One Piece in Germany

In Germany, the One Piece manga is being published by Carlsen Manga. Since the release of the first volume in January 2001, 104 volumes had been released, with the release of Volume 104 on May 30, 2023.

The anime series first premiered in 2003 on RTL II, and also aired on Tele 5 in 2008, on Animax Germany in 2009, and on the MTV-owned VIVA (as of November 2011). One Piece is currently airing on ProSieben MAXX. As of August 2023, a total of over 1000 episodes have been aired on German television. Before the start of the last block, ProSieben MAXX announced that 50 new episodes can be expected in early 2024, meaning episodes 1051 to 1100 would be aired while the japanese episode count was at 1070 at the time of the announcement.

The OVAs, as well as most of the TV series specials up to the first Boss Luffy specials, had been left unnoticed for broadcast and home video. There were early plans for a DVD release of the TV show by polyband, but they were dropped after the first DVD was already announced. From February 2011 onwards, German anime DVD publisher Kazé Germany had announced to release all ten One Piece movies. In January 2012, Kazé announced that they had acquired the license to release the first 195 episodes on DVD. In addition, Kazé Germany announced the release of Episode 1000 on home video.

As a result of Germany being the only country in Central Europe to air One Piece, many Czech and Slovakian fans know characters by their German names.

2001-2013
One Piece began publication back in 2001 in the magazine Banzai!, which was a former collaboration between Carlsen Manga and Shueisha to publish manga on a monthly basis. Carlsen also began publishing One Piece in volumes ever since.

The anime series started airing with a German dub on April 22, 2003, on RTL II. In 2008, Tele 5 started to air the show as well. The pay-television station Animax Germany also began airing One Piece, however many of the earlier episodes that were censored on RTL II and Tele 5 were presented uncut.

RTL II itself stopped airing new episodes after Episode 314, which was broadcast on May 28th, 2008. From that point on, Tele 5 finished airing the current batch of licensed episodes, ending with Episode 400 on March 5th, 2010. The series wouldn't be renewed for more episodes. At the end of March 2010, RTL II would stop airing One Piece entirely, followed by both Tele 5 and Animax in late 2011. In September 2011, the MTV-owned channel VIVA picked up the rights and aired another rerun for the next few years; first of episodes 1-143, and later the remaining episodes up until 400.

In June of 2013, PPA Film, the studio responsible for producing the German Dub of One Piece until then, was announced to have entered insolvency, and as such, was unavailable for future endeavors such as the eleventh movie.

2013-onward
In September of 2013, the then newly formed TV station ProSieben MAXX first started with runs of episodes 1-100 before continuing with episode 101 in April of 2014. They also stated that new episodes would be airing in September 2014. To promote the new season, ProSieben MAXX aired episodes 401 and 402 on April 21, 2014, as a preview. The preview was riddled with technical difficulties during the broadcast, though the episodes were available error-free online for some days. The broadcast of the season began formally on September 11th, 2014, and ended with Episode 456 on December 18. ProSieben MAXX would keep renewing the show for more seasons, re-airing older episodes in the meantime.

As of 2022, the Dub has since returned all the way to the Reverie Arc. Additionally, the streaming service Crunchyroll offers all available episodes of the anime with German subtitles as of January 2022; WAKANIM was only allowed to simulcast new episodes since the Whole Cake Island Arc and only the day after Crunchyroll released the latest episode but stopped due to the merge into Crunchyroll with Episode 1012.

Due to the acquisition of Kazé by Crunchyroll, the series' Box 30 (Episode 878 onwards), the HD upgrade of Box 1, and onwards were released under the Crunchyroll banner.

Alterations and Censorship
From the beginning of the manga publication, the German version had some alterations, such as different volume covers (almost all into having a blue background and a changed logo), name changes, or filling text for shouted attack names, and errors such as wrong bounties. Name changes are also edited onto Wanted posters, but from time to time it happens that edits were forgotten, such as when Luffy's first wanted poster clearly reads his name as "Monkey D. Luffy".

As with the addition of name changes, much of the onomatopoeia for sound effects is visually edited out, drawn over, and replaced with German onomatopoeia instead.

Censorship
While the Manga is left uncensored in both dialogue and images, the only exception being Volume 18, where the swastika on Ace's back tattoo was erased, leaving only Whitebeard's face.

the TV show is censored. Unlike the 4Kids TV dub, the RTL II version started with minor cuts to leave out scenes mainly showing humans getting punched, so many episodes weren't censored. Compared to the 4Kids dub, the German version was much more lenient on censorship.

