Toei Animation Europe launched a new website for the animated property One Piece. Announced at this year’s Japan Expo in France, the site features complete series overviews, historical information, character descriptions, video clips, business information and more. Fans can now go to www.onepiece-toeianimation.com to check out all of the features.
One Piece is an anime series that centers on a young boy named Monkey D. Luffy, who lives in a small port village and aspires to be a pirate like his childhood hero, “Red-Haired” Shanks. When he accidentally eats the cursed Gum-Gum Fruit, he gains the power to stretch like rubber, at the cost of never being able to swim again. Despite this limitation, he vows to grow up to become the king of the pirates and find the greatest pirate treasure of all’the legendary “One Piece.”
Created by Eiichiro Oda, the property was introduced in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1997. One Piece graphic novels have sold more than 100 million copies in 33 volumes in Japan. The property also boasts five theatrical releases, eight video games and more than $1 billion in retail sales in Japan since 1999.
With headquarters in Tokyo and sales offices in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Paris, Toei Animation ranks among the world’s most prolific animation production studios. The company’s operations include animation development and production, as well as worldwide marketing and program licensing. Since its founding in 1956, the studio has produced more than 9,000 episodes for 189 TV titles and 172 feature films as of March, 2007.
