posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Fans can get a sneak peek of the balloon at New York Comic Con.
Hot off the heels of the live-action Netflix series, One Piece star Monkey D. Luffy will appear in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—as a 50-foot tall balloon. The captain of the Straw Hat pirates will soar down the streets of New York City for the 97th iteration of the parade on November 23. This marks Luffy’s first appearance in the parade, following in the footsteps of Dragon Ball Z‘s Goku and Pokémon‘s Pikachu and Eevee.
©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation
The Luffy balloon measures 43 feet long, 39 feet wide, and 50 feet tall and will follow the parade route from Central Park West to Herald Square. A merry crew of pirate-themed marchers will join the Gum-Gum Fruit user.
Toei Animation Inc. president and CEO Masayuki Endo remarked on the prominent occasion and stated, “We’re thrilled to have the celebrated anime franchise One Piece join the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with our Monkey D. Luffy giant character balloon. Over the past 24 years, One Piece has built a huge global audience, and today, the franchise is now more popular than ever before — both in the U.S. and around the world. We’re excited to introduce One Piece to the tens of millions of people that watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade every year – especially the friends and families of current One Piece fans!”
Fans can get a sneak peek of the balloon at New York Comic Con. Toei Animation‘s One Piece Booth will feature an exclusive 3D scale model of the Monkey D. Luffy balloon. Toei is encouraging fans to use the #ThanksLuffy during the parade.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is the world’s largest parade, held annually in Manhattan, New York City. In recent years, the parade has increasingly shown off Japanese pop culture icons, including Dragon Ball‘s Goku, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pikachu, and Eevee. The event is open to the public.
Source: Press release
