The first 130 episodes of One Piece just dropped on U.S. Netflix today, and that's great! I hope literally every person with a Netflix account in the entire country watches it and falls in love with it and then talks to each other about it. I hope "How far into One Piece are you?" becomes the new "How's the weather?", just the basic standard for opening a conversation. I don't think One Piece changing the way that we interact with eachother as a species is too much to ask, honestly.
But for now, here's a few pieces of One Piece trivia for those that are watching it and looking for more info about it. Don't worry, none of this will really spoil the series in any big way.
1. The first chapter of One Piece made its debut in the manga anthology magazine Weekly Shonen Jump on July 22, 1997. That means that it's been going for over 20 years. So if you're looking at 130 episodes and thinking "Wow, that looks like a lot," you have no idea.
2. One Piece actually wasn't the first introduction that creator Eiichiro Oda gave us to these characters. Or at least characters that are really, really like these characters. Beforehand, he wrote and illustrated two versions of ROMANCE DAWN, both featuring a pirate named Luffy as their main character.
3. Eiichiro Oda is a big fan of Dragonball creator Akira Toriyama's work. If you're comfortable with a few spoilers and want to see the creator of One Piece gush about how much he loves Goku (as we all do,) read this interview that the two had with each other.
4. If you're wondering why Luffy is so gung-ho about everything, Oda designed him with an "actions speak louder than words" mentality. Reading the manga will reveal that Luffy doesn't have as many thought bubbles as the other characters. If Luffy's thinking it, he's probably doing it.
5. Oda has said that if One Piece took place in the real world, Luffy would be from Brazil.
6. Luffy bathes once a week. Yes, Oda has confirmed this. Take it as you will.
7. Oda is also good friends with Masashi Kishimoto, who created this little indie comic called Naruto.
8. One Piece is full of lovely music and probably has one of my favorite scores in all of anime. Trust me, after 130 episodes, some of these themes will feel absolutely iconic. Anyway, they're composed by Shiro Hamaguchi (who worked on some of the music in the Final Fantasy series) and his collaborator Kohei Tanaka (famous for his work on Dragon Ball and Gunbuster.)
9. If you're watching the subtitled version, does Luffy's voice sound pretty familiar? That's likely because his voice actress, Mayumi Tanaka, has been a staple of anime for decades. She previously voiced the pacifier bearing Spirit World ruler Koenma from Yu Yu Hakusho and everyone's favorite bald Z fighter Krillin in the Dragon Ball series. And if you're watching the dub, that's the talented Colleen Clinkenbeard at work. She voiced Gohan in Dragon Ball Z Kai and Riza Hawkeye in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
10. That fantastic opening song in the subtitled version "We Are!" is sung by Hiroshi Kitadani (who will do a few more openings in the series if you keep up with it.) It's also Krillin's ringtone in the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F' movie, and by the time you've watched a few dozen episodes (provided that you don't let Netflix skip the openings,) you'll probably know all the words.
Anyway, I hope you're enjoying One Piece, and if you want to know where the adventure of the Straw Hats is going, please remember that every episode is available right now on Crunchyroll.
When did you first start watching One Piece? What's your first memory of it? Let me know in the comments!
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Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!
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