One Piece anime fans are having the biggest summer of all time

When anime fans talk about the biggest series ever, most conversations turn to a “Big Three”: Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece. With all due respect, only one of the three remains as relevant within the anime scene than ever before.

One Piece fans are having a pretty incredible run right now. Netflix’s live-action adaptation returned earlier this year, long after it was already renewed for a third season. Just a few weeks from now, LEGO will drop even more One Piece sets tied to the live-action show’s second season. And now, after years of fans wishing they didn’t have to fly to Japan for official merchandise, the franchise is finally getting its first official “Mugiwara Store” in the United States. (“Mugiwara,” of course, is the shorthand Japanese word for “Straw Hats.”)

For a series that’s nearly 30 years old, One Piece somehow keeps getting bigger. Whether you’re an anime fan, a manga reader, a live-action convert, or just someone looking to fill a shelf with Straw Hat merch, the next several months are packed with reasons to get excited.

1

More LEGO One Piece sets and an animated special

LEGO kicked off a collaboration with One Piece last year, with the first sets arriving on store shelves in August 2025. Six additional new sets inspired by season 2 go on sale Aug. 1, 2026. That batch includes settings like Dr. Hiriluk’s Hideout, Garp’s Marine Battleship, and Drum Castle.

Netflix is also following that up with an animated special that debuts on Sept. 29, 2026. The streaming platform has described the special as a “two-part retelling” of the first two seasons of the live-action show. “Follow along as Usopp, the Straw Hats’ most reliably unreliable narrator, regales the newest and cutest recruit, the reindeer-boy hybrid Tony Tony Chopper, with the group’s epic exploits across the East Blue and into the legendary Grand Line,” an official press release reads.

2

Live-action One Piece season 3 has already wrapped filming

Netflix’s live-action adaptation continues to be one of the streamer’s biggest genre success stories. Season 2 premiered in March 2026, and by that point, production on season 3 had already begun in November 2025 after being greenlit that August. Netflix officially announced that production on season 3 — which covers the Alabasta arc from the manga and anime — had wrapped as of June 30, 2026.

While a specific release date for season 3 remains unconfirmed, Netflix did write that new episodes will arrive sometime in 2027.

3

The United States is getting its first Mugiwara Store

Image: Toei Animation

Perhaps the biggest surprise related to One Piece this week is the announcement that the first official Mugiwara Store in the United States will open at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles this fall.

According to Toei Animation, which made the announcement on July 3, the store will feature official merchandise, location-exclusive products, original animation artwork, and even exclusive in-store video experiences. For American fans who’ve long admired Japan’s dedicated One Piece retail locations from afar, it’s a milestone that has been years in the making.

4

The One Piece remake is only months away

None of these highlights even includes what could become the franchise’s biggest event yet. Netflix and WIT Studio’s highly anticipated remake, The One Piece, is still slated to debut in early 2027. And we only just got the first trailer late last month.

While the original, widely beloved anime series runs a whopping 1,167 episodes, it released weekly episodes for two decades, oftentimes including various detours to avoid catching up to the manga source material. That also meant sacrificing animation quality for the sake of producing episodes on that set schedule. Instead, the remake series is being produced by WIT Studio, which is known for various visually impressive anime like the first few seasons of Attack on Titan, along with other series like Ranking of Kings, Spy x Family, and Vinland Saga. In short, The One Piece should become the definitive adaptation for the series with top-notch animation and production value.

In the coming months, we can probably expect more trailers, new casting announcements, behind-the-scenes looks, and plenty more reveals as Netflix begins ramping up its marketing.

For nearly three decades, One Piece has steadily grown from one of manga’s biggest success stories into one of the world’s biggest entertainment franchises. Right now, whether you’re collecting LEGO, planning a trip to Los Angeles, binging Netflix, or counting down to WIT Studio’s remake, it feels like there’s never been a better time to be a One Piece fan.