Toei Animation's hugely popular One Piece anime will be available to stream for free in the UK this year, including the first 1,085 episodes of the series under a new licensing deal.
The BBC has acquired the streaming rights to the first 1,085 episodes of the popular One Piece anime series in the UK, announcing the news on August 30. The series will stream in English dubbed on BBC iPlayer, free to any TV license holder with a UK location. This is the first time a non-4Kids dub has been used in the region. The first three One Piece sagas — East Blue, Alabasta and Sky Island – Skypiea — will debut first on September 1, followed by all sagas before Egghead before the end of 2024.
BBC acquires streaming rights for One Piece from episode 1 to episode 1085
In a statement from BBC iPlayer and BBC Three’s Head of Young Audiences Fiona Campbell said, “It’s an exciting move to bring the One Piece series to UK audiences in the coming months. With its compelling storyline, rich characters and global fanbase, One Piece has become a cultural phenomenon and we can’t wait to see how fans enjoy this huge collection available only in English on iPlayer.”
The One Piece acquisition comes after Crunchyroll launched the Dragon Ball series in the UK and France, with Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball GT, Dragon Ball Z Kai and Dragon Ball Super all available with English subtitles and English dubs on the platform. Anime Limited will also begin releasing Naruto on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on September 2, 2024; Manga Entertainment (now part of Crunchyroll) previously released the series on DVD.
With One Piece set to release its 1117th episode this week, the dub is closer than ever to catching up to the Japanese version. Episodes 1086 to 1097 of the Egghead arc were released on the Microsoft Store on August 27. Crunchyroll will begin streaming it on September 17 — just 25 episodes in all, and a monumental effort to bring the series to the world.
Source: BBC
