There’s a lot of misinformation going around the newest Vivre Card databook, in fact, it seems like most people aren’t aware how it even works to begin with, so I’m here to clear up any doubts and make it clear just how exactly this databook functions. First of all, the essential information:

The Databook is called “Vivre Card ~One Piece Illustrated Guidebook~” and will serve as a collection of several “vivre cards”, or in essence, datafiles, for all the characters in the series, giving a deep look at each of them, with information and stats for each and every one, with some of the information being completely new.

However, here’s the catch: the book only serves as a binder and each of the “cards” are in fact standalone cards, separated pages that can be added to the book. Picture it like one of those classic collectible card binders, where you could put in your Pokémon cards and display your entire collection. It’s the same case here, where rather than collecting Pokémon, you’re collecting One Piece characters, with each card being a complete datafile. Here you can see how it works:

(some of these images are courtesy of Takeshi Oowada. You can check his video here to see how the databook works in person!)

 

So going over it again, each page of the databook is obtained individually and can be added by putting it into the binder. The original databook only comes with about 32 cards from what has been said, with other “booster packs” coming in the following months that will include more cards which can then be added to your collection.

Now, it hasn’t been specified, but it’s implied that the booster packs will not be randomized, as they’ll include a specific group of cards of certain characters (example: “Arlong Parc Arc characters booster back”) and should be a complete pack. That said, it’s not officially confirmed that they aren’t randomized, but it’s been heavily implied that each pack will be a complete one.

So for now, let’s break down what characters will be in each pack!

The original book features 32 cards, which have been revealed to be the ones found below:

The characters included in the first volume are all those who appeared up until the end of the Buggy Arc, as well as the main crew of Straw Hats in their post-timeskip cards. Furthermore, there are three extra cards:

• One of them is Extra Characters Vol. 1, which includes minor characters that don’t get their own individual card as there isn’t enough information about them. This includes Anjo, Monstar, Mikio Itoo, Gyoru&Chiken, Woop Slap, Lord of the Coast, Heppoko&Peppoko&Poppoko, Soro and Rika among others. There should be two of them in this pack and more should be included in further booster packs for all the smaller and less-known characters.
• The other extra card is “Gomu Gomu no Mi Vol. 1”, which will include a listing of all the Gomu Gomu no Mi attacks, which will be further updated in future packs. This might hint at other “cards” coming in the future for other types of things, such as devil fruits, locations, ships and other things, making this an ever-expanding databook.
• And finally, there’s an extra card known as “My Card”. It’s a blank template, so you can write your own info and put a photo of yourself in it!

Beyond these initial cards, the aforementioned “booster packs” will arrive each month around the beginning (Amazon lists them on the 2nd-4th of each month). Each pack has 16 cards, so each month you are getting 32 additional cards to add to the binder. Here are the ones that we know will be coming in the upcoming months:

– October 2018:

Booster Pack 1: “Villains of East Blue!!”: Includes characters from the Syrup Village and Baratie arcs, with Kuro, Usopp (Pre-Ts), Krieg and Gin being announced already.

Booster Pack 2: “Gather! Supernovae!!”: Includes the eleven supernovas (supposedly excluding Zoro and Luffy), with Law, Urouge and Bege being announced already.

– November 2018:

Booster Pack 3: “Arlong’s Crew and the people of Cocoyasi Village”: Supposedly includes characters from the Arlong Park arc, including his crew as well as the people from Cocoyasi.

Booster pack 4: “Impel Down staff VS prisoners!!”: Supposedly includes the staff members of Impel Down as well as its known prisoners.

– December 2018:

Booster Pack 5:  “The sand Kingdom – Alabasta’s elites!!”: Assuming from the name it will likely include characters from Alabasta, maybe from Drum Island as well.

Booster Pack 6: “The yonko crew, the Whitebeard Pirates!!”: Supposedly includes the members of the Whitebeard Pirates.

– January 2019:

Booster Pack 7: “Gather! Secret Society Baroque Works”: Supposedly includes the members of Baroque Works.

Booster Pack 8: “Paradise on the Ocean Floor – Residents of Fishman Island!!”: Supposedly includes the inhabitants of Fishman Island.

– February 2019:

Booster Pack 9: “~Sky Island’s strong enemies~”: Judging from the name, will likely include Enel’s forces.

Booster Pack 10: “~Fishman Island’s strong enemies~”: Judging by the name, will likely include Hody’s forces, the New Fishman Pirates.

And these are all the ones we currently know, but it can be assumed there will be more to come. You might have seen a pattern here and it’s the fact that each of the packs advances through each arc at different points in the story. The first pack in the month covers the first half of the series, advancing from East Blue, to Alabasta, to Skypiea, while the second pack of the month covers the second half, from Sabaody, to Impel Down, to the Whitebeard Pirates, to Fishman Island. Judging by the amount of remaining arcs, there might be another 10 or so packs after this, at least for the main characters.

Furthermore, there’s a bonus offer for two additional cards, though these aren’t really part of the book, they’re more like bonuses. If you buy issue nº40 of JUMP this week, you can get a bonus two alt cards, being Luffy Wano version (Luffy-tarou) and Zoro Wano version (Zoro-juurou). But again, these seem to just be alts, so don’t fret too much if you can’t get them.

So that’s about it! To recapitulate, the original book comes with a binder as well as 32 cards and each month we’re going to get more and more. The editor said this databook would be “neverending” and has already hinted at the fact that they might keep adding more cards even after the Wano arc is over, making this the ultimate One Piece databook! While the format might be incovenient for some, this might really help out in the long run to keep the databook ordered and updated. But anyways, if you have any doubts, feel free to ask me any questions! But before you do so, check this FAQ to see if it can already answer your question:

• Q: How many cards are in the original release? A: 32, see above.
• Q: How many cards are in each booster pack? A: 16 per booster pack, meaning 32 new cards come out each month.
• Q: What language is the databook in? A: Japanese.
• Q: Will it be available in English? A: No. Sadly, Viz has never translated any of the databooks and the fact that it comes in cards makes it even more unlikely. It’s possible that in some other language like French, German, Italian or Spanish it might get translated, but given the format, again, it’s unlikely.
• Q: When is it coming out? A: September 4th, with two booster packs coming around the beginning of every month.
• Q: How much does it cost? A: The book is 1350 yen, or about 12 US dollars. Each booster pack will cost 421 yen, or about 3.8 US dollars. This is of course, excluding shipping.
• Q: Where can I buy it? A: Either amazon.co.jp or other sites that re-sell Japanese products, it shouldn’t be too hard to order, no matter where you are in the world (shipping prices might be a little expensive though).
• Q: Why should we care about it? A: This databook will likely contain a bunch of new information, as it seems to include English romanizations for all characters as well as information such as heights, etc. that were not known before. It’s even been said that it’ll include previously unseen sketches by Oda.
• Q: Will you cover it? A: Yes! I won’t translate the full thing given it’s format and length (plus, I encourage that you go buy it yourself), but I will provide all the new important information that comes out with each set!
• Q: Is our lord and savior Buggy-sama included in it? A: Yep! In fact, he comes with the first group together with the book!