With Japanese Anime reaching the mainstream, it’s no surprise that One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy appeared above the NYC skies for the 2023 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade.

As the main protagonist of the ongoing anime-turned-live-action series One Piece, Luffy charmed the world with his straw hat and his desire to become king of the pirates with his friends while finding the “One Piece” treasure. He is now one of the seven new character balloons of the 25 that featured this Thanksgiving, Nov. 23 beginning at 8:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m. CHST).

Guam’s anime community expressed their joy in the new addition, with GeekOut’s store manager and anime enthusiast Jakleen Oltremari sharing her insights to The Guam Daily Post.”It’s a huge deal because the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is one of the most televised events every year,” Oltremari began.

“The fact that Luffy is being recognized along with other popular characters just means that anime has finally gotten the recognition it deserves as a type of media that is beloved by so many different people.” 

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade has highlighted popular anime shows in the past, including the 1990’s iconic anime shows Pikachu from Pokemon, Power Rangers, and Goku from Dragon Ball Z who was the most recent addition in 2018. 5 years later, One Piece has also gained international recognition with its new series including a diverse cast and streaming availability across the world.

“For us older fans, we had to go through leaps and bounds to get anime and now it’s readily available,” added Oltremari. “So an anime like One Piece that has been around for decades was going to be a huge hit especially as more audiences were exposed to it.”

Luffy, according to Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade team, was:

• 50 feet tall or as high as a 5-story building
• 43 feet long or as long as 6 bicycles
• 39 feet wide or as wide as 6 taxi cabs

The 2023 Thanksgiving parade was featured on NBC and available to stream on Peacock.