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One Piece Anime Gets 'Heart of Gold' TV Special Featuring Shun Oguri on July 16 (Updated)
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
This year's 25th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine revealed on Monday that the One Piece anime will get a television special on July 16 from 9:00-11:10 p.m. titled One Piece: Heart of Gold.
Actor Shun Oguri (live-action Lupin III's titular character, live-action Terraformars' Kō Honda, Harlock: Space Pirate's Captain Harlock) will guest star in the special as the evil treasure hunter Mad Treasure, and the character will also appear in One Piece Film Gold. Mad Treasure is a chainman devil fruit user who has eaten the JaraJara (clank clank) fruit. The official website for the franchise has revealed the character design for Mad Treasure (pictured below) and the key visual for the special (pictured below right).
The special will will tie in to One Piece Film Gold, which opens a week later in Japan on July 23. The story will center around a mysterious treasure called "Pure Gold" that even Gild Tesoro desires. The Straw Hat Pirates meet a girl named Orga who knows the treasure's location, and together they sail to the legendary island Alchemy.
The issue will also reveal a key visual for the special, as well as costume designs for some of the Straw Hat Pirates and new character designs for the special. Original manga creator Eiichiro Oda drew the designs.
Weekly Shonen Jump is also revealing that while theaters will distribute five million copies of a "volume 777" book to One Piece Film Gold filmgoers, the first two million filmgoers will get a rare bonus item. The issue did not elaborate on what the item will be.
One Piece Film Gold is getting 3D, 4DX, and MX4D screenings in Japan, and six theaters in Japan will also screen the film with English and Chinese subtitles starting on July 23.
Update: Added Mad Treasure's character design and special's key visual.
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