2-hour special to stream in U.S., Canada

Funimation Entertainment announced on Tuesday that it will simulcast the two-hour One Piece television special "Episode of East Blue" (One Piece Episode of East Blue: Luffy to 4-nin no Nakama no Daibōken) in the United States and Canada. The special will stream at 3:00 a.m. EDT on August 28.

In Japan, the special will air on Fuji TV on August 26 from 9:00 p.m to 11:10 p.m. The special will be a completely new work, featuring reanimated scenes from the beginning of the series through when the crew enters the Grand Line.

The special is commemorating the manga's 20th anniversary, and will also feature anime versions of the original manga's chapter cover stories as part of the special's ending credits. The credits will feature what Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brooke were doing during the time the rest of the crew met in East Blue. Additionally, the anime will feature a special 20th anniversary commemoration version of the original opening theme song "We Are!".

Takashi Otsuka is directing the special, and Tomohiro Nakayama is writing the script. Masayuki Sato is the character designer and chief animation director.

The previous One Piece anime special, One Piece Heart of Gold, aired in July 2016. The special tied into last year's One Piece Film Gold movie.

One Piece has had previous "Episode of" specials, such as: One Piece Episode of Luffy: Hand Island no Bōken (2012), One Piece Episode of Nami: Kōkaishi no Namida to Nakama no Kizuna (2012), One Piece Episode of Merry: Mō Hitori no Nakama no Monogatari (2013), and One Piece Episode of Sabo (2015).