Japan's hit 'One Piece' anime marks 1,000th episode

Two decades after "One Piece" introduced the world to a swashbuckling pirate in a straw hat, fans of the Japanese cartoon series are giddily awaiting this weekend's release of the 1,000th episode.

"One Piece" first appeared in manga (comic book) form in Japan in 1997, with an anime (animated TV series) version following two years later. 

Since then the franchise has become a global cultural phenomenon, smashing records and winning fans around the globe. 

Nonetheless, it wasn't an immediate hit.  

"It's a miracle," Ryuji Kochi of Toei Animation, the Japanese company behind the anime series, said of the 1,000-episode landmark.  

"From the beginning, it was a tough title. It was not easy to place on the TV," he told, adding that growing a fanbase for the show was not easy either.

Kochi said it had taken 13 long years for the anime, following the adventures of hat-wearing hero Monkey D. Luffy, to reach cult status. 

Today, however, hundreds of millions of fans are gripped by every twist in the hunt for the eponymous One Piece, the treasure coveted by all pirates.

The popularity of the manga version has also endured as the TV show has taken off. 

Its creator Eiichiro Oda holds the Guinness World Record for "most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author" 490 million, to be precise.