As the story continued and more episodes were licensed, there were more scenes RTL II felt needed to be toned down. After the network station licensed Naruto in partnership with Panini, and once the story got to the Water 7 arc, even dialogues were heavily censored. Anything about "sterben" (dying) and "Tod" (death) was now people being "verschwunden" (vanished) or that people "einen auf den Deckel bekommen" (get a roasting).

When new episodes of One Piece changed from RTL2 to Tele 5, the dub became mostly unaltered, with only scenes which showed people getting hurt/injured were cut out of the episodes.

VIVA and ProSieben Maxx showed the previously dubbed episodes in their uncut form (1 - 400), while the latter airs newly dubbed episodes without censoring them.

Name changes


The change of names often occurred in the Manga due to both L/R problems and by the transliteration of the Katakana ン which can be interpreted as m instead of a n. Most inconsistencies occur because there have not been any official transliterations from Eiichiro Oda when the Manga was brought to Germany. In the translated manga, many occasions of the official names transliterated into Latin script are also visually edited to retroactively fit the changed names. Since the TV dub is based on the German manga version, most of the name changes are placed in dialogue and episode titles while the scenes showing names on signs and Wanted posters remained unedited here.

The names of many characters eventually differ from their original form either by distinctive spelling in the German manga, or by a complete name change, or by being pronounced wrong in the German dub version of the TV show. In some re-released volumes, characters are still referred to by their changed names, but the character's introduction box may also provide the original name.

While most of these were just transliterations of the Japanese name into English, a number of names can cause confusion among readers, as some are extremely different to their Japanese counterparts. As a result, there are many German fans who are unable to recognize the characters by their English or even their Japanese names.

However, many errors still occurred, especially with Marine ranks, when translating the series into German.

Character Name Changes

 * Note: Several of these names are mere translations of their Japanese meaning (marked "T"). A few others are based on the lack of an l sound in Japanese writing.


