‘One Piece’ Dub Cast Talk Episode 1000, Challenges During COVID, and Gear 5 Luffy

The One Piece anime has been around since 1999, and after reaching its 1000th episode, the long-running series has never been better.

After almost 25 years, the original manga is reaching its final stretch, which in turn, has the anime nearing the same conclusion. As such, several moments are being celebrated alongside its 1000-episode milestone, like its upcoming live-action series on Netflix and Luffy’s new internet-breaking Gear 5 transformation.

Now, after several licensing issues causing the dub to falter in its pace, is only a little over a year behind the initial airing of Episode 1000 in Japan. To celebrate the achievement, voice actors Colleen Clinkenbeard (the English voice of Luffy), Luci Christian (the English voice of Nami), Sonny Strait (the English voice of Usopp), and Eric Vale (the English voice of Sanji) spoke with TV Insider about its new production pace, what Episode 1000 means to them, and the dub’s upcoming Gear 5 moment.

What’s the experience of blitzing through the dub so fast? 

Eric Vale (Sanji): Like blitzing through something! During a pandemic, no less.

Sonny Strait (Usopp): We’re making the Halls company richer by buying all their cough drops.

Colleen Clinkenbeard (Luffy): I feel like during the pandemic, it felt like we were ramping up production on One Piece, and it was an odd time to be ramping up because we were all doing this so separately. We were at home. I was recording without a director or an engineer for a while there. It was very isolating at a time when it was also so exciting. So that was super odd, but it also meant that when we came back together, and we were finally recording in booth, and we had these directors who were so excited about the show, it was like a match catching fire, like, “Oh, my gosh! We’re back!”

And we were so stoked to be with people, talking about the show altogether and talking about it with fans when we’re having the same experience they’re having, and I think that it has only increased since then in terms of hype and how into it we all are. We all go to cons together, and the chances that we get to talk about it together. It’s kind of gone from, “Oh, I love this show, I wish more people were watching it,” to now, It’s like everybody’s watching it!

Strait:  It was very surreal recording at home alone. And then, all of a sudden, we’re going to conventions together, and remember the first one we went to with several of us on stage, and I was trying to keep it together because I felt like crying the whole time. Because I was like, “are you people real? [Laughs]

Luci Christian (Nami): I remember that, Sonny! We were talking, going, “Are you guys having as much fun as I am in Wholecake Island?” and we’re all like, “Yes, it’s so much fun!” And Anthony, who is our director, was like, “It’s so much fun, and it’s just a blast.” And then suddenly, everybody else is just talking about One Piece. And after working on it. We did the math; it’s been 16 years. What an amazing feeling to [all be] in the same room.

Are SimulDubs on the way?

Clinkenbeard: We have no way of knowing! And I try never to hope for that. This is a big production. This is a lot of cogs in a machine, and getting them to all spin that quickly? Who knows, but I’m trying not to lean on it. The fact that we are this close is fantastic.

Christian: It’s amazing, […] for years, right, you look at your One Piece scripts, and it’s, you know, how many Fishmen, how many villagers, how many Marines, just all kinds of people, insularly characters in this cast, in this universe, that has to be sort of wrangled and put in, aside from the Straw Hats and the villains du jour. It’s a lot.

Strait: I’ve directed a few episodes, but I don’t do it anymore. That’s how hard it is. [Laugh]

What are your favorite scenes of the Wano arc thus far that you’ve worked on?

Clinkenbeard: I read Red Roc. Red Roc was like that moment. There was a lot of emotion. I was taking pictures of the screen for myself for later, and that’s the one that I want to talk about with people when it comes out. I’m so… I love it.

Strait: The 1,000th episode when he (Usopp) gets to do something special on that, but I won’t say what it is. But I love the moments with Luci and also with Brina [Palencia]. Oh my god. We had so many fun scenes together.

Clinkenbeard: I’m jealous you all have these scenes together.

Christian: We’re all fighting Ulti forever, who is such a formidable foe! I mean, everything hangs in the balance. I’ve said it before, what I love about Wano, is the stakes are very high. These are not small battles. I mean, they’re rarely small battles. But it’s just like, “oh my gosh, are they about to get their butts kicked?” Because it looked like it.

Colleen, your performance in the Sanji vs. Luffy moment was immaculate. What emotions were you trying to convey in that moment, delivering those lines?

Clinkenbeard: Part of me is trying to convey how much this does not hurt!

Christian: Real talk!

Clinkenbeard: It’s just sustained screaming in that moment. And by that moment, I mean those moments. So that was probably the most vocally stressful thing that I’ve done in the entire series was yelling at Sanji in that carriage because it’s just right at the same level constantly. And that is as loud as I can scream, and lots of words at the same time. So it’s not just like a growl or “ahh” because then you can let it all out. It’s just the same talking.

So that was very vocally stressful, but also, you have to fight through that because you want the emotion of the moment to carry. And that dense of Luffy giving absolutely anything for his friend. Like that is his number one priority, and that is him living in the moment completely. I don’t care what happens next. I don’t care what you did in your past, I don’t care; your past does not matter, I need you to realize that. What matters is what you do now. And that’s all Luffy is about all the time.

What does One Piece Episode 1000 mean to you?

Strait: I had a little bit of a different take on it. Because I was in an event when they were showing it in front of a crowd of fans, and I was just trying to keep it together because they were just cheering, and then the emotional roller coaster I was feeling just sitting next to hundreds of people watching it. And they were just reacting so positively. It really, it was very special.

