One Piece Breaks Out Summer Special for its 20th Anniversary

85 volumes, 794 episodes and 13 films, with numbers like these, “One Piece” has become known as one of the longest running shounen series in the anime/manga community and coming on July 22, marks the 20th anniversary of the series since its first publication in July 1997. In commemoration of this marker, a summer special will be making its broadcast on August 26 from 21:00 to 23:10 on Fuji Television.

With a titled translating to, "One Piece Episode of the East Sea (East Blue) ~ Luffy and the great adventure of four friends! It is! ~ ", the special will be featuring the beginning of the series’ tale up to the adventures in the Grand Line.

From Luffy and Shanks first meeting 10 years ago, to Luffy’s first encounter with his crew mates Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji, episodes featuring these moments amongst others which made the series so popular will be making its appearance. As such not only will old fans of the series be getting a hit of nostalgia but new fans will have a chance to discover the work and see what makes it what it is today.

Also, featured in the special are the tales of crew members Chopper, Robin, Brook and Frankie and how each of them are as indispensable members of the Strawhat Pirates.

As stated, the series first began as a manga which was first serialized in July 1997 under Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine. Created by Eiichiro Oda,the series tells of the adventures of one Monkey D. Luffy, a young man who has made it his life goal to find the infamous treasure known as the “One Piece” and attain the title of “King of Pirates.”

In his journey he saves and befriends the swordsman Roronoa Zoro, is joined by the thief and navigator Nami, and encounters the sniper and Usopp who helps in acquiring the crew’s ship, “The Going Merry.” Following the acquirement of their ship, the crew undergo the many challenges of the sea with confrontations from different kinds of pirates.

But in this battle filled journey, the crew also encounter the womanizing chef Sanji, the doctor and anthropomorphized reindeer Tony Tony Chopper, an archaeologist formerly employed Baroque Works agent Nico Robin, a cyborg shipwright Franky, and musician skeleton Brook. Thus, forms the formidable crew that is the Strawhat Pirates.

For the special, the staff whom will be working on the production comprise of the following:

Director: Takashi Otsuka
Screenplay: Tomohiro Nakayama
Production Cooperation: Toei
Production: Fuji TV · Toei Animation

As for the main cast, they will be reprising their roles for the special and include:

Mayumi Tanaka as Monkey D. Luffy
Kazuya Nakai as Roronoa Zoro
Akemi Okamura as Nami
Kamihei Yamaguchi as Usopp
Hiroaki Hirata as Sanji
Ikue Otani as Tony Tony Chopper
Yuriko Yamaguchi as Nico Robin
Franky: Kazuki Yao as
Brook: Cho

On another note, there will be a special version of the anime’s theme “We Are” which will also be sung by Hiroki as part of 20th anniversary celebration.

Source: Anime