 * Monkey D. Luffy is called "Monkey D. Ruffy".
 * Due to this, his alias as gladiator in the Corrida Colosseum was changed to "Ruby".
 * Roronoa Zoro's name was changed to "Lorenor Zorro".
 * Usopp's name is changed to "Lysop" (the "Ly" being based upon "lie" or the German equivalent "Lüge", to make the meaning of Usopp's name more obvious).
 * Lucky Roux's name is changed to "Lucky Lou".
 * Jango's name is changed to "Jacko".
 * Kuro's name is changed to "Captain Black". (T) His alias Klahadore is changed to "Beauregard".
 * Don Krieg's name is changed to "Don Creek" (Probably another way to write "Don Kuriku" or an attempt to avoid the mention of war or "Krieg" in German).
 * Zeff's name is changed to "Jeff".
 * Merry's name is changed to "Lämmchen" (German for "little lamb" or "lambkin").
 * Chew is called "Kiss". Since there exists the word "chu" (which is an onomatopoeic kissing-noise and what fans often believe his name is) in Japanese, they most likely translated it as a Japanese name, unaware his name was spelt in English as "Chew" by Oda. (T)
 * Hatchan's name is translated to "Octa", and "Okta" from Vol. 50 onwards.
 * Kuroobi is called "Schwarzgurt". (German for "black belt") (T)
 * Nico Robin as Miss All-Sunday is called "Miss Bloody-Sunday".
 * Portgas D. Ace's name is changed to "Puma D. Ace".
 * Portgas D. Rouge's name is changed to "Puma D. Rouge".
 * Pudding Pudding's name is changed to "Puddingknie". ("Pudding" is pudding, "knie" means knee, together they mean an easily frightened person as his legs will wobble) (T)
 * Captain Nezumi's name is changed to "Ratte". (T)
 * Hiriluk's name is changed to "Doc Bader". ("Bader" is a medieval term for a barber who acts as an unlearned doctor)
 * Bon Kurei's name is called "Bon Curry" (probably another way to write "Bon Kurei").
 * Pell's name is changed to "Peruh".
 * Matsuge is called "Wimper". (T)
 * Hasami is called "Schere". (T)
 * Tony Tony Chopper's name is shortened to simply "Tony Chopper".
 * Dorry is called "Woogey".
 * Brogy is called "Boogey".
 * Galdino is spelled as "Gal Dino" in the manga.
 * Mont Blanc Noland's name is changed to "Maron Noland".
 * Mont Blanc Cricket's name is changed to "Maron Cricket".
 * Wyper is called "Viper".
 * Kamakiri is called "Fangschrecke" (German for "mantis"). (T)
 * Ohm is called "Aum".
 * Nefertari Vivi is called "Nefeltari Vivi".
 * Nefertari Cobra is called "Nefeltari Cobra".
 * Oars is renamed as "Oz".
 * Little Oars Jr. is changed to "Little Oz Jr.".
 * World Nobles are called "Tenryubito" in the manga, however in the anime they're called both "Weltaristokraten" (German for World Nobles) (T) and "Himmelsdrachenmenschen" (Literally meaning of "Tenryubito" translated into german). (T)
 * Kaku's name is translated to "Ecki". ("Ecke" means "corner", also a common nickname for people named "Eckhard" in Germany) (T)
 * Fukurou is called "Eule" (German for "owl"). (T)
 * Kokoro's name is translated to "Cocolo".
 * Aokiji's name is translated to "Blaufasan" or "Blauer Fasan" (German for "blue pheasant"). (T)
 * Kizaru's name is translated to "Gelber Affe" (German for "yellow monkey"). As of Volume 52, he is called Kizaru. (T)
 * Akainu's name is translated to "Roter Hund" (German for "red dog"). (T)
 * Tsuru's name is translated to "Kranich" (German for "crane"). (T)
 * Dracule Mihawk is translated to "Mihawk Dulacre". His epithet is called "Falkenauge" (Hawkeye). (T)
 * Bartholomew Kuma is translated to "Bartholomäus Bär" ("Bär" means "bear"). (T)
 * Donquixote Doflamingo is translated to "Don Quichotte de Flamingo".
 * Clover's name is translated "Dr. Kleeblatt" (German for "clover"). (T)
 * Van Augur's name is translated to "Wan Oger".
 * Laffitte's name is translated to "Raffit".
 * Jesus Burgess's name is translated to "Jesus Barges".
 * Sarquiss's name is changed to "Cirkies".
 * Peepley Lulu's name is changed to "Louie-Louie".
 * Iceburg's name is changed to "Eisberg" (German for "iceberg").
 * Franky's name is changed to "Frankie" (except in the dub).
 * Mikazuki's name is changed to "Mondsichel" (German for "crescent moon"). (T)
 * Itomimizu's name is changed to "Wurm" (German for "worm").
 * Tamanegi's name is translated to "Zwiebel" (German for "onion"). (T)
 * Ninjin's name is translated to "Möhre" (German for "carrot"). (T)
 * Piiman's name is translated to "Paprika" (German for "pepper"). (T)
 * Inuppe's name is translated to "Hunduin" (compound of two names "Hund" and "Pinguin", German for "dog" and "penguin").
 * Kumashi is changed to "Bärsy". (compound of "Bär" is german for kuma and "-sy" which can be translated as the japanese term "-chan" here)
 * The Going Merry's name is changed to "Flying Lamb", by the crew members also nicknamed as "Lämmchen." (Likely to fit with Merry's name as seen above, or vice-versa)
 * Laboon's name is changed to "La Boum".
 * Very Good is named "Berry Good".
 * Heracles is called "Herakles", sometimes as "Heraklesn" due to his habit of putting a 'n' on the end of names and subjectives in the german manga.
 * Daz Bonez's name is changed to "Jazz Boner".
 * Jaguar D. Saul is named "Hagwar D. Sauro", in the flashback of Nico Robin's childhood he's just called "Sauro".
 * Jean Bart's name is changed to "Janbar".
 * Banchi's name is changed to "Ramirez".
 * Caesar Clown is named "Caesar Crown".
 * Vinsmoke Judge is named "Jajji Vinsmoke" (for the whole family, Vinsmoke comes at the end except in the dub)

Places

 * Luffy's hometown is called "Windmühlendorf" ("Windmill Village") instead of Foosha.
 * Nami's hometown is named "Cocos" in this version.
 * The name of Laugh Tale is changed to "Unicon" for unknown editorial reasons. With Volume 96, "Laugh Tale" was also adopted in German, but "Unicon" has still been used in the dub of One Piece: Stampede for continuity as volume 96 wasn't translated until months later, even though the island's name is visible on the Eternal Pose and the island's name origin was revealed in Japan. The dub was made circa or more than one year before the German release of Volume 96 and premiered after the name origin was revealed in Japan.
 * Holy Land Mary Geoise is called "Heilige Stadt Mary Joa" ("Heilige Stadt" means "Holy city/town/place", "Mary Joa" because of his Japanese name in katakana).
 * Elbaf is renamed to "Elban".

