Written by: Allysa Malicdem | Published on: July 22, 2021 at 3:10 PM PHT (GMT+8)
The official website of Eiichiro Oda’s 'One Piece' franchise has announced on Thursday a special video collection of five short dramas in lieu of the manga’s 100th volume and the TV anime adaptation’s 1000th episode. The said project entitled “WE ARE ONE!” will be launched on a newly-opened website and on the franchise’s official Youtube channel on August 30.
Mika Ninagawa (live action film adaptation ‘Helter Skelter’) directs the commemorative video. The direction will feature live action scenes and animated segments. The short dramas will highlight the readers of the manga. Japanese actor ‘Kengo Kora’ (starred in Sad Vacation, The Egoists, Into the White Night), joins the cast. Japanese rock band ‘RADWIMPS’ (Your Name, Weathering with You) will perform the theme song which will be released on Youtube on July 22 at 9:00pm JST.
The 100th volume is set to ship on September 3 while the 1000th episode will premiere on November 21 (subjected to change).
Comments from actor Kengo Kora on this commemorative project:
I am Kengo Kora, who will play one of the main characters in a video project commemorating the 100th volume of "ONE PIECE" comics and 1000 episodes of animation. The role is ... I'm still secret, but I played a role with my favorite character as a motif. "ONE PIECE" started serialization when I was in the sixth grade of elementary school.
Originally I bought jumps every week, but I still check jumps every week because there is "ONE PIECE". I think there is a way of life that I learned from "ONE PIECE" instead of exaggeration.
At the scene, I performed a play with the passion for "ONE PIECE" that I thought.
The director told me to keep it down a little more.
Even if I was told to do it a little more, I think it was hotter than I had imagined because it is a type that is hard to say to suppress.
Oh, and there was also an editor in charge at the scene, so I muttered my own thoughts like a soliloquy, but I can't really answer. I was in great trouble.
I look forward to reading it every week!
Please look forward to "WE ARE ONE." Which will be released on August 30th (Monday)!
Apart from the special video, several projects are lined up for the manga’s 100th volume. One of these is the Kibo Discover Project, a collaboration between One Piece’s publisher, Shueisha, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the production company, Bascule. The partnership aims to inspire people to spread hope by venturing the space realm.
UP TO THIS DAY:
One Piece has set a smooth sail in the entertainment industry, both the manga and its TV anime adaptation. It reached significant milestones, making it one of the most widely celebrated shounen series. The manga’s 57th volume released on March 2010 has record-slamming sales of 3 million copies, making it the highest in the history of Japanese publication. The series broke its own title with the release of volume 67 on August 2012 with more than 4 million copies sold. Hence in June 2015, One Piece set foot to Guinness World Records as “The Most Published Comic Series by a Single Author”. In the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, 1000 episodes of the anime series have been serialized.
One Piece has truly exceeded its bounds and earned its place as one of the best-selling Japanese manga series of all time, with a total cumulative sales of 490 million.
Last August 2020, the 35th issue of the 2020 Shueisha's Weekly Shounen Jump magazine (Issue 35) teased that Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga series is "headed toward the upcoming final arc". It was recalled that in a YouTube video published September 2019, Oda reported that he "wants to end it in five years." - pertaining to the One Piece story.
Way back its serialization by Shueisha in 1997, One Piece continues it high ascend as it reaches climax and approaches its final arc.
Congratulations and continue to set sail on the vast oceans!
Sources: One Piece franchise website | Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