Clinkenbeard: [It’s such a] special milestone to get to when coming from a group of people who didn’t know if we’d ever be able to finish this. There were times when we wondered, you know if we were going to be continuing and to get here, and not only get here but get here with so much vocal support is emotional. In a way, like, I’m not a super emotional person…

Strait & Christian: She’s not.

Clinkenbeard: [Laughs] So that’s a big deal like to be dragged into this to the point where I’m like, “I am in it.” And that episode itself felt very self-aware. It felt like it knew this is a milestone for everybody. We’re all here together. This is for the fans; this is for the crew. For the people in Japan. This is for the people worldwide and all the voice actors everywhere, where you remember what your character came from and where you are now. And it was just a series of, like, “Remember this? Remember this? Remember this? And here we are.” And I love that self-aware nature of a celebration of Episode 1000.

Christian: I mean, from the get-go, like with bringing back “We Are!” and beginning with that, with some new images of everybody who’s joined us along the way, like starting there. You know, I thought [was a] really, really great to set the tone.

Vale: What has anybody done 1000 times? Really? You sleep, right? Other basic life functions, but to do anything 1000 times is unbelievable. And daunting. It’s like climbing a mountain you don’t realize you’re at the top of the mountain until you look back. You’re like, “Oh, so we did that? Okay, great.”

Strait: Yeah, that’s exactly what it was like [with] 1000 episodes, looking back at the mountain we just climbed.

Clinkenbeard: And now we get to ski down.

Here’s a fun one. Any advice for your Netflix counterparts when it comes to portraying the characters that you guys voice?

Colleen: I do, but we can’t because it’s part of the SAG strike. So…

That’s right! Well, how do you feel about this? Where’s your stance? Where do voice actors fall into all of this?

Clinkenbeard: I’ll speak for myself. I love actors

Christian: Love actors.

Clinkenbeard: [I] love writers. I love the fact that we get to do this for a living, and I want everybody who does it for a living to be able to make a living. And so I wish, I wish everybody the best. I live in a right-to-work state, and I am non-union. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand what it is. And so I wish everybody the best. I want the good outcome. Bring us the good outcome.

Have you been preparing your voice (and laugh) for Luffy’s Gear 5 delivery? What’s the process?

Clinkenbeard: Definitely gearing up in terms of hype I know pretty much everything that’s gonna happen. But I’m refraining from watching it just yet. Because I want to watch it with my directors right before we record it, I think we’re all going to be in the room together. That was the decision, is not one director should get that moment. So it’s going to be the two directors of the show at the moment. We’re gonna watch it all together so that I can hear their feedback. We’re going to discuss what all we’ve read about what the voice actress was told about her performance. I’m just doing as much research as I can to prep for it. And I’m letting myself be nervous right now. Because in the moment, I can’t be nervous, because that would read, you would hear it. And he’s supposed to be absolutely carefree. So my goal is to let that just be as fun and frenetic and lively and carefree, and he’s supposed to be having the time of his life. I want that to read. So that’s my goal is to just enjoy the heck out of it. But for the moment, I’m stressing!

Strait: [I’m] looking forward to that moment more than anything in the show. And I just watched the Japanese version today. And I was like, “Oh, I can’t wait to see Colleen do this.” This is going to be so much fun for you, Colleen. It’s amazing.

Luci: Same!

Christian: I’ve always wanted to play a Bugs Bunny-type character…

Strait: It’s Bugs Bunny on overdrive.

Clinkenbeard: I can’t wait!

How’s it been watching One Piece with your kid? Where are you two in the show currently?

Clinkenbeard: We’ve (the cast) seen the series as we’ve been doing it. But it’s been in kind of a disjointed way. And I had never just started at episode 1 and let it play. And so this is my first time through with that feeling of being an audience member rather than being from the production side. And watching it with my son was the best decision I could have made. Because he is so in. I mean, guys, he is in! [Laughs] Luffy is definitely his favorite character. With a side of Zoro, sorry [Eric Vale].

But he gets so fascinated by these specific things that I, as an audience member, am interested in other things. And so watching it from both perspectives at the same time is a huge kick. I’m so into it, and I like different characters than I did the first time through. And I’m so far removed from it that like I’m not mad at Eneru in the way that I was. I was so mad at Michael Tatum when we first did Skypeia because I fight him for episode after episode after episode of me climbing that stupid vine. And this time through, I am a passenger. I’m an audience member, and I get to just be like, “Oh, his voice is so good.” And Rhoades loves Eneru.

It’s just it is a great bonding thing, and I cannot, I cannot recommend enough watching it with people, whether that’s your friends or your family, your kids. Try to see if your mom will watch it with you. It is such a great bonding thing. And that’s how I’m going to take it all the way through, and I don’t even want to watch the current episodes because I want to watch them when we get there.

Christian: Awww.

Clinkenbeard: Oh, but I still will.

Christian: One of the things I have gotten watching it through with my kids is the exceptional cast outside of the Straw Hats. There are so many fun, great voices in the show. I mean, I think we’re on episode 72. We are still early days, but I will go to the mat for Buggy the Pirate. I mean, talk about a dude who is so awesome, and he definitely like fails up in regards to being a villain. But he’s just wonderful, and Mike McFarland gives him such a delightful presence he’s so great.

Any other favorite characters outside the Straw Hats?

Clinkenbeard: I love Mr. 2; Mr. 2 is so good.

Christian: Carrot!

Clinkenbeard: Foxy.

Strait: Love Foxy.

One Piece, Season 14 Voyage 9, Streaming Now, Crunchyroll