Since 1999, we sure have gotten a lot of SpongeBob SquarePants: The cartoon classic is currently in its tenth season and recently surpassed the 200-episode mark. Anime moves at a decidedly quicker pace than most American cartoons, however, so over the same period, One Piece, has aired 18 seasons, or a whopping 768 episodes as of today, and is as much a classic in Japan as SpongeBob is stateside.
We don’t have to explain to even cursory anime/manga fans, however, that there have also been thirteen One Piece movies, and now, the most recent one has been dubbed into English and is set to hit U.S. theaters for a limited run from January 10-17. In the just-released teaser clip for One Piece Film: Gold (above, via Anime News Network), captain Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the strawhat pirates find themselves being toured through Gran Tesoro, a luxurious golden city that looks like Las Vegas got mashed up with an opulent Mayan municipality.
According to the film synopsis, Gran Tesoro “is a city of entertainment beyond the laws of the government, is a sanctuary for the world’s most infamous pirates, Marines, and filthy rich millionaires,” so Luffy and company found their way there with dollar signs (or berry signs, rather) in their eyes, with hopes of gambling their way to, as the first season theme song so iconically puts it, “wealth, fame, power.”
However, it appears like the strawhats will have some sort of run-in with the city’s power-hungry king, so, you know, we have an adventure on our hands. The movie has pulled in about $42.5 million in Japan since July, so “gold” appears to be an appropriate descriptor.
Featured image: FUNimation
