It is the tip of an period for ongoing anime, as Toei Animation pronounces a brand new manufacturing schedule for One Piece, which has been an ongoing collection for a quarter-century, spanning over a dozen filler arcs within the course of. Beginning in January, after the Egghead Island arc wraps up, the anime will likely be occurring a three-month break till April, when the Elbaph arc will start.
Going ahead, One Piece will produce two seasons yearly for a most of 26 episodes. Toei says this can assist the anime “dive even deeper into the guts of the ONE PIECE world — incorporating extra content material, tempo, and pacing of the unique manga.” Nevertheless, Toei ends by promising “thrilling surprises” in the course of the collection’ break, which implies extra One Piece content material, like Netflix’s live-action season 2, set to premiere throughout this hole.
The One Piece anime beforehand took a six-month break that started in October 2024 and led to April 2025. The hiatus was for the manufacturing staff to enhance the animation high quality and permit the manga to get additional forward to keep away from a quicker anime tempo and prolonged recap episodes. The anime could not profit extra from this break, and it has been capable of provide followers with numerous motion sequences, high-quality animation, and fewer filler than ever earlier than.
Though some recap episodes sprouted up throughout this season, the constructive results of this new manufacturing schedule far surpass the odd pause within the motion. This additionally provides the manga, which is at the moment in the midst of the Elbaph arc, to realize extra floor on the anime. In accordance with the announcement made throughout the ONE PIECE NEWS section on YouTube, as translated by @WSJ_manga on X, this will likely end in one episode of the anime masking one chapter of the manga, with some as an alternative masking one and a half chapters or extra to compensate for time.
It is the tip of an period for anime, as One Piece is the final large collection to ditch the old-school approach of manufacturing, which prioritized being on air for nearly the whole 12 months. It is the explanation why classics reminiscent of Naruto, Bleach, and naturally One Piece have so many filler arcs, and the standard of the animation can change drastically between one episode and the following. These days, anime manufacturing is structured in seasons, with one or two most popping out every year, permitting for higher high quality and extra faithfulness to the supply materials.
