Eiichiro Oda's One Piece is one of the most successful and popular manga/anime series of all time, and soon, the anime will conquer an impressive milestone -- its 1,000th episode. To celebrate, Crunchyroll, Anime NYC and Midtown Comics teamed up to create an impressive mural and launch a photo contest.
Crunchyroll and its collaborators hired Colossal Media to produce the giant mural, which depicts Luffy about to throw down with Kaido and prompts passers-by to watch the episode when it premieres on Nov. 20. The image stands at 17 feet tall and 44 feet wide and is emblazoned across the corner of Grand St. and Kent Ave in Brooklyn, NY.
The photo contest, which is open to legal residents of the United States (excluding residents of territories like Guam and Puerto Rico), began on Nov. 10 and runs through Dec. 5. Those wishing to enter must take a photo of themselves in front of the mural and post the picture to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #OnePiece1000Mural. The lucky winner will be determined via a random draw and will receive a one-year subscription to Crunchyroll, a $100 gift card to Midtown Comics and weekend passes to Anime NYC 2022.
The ongoing One Piece manga was first published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump on July 22, 1997, and the first anime episode debuted on Oct. 20, 1999. The story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate whose body is made out of rubber and dreams of becoming the next King of the Pirates, as he and his wacky crew explore the Grand Line and search for the titular treasure. The series experienced profound success with over 490 million copies of the manga sold worldwide as of July 2021 and the anime netting ¥77.474 billion ($817.87 million) in earnings as of September 2020. One Piece also inspired a wealth of adaptations, from video games to music to light novels to tie-in films to a kabuki play to even a Netflix live-action adaptation.
The new mural and photo contest aren't the only ways people are celebrating One Piece's 1,000th episode. For example, the official Twitter account for the series asked fans to post short video messages about their favorite moments from the long-running pirate anime and the official One Piece website released a teaser image of the episode's upcoming battle. Moreover, there will be a screening of the episode at Anime NYC on Nov. 20. Attendees will get to participate in a trivia contest beforehand and receive an exclusive commemorative coin.
Fans who want to rewatch One Piece before the 1,000th episode airs can stream the series on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
Source: Crunchyroll
