One Piece

The manga series One Piece (stylized as ONE PIECE) was written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. Serialized in Shueisha’s shnen manga magazine Weekly Shnen Jump since July 1997 and compiled into 99 tankōbon volumes as of June 2021. After unintentionally eating a Devil Fruit, Monkey D. Luffy’s body acquires rubber-like properties. In order to become the next King of the Pirates, Luffy’s crew of pirates named the Straw Hat Pirates explores the Grand Line in search of the world’s ultimate treasure known as “One Piece”.

The manga spawned a media franchise, which was adapted into a festival film by Production I.G., and an anime series by Toei Animation, which began broadcasting in Japan in 1999. In addition, Toei has developed fourteen animated feature films, one OVA, and thirteen television specials. Several companies have developed different types of merchandise and media, such as a trading card game and numerous video games. Viz Media and Madman Entertainment were licensed to release the manga series in English in North America and the United Kingdom. 4Kids Entertainment licensed the anime series for an English-language release in North America in 2004, but dropped the license, and Funimation acquired it in 2007.

One Piece is praised for its storytelling, art, character development, and humor. Several volumes of the manga have broken Japanese publishing records, including the highest initial print run of any book. One Piece set the Guinness World Record for “the most copies published for the same comic book series by one author” in 2015. From 2008 to 2018, it was the best-selling manga for eleven consecutive years. As of July 2021, there were over 490 million copies in circulation in 58 countries and regions worldwide, making it the best-selling manga series in history. Additionally, One Piece is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.