Bandai Namco Entertainment, Shueisha, and Toei Animation have announced that “One Piece Day,” a two day event that commemorates the anniversary of the debut of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece manga, will stream in Japanese and English on YouTube on July 22-23, 2022. The livestream event will begin on July 22, 2022 at 4:50 a.m. EDT/5:50 p.m. JST. The full schedule is on the event’s official website.

The event will feature a preview of the upcoming One Piece Film Red anime film. There will also be information on various One Piece projects, as well as trivia battles.

Since 2017, the Japan Anniversary Association has acknowledged July 22 as “One Piece Day,” commemorating the anniversary of the manga’s debut (although the manga actually launched on July 19, 1997, it was advertised as launching on July 22, 1997).

Source: ANN

Six more cast members have been announced for Netflix’s forthcoming live-action One Piece series:

• Alexander Maniatis is Klahadore
• Steven Ward is Mihawk
• Craig Fairbrass is Chef Zeff
• Langley Kirkwood is Captain Morgan
• Celeste Loots is Kaya
• Chioma Umeala is Nojiko

Tomorrow Studios, a partnership between producer Marty Adelstein and ITV Studios, is producing the live-action series. Matt Owens is the show’s writer. Steven Maeda and Becky Clements are executive producers.

Adelstein stated in a video message shown at Jump Festa in 2017 that the live-action Hollywood television series adaptation of the manga will start with the East Blue arc and will “broaden from there.” Adelstein also stated that the series promises to create “a true One Piece” after he discussed the project with Eiichiro Oda, the creator of the manga, personally.

Netflix will exclusively stream the series, and the first season will have 10 episodes.

Source: ANN

One Piece Collection 29 packages together One Piece Season Eleven Voyage Six and One Piece Season Eleven Voyage Seven. This set includes four DVDs and four Blu-ray Discs. Between the two sets in this release, there are 26 episodes included.

Episodes can be watched with either the English dub or with the Japanese audio with English subtitles. It should also be noted that in addition to watching episodes or using the “Play All” option, there is also a marathon feature, which allows you to watch all the episodes on a disc back-to-back without interruption. In the marathon feature, the opening credits only play once, and there are no next episode previews.

One Piece Collection 29
English Publisher: FUNimation Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray/DVD Combo
Release Date: April 12, 2022

The first six episodes work at setting the stage for the various conflicts that are happening across Dressrosa. Usopp has to once again take down Sugar, but this time, having to do it from an extreme distance… and there’s a chance that he might not succeed. Rebecca makes it to the flower field but discovers that Diamante is waiting there. Luffy makes it to the flower field with Law, and Rebecca gives Luffy the key to Law’s handcuffs. Leo and Kabu head off to rescue Princess Mansherry when Viola uses her power to find where she is. Robin, Bartolomeo, and Cavendish are up against Gladius and the large nutcrackers. Luffy and Law make it to the roof of the place, where Doflamingo is, along with Trebol and Bellamy. And various combatants from the Coliseum are taking on some of the Donquixote Family executives.

At this point, the focus of the episodes settles down on Luffy and Law. A controlled Bellamy and Doflamingo’s double are up against Luffy, and they end up falling to the floor below. This leaves Law and Doflamingo battling each other, and the beginning of this battle leads into Law’s backstory. The next roughly eight to nine episodes focus on Law’s backstory, and it also includes some backstory for Doflamingo as well. This may seem like a lot of episodes for backstory, but honestly, it needed to be this long due to how complicated of a life Law had as a child and a young teenager. In the span of a few short years, Law lost a lot of important people in his life, and he is also infected with a disease that he knows he’s going to die from. At least Law had Corazon (Doflamingo’s brother) as a guiding force near the end of the flashback. Thanks to Corazon getting a hold of the Op-Op Fruit, Law was able to cure his illness. Unfortunately, Corazon is killed by his own brother, but he and Law developed such a bond that it’s what’s driving Law to do his current mission. It’s no wonder Law is such the complicated character that he is. Even though we get some backstory for Doflamingo, it doesn’t make him any more sympathetic. After seeing this backstory, I think it’s safe to say that no matter what way his life went, he would have ended up being an asshole. There was nothing in his backstory to redeem him.

Over the remaining episodes of the set, we start seeing some of the Donquixote Family executives either going down, or in the case of Baby 5, changing sides. We get a brief backstory for Baby 5 that explains why she behaves the way she does, but it’s nowhere near as tragic as Law’s backstory. Sad, yes, but not really tragic. During the fight between Franky and Senor Pink, we also get backstory for Senor Pink… and, like Law, his is on the tragic side. After learning why Senor Pink dresses the way he does, it made me ashamed of the fact that I’d been thinking of him as a weird guy and wondering why all these girls kept hanging around him like groupies.

Giolla tries to heal the executives who have gone down with Princess Mansherry’s power, but Leo comes in to save Mansherry and take down Giolla. Poor Leo doesn’t pick up on the fact that Mansherry seems to have a crush on him, though, and the two of them argue. If it wasn’t for Kabu, these two might have been captured by some of the Donquixote Family’s lackeys.

After Senor Pink’s backstory, the rest of the set starts seeing more of the Donquixote Executives falling. At the end of the set, there are only three antagonists remaining. It’s becoming clear that the Dressrosa arc is getting closer to its resolution.

I really enjoyed One Piece Collection 29. While there was a bit of jumping around between various battle fronts, the story kept moving forward. The momentum of the fights picks up in the last few episodes in the set, especially after making it past the backstory arcs. But, to me, the two compelling backstories (Law and Senor Pink) are the highlight of this set. I’m looking forward to when One Piece Collection 30 is released, so I can see how the Dressrosa arc continues… and I believe the arc finally ends in the next set as well.

When it comes to the bonus features, both the first DVD and the first Blu-ray Disc don’t have any. The second DVD doesn’t include any bonus features, but the second Blu-ray Disc includes the textless version of the opening song that appears in this set.

There are no bonus features on either the third DVD or on the third Blu-ray Disc. The fourth DVD doesn’t include any bonus features, but the fourth Blu-ray Disc includes another copy of the textless opening, as well as “One Piece Season 11 Voyage 7: ADR Directors Round Table.” The round table is hosted by Colleen Clinkenbeard (the English voice of Luffy), and she asks questions to the three main ADR Directors for One Piece. This feature runs for about half an hour, and you can see the camaraderie between the four as they have their discussions. It was a well done bonus feature, and I’m glad it was included on this release.

If you’re a One Piece fan who wants to own the series on home video, but don’t want to spend the time and money to track down each individual set that’s been released, these Collection sets are a good way to go.

Additional posts about One Piece:

• Anime Blu-ray/DVD Combo Review: One Piece Collection 28