One Piece: Comparing the Cast’s Stars Then and Now

One Piece has spent plenty of time on television, and its history has no shortage of impressive tales. The seafaring anime has impressed since its first episode more than twenty years ago up until now. In light of the anime’s recent comeuppance with the Wano Country arc, fans of the show are looking back to One Piece‘s earliest days, and its stars have changed plenty in that time.

Well, maybe except for one. It feels like the voice actress for Nami has barely aged, so the star must have taken lessons from Hirohiko Araki, the notoriously ageless creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Over on Twitter, the user SoulstormOP got the fandom buzzing when they posted a side-by-side comparison of One Piece‘s top stars. While the Straw Hats have grown over the years, there is no denying that Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, and Nami head up the gang. And in the past 21 years, these actors have gone through a lot.

For those unfamiliar with the Japanese cast of One Piece, you can find three of its stars pictured above. The lefthand side shows the three actors back in 1999 with Mayami Tanaka centered given her role as Luffy. As for Zoro’s actor, Kazuya Nakai can be found to the left while Nami’s actress Akemi Okamura is pictured on the right.

As you can tell, the other photo shows the three stars circa 2020. Tanaka is in the center with a mask on, and she is rocking glasses after all of these years. Zoro’s actor also looks a bit older in this picture, but his expression is hard to gauge given his mask. But when it comes to Okamura, the actress seems to have aged minimally despite the passage of 21 years.

Can you believe how much time has passed since One Piece got started? How long have you been part of the Straw Hat fleet? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!