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One Piece Franchise's 2-Day Event to Stream in Japanese, English in July

Bandai Namco Entertainment, Shueisha, and Toei Animation confirmed on Monday that "One Piece Day," a 2-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. The livestream event will begin on July 22 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).

The One Piece manga centers on Monkey D. Luffy, an aspiring pirate who, like many other pirates, dream of claiming the legendary "One Piece" treasure left behind by a legendary pirate. He gathers a crew and a ship and explores the Grand Line in search of the treasure, while also confronting rival pirates and government navies along the way.

Oda began serializing the One Piece manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump manga on July 19, 1997. The 57th volume had a first printing of 3 million copies, a national industry record, in March 2010. The 67th volume had a first printing of 4.05 million copies, the new national industry record, in August 2012. The manga won the 41st Japan Cartoonist Awards in 2012, and set a Guinness World Record in 2015 for "the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author."

The manga's 100th compiled book volume launched in Japan in September 2021. Oda published the 1,000th chapter in January 2021. Shueisha published the 102nd volume on April 4, and it will publish the 103rd volume on August 4. The manga is taking a break for one month while Oda prepares for the manga's 25th anniversary celebrations and for the manga's "final saga." The manga began its break in the 30th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump on Monday, and it will return in the 34th issue of the magazine on July 25.

The ongoing anime adaptation premiered in 1999. The anime's 1,000th episode debuted in November 2021.

One Piece Film Red will open in Japan on August 6. Crunchyroll will screen the film in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand this fall. The screenings will be available in both Japanese audio with English subtitles, and an English dub.

The One Piece Odyssey game will launch for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam in 2022.

Sources: One Piece Day's website, One Piece franchise's Twitter account, press release, Animation Business Journal (Tadashi Sudo)