What if we told you that everything you know about Sanji could be different… starting with his very name?
What would ‘One Piece’ be without Sanji, the cook of the Baratie who satisfies Luffy, Zoro, and the rest’s voracious hunger? He was the fifth member to join the crew, dreams of finding the All Blue, and if you receive a kick from him, you might not live to tell the tale. But what if we told you that everything you know about Sanji could be different… starting with his very name?
On September 21, 1999, when ‘One Piece’ had already been successful for two years, ‘Naruto‘ premiered in Shonen Jump. Masashi Kishimoto’s manga was an immediate hit, and during its 15 years of publication, it had a fraternal rivalry with Eiichiro Oda’s work as the most beloved by readers. What we didn’t know is that without the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village, we would have never had Sanji.
You see, when designing him, Oda intended for Sanji to be like Mr. Pink from ‘Reservoir Dogs‘: a dark-skinned gunslinger who was named, indeed, Naruto. Interestingly, Sanji appeared a year before Kishimoto’s series, but Oda had already been informed that it would begin soon and would be a long-running series, so he decided to be gracious.
Sanji was one of the characters that underwent significant changes when brought to the anime… or at least in the version that 4Kids aired in the United States, where they censored the cigarette he always has in his mouth and replaced it with a lollipop. Eiichiro Oda found this so amusing that years later, when Sanji had a clone, he had him lick a lollipop to differentiate them.
There’s very little time left to see how Sanji behaves in live action in the Netflix series, played by Taz Skylar, but we can’t contain our excitement. Will there be any reference to his original concept as Naruto? Who knows.
One Piece, Netflix’s live-action series, is going to have a series of preview parties and we’ll tell you where they’re going to be held.
“One Piece” is one of the most followed and celebrated works of fiction worldwide. And it’s not without reason. Eiichiro Oda’s manga has been in publication for 26 years now, and throughout this time, its quality has never wavered. That’s why, even as its conclusion comes into sight and many people want to catch up now—which still means it will be another two or three years until it concludes—it’s normal for everything related to “One Piece” to generate excitement. Even things that historically tend to go awry, like Netflix’s live-action adaptations of anime.
Aware of this, Netflix has decided to do something significant for the launch of “One Piece.” They have chosen to organize 10 events across the world where fans of the franchise can gather and exclusively watch the first episode of the series before anyone else. Well, at least as long as they can travel to the ten selected locations.
The first and most important of all will be in Los Angeles on Thursday, August 24th. There, at Santa Monica Pier, fans can have private access to park attractions, gifts, and, of course, attend the premiere of the first episode of the live-action series. For the other nine events, we’ll have to wait a little longer, as they will take place between August 29th and 31st. Among these, the most relevant for us are the Paris event on August 29th and the Mexico City event on August 31st, coinciding with the One Piece: Mexico Fan Fest.
WANTED: Straw Hats around the world! Join our Nakama and be part of the ONE PIECE fan celebration near you! pic.twitter.com/ccGbO40MrG
— ONE PIECE(ワンピース) Netflix (@onepiecenetflix) August 10, 2023
Spanish fans will either need to travel to one of the confirmed cities—Paris on August 29th or Milan on August 30th—or wait just a bit longer, as the first episode premieres on Thursday, August 31st. So, if you’re fortunate enough to be in one of those cities during these previews, make the most of it. And if not, you can always take comfort in the fact that you’ll have to wait, at most, just one more week to watch that first episode.
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Do you want to get into the Grand Line without literally having to mortgage your entire life? Are you willing to become the King of the Pirates, but you have limited time?
We’ve all considered it at some point: watching ‘One Piece‘ once and for all to grasp what it’s all about. However, as you approach the staggering episode count of the anime, surpassing 1000 episodes, your enthusiasm wanes at lightning speed (and understandably so). Do you want to dive into the Grand Line without having to mortgage literally your entire life? Are you willing to become the Pirate King, but you’re constrained by limited time? We have the solution.
‘One Pace‘ offers a way to watch ‘One Piece’ for the most impatient viewers. And for certain sagas, it’s the only way to avoid ending up frustrated by flashbacks, reactions, and the methods used to stretch a manga chapter into a twenty-minute episode. The concept aims to capture a tone more similar to the original, removing all filler moments and providing a more concise and improved viewing experience. To achieve this, they have a team of over 50 fans working to enhance the series on an international level.
So, how does it work? To put it in perspective, they’ve trimmed down 137 hours of ‘One Piece,’ which is a significant 45% reduction. In less time than you might expect, you can reach the Wano saga. For instance, watching all of Arabasta goes from 12 hours to just 7, and Skypiea shrinks from 15 hours to… a little less than two. Others are inevitably still quite long: Whole Cake Island is shortened from 33 hours to 22, which is a substantial cut, though still almost a full day of viewing.
