For the past 20-plus years, Toei Animation has been bringing the Japanese manga One Piece to the small screen with its hit anime series. With over 1,100 episodes and counting, it's been one of the most successful animes ever created.
But soon, a new take on the beloved pirate manga will be released. Last year, Netflix announced plans for a reimagining of the One Piece manga. Produced by WIT Studio in collaboration with Shueisha, Fuji Television Network, and Toei Animation Co., The One Piece aims to provide viewers "with a fresh yet familiar experience, utilizing cutting-edge visual technology to reimagine Luffy’s adventures through the beloved East Blue Saga."
Given the popularity of Toei Animation's series, you may be wondering what helped inspire the reboot. Well, recently, the CEOs of anime studios Production I.G, Signal.MD, and WIT Studio — all subsidiary companies of IG Port — sat down for a wide-ranging interview about upcoming projects. Naturally, one of the topics that came up was the One Piece remake.
As it turns out, WIT Studio actually has a special connection to One Piece that a lot of people may not know about. WIT Studio and IG Port CEO George Wada referenced the 1998 OVA, One Piece: Defeat the Pirate Ganzack as the reason why The One Piece was made possible.
"The One Piece is a project that reboots One Piece from the beginning of the original work, separate from Toei Animation's series development," Wada shared. "Some people may not know this, but it was actually Production I.G that first animated One Piece. This project was made possible thanks to that connection."
"It's a short film called One Piece: Defeat the Pirate Ganzack, produced for a Jump event screening and directed by Goro Taniguchi," Wada continued to explain. "Director Taniguchi led One Piece Film: Red to great success in 2022, and now WIT, a group company of IG that produced the Ganzack video, will produce The One Piece. That's amazing. The production line that Toei Animation has been making for a long time will continue, so we will make the One Piece that we believe in."
Production I.G's One Piece: Defeat the Pirate Ganzack received a limited screening across Japanese theaters in the Summer of 1998, predating Toei Animation's series by over a year. As such, the OVA featured different animation and voice actors. It also didn't adapt or reference any specific story from the manga, though many figure it takes place after the Orange Town Arc. Unfortunately, One Piece: Defeat the Pirate Ganzack is not available to stream anywhere legally.
The One Piece anime will reimagine the East Blue Saga of Eiichiro Oda's beloved manga. Not much has been revealed about the highly anticipated reboot, but it was recently confirmed that One Piece Day 2024 will include a new update on the project. The One Piece was vaguely detailed as "in production" back in December 2023, so hopefully we get some more solid details this time around.