One Piece Anime Announcement
FUNimation Entertainment, Toei Animation, Shueisha and Fuji
Television Announce Online Simulcast of One Piece
Anime
Leaders to Stream Episodes of Popular Anime Series Immediately
Following Japanese Television Debut
Flower Mound, Texas — May
14
FUNimation® Entertainment and the Japanese
powerhouse consortium of producer Toei Animation Co., Ltd., publisher
Shueisha, Inc. and broadcaster Fuji Television Network, Inc. have
entered into an agreement giving the American anime leader exclusive
rights to the U.S. and Canadian online simulcast of the studios'
signature animated series
One
Piece.
Starting Saturday, May 30th at 9:00
p.m. CDT, just one hour after airing in Japan, FUNimation and the
consortium will stream the first, free, professionally-produced,
accurately English-subtitled
One Piece series
episode beginning with episode 403 via the official
One
Piece website www.
onepieceofficial.com followed soon
thereafter by FUNimation partner sites.
Each new
episode of the current season will be rolled out weekly as
One
Piece continues its Japanese television run.
In addition, beginning Thursday, May 14th
FUNimation will stream episodes from the Sabaody Archipelago Saga story
arc starting with episode 391. FUNimation will also offer both its
produced uncut, English-tracked and English-subtitled adaptations of
the hugely successful series beginning with the first episode.
This decision was made by the production
consortium for the North American, English-language One Piece DVDs,
which is comprised of Toei Animation Co. Ltd, Shueisha, and Fuji
Television Network, Inc., with the goal of maximizing the business
potential of package media and merchandising in North America, among
other things, in consideration of the growing online viewer market in
the United States in recent years.
"With digital
technology drastically changing the media environment surrounding
broadcasts, we've gained the understanding and cooperation of Shueisha,
the publisher of the original manga, and Fuji Television, which
broadcasts the show in Japan, the primary target audience. With help
from FUNimation, our
One Piece partner in North
America, we've managed to make a
One Piece simulcast
a reality. With this simulcast, we'll be able to deliver a version of
One Piece with much "fresher" excitement and greatness than ever before
to even more viewers in the United States than ever before. It's
incredibly exciting." Said Kanji Kazahaya, director of Toei Animation
Co., Ltd.
"This simulcast is a turning point for
FUNimation, our
One Piece partners and the U.S.
anime industry," said Gen Fukunaga, president and CEO of FUNimation
Entertainment. "Thanks to our close partnership with Toei, Shueisha and
Fuji Television, together we have effectively closed the longstanding
gap between the Japanese broadcast and U.S. distribution of a series.
As
One Piece continues to be one of the top rated
anime still in production, we can assure U.S. fans that new episodes of
One Piece will not only make the voyage overseas,
but will do it virtually
instantaneously."
About
One Piece
One Piece is
a story of a time when pirates ruled the seas. With several bands of
pirates battling over the great hidden treasure called One Piece which
was left by the legendary pirate king, Gold Roger. One day, Monkey D.
Luffy — a young boy who admired pirates — mistakenly ate Cursed Fruit
turning himself into a rubber man. Ten years later Luffy set out to sea
to become King of the Pirates and launch his own quest to discover "One
Piece."
After Eiichiro Oda's original manga debuted
in
Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997, this monstrous hit
has gone on to surpass 50 volumes and has consistently remained a
best-seller; the latest volume, Volume 53, sold 2.6 million copies in
its first printing. In 1999, Toei Animation created a popular animated
version of
One Piece for television which currently
airs on Fuji TV affiliates.
In North America, the
original manga appears in the monthly SHONEN JUMP magazine (
www.shonenjump.com) sold by VIZ Media,
LLC, which also sells the individual volumes. In addition to this anime
simulcast, plans are underway for the latest chapters of the Japanese
manga, which are ahead of the anime story, to appear in SHONEN JUMP
starting in the fall of 2009. FUNimation, a Toei animation
license holder, will be streaming the animated version in North
America.
FUNimation Entertainment will release the
next home entertainment volume of the series, "
One
Piece: Second Season, First Voyage" on DVD on June 30th.
About Toei
Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (Jasdaq:4816) (
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp or
http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/english/index.html)
is the largest animation production company in Japan since 1956, and
have produced many celebrated TV series such as
Dragon
Ball,
Sailor Moon,
Zatch
Bell!,
Digimon Adventure, and
One
Piece. With headquarters in Tokyo and sales offices in Los
Angeles, Hong Kong and Paris, Toei Animation ranks amongst the world's
most prolific animation production studios. Toei Animation's operations
include animation development and production, and worldwide marketing
and program licensing. Since its founding in 1956, Toei Animation has
produced more than 9,900 episodes of TV series (181 titles) and 192
long feature films as of September,
2008.
About Shueisha,
Inc.
Shueisha Inc., founded in 1926, is the Japan's top sales
publisher and publishes 40 magazines including comic magazine, women's,
men's, sports, literary, etc. as well as trade books. Its most
successful comic magazine, "Shonen Jump", is printed 3 million copies
weekly in Japan alone and many animations such as "ONE PIECE",
"NARUTO", "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and "Dragon Ball" are based on Shonen Jump.
Beyond publishing, Shueisha strategically works with other media and
carries out many activities such as producing animation and
merchandising for its strong properties. To learn more, please visit
http://www.shueisha.co.jp/.
About
Fuji Television Network, Inc. Since
commencing broadcasts in 1959, Fuji Television Network, Inc. (
http://www.fujitv.co.jp/en) has
continually produced high quality dramas, variety programs, sports,
news programming, motion pictures, as well as animation. As Japan's top
commercial broadcaster, Fuji has not only been able to remain the
country's top revenue gainer, but has been able to capture the number
one position in all three ratings categories over the past four years.
Thanks to the continued close relationship with Shueisha and Toei
Animation, Fuji TV has been able to broadcast anime hits such as
Dragon Ball and
One
Piece.
About
FUNimation Entertainment
FUNimation® Entertainment, a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, is the leading company
for home video sales of Japanese animation in the United States.
FUNimation has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and
manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including
broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and
distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and
its brands, visit
www.funimation.com.
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©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei
Animation. Licensed by FUNimation® Productions, Ltd. All Rights
Reserved.
