One Piece Manga Speed Releases

Well, it's 2010. And we all know what that means, right? No? Geez you people, it's only the most anticipated event for any American One Piece fan. As of this month, January 2010, we begin the speed releases for the translated One Piece volumes.

Why didn't I report on this earlier?

...

So, starting this month we begin with the release of volumes 24-28. Will I be buying them all in one go? Well, first I need to catch up a bit...I'm currently at volume 15...I really should have been buying these instead of Bleach volumes, but what the hey!

And since it's One Piece, we get a ton of story with these five volumes. Starting with the introduction of Nico Robin to the crew, the beginning of the Skypiea Arc, the month ends with the Strawhat Crew setting off to find El Dorado, the Lost City of Gold.

And best of all? We only need to wait a month for the next five volumes. For collectors of the manga, and those that don't want to read it illegally online, this is a dream come true. Especially seeing as this is the first sign we've had of any attempt to redeem One Piece from its 4Kids days in the eyes of the American public. The uncensored Funimation releases were a step in the right direction, but we didn't come full circle until now, when we finally get to see the years worth of storylines that have been kept from us.

I'm currently in my first full reread of the series, which I decided only to do with the actual manga volumes. There's quite a bit that I've forgotten from my first read through, and it's nice to have the actual volumes, instead of reading them on a computer.

For the record, I read manga online first, and then once I've finished the series, and made sure that it's actually something I like and want to spend money on, I go and buy the volumes. Sure, you might say that I'm cheating the creators out of money this way, but if I didn't read them online, I'd check the books out from the library, to be sure I actually want to but the series. Either way, no money for the creators. My way at least I do end up spending money, as opposed to far too many manga fans out there.

So, obviously there's a few questions. How good is the quality of these new translations? Will they ever stop calling him Zolo? And when are my One Piece DVDs finally arriving in the mail? And how often will new volumes be released after we make it to volume 53 in June? Does anyone care if the release schedule slows down to releases occurring around the same time as they do in Japan?

And, I leave you now, with the release schedule for the first six months of the year 2010, the one that you could have if you spent money and bought the January issue of Shonen Jump. Cheapskates.

2010 One Piece Release Schedule:

JAN vols. 24-28 APR vols. 39-43
FEB vols. 29-33 MAY vols. 44-48
MAR vols. 34-38 JUN vols. 49-53