One Piece is a very vast franchise and has so many different things such as games, live-action, manga and various other components as well. Due to its long run which began in the year 1999 and since then has accumulated a fanbase including millions of viewers who tune in every day to watch their favourite characters. On the other hand, due to such a huge audience and expectations of fans, it has become a huge and difficult problem for the staff according to the director of One Piece anime.
Oda sensei began writing this masterpiece in the year 1997 and the plot of the story revolves around Monkey.D.Luffy wants to find the impeccable treasure of One Piece which is somewhere hidden in the ocean. Luffy dreams of becoming a king of the pirates and in his conquest he is joined by several other members who want to see how this journey ends.
Challenges faced by the director and staff of One Piece during production
When you have millions of people eagerly waiting for something and you are responsible for making it good and satisfactory that is a different kind of pressure. The staff members go through this pressure every day as even the slightest mistake will cause them problems.
In an interview with Yen Press during the Anime Expo 2023 the directors of the popular anime sat down and answered questions regarding production, challenges faced and how they deal with them.
Series director Yasaunori Koyama, animation director Kenji Yokoyama, and production manager Tetsushi Akahori all shared their roles in production while also elaborating on how things work behind the scenes. They said:
“Yeah, it can get really hard. You know, each of the characters has stories to them and their own particular relations. Some of these are much more complicated than we realize, and it can be a real challenge to kind of maintain all those.”
According to Yasaunori Koyama maintaining the pace of the story is one of the biggest struggles as they need to expand on topics that were left unexplored in the manga.
He explained that there are numerous things which the manga leaves unexplained and they must explain them to the viewers so that they can enjoy and understand what is happening.
Sometimes it takes a lot of time to explain and it delays the action part which for some fans is the most important aspect of the story.
Also Read: 5 Unsolved One Piece Mysteries That Annoy Anime Fans
How do they overcome these types of challenges?
According to animation director Kenji Yokoyama, it is very important to perform their duties without any delay and to give their best while doing it.
One Piece anime released its first episode on 20th October in the year 1999 and till now it has been over 2 decades of amazing journey.
Over the years the franchise has become very huge and with the addition of One Piece live action it has become ever more renowned in the world and that increases its responsibility to deliver quality to the fans.
Currently, the anime is on the Wano arc and we recently witnessed one of the greatest transformations of all time where Luffy surpassed all his previous versions and became one of the strongest in the verse.
Source: Anime News Network
