ONE PIECE is a Japanese manga series created by Eiichiro Oda. It has been running since 1997, and its adaptation to animation started two years later. As part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the anime, La Fée Sauvage produced a symphonic show that brought the series’ soundtrack to almost twenty stages across America, Europe and Asia during the second half of 2024.

My son and daughter are massive fans of ONE PIECE. Whilst I’m not willing to sit through the more than one thousand episodes of the anime, I truly enjoyed the Netflix live action adaptation. When the idea came up to attend the concert in Paris, I was fully on board!

ONE PIECE is all about adventures at sea with pirates and treasure, but we didn’t cross the English Channel in a ship, but rather with the Eurostar (it’s just too convenient). Once in Paris, we had to sight see, so we hopped on a bus to visit landmarks like the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. I didn’t think the latter would be that high, I was really impressed.

The concert itself was quite a novelty. They have a massive screen behind the orchestra, playing key moments of the anime related to the music. This helps to contextualize, and also adds excitement and emotion to the pieces. I was pleased to see that the conductor was a woman. She was very expressive and did an excellent job.

I think this format is a brilliant way to bring symphonic music to a wider audience. There are similar productions for a variety of TV shows and videogames. If you have the chance to attend one of these concerts, give it a shot, it’s a beautiful experience!