This isn’t the only instance where an anime has been condensed and improved for better understanding. Take, for example, ‘Dragon Ball Kai,’ a professional project that condensed the 291 episodes of ‘Dragon Ball Z‘ into 167. It’s important to note that when anime is produced on a weekly basis, it often catches up to the manga, leading to breaks, non-canonical storylines, or extensive episode stretching, which can become quite frustrating.
There are no more excuses to not dive into ‘One Piece.’ They’re making it easier for you, nakama!
Some of them were very clear (Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Sanji) and the rest… let’s say they were polished. For example, Chopper was, in the first group image, a smoking human-reindeer and Usopp was an adult pirate captain.
Few things have lasted as successfully in the popular imagination as ‘One Piece’. 26 years of almost uninterrupted publication (quite possibly 30), the life’s work of Eiichiro Oda that, surprisingly, began with a story that he told three times over the years, refining characters, style and plot, but in which everything that would follow was already included: ‘Romance dawn’.
Luffy is already in the first vignette of ‘Romance dawn’, and would last until the end as the key piece of all this gigantic plot. However, in the third story we can also see Nami alongside the Pirate King: in the first two stories she is accompanied by a certain Spiel and Ann. These are small subtle changes: for example, although Oda knew that, at the time of making the long story (five years, according to initial calculations), Shanks would give his straw hat to Luffy, in this first manga who gives it to him is his own grandfather (who in the manga did not appear until much later… And we already know how that ended).
But the most interesting thing to see the evolution of ‘One Piece‘ is to see the original designs in the different artbooks, where you can see that from the beginning it was clear that there would be ten crew members. Some were very clear (Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Sanji) and the rest… let’s say they were polished. For example, Chopper was, in the first group image, a smoking human-reno and Usopp an adult pirate captain.
The rest of the crew has been directly changed, sometimes for the worse. This is the case of Nami, who in her first designs was a thief with a mechanical arm and a gigantic axe. Not very useful to have to draw her every week, of course, but I just want you to imagine her giving giant axes left and right to get a few berris. Oda, you still have time to do it.
Instead of rushing like a man possessed into the unknown, Eiichiro Oda created, tweaked, reworked, replayed, moved and changed to his heart’s content to create his great masterpiece. And now that the end of the adventure is finally in sight, it’s time to remember the beginning. How we’ve changed, Luffy!
Netflix has been at the Anime Expo in Los Angeles to show some of their new projects and brings us some juicy news to end the year
During this past weekend, Anime Expo took place in Los Angeles, the largest anime convention in the US. This is an occasion where many animation studios take the opportunity to showcase their upcoming projects, leveraging the international spotlight. It’s also a platform for other companies to announce what they have in store for their catalog throughout the year. That’s exactly what Netflix did, using Anime Expo to unveil its lineup of anime and live-action series for the rest of the year, along with a quick glimpse of a major release planned for 2024.
Zom 100: Bucket list of the Dead
“Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead” is the adaptation of the manga of the same name by Haro Asō and Kōtarō Takata, which is also getting an anime release on Crunchyroll. The story revolves around a young man named Akira who wakes up one day to discover that the world has been taken over by the undead, specifically zombies. While this would normally be a tragedy, Akira sees it as an opportunity to escape his hated job and pursue the things he truly desires: completing a bucket list of things he wants to do before he dies or becomes a zombie himself. We can expect to witness this exciting journey very soon, as the series is set to premiere on August 3rd.
One Piece
Although the live-action adaptation of One Piece has been in production for a long time and expectations were low, we have to admit that it doesn’t look bad at all. The actors resemble the characters, and all the trailers released so far seem to capture a similar vibe to Eiichiro Oda’s popular manga and anime. Furthermore, with the announcement of the series premiere date on August 31st, there’s another piece of news that will thrill fans: the original voice actors from the anime will provide their voices for the Japanese dub of the series. So, if you want to double down on faithfulness and relive the feelings you had during the early seasons of the anime, you can always watch the series with the original Japanese dub.
Pluto
Naoki Urasawa is one of the most renowned mangaka in history. In Pluto, he adapted a storyline from Astro Boy, one of Osamu Tezuka’s most well-known manga, known as the father of manga, to create a manga about a world where robots are a common occurrence and a robot appears to be indiscriminately killing humans and robots alike. With M2STUDIO and GENCO handling the animation, and Tezuka Productions providing assistance, this is one of those anime adaptations that, by staying true to the manga, already has everything it needs to succeed: an excellent script and incredible designs. It will consist of 8 one-hour episodes and will premiere on October 26, 2023. And if you can’t wait for its release, Netflix has another adaptation of Urasawa’s work, the excellent Monster.
