One Piece has well over 1,000 chapters under its thumb, and the manga is far from over. While Eiichiro Oda may be toeing into the story’s final act, Luffy and the Straw Hat crew have a few more years left to travel with fans. And in the wake of a recent release, it seems One Piece has broken one of its impressive sales records to make history once more.
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The update comes from Japan as Shoseki released its latest list of top-selling manga volumes. In the last poll, fans were told more than 60 volumes of One Piece were ranked by the sales tracker in the wake of One Piece Film Red’s success. And now, that number has skyrocketed once more to 85 volumes.
In fact, there are only 18 volumes of One Piece that did not manage to chart. It seems 1, 6, 8, 9, 15, 27, 36, 56, 64, 65, 69, 73, 74, 76, 77, 83, 84, and 88 did not make the cut. It is rather surprising to see the first volume on this exemptions list, but there are some explanations for that. The first is that One Piece Film Red has pushed old-school fans to revisit the franchise, so there was no need to check out volume one once more. And as for the second explanation, you only have to look at how popular One Piece is in Japan.
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The franchise is one of anime’s cultural icons, and Japanese fans consume One Piece more so than any other country. Luffy is a national treasure, so people of all ages are aware of One Piece. There is a good chance One Piece is at their school or library to borrow if they need it. And at this point, it is hard to find people who aren’t versed in the first few chapters of One Piece in Japan.
Clearly, the anime’s latest movie has shined light on the original manga, and there has never been a better time to dive in. One Piece has begun its final act, so things are about to get wild in the series. If you want to watch history happen in realtime, you can catch up on One Piece right now, and stateside readers can binge the manga on Shonen Jump’s app or Manga Plus.
What do you make of this latest One Piece record? Are you surprised by this bump in sales? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
