This marks the conclusion of an iconic period for long-running series, with Toei Animation announcing a revised release plan for the beloved series, which has run continuously for over a quarter-century and featured dozens of non-canon storylines. Commencing in the new year, after the current storyline concludes, the anime will take a quarterly hiatus until April, when the Elbaph arc kicks off.
Updated Production Plan
From now on, the series will release two seasons every annually for a cap of two dozen installments. Toei explains this will enable the anime to “explore further into the heart of the universe — including more content, tempo, and timing of the original manga.” Yet, Toei conclude by hinting at “exciting surprises” during the hiatus period, which suggests additional related projects, such as Netflix's live-action season 2, set to premiere during this gap.
Learning from Past Breaks
The One Piece anime previously took a six-month pause that started in late 2024 and ended in April 2025. The intermission was for the production team to improve the visuals and let the manga to get further ahead to avoid a rushed adaptation and lengthy recap episodes. The show greatly benefited from this break, and it has been able to deliver fans with numerous action sequences, high-quality animation, and less filler than ever before.
Adopting Modern Trends
While a few summary installments sprouted up during this season, the benefits of this new production schedule greatly outweigh the odd pause in the story. This also gives the manga, which is presently in the middle of the latest arc, to extend its lead on the anime. Per the announcement, this may lead to a single installment of the anime covering one chapter, with others alternatively covering one and a half chapters or additional to make up for time.
It's the end of a generation for Japanese animation, as the epic saga is the last big series to abandon the old-school way of production, which prioritized being on air for almost the entire year. This explains why classics such as Bleach, and naturally itself have so many side stories, and the quality of the art can change drastically between installments and the following. Today, anime production is structured in cours, with one or two maximum coming out each year, enabling better quality and greater accuracy to the original work.