Pokémon Concierge
Although we got a first glimpse in February of this adorable series by dwarf, a Japanese animation studio that previously created the excellent Rilakkuma and Kaoru for Netflix, the streaming platform has confirmed that the series will premiere in December of this year. Following the experiences of a human who works as a concierge in a Pokémon hotel and has a Psyduck as her assistant, the series stands out for its stop-motion animation and the adorable portrayal of the Pokémon. If we add to that the evident sense of humor displayed in the trailers we’ve seen so far, this is definitely one of Netflix’s premieres to look forward to for the remainder of the year.
Beastar
The great but somewhat expected surprise is that Beastars is returning in 2024. Although there is no specific release date yet, it is only partially surprising because, ultimately, this anime has worked very well for Netflix and has proven to be a flagship series for the company in its past seasons. As this is now the final season, which takes place after the climactic battle in the second season, Beastars fans will finally get to see the conclusion of the series after over three years of anticipation. It’s a long-awaited finale that many have dreamed of, and it is finally arriving with the support of Netflix.
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Eiichiro Oda takes a break from One Piece to be able to have astigmatism surgery and thus be able to come back stronger in a while.
Eiichiro Oda is a rare breed in the world of manga, as he rarely takes breaks, resulting in One Piece being published for almost 26 years with minimal interruptions. Unfortunately for fans eagerly awaiting the final arc, which Oda had paused last summer to prepare for, One Piece will go on a one-month hiatus, much to their disappointment.
Eiichiro Oda’s decision to take a break from One Piece’s publication until July 17th, with Chapter 1086 being the last one released, is due to his need for eye surgery. Oda suffers from a severe case of astigmatism, which hinders his ability to see things up close and significantly impacts his work. To address this issue, he has chosen to undergo surgery performed by a specialist to rectify the problem.
Taking it with a lot of humor, initially joking that the surgery is to be able to shoot laser beams from his eyes, Eichiro Oda has drawn a statement to explain to his fans why there will be no One Piece for a month. This will affect issues 29, 30, 31, and 32 of Weekly Shounen Jump, returning to action on July 17th with chapter 1087. While it’s unfortunate that he has to pause just as the beloved series is approaching its conclusion, we can be grateful that it’s for a problem with a relatively simple solution. Let’s hope Eiichiro Oda has a speedy recovery, that he can take this time to rest, and that when he returns, he will be able to finish One Piece with the same creative genius he has demonstrated so far.
Some of the links added in the article are part of affiliate campaigns and may represent benefits for Softonic.
It is now, after almost 1100 chapters, when we finally begin to look, very distantly, at the end of the adventure.
If you don’t know ‘One Piece’ yet, it’s probably because the barrier of more than a thousand episodes is pushing you back. If you’re already a fan, you’re probably one of those who have uttered the phrase “Well, but they go by in no time, little by little you get there, it’s worth it”. Eiichiro Oda’s manga was born in the pages of Shonen Jump on July 22, 1997 and since then until today have continued to be published almost without rest. But… What if we told you that it would have ended twenty years ago?
For Oda, the story of a pirate who stretches himself and his crazy crew was not enough for more than five years: one of presentation where all the companions would join, three in Grand Line and one of the final saga. But as good as the mangaka is at telling stories, he is not good at calculating time: after 101 episodes, the group of only five crew members (out of the ten planned) managed to reach the beginning of the main adventure. It is now, after almost 1100 episodes, that we finally begin to glimpse, very distantly, the end of the adventure.
It is surprising that the creator of one of the most influential manga of all time is so absent-minded. For example, in 2003 he said that a crew member would die that year: it would happen three years later with the destruction of the Going Merry. He also wanted to kill Ace, Luffy’s brother, the same year of his appearance, and if you’ve read the manga or watched the anime you already know how the matter ended. So when he says there are only three years left for the adventure to end, it’s best to take it with a grain of salt.
Although it may surprise us when a manga exceeds 1,000 episodes, in Japan it is quite normal. For example, ‘Kobo-chan’, a strip by Masashi Ueda that has been published for forty years, exceeds 13,300, and ‘Sazae-san’, which saw its protagonist grow from 1946 to 1994, ended its run with a whopping 6,477 episodes (more than 8,000 in the anime, which is still being broadcast). It is possible that Oda’s work will eventually overtake classics like ‘Doraemon’ (1,345 issues) or ‘Detective Conan’ (1,125 so far) in length, but it remains to be seen. It will depend on the mangaka’s calculation, fight up fight down.
For the time being, we’ll settle for holding on to Luffy’s arms, shifting into fourth gear and letting ourselves be surprised until we become those people who recommend anime that anyone would take five years to watch. Or is it that only Eiichiro Oda has the right to change his mind?
