‘One Piece’ Announces Epic Live-Action Musical

If you have always wondered whether the Straw Hats could sing, then you will find out soon enough. [...]

By Megan Peters

If you have always wondered whether the Straw Hats could sing, then you will find out soon enough. Shueisha, Toei Animation, and Fuji TV just confirmed a new One Piece stage play is in the works, and it will feature some sweet musical elements.

The announcement came when the companies opened a website dedicated to the One Piece project. The play, which is titled One Piece Sound Banquet: East Blue Arc, will start in August 2018 (via ANN). Right now, the play is set to run at the Tokyo International Forum until September.

So far, few details about the stage play have been revealed, but fans know enough to make them interested. The production will adapt the manga's 'East Blue' arc and feature live musicians who will perform its scores. The play will also feature dance sequences and fight choreography. Right now, reports indicate the production will star 35 cast members from Japan and America.

If you are curious about its musical direction, the One Piece play has tapped Kohei Tanaka to oversee its music. The man, who composes for the series' anime, will do arrangements for the play. Kahori Kanaya will direct the production and finalize its choreography.

This is not the first One Piece stage play, but it is the first music-centric one. Back in October 2015, Japan hosted the series' first kabuki play, and it was a huge hit from day one. The production received a sequel in October 2017 after its first was brought to theaters due to all its sold-out dates. Other stage performances for One Piece have been held at Tokyo Tower, Universal Studios Japan, and a virtual reality theater in Tokohama.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has been collected into 87 volumes, with a few chapters yet to be included. It has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best selling manga series worldwide with 430 million copies sold worldwide.

Are you ready for One Piece to introduce Katakuri? Hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to let me know and talk all things comics, k-pop, and anime!

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