On July 19, 1997, exactly 23 years ago, Weekly Shonen Jump released the first chapter of ONE PIECE, the absolute masterpiece of Eiichiro Oda. Today, the manga has nearly 1,000 published chapters and 470 million copies in circulation, an outstanding and absolutely deserved result that no one could have predicted.

Although some sources of information the July 22 as the release date of Chapter 1It was confirmed several times that the actual ONE PIECE debut day was the 19th, since Shueisha’s weekly newspaper had to reckon with the publication of a few days on that particular weekend.

On the tracks of Dragon BallA PIECE quickly worked out an important part of the market, placed millions of copies in the early 2000s and exceeded the expectations of Oda itself. For decades, the work remained firmly on the top of all monthly sales charts until Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba arrived.

So happy birthday to one of the most important works of all time, followed by millions of people and regarded as one of the immovable pillars of Japanese culture. Check out the Weekly Shonen Jump color cover below.

And what do you think about it? At what age did you know Oda’s work? Let us know by leaving a comment in the box below!


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Sweety Otaku

One of the best parts of watching anime is how many times a show can surprise you. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. But if the Otaku know one thing, it's that anything is possible.

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