Ladies and gentlemen, it’s official. Weekly anime is dead. On October 15, 2024, Toei Animation announced that “One Piece”, the weekly series that has been airing almost non-stop for over two decades, announced that after the airing of episode 1122, they will be going on a six-month hiatus, and will not be airing new episodes until April of 2025. While this is unfortunate for the fans, it is understandable why they would do this. Ever since the end of the Wano Arc, Toei has consistently produced dozens of gorgeously animated episodes over the last year, and a WEEKLY anime with as good animation as “One Piece” must definitely take a lot of work. However, this signifies a major change in the anime industry, as “One Piece" was the last weekly anime airing after shows like “Boruto: Naruto Next Generations” and “Dragon Ball Super” stopped airing weekly in March of 2018 and 2023 respectively. Many are speculating that “One Piece” will follow a seasonal release schedule like all other recent anime, releasing a set amount of episodes every season, but the future is unclear.
Although “One Piece” will not be releasing any new episodes, that doesn’t mean we will be devoid of any “One Piece” content for the foreseeable future. On October 20, “One Piece” released their 25th anniversary episode, “One Piece Fan Letter” that follows ordinary people in the “One Piece” universe that all were affected by the Straw Hats in one way or another. Additionally, it was announced that Toei will be remaking the Fishman Island Arc, the first arc of the timeskip with its first episode set to air on October 27. “The One Piece”, a remake of the pre-timeskip content by Studio WIT and Netflix, is also in the works and is speculated to be released around November 4. These projects are meant to make “One Piece” easier to digest for new viewers, as they will have better pacing than their original counterparts.
Image Courtsey: Jawavs
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