The World of One Piece
One Piece is a long-time running anime series created by animator and writer Eiiciro Oda. The anime is produced by Japanese animation company named TOEI Animation. The anime series is now reaching up to 1,055 episodes and counting! And not to mention of the many side story spin-off full-lenght movies. The anime is totally a REAL HIT in Japan, and it had reached out globally to international anime fans. There are collectible action figures can be obtained for characters collections of the series, among the many other merchandises. One of the officially licensed merchs is a deck of playing cards. There is one which is branded with Bicycle Playing Cards [as shown
HERE]. For this one, it is produced by Card Mafia, and they are focusing on the main characters of the show - Luffy and his pirate crew "The Straw Hat Pirates".
The Story Summary
The anime tells the story of a young man named Monkey D. Luffy, who wishes to be the Pirate King and find the greatest treasures of all treasures called "One Piece", pile of plunders which is hideen by the legendary Pirate King Gol D. Roger. He and his crew, called the "Straw Hat Pirates" are set on a big adventure of a lifetime. They meet with other pirates (both good and bad), bounty hunters, agensts, societies, revolutionaries, friends and family, and other more kind of people. Most of these pirates have superpowers, and they got these powers by eating "the Devil's Fruit". While it grant them superpowers, they lose the skill of swimming.
The Straw Hat Pirates
The Straw Hat Pirates is a band of pirates which Luffy formed for the big adventure to find "One Piece". It is named so because of the popular hat that Luffy often wears: the yellow hat made of straw with a red ribbon - that hat was a gift from an old acquantince who inspires him to be a pirate. There are 10 members of the pirate gang, and each has their life goals they seek to accomplish. All of the crews ate the Devil Fruit and gained superpowers:
- Monkey D. Luffy - the founder and captain of the pirate crew. He is a young man who dreams of becoming the Pirate King by being the first one to find One Piece. Through the Devil Fruit, he has the power to turn himself into rubber. Luffy can extends his hands very long and even extend his belly so he can eat more! He might looked like a carefree person, but he is very faithful.
- Roronoa Zoro - the swordsman of the pirate crew. The green haired warrior is the strong combatant as he is good in using tthree swords in a blade fight. He was formerly a bounty hunter. His dream is to become the greatest swordsman in honor of his friend.
- Nami - the navigator of the pirate crew. She is the first woman who joined up the crew, and her family is a generation of sea mapping. She has a great talent in using the bo stick to fight. Her dream is to map the entire world, charting every islands there is floating on the vast sea.
- Usopp - the sniper of the pirate crew. He was a coward guy, but he promised that his dream is to be a brave warrior of the sea just like his father. He will never go out without his long stick he called his slingshot sniper.
- Vinsmoke Sanji - the chef of the pirate crew. He works for the ship restaurant's Baratie before joining the crew. He dons his suit with his blonde hair. He only fights with his legs, as he only uses his hands for cooking. His dream is to reach the "All Blue", a place said to be the dreams of all chef because of it's rich resources of seafood. And to add, he is a playboy - eyeing on beautiful ladies on the way.
- Tony Tony Chopper - a cute little deer who is the medic of the pirate crew. He was once a deer, who got anthromorphized after eating a Devil Fruit. He can shapeshift from his small cute form into a muscular hunk. His dream is to be the first doctor who can cure any diseases.
- Nico Robin - the archaeologist of the pirate crew. She has the power to transforms her limbs into multiple branches, like how plants branches into many vines. She is considered to be knowledgable about the ancient history of the pirates era. Her dream is to find the long lost Poneglyph that contains the long lost history that she wants to learn.
- Franky - the shipwright of the pirate crew. He was once a human, who got injured very badly and ended up transforming himself into a powerful functional cybord. He builds the ship for the pirate crew, called "Thousand Sunny". His dream is to be the guy who builds the strongest ship which able to sail around the globe.
- Brook - the musician of the pirate crew. He was once a living person, yet he dies. Although with the help of the Devil Fruit, it revives him and he becomes a walking skeleton wearing costume. He has the ability to control his soul. His dream is to be reunited with his old friend Laboon, the big whale.
- Jinbei - the helmsman of the pirate crew. He is a big blue fish guy who has the power to control water. He finally fulfill his dream to become the member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and he will help Luffy to be the Pirate King and find that One Piece.
Apperently, there is no One Piece Playing Cards that features Jinbei, the latest pirate that joins the Straw Hat Pirates crew. Perhaps, this is due to the creations of this licensed deck series was made before the recruitment happened in the story. CM probably will add him up in the future.
One Piece Playing Cards
Card Mafia firstly introduced this deck series when they are selling and showcasing their decks in conventions and expos in Canada. The decks were available to the attendees of the convention. Two years later, Card Mafia released it officially to the public. In addition to the official release, there is a complete set which has the upgraded feature of the box. The cards are printed by Taiwan Playing Card Company with their Legendary Finish. Decks fitting for One Piece fans.
Tuck Box
The tuckbox for the deck series is using premium matte tuckbox. For the stand-alone release, it will be just regular ink. On the other hand, the complete set will have metallic foil color on the box. It will have One Piece Artwork with 3D embossing.
Front
- The anime's title card - the letter "O" is the ever-popular pirate symbol: the skull with crossed bones, yet this one wears a straw hat. The letter "I" is the sillhoute of the main character. The letter "E" is in shape of an anchor.
- The illustration of each member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
- The name of each characters.
- The respective pattern along with the respective colors.
Back
Mirror of the back design of the cards. It is a two-way design featuring each character's logo with their respective patterns.
Right
Full body lenght illustration of the characters, composed into the rectangular frame. Gathering all the decks in the line-up will show the whole crew standing in a line.
Left
The anime title card and the name of each respective character.
Top
Each respective's character logo along with the "Playing Cards" text.
Bottom
The ad copy of the deck, including the logo of the animation company that produces the anime - TOEI Animation
Official Licensed Sticker
This is a seal of authenticity of officially licenses merchandise of One Piece. The anti-counterfit element of the sticker is the watermark on the sticky side of the sticker.
Tuckflap
The name of the respective character done in stylized lettering.
Cards
Every cards have different back design for each respective characters. The red suits are colored according the respective color of the character's association.
Three out of nine decks in the series are using metallic ink: USOPP - SANJI - BROOK
Card Back Design
Casino-style design like - the playing cards are designed to be playable.
Pips
Some of the pips will have symbols. These symbols are objects related to the world of One Piece.
- Anchor
- Fork and Knife
- Chef's hat
- Crossbones
- Music Note
- Crown hat
- Steering wheel
- Meat ration
- Straw hat
- Star
- Hammer and saw
- "Berry" currency
- Stylized letter "S"
- Flower
- Double hands
- Cross scars
- Triple katanas
- Cross patch and Cherry petals
- Hoof marks
- Slingshot
- Googles
Jokers
Each deck has two jokers - one is black, one is colored according to the respective character's deck. The indices of the Jokers varies:
- Luffy - Crossbones
- Zoro - Triple exclamations
- Nami - Four-pointed star
- Usopp - His Slingshot
- Sanji - Fork and Knife
- Chopper - Cross and Cherry petal
- Robin - Fedora Hat
- Franky - Five-pointed star
- Brook - Glasses
The center features the sillhoute of the Thousand Sunny, the ship which the Straw Hat Pirates sail.
Ace of Spades
The Ace of Spades feature the logo of each respective character with their name.
Courts
Every courts will feature all the members of the Straw Hat Pirates. For each deck, the court will present the respective character in four different variants, while the rest of the courts feature the remaining of the crews.
