Las Vegas Sphere on Monday displayed scenes from the popular anime One Piece as part of a week-long celebration to mark 25 years of the long-running show. This makes One Piece the first-ever anime to feature at the music and entertainment venue in Nevada, USA.
For 90 seconds, the Las Vegas spectacle showcased Luffy’s evolution from an aspiring pirate to his Gear 5 form, which he achieved in his fight against Kaido. His crewmates including Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Robin, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, Brook and Jinbei also took over the LED screen. The first opening song of the series, We Are!, played in the background during the entire spectacle.
Film rolls carrying hilarious and heartbreaking scenes from various arcs of the series paid tribute to the anime’s decades-long journey.
The display ended by showing the words ‘25th Anniversary’ that carried the scene where Shanks gave Luffy his straw hat at the beginning of the series. The celebrations will continue till June 16.
Written by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece was first adapted into an anime series by TOEI Animation in 1999 and is currently ongoing with its latest episode covering the final arc of the manga, the Egghead Arc.
Running for over a thousand episodes, the story follows Monkey D. Luffy, a young boy who sets sail with his wacky crew on a perilous journey across the Grand Line to find the legendary treasure One Piece. In his quest to become the Pirate King and achieve freedom in its truest sense, Luffy overcomes formidable enemies, forges meaningful friendships and unravels the world’s secrets.
Recently a live-action series of the anime was created by Netflix which went on to become a global hit with 37.8 million views in less than two weeks since its release. The show, which has been renewed for a second season, is directed by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda, and supervised by Oda himself.
After its popular live-action show, Netflix also announced a new anime adaptation of the series in collaboration with WIT Studio, Fuji Television and Shueisha publishers to mark the 25th anniversary of Oda’s manga in December last year.
