Anime TAKES OVER Sports: NBA and MLB Collaborate with One Piece and Demon Slayer

Toei and Ufotable deliver some incredibly high quality animations as the sports world collaborates with One Piece and Demon Slayer

Vincent Reyes 7 Mar 2025

One Piece x Demon Slayer

On February 25, 2025, a new collaboration with One Piece was announced, this time with the Lakers team of the NBA (National Basketball Association)

On March 1, 2025, an animation by Toei Productions, the studio that animates One Piece, shows Luffy and the Straw Hats in Lakers uniforms playing with the real basketball team, much to the surprise and delight of the One Piece fanbase.

Less than a week later, on March 6, 2025, just when the movie’s international release dates were announced, Demon Slayer would also collab with the MLB (Major League Baseball).

Just like with One Piece, Demon Slayer also produced its own animation for the promotion shown on the MLB’s official Youtube channel.

In this video, we see baseball players use Total Concentration Breathing, the power system of Demon Slayer, alongside flashes from the original anime of Sakonji Urokodaki training the protagonist, Tanjiro, in the art of Water Breathing.

Fans have taken to social media to express how anime has become even more mainstream and can be seen globally in brands and even sports venues.

Source: Twitter