One Piece has teamed up with the Japanese band RADWIMPS for a series of videos that celebrate the series' history and what a cultural touchstone it has become for multiple generations of fans around the world.
The official One Piece YouTube channel began posting videos in the "WE ARE ONE" series last July. Each video is a dramatic short showing how One Piece has influenced multiple generations - from fans who were there at the beginning in 1997 and are still reading it as adults, to kids who just got into the franchise because of a recent episode of the anime. The shorts feature a soundtrack by RADWIMPS, the Japanese rock band that is best known for providing the soundtrack to Makoto Shinkai's award winning and box-office record breaking Your Name. The "WE ARE ONE" YouTube series recently completed its run with the release of a music video for the series' theme song, "Twilight." The video features clips from throughout the series, as well as newly reanimated scenes from several of the most iconic moments in One Piece's 24-year long story, including Sanji and Zoro's team up at the Davy Back fight and Corazon's touching final message to Law.
The full series can be viewed here.
The "WE ARE ONE" series was produced to celebrate the numerous milestones that One Piece has already or will achieve before the end of the year: the series published its 1000th chapter earlier this year, and its 100th collected volume was recently released in Japan. The One Piece anime, which debuted in 1999 and has been running continuously ever since, will soon air its 1000th episode.
One Piece was created by Eiichiro Oda and since its premiere in 1997, it has become the best-selling manga series of all time, with almost half a billion copies in circulation worldwide. Despite being on the air for over 20 years, its anime series is still consistently one of the highest rated anime programs in Japan, and the video games based on the show are some of publisher Namco Bandai's biggest sellers. The series is being adapted into a live-action series by Netflix and Tomorrow Studios, who are also producing the upcoming Cowboy Bebop live-action remake that will premiere this fall. The new series will be written by The X-Files' Steven Maeda and Luke Cage's Matt Owens, and is being executive produced by Oda himself.
Oda has teased that the long-running story is finally nearing its conclusion.
Source: YouTube
