With the announcement of the long break of the One Piece anime until April 2025, Toei Animation caught all fans of the popular series off guard. As a newcomer to the Shonen series, I was also surprised by the long period of time – but I also feel that the break is overdue.
I’m not saying that so that I have less stress and more time to finally catch up on the almost 500 episodes that I’m still missing. But because I see it as an opportunity for the future of anime and the animation studio behind it. After all, this break will definitely only mean good things for the One Piece anime – and I’ll tell you three reasons why.
Reason 1: More time for consistent quality in the animations
I’m not saying that One Piece is poorly animated or even falls into the category of bad anime adaptations. It is clear to see that Toei Animation has significantly increased the quality of the animation with the Egghead arc compared to previous arcs and episodes – as can be seen in the fight between Garp, Kuzan or Shanks against Kid and not forgetting the One Piece special called “Fan Letter”.
The fluid animations, epic fights and stark effects even blew me away.
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0:41 One Piece Fan Letter is a special episode celebrating the anime’s 25th anniversary
However, the constant publication of such high-profile episodes takes a lot of work and energy from the employees at Toei Animation. It is not uncommon for anime, especially shonen series, to lose quality over time when broadcast weekly – or for employees to burn out due to the constant work pressure.
So Toei Animation could use the long break to collect themselves and develop a new strategy, maintain this quality week after week when they return, or even prepare a few episodes in advance. The studio would ensure that there is no change in quality and that employees also get their breaks.
Reason 2: Allows the original anime to be in no way inferior to the upcoming remake ‘The One Piece’
Related to the above point, there is certainly some tension in the original One Piece anime team as the remake “The One Piece” of the popular anime series has been announced and will be adapted by another studio. With “The One Piece” the series is completely rebooted from the beginning.
So in addition to the consistency of quality of the current series, there is also pressure that fans will continue watching the original series even after the remake is released.
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20:57 The One Piece: Netflix releases 20 minutes of behind the scenes material for the anime remake
It would of course be a disappointment for us fans if the remake looked better and had better animation than the latest episodes of the original series.
The break is therefore a good thing for both fans and the studio, as One Piece fans can watch a high-quality anime – regardless of whether it is a remake or the original series! In addition, viewers of the current anime won’t go away empty-handed during the break, but will get the revised version of Fish-Man Island until April.
A win-win for Toei Animation and One Piece fans! Series newcomers will get a complete remake of the original series next year, while others won’t have to worry about getting a worse product in the retelling of the Egghead arc.
The break from One Piece is very convenient for Myki because she is busy with so many new anime series and at the same time is also catching up on One Piece. Now she finally doesn’t have to feel so stressed about missing one more episode every week and can now watch the series with all of its fillers and arcs.
Reason 3: The anime won’t catch up with the manga
Luckily we don’t have to say goodbye to One Piece completely during the break. Finally, Toei Animation is releasing a revised version of the Fish-Man Island Saga, which will be 21 episodes long. Shorter than the actual arc in the anime, but with better animations and a coherent plot without much around it.
So there won’t be any new episodes of the Egghead arc until April, but that’s a good thing because the manga only recently completed the Egghead arc and started the Elban storyline.
The anime adaptation might have caught up with the manga in the future and that would lead to problems: taking a forced break or presenting an original anime ending, as was the case with Fullmetal Alchemist, for example – and it rarely happens an ending not based on the manga was well received!
In addition, Toei Animation can better adjust the pace of the individual narratives and animations per episode and there will be no unnecessary scenes that artificially stretch the episode just to reach the weekly 24-minute length.
When the anime returns in April, it can place more emphasis on a quality upgrade due to the long break, which can only be good for the series in the future.
What do you think about One Piece’s long break and which anime series will you watch during it?