Other

 * The name of the Seven Warlords of the Sea is changed to "Die sieben Samurai der Meere" ("The Seven Samurai of the Sea"), based on the illustration of the Warlords as swordfighters in Yosaku's explanation.
 * The Galley-La is changed to "Galeera".
 * The Den Den Mushi is called "Telefonschnecke" as it first appeared in the story, later called "Teleschnecke" ("Tele" as in "telephone" and "Schnecke" is "snail" in German). Black Den Den Mushis are called "Abhörschnecke" (literally "intercepting snail").
 * All Devil Fruits are named by the German translated meaning.
 * Characters epithets are also translated into their meaning in German.
 * The SBS corner of the manga is renamed to FPS ("Fanpostseite" means "Fan mail page")

Rokushiki

 * The Rokushiki techniques are called "Formel 6" in the manga and anime. (T)
 * However, in the german translated version of the official Databooks and in the manga since the Punk Hazard arc they do use the word Rokushiki.
 * The Geppou technique is translated to the English word "Moonwalk". (T)
 * The Tekkai technique is translated as "Eisenpanzer". (German for "Iron clad") (T)
 * The Shigan technique is translated to "Fingerpistole". (German for Finger pistol/gun) (T)
 * The Rankyaku technique is translated as "Orkankick". (German for "Storm kick") (T)
 * The Soru technique is translated as "Rasur". (German for "Shave") (T)
 * The Kami-e technique is translated as "Papierschnitt". (German for "Paper cut") (T)
 * The Rokuogan technique is translated as "Sechskönigspistole" (German for "Six king pistol") (T)

Note: The story trends towards using the original Japanese names instead of Germanizing them as it goes on.

Translation errors

 * Aokiji was called being a Konteradmiral in the German dub of episode 225 which is the Shōshō rank in the Japanese version.

Anime Soundtrack
Intros 1 and 2 did not appear in the German anime, instead being replaced with a theme written to be played over Intro 1, "We Are" called "Die Legende" (The Legend). Up until the re-licensing of One Piece, all other intros were kept intact visually and instrumentally, with the only change being that the lyrics were re-written and performed in German. Intros 2, "Believe" and 11, "Share the World" have been omitted entirely. Later intros kept the Japanese vocals, the only remaining edit being the staff rolls having been changed to German and adding the localization staff.

Up until Episode 373, an instrumental version of "Die Legende" was also used for the next episode previews, until being replaced with an instrumental of "We Are" with the introduction of the 2008 remix as the opening theme.

Air Times
The One Piece anime airs on ProSieben MAXX (as of December 2021) from Monday to Friday around 6 PM in the evening.

German DVDs
Up to Box 26 (episodes 780 – 804), the episodes were only offered on DVD, but with Box 26 also on Blu-ray. Crunchyroll started to re-release Box 1 onwards on Blu-ray as well since January 2023.

The episodes 492, 542 and 590 have been omitted from the releases due to them being crossovers with Toriko, hence not licensed and dubbed.

Movies
As of 2022, Kazé started to release the movies 1 to 4 also on Blu-ray in Germany, with Movie 4 being released in July 2022.

Trivia

 * The German dub has received criticism for some of the following reasons:
 * Airing one episode that was originally an hour long in Japan (the Robin backstory episodes).
 * Airing only half of the Ruluka Island Arc, then ceasing to broadcast the show and re-starting it again, this time, however, without even reaching this arc.
 * One Piece won the Sondermann Prize in 2005, 2008, and 2009 (always in the category "best Manga/Manhwa international").
 * Up to Episode 504, the episodes were broadcast in 4:3 format, cropping the HD 16:9 episodes (since Episode 207) to 4:3, unlike in Japan but similar to other international markets. Since Episode 505 there has been a change to HDTV and thus to the 16:9 format as Toei does not offer 4:3 after Episode 504.
 * Crunchyroll's German subbed episodes use the original formats of Episodes: 1 - 206 in 4:3, since 207 in 16:9.
 * In the German dub, Satori, Hotori and Kotori are declared as sisters and also have female voice actors.
 * On 1 and 2 July 2023, the Songs "Karte des Herzens" (Kokoro no Chizu) and "Übers Meer" (BON VOYAGE!) were sung live by the original singer Petra Scheeser during a concert at DoKomi 2023.
 * The first release of One Piece Film: Red erroneously uses the video master, that was used for the (german) theatrical release. For the second release of the Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray the correct home video master was promised at AnimagiC 2023.

Links

 * German page about cuts in the German anime version

Site Navigation
One Piece en Allemagne