'One Piece Episode of East Blue' Special Announced for Manga's 20th Anniversary
For the 20th anniversary of the ongoing "One Piece" manga masterpiece by Eiichiro Oda, reanimated versions of the early chapters will be released.
This will be in the form of a two-hour television special titled "One Piece Episode of East Blue: Luffy and His 4 Crewmates' Big Adventure," as revealed in a recent issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.
The official website for the project is now live. It includes screens from the special including the one embedded above to show what fans can expect of the anniversary episode.
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Weekly Shonen Jump magazine describes the TV special will include "completely new work," but will still feature scenes from the beginning of the series given an updated reanimation treatment.
"One Piece Episode of East Blue: Luffy and His 4 Crewmates' Big Adventure" will also feature a new version of the original opening theme song "We Are!" made for specially for the 20th anniversary of the long-running manga.
The East Blue Saga of "One Piece" is the story that started it all. Here, fans meet Monkey D. Luffy for the first time, not knowing they will follow his crazy seafaring adventures a couple of decades later.
Lasting six story arcs, the introductory saga will see Luffy put together the crew in which "One Piece" will revolve. The eponymous island is where Luffy meets Shanks as a young boy living in East Blue.
The East Blue Saga ran for two years in the manga. It was in 1999 that it was first transformed for TV. Indeed, with the animation rendered a little dated, the television special will definitely be a familiar and at the same time new experience for fans as they will see the earliest stories in "One Piece" in updated visuals.
It is unknown at the moment which chapters will be covered by the anniversary episode although fans can expect a lot since it will be a two-hour broadcast.
"One Piece Episode of East Blue: Luffy and His 4 Crewmates' Big Adventure" will air on August 26 on Fuji TV.
