Netflix Japan recently revealed that it has added 1000 episodes of Eiichiro Oda’s epic pirate adventure to its library. With a select number of episodes already on Netflix US and the live-action series already in development, what does this mean for the future of One Piece on Netflix? Let’s discuss this below.
With over 1000 episodes to its name, not to mention being one of the most popular anime franchises ever, One Piece is one of the most in-demand anime on Netflix. Currently, Netflix US subscribers only have access to the East Blue and Alabasta sagas of One Piece, which makes up for only 123 episodes of the anime. This means there are almost 900 episodes missing from the US library.
On Twitter, through the Netflix Japan Anime account, it was announced that a total of 1000 episodes of One Piece have been added to the Netflix Japan library. What’s even more exciting is that from every Thursday new episodes of One Piece will be available to stream.
What does this mean for the future of One Piece on Netflix US?
With the live-action series One Piece in development at Netflix, it’s safe to say that the streaming service already has a fruitful relationship with Eiichiro Oda and Toei Animation. However, the license holder for the distribution of the One Piece anime in North America is FUNimation. This means that for Netflix to acquire more episodes of One Piece, it will need to discuss a licensing deal with one of its top anime competitors.
Netflix US may not be able to acquire a deal to receive 1000 episodes like Japan; however, we could definitely see the addition of the Sky Island, Water 7, Thriller Bark, and Summit War sagas. This would still be many hundreds of episodes behind where the anime currently is, but the addition of hundreds of episodes would be fantastic for the Netflix library and for One Piece fans.
What about the rest of the world?
Depending on where you live in the world, a different license holder will be responsible for each continent/country. In the UK, the license belongs to Manga Entertainment, and in Australia, it is held by Madman Entertainment. This means Netflix would have to negotiate with each license holder individually to bring episodes of One Piece to their country’s respective Netflix library.
Would you like to see more episodes of One Piece on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!
