Introduction
One Piece (Japanese: ワンピース Hepburn: Wan Pīsu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jumpmagazine since July 22, 1997, and has been collected into 94 tankōbon volumes. The story follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy whose body gained the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit. With his crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy explores the Grand Line in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as "One Piece" in order to become the next King of the Pirates.
The manga spawned a media franchise, having been adapted into a festival film produced by Production I.G, and an anime series produced by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999. Additionally, Toei has developed thirteen animated feature films, one original video animation and thirteen television specials. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising and media, such as a trading card game and numerous video games. The manga series was licensed for an English language release in North America and the United Kingdom by Viz Media and in Australia by Madman Entertainment. The anime series was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment for an English-language release in North America in 2004, before the license was dropped and subsequently acquired by Funimation in 2007.
One Piece has received praise for its storytelling, art, characterization, and humor. Several volumes of the manga have broken publishing records, including the highest initial print run of any book in Japan. The official website for Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga announced that the manga has set the Guinness World Record for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". As of August 2019, the manga has sold 454 million copies worldwide, making it the best-selling manga series in history. It became the best-selling manga for the eleventh consecutive year in 2018. One Piece is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, estimated to have generated more than $21 billion in total franchise revenue, from the manga, anime, films, games and merchandise.Synopsis
The series focuses on Monkey D. Luffy, a young man who, inspired by his childhood idol and powerful pirate "Red Haired" Shanks, sets off on a journey from the East Blue Sea to find the famed treasure One Piece and proclaim himself the 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-danhen), Luffy rescues and befriends a swordsman named Roronoa Zoro, and they head off in search of the One Piece. They are joined in their journey by Nami, a navigator and thief; Usopp, a sniper and a liar; and Vinsmoke Sanji, a womanizing chef. They acquire a ship named the Going Merry (ゴーイング・メリー号 Gōingu Merī-gō) and engage in confrontations with notorious pirates of the East Blue. As Luffy and his crew set out on their adventures, others join the crew later in the series, including Tony Tony Chopper, a doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer; Nico Robin, an archaeologist and former assassin; Franky, a cyborg shipwright; Brook, a skeletal musician and swordsman; and Jimbei, a whale shark-type fishman helmsman and former member of the Seven Warlords of the Sea; and they also acquire a new ship named the Thousand Sunny (サウザンドサニー号 Sauzando Sanī-gō). Together, they encounter other pirates, bounty hunters, criminal organizations, revolutionaries, secret agents and soldiers, and various other friends and foes, as they sail the seas in pursuit of their dreams.Production
While working as an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Oda began writing One Piece in 1996.[26] It started as two one-shot stories entitled Romance Dawn[26]—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 appear later 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!.[27]
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.[28] The names of many special attacks, as well as 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 several of Zoro's sword techniques are designed as jokes; some of them look fearsome when read by sight but sound like kinds of food when read aloud. For example, Zoro's signature move is Onigiri, which is written as demon cut but is pronounced the same as rice ball in Japanese. 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".[29] Nevertheless, Konosuke Uda, the director, said that he believes that the creators "made the anime pretty close to the manga".[29]
Oda was "sensitive" about how his work would be translated.[30] In many instances, the English version of the One Piece manga 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".[31] Unlike other manga artists, Oda draws everything that moves himself to create a consistent look while leaving his staff to draw the backgrounds based on sketches he has drawn.[32]
When a reader asked Oda who Nami is in love with, he answered that there will not likely be any references to romance, since he believes the series' intended demographic is not interested.[33]
Oda revealed that he originally planned One Piece to last five years, and that he had already planned the ending. However, he found it would take longer than he had expected.[34] Oda stated that the ending would be what he had decided in the beginning; he is committed to seeing it through.Manga
Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece has been serialized in the manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump since July 22, 1997.[36] The chapters have been collected into tankōbon volumes by Shueisha since December 24, 1997.[37] In total, there are 953 chapters and 94 tankōbon volumes.[38] Oda teamed up with Akira Toriyama to create a single crossover of One Piece and Toriyama's Dragon Ball. Entitled Cross Epoch, the one-shot was published in the December 25, 2006, issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump and the April 2011 issue of the English Shonen Jump.[39] Oda collaborated with Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro, author of Toriko, for a crossover one-shot of their series titled Taste of the Devil Fruit (実食! 悪魔の実!! Jitsushoku! Akuma no Mi!!, lit. "The True Food! Devil Fruit!!"),[40] which ran in the April 4, 2011, issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump. The spinoff series One Piece Party (ワンピースパーティー Wan Pīsu Pātī), written by Ei Andō in a super deformed art style, began serialization in the January 2015 issue of Saikyō Jump.[41]
