'One Piece' Is Getting Its Own Trading Card Game

When a hugely successful anime has over 1,000 episodes under its belt, you can bet that tons of merch and games will be created around it. The series One Piece has been published in the weekly Japanese magazine Shōnen Jump since July 1997 and has existed as an anime since October 1999. Fans have always loved creating their own artwork based on the series and there's even an upcoming live-action series in the works, courtesy of Netflix. But now, there's another new One Piece release that fans are going to want to get their hands on.

A One Piece trading card game is set to come out, but like with so many other projects that originate in Japan, it's likely that it will make its way to fans overseas before those in the U.S. can get their hands on a set. So, when is the release date of the One Piece trading card game?

Although an exact date hasn't been revealed, the trailer for the card game suggests that the trading cards will be released in Japan, in Japanese, in July 2022. The trailer also states that there will be a worldwide English release sometime later this year, but there's currently no word on when exactly that will be. Unless they can get hold of a Japanese version, U.S.-based fans are just going to have to be patient for now.

According to the game's official website, there are four starter decks in the One Piece trading card game: Straw Hat Crew, Worst Generation, The Seven Warlords of the Sea, and Animal Kingdom Pirates. Although it's not explicitly stated how they differ from one another, it's possible that each of the sets focuses on specific One Piece characters. But the cards are still under development as of this writing, and the final product has not yet been debuted.

In a playful statement about the trading card game, One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda compared it to Yu-Gi-Oh. "I don't know much about card games but this is something like Yu-Gi-Oh, right," Eiichiro said. "They jump out from the cards, yeah?!!" He continued by saying that the game would feature artwork from the original series. Plus, a disclaimer at the bottom of the statement reassures fans that the characters don't actually pop out from the cards, so we're safe.

Even though it feels like One Piece has been around since the dawn of time, it will be ending within the next few years. In 2019, Eiichiro said in a YouTube video that he wanted to end the series within the following five years. This would mean that it could be over by 2024. And in a 2019 interview with the Japanese show Honma dekka!?, he said he's had the end of the series in mind since he was in college, per Anime News Network.

But that doesn't mean that Eiichiro will necessarily stick to that ending. He's said before that he's willing to change the ending if fans are able to predict it, so start sending your guesses in!

You can watch One Piece on Crunchyroll, Funimation, Netflix, and on Cartoon Network.