One Piece Fan Letter made its debut last month and quickly became a fan favorite. Not only is it one of the best specials for One Piece, but it's now considered to be one of the top-rated anime of all time.
Up until now, fans have had to subscribe to Crunchyroll or Netflix to watch the special, but soon anyone with access to YouTube will be able to enjoy it. Announced on social media, One Piece Fan Letter is headed to YouTube for a limited time.
The special will begin streaming on the One Piece Official English YouTube Channel beginning November 18th for those in the United States and Canada. Despite appearing on the English YouTube channel, this will be the Japanese voiceovers with English subtitles only as there has been no official announcement regarding an English dubbed version.
One Piece Fan Letter is an adaptation of One Piece Novel: Straw Hat Stories, a compilation of short stories about members of the Straw Hats told from the perspective of side characters in the world. The special was developed in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary and was released in late October. The episodes feature short stories focused on Nami, Luffy, Zoro, and Franky. The synopsis reads:
Two years after the Paramount War, the Straw Hats are about to reunite on the Sabaody Archipelago. At the same time, a girl who is head over heels for Nami is trying to hand a fan letter to her before the group leaves the island.
One Piece Fan Letter is directed by Megumi Ishitani — best known for directing episodes 957, 1015, and openings 25 and 26, of the anime series — with a screenplay by Momoka Toyoda (My Happy Marriage) and character designs and animation direction from Keisuke Mori, who also worked on opening 26.
It currently ranks among the top anime of all time based on My Anime List, a social networking site that ranks anime and manga based on a user list-like system. It has a score of 9.14 which makes it the second-highest-scored anime of all time, trailing only 2023's Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.