The BBC has announced that it has acquired the U.K rights to over 1000 episodes of the English dubbed versions of the One Piece TV anime series. The episodes will be released via BBC Three in partnership with its video-on-demand service, BBC iPlayer. This marks the first time that dubbed versions of the series have been available in the U.K.
All 1085 episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer by the end of the year and will cover the first 10 story sagas of the long-running TV anime series. The first three sagas — East Blue, Alabasta and Skypiea (containing 206 episodes) — will be released starting on September 1, 2024 until December 2024.
The full list of sagas which will be available on BBC iPlayer are:
- • East Blue
- • Alabasta
- • Sky Island — Skypiea
- • Water Seven
- • Thriller Bark
- • Summit War
- • Fishman Island
- • Dressrosa
- • Whole Cake Island
- • Land of Wano
The anime adapts Eiichiro Oda’s original manga series, which was first launched in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine on July 22, 1997 under the Jump Comics label. A total of 109 tankobon volumes have been released as of July 2024.
The manga inspired a 1999 OVA from Production I.G and a long-running TV anime adaptation from Toei Animation that has been airing since 1999. The latter surpassed the 1000th episode mark on November 21, 2021. The franchise also inspired numerous anime films, a live-action TV series on Netflix, stage plays, video games, drama CDs, card games, art and guidebooks, and more.
Source: BBC press release
Want to follow our weekly chart updates and news? Subscribe to our newsletter to get more content in your inbox!