One Piece (Anime)

One Piece (ワンピース) is an animated series based on the manga of the same name, produced by Toei Animation and broadcasted by Fuji Television. Premiering in October 1999, it has currently aired over 950 episodes (along with theatrical films and many more TV specials and OVAs), and been exported to more than thirty nations worldwide.

(Despite its prominence, it should be noted that the Toei anime is not the only—or first—animated adaptation of One Piece, being preceded by Production I.G's 1998 OVA Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack.)

Synopsis
Gol D. Roger was known as the Pirate King, the strongest and most infamous pirate to have sailed the Grand Line. The capture and death of Roger by the World Government brought a change throughout the world. His last words before his death revealed the location of the greatest treasure in the world, One Piece. It was this revelation that brought about the Grand Age of Pirates, men who dreamed of finding One Piece (which promises an unlimited amount of riches and fame), and quite possibly the most coveted of titles for the person who found it, the title of the Pirate King.

Enter Monkey D. Luffy, a 17-year-old boy that defies one's standard definition of a pirate. Rather than the popular persona of a wicked, hardened, toothless pirate who ransacks villages for fun, Luffy’s reason for being a pirate is one of pure wonder; the thought of an exciting adventure and meeting new and intriguing people, along with finding One Piece, are his reasons of becoming a pirate. Following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, Shanks, Luffy and his crew travel across the Grand Line, experiencing crazy adventures, unveiling dark mysteries and battling strong enemies, all in order to reach One Piece!

Relationship to the Manga
The One Piece anime is—particularly compared to other long-running anime—extensively faithful to its source material, adapting nearly all of the manga's story material with a minimum of deliberate contradiction. Though it has altered and rearranged (and on rarer occasions, removed) a number of the manga's elements, it typically does so for time or content-rating purposes; when such changes contradict material later established by the manga, they are by default ignored, with the manga taking precedence.

(An in-depth listing of the anime's changes may be found on the articles for each individual story arc and—to a lesser extent—the articles for each individual episode.)

Original Material
In perhaps its largest deviation from the manga, Toei has produced a considerable amount of original story material—popularly called "filler" by many fans—using the manga's basic setting and characters. These may comprise a single episode or multi-episode arcs; most are written to reconcile with the manga-based continuity, but have no tangible impact on it (and in fact are almost never referenced even by other anime-original material). A complete listing of these arcs and episodes may be found here.

Relatedly, Toei has also produced many standalone One Piece films and television specials. These generally only make broad attempts to fit into the wider continuity, and are always given separate home releases.

Screenplay
Screenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write or create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.

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Art (Directors)
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Animation Directors
An Animation Director is the person in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film. He is responsible for character design, character animation, actions and sequences and any other aspect of animation.The animation director has to complete the project within the given time and budget limits. Up to Episode 430, 30 animation directors worked on the anime.

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Directors
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Episode Credits
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English Translations
The anime was first picked up for an official English dub by 4Kids Entertainment in 2004, and the rights were transferred to FUNimation Entertainment after 4Kids dropped their license. FUNimation airs both subbed and dubbed episodes. Various groups have also pirated the anime and given their own English subs to it for as long as the anime has been running.

4Kids
4Kids Entertainment acquired the rights to broadcast the series in North America on June 8, 2004, airing in the Toonami block of Cartoon Network. 4Kids heavily edited the series to make it more appropriate for its target demographic, removing things such graphic violence, firearms, cigarettes, and changing some names referencing unsuitable themes such as Ace and Smoker. Some of 4Kids' name changes, most notably changing Zoro, to "Zolo", were picked up by VIZ Media's manga translations and continue to this day. 4Kids also skipped some arcs, such as the Reverse Mountain Arc, which would have created plot holes later in the series. Finally, 4Kids created their own opening, the One Piece Rap, which they used throughout their entire run despite critical panning. 4Kids canceled their distribution in 2006, at the end of the filler Ruluka Island Arc.

FUNimation
FUNimation Entertainment acquired the rights to the anime on April 13, 2007, airing on the Toonami and later Adult Swim block of Cartoon Network despite a cancellation from 2008 to 2013. With a new voice cast, FUNimation produced dubbed episodes starting from the beginning. This time, they did not censor the original anime and stuck to a more faithful translation of character names. On November 2, 2013, FUNimation began simulcasting English subbed episodes at the same time as the Japanese broadcast. One Piece returned to Adult Swim's Toonami lineup in May 18, 2013. However, after more than three years, it was announced on March 10, 2017 that One Piece would again be removed from the block after March 18, 2017. One Piece was removed from Toonami after March 18, 2017.

As of December 2020, the subbed version was added to the digital-based Pluto TV and was given its own exclusive channel.

Fansubs
Fansubs occur when fans acquire anime episodes, usually by pirating them, give their own subtitles, and release them on the internet free of charge. Various fansub groups have existed since the anime started airing, with many coming and going. Fansubs allow people unable to access the official subs and dubs to watch the anime, especially countries without an official sub in their language. However, the quality of the fansubs are highly dependent on the quality of the anime the groups manage to pirate and the quality of the sub translations they provide. Notably, fansubs popularized the usage of the word "nakama", which directly means friend, comrade, or crewmate. However, distributing fansubs is illegal under international copyright law, and can result in the arrest of perpetrators and their distribution sites being taken down.

Trivia

 * The production cost of one episode of One Piece is ¥10,000,000 (about US$92,915).

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