One Piece Helps Japan Bid Farewell to the Heisei Era

When it comes to the end of an era, a time comes upon fans to remember what was. In Japan, the country has said goodbye to the Heisei era, and locals did so with a little help. After all, it takes a leader to guide people through a transition as big as this, and it seems Luffy was ready for the challenge.

After all, the pirate is a Straw Hat. When Monkey D. Luffy says he's going to do something, it happens.

Over in Japan, May 1 has come around and welcomed the beginning of a new era following the abdication of Emperor Akihito. Reiwa has kicked off its first day, but Heisei had to say bye first. Japan decided to do so on its official Twitter page, and it did so with One Piece and Luffy.

The official Twitter account of Japan held the last 10 days countdown of the Heisei era, and One Piece (with Luffy) was chosen as the closing image of the last day of the Heisei era. from r/OnePiece

As you can see above, the official Japan page did a countdown leading to the end of the Heisei era. On April 30, the account made sure to celebrate the final day, and it did so with a GIF of Luffy dressed in his Wano arc gear. The pirate seen crouching down in some traditional garb, and he's pulling a Roronoa Zoro with the sword in his hand. Luffy was chosen to help see the Heisei era out as One Piece was voted as the period's most popular manga, but the hero isn't ready to fade out yet. The Straw Hats plan to overtake the Reiwa era soon enough, and creator Eiichiro Oda will stick around to make sure his crew hits their goal.

Are you ready to see how One Piece fares in this new era? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and 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 over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.

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