Hello,

I'm 제이메르, a Nexon Picker.

MapleStory has delighted players over the years

with collabs featuring all kinds of major anime series.

From One-Punch Man to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and, most recently, the much-talked-about Frieren: Beyond Journey's End,

every collab announcement has been a real treat for me as an anime fan!

Today, I've got a must-watch anime recommendation to liven up those farming sessions that are part of every MapleStory player's life,

and it's a series I'd love to see get an in-game collab someday.

A Must-Watch Anime: One Piece!

Today's pick is none other than One Piece.

It's such a household name that it hardly needs an introduction,

but it's also an anime that holds some especially fond memories for me.

The very first thing I did after finishing my college entrance exam was binge-watch One Piece.

I watched almost nonstop for a month and made it all the way to episode 700.

I was playing MapleStory 2 at the time,

and I still vividly remember styling my character after my favorite One Piece characters.

My interest faded after I started university,

but the recent news about season 2 of the live-action adaptation on Netflix drew me back in!

A true classic has a way of bringing people back, whatever their generation.

What Maple World and One Piece Have in Common

As I started rewatching One Piece from the beginning,

I was struck all over again by just how much it has in common with MapleStory!

Both are household names in their respective fields,

and both have kept going for decades—one as a live game, the other as an ongoing series—

building enormous fandoms along the way.

Most of all, there's the way each episode takes the story to new islands and towns,

with characters forming bonds with the people they meet and gradually growing stronger.

That structure feels very familiar as a MapleStory player.

Looking at the maps of Arcane River or Grandis in particular

gives me the same thrill as looking at a sailing chart in One Piece.

They also have something in common in how they treat their characters.

Compared with other shonen manga, One Piece is less quick to kill off its characters,

while MapleStory brings back monsters and bosses that were once enemies in a friendlier light,

giving players a chance to form bonds with them. That struck me as a surprisingly close parallel!

The Perfect Companion for Farming Sessions!

For MapleStory players, having YouTube or a streaming service on while farming is practically an unwritten rule.

If you're always wondering what to watch,

One Piece, with its staggering 1,100 episodes, is the perfect choice.

Its sprawling story is so engrossing

that several farming sessions can fly by in the blink of an eye.

I love One Piece so much that I recently brought back a whole haul of merchandise from Japan,

so I'm really hoping an official MapleStory collab becomes a reality!

The merchandise in the photo above is only part of the haul 🤣

If a collab does happen, I imagine we might get

high-quality official cosmetic items, much like the outfits

shown above, which talented players recreated so beautifully in MapleStory Worlds ㅎㅎ

That's my pick for a must-watch anime that's a perfect match for MapleStory.

Which anime do you think would pair well with MapleStory?

If you have a favorite, share it in the comments!