Oda shares a message celebrating One Piece' Las Vegas sphere showcase

Modified Jun 13, 2024 04:29 GMT

Oda shares a message celebrating One Piece' Las Vegas sphere showcase (Image via Toei Animation)

Wednesday, June 11, 2024, saw X (formerly Twitter) user and reputable One Piece series leaker @pewpiece (Pew) share a message from series creator, author, and illustrator Eiichiro Oda. The message focuses on the series’ recent appearance on the Las Vegas Sphere in the United States of America, specifically the state of Nevada.

Starting on Sunday, June 10, a newly produced animation sequence by Toei Animation was made to play on the Exosphere exterior and celebrate the One Piece anime’s 25th anniversary. The sequence will be on display via the Exosphere exterior until Sunday, June 16. As Oda emphasizes in his message, it’s the first time any Japanese content has been broadcasted on the Sphere in any capacity, giving Oda’s series yet another historical feat.

One Piece anime’s Sphere display features brand new animation sequence from Toei

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While the Sphere display is the latest collaborative achievement for the franchise, there have been several other notable ones to come in recent months. December 2023, for example, saw the franchise collaborate with the NFL’s (National Football League) Los Angeles Rams for their home game against the Cleveland Browns.

In the months to come, MLB (Major League Baseball) fans will see the franchise collaborate with the Boston Red Sox during their home game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. Those who purchase a ticket to the game through a special offer will receive a bobblehead of protagonist Monkey D. Luffy wearing a Red Sox uniform. Additionally, there’ll be a pregame party with music, a cosplay event, and much more per the MLB’s official website.

As mentioned above, the Sphere display is specifically celebrating the 25th anniversary of the television anime series, with this anniversary likely motivating the other collaborations as well. Toei Animation is also celebrating the anime’s 25th anniversary with a special 25 Years of One Piece video uploaded to their official YouTube channel.

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The video features memorable moments from each year the anime has aired, starting in 1997 and ending in 2024 with the ongoing Egghead arc. Alongside the Sphere display and this celebratory video, an official English YouTube channel for the series was launched.

Oda’s manga originally began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in July 1997, where it is still ongoing and regularly serialized today. The series is currently progressing through its Final Saga, which officially began with the manga’s ongoing Egghead arc. The Egghead arc seems set to conclude in the coming months as of this article’s writing.

Toei Animation’s television anime adaptation first premiered in October 1999 and is still ongoing today, also in the Egghead arc. A remake of the anime series from Netflix and Wit Studios has been confirmed to be in production, but no additional information on the remake is available at this time.