3D Art Exhibit For ‘One Piece’ Anime Will Blow Your Mind

Few manga/anime series have had the cultural impact that One Piece has had in the past 15-plus years since its serialization. If you haven’t heard of the series, you’re not alone. While the manga-turned-anime has definitely had its impact in its native country of Japan (it’s been named as the bestselling manga several years in a row), One Piece has had a difficult time finding its footing in the U.S. All that aside, One Piece has had no problem finding love a little bit closer to home.

In fact, One Piece has become so popular that there have been a number of exhibits and events created exclusively to celebrate the pirate-based series. One of these exhibits is the One Piece 3D Art Exhibit in Hong Kong. Here, you not only get to see displays of your favorite moments in the series, you also get to include yourself in them, helping to re-create the most iconic scenes in the manga’s long history. Last week, website Daliulian all shared some great photos of the event that may make you do a double-take (via Kotaku).

For those unfamiliar, One Piece is a weekly manga serialized in the Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. It follows pirate captain Monkey D. Luffy and his goal to find the legendary treasure One Piece and thereby becoming King of the Pirates. Starting off the series in a run-down dingy, Luffy slowly assembles a ragtag crew who will assist him in his ultimate dream. One more twist on the pirate manga is the Devil Fruit abilities. As a young child, Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit, which turned him into rubber. While he uses his rubber abilities to pull off amazing physical feats, he is cursed by the ocean, and can no longer swim.

One Piece has been running in Shonen Jump since 1997, and currently has amassed an astounding 785 chapters, clocking in well over 14,000 pages of content in the process. The series has also spawned nearly 700 anime episodes, 12 movies, life-size reproductions of the crew’s ships, an insurmountable amount of merchandise, and a rabid fan base to match.

Sadly, the majority of folks won’t be able to visit this exhibit since it’s in Hong Kong, but be sure to check out the respective Chinese sites like Hopetrip and New Monday if you want to see some of the cool ways fans can integrate into the anime scenery.

[Image Credits: Viz Media, Daliulian]