The BBC has acquired more than 1,000 episodes of beloved anime One Piece and plans to release it all over the coming months.
The acquisition of the distribution rights was announced August 30, 2024 and the BBC plans to release all of the episodes by the end of the year. The episodes will be dubbed in English only, meaning no Japanese with English subtitles, but the BBC will be the only place in the UK where fans can watch them.
Episodes will be made available on the BBC iPlayer streaming service (free to everyone in the UK with a TV License) and the first batch will be released on September 1. This will include the East Blue, Arabasta, and Skypiea arcs, the first of which was recently recreated in the Netflix live action show (and Season 2 will cover Arabasta soon).
No specific release date for the incoming arcs was shared, though the first three total 206 episodes so fans will need a decent bit of time to watch it all anyway. The fourth arc is Water Seven, followed by Thriller Bark, Summit War, Fishman Island, Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and Land of Wano.
"It’s a really exciting move to bring the One Piece franchise to UK audiences in the coming months," said Fiona Campball, controller of youth audiences at iPlayer and BBC Three. "With its captivating storytelling, rich characters, and global fanbase, One Piece has become a cultural phenomenon and we're so excited to see how the fanbase will enjoy this huge canon of episodes available in English only on iPlayer."
This isn't to be confused with the upcoming One Piece remake, somewhat confusingly called The One Piece, but is just a re-release of the original show which has been running since 1999.
The remake was announced in 2023 as a complete refresh of the show, telling the same story but doing it in a more condensed way to cut the fat and create a somewhat definitive viewing experience.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/bbc-releasing-1000-episodes-of-one-piece-in-uk-this-year