The One Piece manga was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media, who published it via chapters in the manga anthology Shonen Jump, since the magazine's launch in November 2002, and in bound volumes since June 30, 2003.[42][43][44] In 2009, Viz announced the release of five volumes per month during the first half of 2010 to catch up with the serialization in Japan.[45] Following the discontinuation of the print Shonen Jump, Viz began releasing One Piece chapterwise in its digital successor Weekly Shonen Jump on January 30, 2012.[46] In the United Kingdom, the volumes were published by Gollancz Manga, starting in March 2006,[47] until Viz Media took it over after the fourteenth volume.[48][49] In Australia and New Zealand, the English volumes have been distributed by Madman Entertainment since November 10, 2008.[50]
In Poland, Japonica Polonica Fantastica is publishing the manga,[51] Glénat in France,[52] Panini Comics in Mexico,[53] LARP Editores and later by Ivrea in Argentina,[54][55] Planeta de Libros in Spain,[56] and Edizioni Star Comics in Italy.Reception
One Piece is the best-selling manga series in history; it sold 100 million collected tankōbon volumes by February 2005, and over 200 million by February 2011,[127] before selling over 365 million copies sold in Japan and 440 million copies worldwide as of May 2018,[128] and 460 million copies worldwide as of November 2019.[129] According to Oricon, One Piece has been the best-selling manga series every year since 2008 when the company began its manga chart,[130] and it became the best-selling manga for the tenth consecutive year in 2017.[131] Due to promotions for the Strong World film, all 56 volumes of the manga released at the time charted on Oricon's list of the top 200 manga for the week of December 7–13, 2009.[132] Up until February 2012, One Piece had grossed at least ¥112,126,800,000 ($1,404,220,000) in manga tankōbon sales revenue.[133]
Additionally, individual volumes of One Piece have broken publishing and sales records in Japan. In 2009, Volume 56 had the highest initial print run of any manga: 2.85 million copies.[134] Volume 57's print run of 3 million copies in 2010 was the highest first print for any book of any subject in Japan—a record that was broken several times by subsequent volumes and currently held by Volume 67's 4.05 million initial printing in 2012.[135] Volume 60 was the first book to sell over two million copies in its opening week on Oricon book rankings,[136][137] and later became the first book to sell over three million copies since the chart began in 2008.[138]
One Piece has also sold well in North America, charting on Publishers Weekly's list of bestselling comics for April/May 2007 and numerous times on The New York Times Manga Best Seller list.[139][140][141] On ICv2's list of Top 25 Manga Properties Fall 2008 for North America, which is compiled by interviews with retailers and distributors, Nielsen BookScan's Top 20 Lists of graphic novels and ICv2's own analysis of information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors, One Piece came in 15th place.[142] It rose to second place on their Top 25 Manga Properties Q3 2010 list.
Allen Divers of Anime News Network comments in 2003 that the art style One Piece employs "initially seems very cartoonish with much of the character designs showing more North American influence than that from its Japanese origins". Adding that the "artwork and settings come across as timeless in their presentation". He also notes 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 "manages to share a rich tale without getting bogged down by overly complicated plots".[144] Rebecca Silverman of the same site stated that one of the series' strengths is to "blend action, humor, and heavy fare together" and praised the art, but stated that the panels could get too crowded for easy reading.[145] The website activeAnime describes the artwork in One Piece as "wonderfully quirky and full of expression".[146] 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.[147]
EX Media 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.[148] Shaenon K. Garrity, who at some point edited the series for English Shonen Jump, said that, while doing so, her amazement over Oda's craft grew steadily. 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".[149] 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 praised Oda's artwork as "imaginative and creative" and comments that "Oda's imagination just oozes all of the panels [sic]". He also notes 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".Awards and Accolades
The One Piece manga was a finalist for the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize three times in a row from 2000 to 2002,[163][164][165] with the highest number of fan nominations in the first two years.[166] The German translation of its 44th volume won the Sondermann audience award in the international manga category, a yearly comic award given in seven categories by the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Frankfurter Rundschau, Spiegel Online and Comicforum, at the Fair's Comics Centre in 2005.[167][168] In a 2008 poll by Oricon, Japanese teenagers voted it the most interesting manga.[169] The manga was nominated for Favorite Manga Series in Nickelodeon Magazine's 2009 Comics Awards.[170] In 2012, One Piece won the 41st Japan Cartoonists Association Award Grand Prize, alongside Kimuchi Yokoyama's Nekodarake Nice.[171] Da Vinci magazine named One Piece number three on their list of 2013's top manga, which was voted on 4,619 professional book reviewers, bookstore employees, and Da Vinci readers.[172] On June 15, 2015, it was announced that Eiichiro Oda and One Piece had set the Guinness World Record for "The most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" with 320,866,000 copies printed worldwide as of December 2014.