For a few years now, JR West seems to have been into ‘character’ Shinkansen: Shinkansen trains in a livery that evokes the character in question.
The first of these was the Evangelion 500-series Shinkansen (still the best, in my opinion), and then came the Hello Kitty Shinkansen (which is great if you like kawaii).
And now there’s a third ‘character’ Shinkansen: the ONE PIECE train. Actually, there are going to be three of these ONE PIECE Shinkansen, unveiled roughly one month apart. Only the first train, in the ‘Setouchi Blue’ livery, is running yet. The remaining two trains are due to be unveiled in May and June respectively.
The Setouchi Blue train makes one round trip between Hakata and Shin-Osaka a day (at present), and it’s quite striking. If you’re waiting for a Shinkansen somewhere between Hakata and Shin-Osaka, keep an eye out for this train!