It's the end of an iconic period for ongoing anime, with the production studio revealing a new production schedule for One Piece, which has been airing for more than 25 years and featured dozens of non-canon storylines. Starting in January, after the current storyline wraps up, the animated series will go on a three-month hiatus until April, when the next major arc kicks off.
Updated Production Plan
From now on, the series will produce a pair of cours every year for a maximum of 26 episodes. The studio states this will help the anime to “dive even deeper into the heart of the ONE PIECE world — including more content, tempo, and timing of the source material.” Yet, producers end by promising “thrilling developments” during the hiatus period, which means more One Piece content, such as Netflix's live-action season 2, scheduled to debut during this gap.
Learning from Past Breaks
The series anime previously took a six-month pause that began in October 2024 and ended in April 2025. The hiatus was for the animators to improve the animation quality and allow the manga to get further ahead to prevent a faster anime pace and repetitive summaries. The show couldn't benefit more from this respite, and it has managed to deliver fans with countless action sequences, high-quality animation, and less filler than ever before.
Embracing Seasonal Format
While a few summary installments sprouted up during this season, the positive effects of this updated approach far surpass the occasional interruption in the story. This additionally allows the manga, which is currently in the thick of the latest arc, to extend its lead on the adaptation. According to the announcement, this may lead to a single installment of the anime adapting one chapter, with others instead covering one and a half chapters or more to compensate for scheduling.
This concludes of an era for Japanese animation, as the epic saga is the final major title to ditch the old-school way of production, which prioritized airing for most of the calendar. It's the reason why iconic series such as Bleach, and of course One Piece have so many filler arcs, and the standard of the animation can change drastically between one episode and the next. Today, series creation is structured in cours, with a couple at most releasing each year, enabling improved visuals and more faithfulness to the original work.
