

At the start of the manga and anime, Pirate King Gol D. Roger confirms the existence of the mythological treasure referred to as the One Piece. The present is referred to as One Piece as a result of Luffy desires to seek out the One Piece and turn into the subsequent Pirate King. The title of the sequence references one in all Luffy’s final objectives within the present.

All proper, so what is the One Piece?

This query continues to be one of many biggest mysteries of the sequence. The manga is over 1,000 chapters in and we nonetheless don’t know what the One Piece is. According to info from the manga, we all know that the One Piece is the identify given to the treasure that Gol D. Roger collected all through his journeys. However, there’s nonetheless lots we don’t know concerning the treasure. Fans have responded with loads of theories about what the One Piece is, however we don’t know what it is or if it’s even a tangible object. For all we all know, the One Piece could possibly be the chums Luffy makes alongside the way in which.

How lengthy are the One Piece manga and anime?

At the time of publication, the streaming service Crunchyroll has 1,073 episodes of the One Piece anime. Each episode runs roughly 24 minutes with credit, that means that the entire size of the sequence runs at 25,752 minutes or 429.2 hours. In whole, this provides as much as slightly below 18 days straight of programming. Similar to the present, the manga has run for a very long time. There are 1,090 chapters and 103 volumes accessible on the American Shōnen Jump app.

Both the manga and the anime sequence proceed to obtain new episodes and chapters. Generally talking, each usually obtain a brand new episode and chapter weekly. However, an finish is in sight. In 2020, Oda introduced One Piece would proceed for 4 to 5 extra years, and two years later, he stated that the subsequent part of the story would begin the ultimate “saga” of One Piece.

Image: Toei Animation/Crunchyroll

The anime sequence takes sure liberties to adapt the story of the manga — like extending combat scenes or including characters — but it surely typically follows the identical story beats of the manga. At the time of publication, the anime lags only one storyline behind the manga sequence. To give an instance, in early August, the anime lastly aired a well-known Gear 5 combat scene; the equal chapter of that story beat was printed within the manga on the finish of March 2022.

How common is One Piece?

Over the years, each the manga and anime of One Piece have grown to incorporate international audiences. One Piece, the manga, is printed in Japan by Shueisha within the journal Weekly Shōnen Jump. The comedian is recognized for being the No. 1 top-selling manga sequence of all time. According to 1 estimate, the sequence boasts over 516.6 million in gross sales and broke the world document for “the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author” in 2015 and once more in 2022.

The anime sequence — created by Toei Animation and licensed in North America by Crunchyroll — is equally beloved. The leisure analytics agency Parrot Analytics finds that viewers demand for One Piece is “40.7 times the demand of the average TV series in the United States in the last 30 days.” Additionally, amongst customers of the app TV Time, which tracks the reveals and flicks folks watch, One Piece was the most-watched series of 2022, beating out different common sequence like Stranger Things.

So now that we all know it is, like, actually actually massive, why do folks care about One Piece a lot?

Image: Netflix

To me personally, the marvel of One Piece is not that it’s massive or common, it’s that it’s good. It’s not simple to create a manga that may preserve somebody’s consideration for 100 chapters, not to mention proceed to create a compelling story that folds in 25 years of storytelling and adventures. I gained’t name out some other particular manga, but it surely’s not unusual for a sequence to pull on too lengthy and seemingly lose what made it particular to start with.

Sure, some story beats in One Piece drag on greater than others, and typically we get a personality that kind of misses the mark. But Oda continues to train a love for his craft and has maintained the core goofy spirit of One Piece from begin to current. After all this time, we haven’t given up on Luffy’s dream, and I’ve a sense Oda gained’t both.