While you might think the BBC’s iPlayer streaming service is just an online home for the best BBC series, it actually has a wealth of licensed shows aimed at various audiences. Case in point, it now offers the popular Japanese anime One Piece for people to stream online.
One Piece tells the story of aspiring pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his crew of misfits who set off on a nautical adventure to find the One Piece, an artifact that makes one King of the Pirates. It’s set in a fantasy world full of magic, super-powers and crazy characters.
It’s been running since 1999 with over 1,000 episode now under its belt. While it’s broken down into seasons, fans also split it into 10 ‘sagas’, or arcs which are largely self-contained stories.
You might have heard of One Piece from Netflix, as the streamer released a hugely popular live-action adaptation last year. Fans are eagerly anticipating One Piece season 2 and another anime adaptation of the same manga comic book that the original anime is based on.
The first three sagas of the One Piece anime are now available to watch on iPlayer, making up roughly 200 episodes. The remaining seven will be added to the streaming service “by the end of the year” according to the BBC.
Streaming shows from the BBC iPlayer is free if you pay your license fee, marking a rare opportunity for UK viewers to watch One Piece without paying. If you’re on a trip away from the UK but still want to watch the anime, use your list of the best VPNs for streaming to find a way to tune in.
One Piece is currently also available to watch in the UK via Crunchyroll, but you have to be on one of its paid tiers which start at £4.99 per month (there’s a 7-day free trial, but good luck getting through 1,000 episodes in a week!).
On Crunchyroll, you can watch One Piece with audio from its native Japan and English subtitles, however, iPlayer is offering the series dubbed, or with English-language voice actors reading the lines. Subs vs dubs is a contentious topic in anime circles, with purists preferring the native intonation of lines but others preferring the accessibility of dubs. iPlayer won’t offer subs, so you’ll need to use Crunchyroll for that.