One Piece: Episode Of... is the name of a batch of movies and television specials for the manga/anime One Piece.
The "Episode of..." brands usually cover a specific arc in the series only in very condensed re-telling. The purpose is more or less to visit some of the earlier arc only with new animation than what was used in at the time of their original airing. Though sometimes they do mix it up a bit by throwing in an original story or shuffling things around a bit. Started in 2007, the brand began as movies to be made in theaters. But after two outings, they were later relegated to TV specials.
They are, as follows:
- The Desert Princess and the Pirates: Adventures in Alabasta: Released in 2007 in theaters, it's the first of the specials, often just called "Episode of Alabasta". It covers the Alabasta arc of the series. Has its own page.
- Episode of Chopper Plus: Bloom in Winter, Miracle Sakura: Released in 2008. It's the second and last of the brand to be released in theaters. It's a What If? retelling of the Drum Island arc, setting its story after the events of Enies Lobby instead of before Alabasta. Has its own page.
- Episode of Nami: Released in 2012 and covers the Arlong arc.
- Episode of Luffy- Hand Island Adventure: Also released in 2012. While it focuses on an original story, it likewise showcases Luffy and Koby's origins from the Romance Dawn arc.
- Episode of Merry: Released in 2013. It covers most of the Water 7 and the climax of Enies Lobby arc.
- Episode of Sabo: Released in 2015. It focuses on some part of the Marineford, Post War and Dressrosa arcs. In 2019, Funimation released a dub of the special (though way before the dub had reached the latter arc) note , thus being the second of the series to be dubbed.
- Episode of East Blue: Released in 2017 in lieu of One Piece's 20th anniversary. It covers the whole of the East Blue Saga. A English dub was released by Funimation in January 2020.
- Episode of Skypiea: Released in 2018, it covers the Skypiea arc.
Has the follow tropes
- Adapted Out: Due to their shortened nature, several events or characters aren't showcased for the sake of time.
- Episode of Nami: Luffy isn't thrown into the ocean during Arlong's fight due to Sanji saving him and his rescue part is averted (though Sanji still gets knocked into the water by Kurobi).
- Episode of Merry: For Water 7 section it only covers the crew being told about the ship about to break and Luffy and Ussop's fight that resulted from this knowledge and their argument on how to deal with it. The CP9 reveal, Aqua Laguna and the Sea Train section are glossed over. For the Enies Lobby portion, the invasion by the Straw Hats, Galley La and Franky Family is likewise glossed over and most of the fights with the CP9 are only showed at the end points with only Luffy vs Lucci shown in full.
- Episode of East Blue:
- Zoro's chapter only covers the sections that involve him. So we don't see Coby and Luffy coming into town, the altercation with Helmeppo after they talk with Zoro, or Luffy running around the base. Luffy's brief fight with Morgan also doesn't happen.
- Usopp's chapter doesn't cover Kuro attacking Merry nor shows the real reason why Luffy and Zoro were late getting to the other side of the island (Zoro getting stuck in the grease trap thanks to Nami and Luffy just getting lost period). In fact Ussop gets to the other side of the island by himself here, while Nami was with him during his initial assault in the main story. It also cuts out Zoro's fight with the Nyaban brothers, and Luffy's fight with Kuro is shortened.
- Sanji's chapter jumps right into Luffy already being on the Baratie, skipping his whole working to pay for the damages plot. Krieg arrives on the same day when Gin first shows up on the ship (he showed up the next day after Gin went back to Krieg's galleon). Sanji's fight with Pearl is shortened, as is Luffy's fight with Krieg and Luffy being rescued from the water by Sanji isn't shown.
- Nami's chapter starts at her introduction in Orange Town and jumps to the end of the Baratie arc after she takes the Merry. Like Zoro, it only focuses on the parts with Nami, though doesn't cover her first confronting Usopp at Arlong Park (when she meets with Luffy in the original story, she had apparently killed him before Usopp regroups with the others.) Here, Usopp's with the bunch already. All the fights with the Arlong Pirates are shortened with Sanji's battle not even going into the water (ironic after the last special did do that). Like in the last special, Luffy isn't thrown into the water, averting this rescue section and the chapter ends after Arlong's defeat.
- Episode of Skypiea: Meeting the Saruyama Alliance (though Masira and Shoujou get quick cameos) and the Jaya section is removed. As is most of the adventure in Upper Yard (In fact Luffy, Ussop and Sanji fight Satori on the beach of Skypeia rather than in Upper Yard since Satori immediately comes down to confront the SH after their branded as criminals) and characters like Aisa, Pagaya, the White Berets and Conis have cameos or reduced roles.
- And the Adventure Continues: Episode of Sabo was made in the middle of the animated version of the Dressrosa arc which hadn't reached it's end at the time of airing. So the special ends right when Sabo gains and eats the Flame Flame Fruit. Though the credits do give snippets of what happened afterward.
- Animation Bump: The specials are usually given much bigger budgets for them, particularly around the fights.
- Call-Forward: The montage at the end of Episode of East Blue shows what the future Straw Hat members (as well as Ace and Sabo) were up to before the original five went to the Grand Line.
- Compressed Adaptation: The specials are more just shorted versions of their respective arcs.
- Framing Device:
- Episode of Merry revolves around Ussop and Chopper telling Brook the events of what happen to the Merry while milling around on the Mini-Merry.
- Episode of Sabo has Sabo recount his past while sneaking around Dressrosa.
- Ink-Suit Actor: The end of Episode of Skypeia has the Straw Hats pal-ing around with Namie Amuro, the signer of their 20th opening, "Hope". This was made both as thanks for her contribution to the franchise as well as a send off to her due to Amuro announcing she was retiring.
- P.O.V. Sequel: Episode of Sabo is the Dressrosa arc, up until the end of the tournament portion, told entirely from Sabo's perspective.
