The release window for Eiichiro Oda’s Monsters anime adaptation is officially set for 2024. The French streaming service Animation Digital Network (ADN) announced the news via X on Nov. 29, 2023. Sunghoo Park, formerly of MAPPA, will be directing the series at his new animation studio, E&H Production. ADN’s announcement reads:
“MONSTERS, in 2024 on ADN.
A monstrous release is brewing… Eiichiro Oda’s one-shot, finally adapted into an anime!
No doubt, One Piece lovers will be won over by this prequel recounting the adventures of the samurai Ryuma 💙“
Monsters was officially announced at One Piece Day 2023 with a teaser visual. The anime will be one episode long and adapts the short story of the same name featured in Eiichiro Oda’s 1998 short story anthology, ‘WANTED!‘. The story focuses on the samurai Ryuma, who inspired the character of the same name from Oda’s follow-up series, One Piece. Ryuma appears in the Thriller Bark arc, and most recently did battle with Zoro in Wano. Monsters received a voice comic (vomic) in 2021, which starred voice actors Yoshimasa Hosoya (Ryuma), Sakamoto Maaya (Flare), Otsuka Hochu (Cyrano), Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (D.R.), and Terashima Takuma (Bartender).
Alongside Monsters, Project Bullet by E&H Production is also in development as a Disney+ Original. For fans unfamiliar with Park’s work, he directed season 1 of Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and The God of High School. His most recent work, Ninja Kamui reunited him with Takashi Okazaki (Afro Samurai mangaka), whom he worked with on Garo: Vanishing Line.
Source: ADN Twitter/X
© Eiichiro Oda / Shueisha, MONSTERS Production Committee