The One Piece Production Changes are Interesting

Article at a glance:

• Toei Animation is finally making some real changes to the One Piece anime production schedule, aiming for better quality and pacing.
• Starting in 2025, the anime will have fewer episodes per year (26) and no more recap episodes, which is a huge shift from the usual formula.
• While it’s still adapting one manga chapter per episode, fans hope this marks the start of a much-needed pacing improvement.

Wait, is Toei finally making efforts to fix the One Piece anime adaptation after all these years?? Well, kind of. They are trying at least, which is nice. See, Toei announced some big production schedule changes for the One Piece anime, which are quite interesting and could definitely help in making the anime adaptation better. Do I recommend you start watching the anime now? NAH. Just wait for that WIT Studio remake lol. Or pick up the manga, you’ll STILL catch up faster than the anime.

But still, this is a good change for those of us who have been watching the anime for ages. So welcome back to another news article, and today we are talking about the One Piece production updates and changes. So let’s get started.

Everything We Know About the One Piece Production Changes

Toei Animation recently announced in a livestream that 2025 will have a total of 38 episodes of One Piece. 33 normal ones and 5 specials. After this airing is finished, they will go on a break from January 2026 to March 2026. That’s nothing new, but what is new is that starting next year, Toei will aim to deliver 26 episodes per year and drop the recap episodes altogether. Now they are saying that they will still adapt 1 chapter per episode, but that’s a little misguided, I feel. They should start adapting more chapters per episode. At least 3 chapters per episode.

The producer claims that these changes are in order to provide better visual quality and more concentrated storytelling. Which is fair, I think. But yeah, that covers all the news for now, so let’s move on to

My Thoughts

I think this is a good idea overall. It is not ideal, I would like for them to cover more chapters per episode, man. So that it actually feels like we made some progress in the episode. Currently, so little content is stretched over so many episodes that they just wind up doing stupid shit to stall for time. That is the biggest issue with the anime right now. Sure, fewer episodes per year will allow for better production value, and it will be easier on the staff as well, but why are we still looking for 1 chapter per episode??

I hope that they realize that one chapter per episode is still too little and start tightening up the pacing. Again, 26 episodes per year is a good idea, I support it. It is good for both us fans and the production team. This may not be ideal, but it is certainly better than whatever we’ve had for the last few years.

That is all for now

But yeah, let me know what you guys think in the comments. These changes are good, again, not ideal, but a step in the right direction, and honestly, Toei should have done this earlier. Better late than never, I suppose. But I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check some Akatsuki no Yona news here!