We Are Living In A Golden Age Of One Piece

One Piece manga Luffy

One Piece is bigger and better than it ever has been before right now, and that’s a fact. No matter where you look you’ll see One Piece media, including trading cards, manga, video games, anime, movies, and a live-action series. On top of that, the One Piece manga story is well into the first arc of the final saga, and it’s already got some of the most exciting and emotional storytelling moments of the whole series. One Piece isn’t back, it never went anywhere: but it might’ve finally peaked.

Let’s recap 2023 quickly first. First up, we finally saw the end of the Wano Country arc, the longest story arc in One Piece yet, and one of the best. The manga story stormed straight into Egghead, and that’s already become of the most exciting story arcs in recent memory, with swift pacing and high stakes making for a breath of fresh air after Wano’s lengthy build-up.

The anime has been fantastic too, wrapping up all of the action scenes from the end of the Wano arc. Sanji and Zoro’s battles were beautifully animated, but nothing quite compares to the absurd levels of detail and creativity we see with Luffy’s Gear 5 form fighting against Kaido. Every frame is a painting here, and it’s one of the best fight scenes we’ve ever seen from One Piece. Don't forget that Oda's Monsters is getting an anime adaptation too!

Related: One Piece Prequel Monsters Release Date Announced

But that’s just the stuff One Piece fans have always been loving and celebrating, 2023 came with a few brand-new developments. We’ve been waiting for the live-action One Piece series from Netflix for several years now, and when the first trailer dropped we were all stunned that it looked, like, actually, pretty good? Then the series came out and, hey… it’s not bad. Not bad at all, in fact. A handful of dodgy visual effects and Arlong being a bit too short are the main complaints to be made, but other than that, the One Piece live-action series was a roaring success, and multiple people I know in my personal life watched it – and enjoyed it – without ever knowing that it was based on a manga. That’s basically the highest praise possible for a manga adaptation.

The success of that series has made Netflix double down on One Piece. Not only is the Egghead anime arc coming to Netflix, not only are we getting a second season of the live-action show, but we’re also getting a re-animated One Piece series from WIT Studio. WIT Studio is known for its work on Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, and Ranking of Kings – and all of those are absolute bangers – so I have high hopes that The One Piece (yes, that is the name) will be brilliant. The recap movies are fun asides, but they don’t have the same emotional weight as the original anime, so hopefully The One Piece will become the ideal way to experience the One Piece story in anime form for newcomers. Well, once they catch up in like a decade.

2023 also kicked off with One Piece Odyssey, and while I think it’s a bit slow-paced (like sections of the anime and manga, actually), it’s a solid turn-based JRPG adventure for fans. If we keep praying, we might one day get a One Piece fighter from Arc System Works. Let me dream, okay?

To cap this off, yes, I also got into the One Piece Card Game. I haven’t built a deck yet, but I’ve bought more cards than is probably reasonable, and that’s half the experience, right? I don't have any of the most rare and expensive One Piece cards, but I have a few nice ones at least.

One Piece is one of the greatest stories ever told, and it really is better than ever right now. This is the Golden Age of Piracy, the One Piece renaissance. There’s more One Piece media than ever before, and it’s better than it ever has been. I can’t wait for The One Piece, Netflix’s One Piece season two, and more manga developments. There are has never been a better time to be a One Piece fan, and if you’re not in yet, you need to get yourself a Shonen Jump app subscription.