Jump Festa is an annual party or exposition in Japan, all about manga and anime, sponsored by Shueisha, publisher of the various Jump anthologies which are Weekly Shōnen Jump, Jump Square, V Jump, Saikyō Jump and Shōnen Jump+.
The exposition was started in 1999, and is held for two days in December with over 100,000 people attending every year.
New manga, anime, films, games, and merchandise are introduced during this event. The tradition is that of already existing material a special item or episode is produced and presented at the convention to prove the makers are not out of ideas and to experiment. Manga artists of popular current and former Jump series are often on hand, and many of them have panels where they answer questions.
Time and time again Oda teases fans with new details. Here’s Oda’s message in Jump Festa 2020:
“Hello, everyone who came to Jump Festa! This is your King speaking! Actually, I lied. This is Oda. The year of the 20th anniversary of the One Piece TV series really hit us with all its fury. There have been tons of events, illustrations, films, the whole thing was jam-packed, huh! I would like to use this chance to seriously thank everyone who took the time to join in!” To all the staff involved in all of this: Great work, everybody! Now you can finally rest.
But, well… As for the source material, I don’t think I’ll have any time to rest myself. In fact, I’ve already destroyed all my own chances at a break! Are you enjoying the adventures of Kouzuki Oden so far?
I’ve been worried about revealing spoilers in this arc, so I’ve been super careful drawing it. If I don’t keep myself in check, I’ll end up plotting out the entire rest of One Piece’s story right there. [Note: He probably means spoiling so much, that everybody is gonna be able to guess the ending.]
While I’m showing all these flashbacks, Luffy’s party’s adventures are having their stakes risen as well. They’ll soon be faced with the reality that you have to bring sacrifices to fight for the things you believe in!! Well, of course, Luffy is not the sort of person to think about those sorts of things though.
The Wano Kuni arc is finally moving towards its climax as well!! I’ve been looking forwards to drawing Wano Kuni a lot, so I’m psyched! And once it’s over, things are going to be grim. SABO will…!! VIVI will…!! HANCOCK will…!! AAAAAAAA…!!!
