This post contains spoilers for One Piece.
Eiichiro Oda's One Piece widely considered to be the best shonen manga series of all time. Not only does it have an incredibly large fan base, it's also the best-selling manga of all time. Based on the latest data available One Piece manga has sold over 500 million copies, making it the only title to achieve this milestone.
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While the manga is phenomenal, the anime is a different story. The last couple of arcs have been incredible, but that hasn't always been the case. In fact, a case could be made that Toei Animation actually ruined the One Piece anime.
One Piece Anime has a terrible pace
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The One Piece anime has an abysmal pace
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Toei Animation has been responsible for the failure
The One Piece anime has been airing since 1999, and since then it has released over 1100 episodes, which is an insanely high number. Such a huge number can easily discourage potential viewers from watching the One Piece anime, especially in the current era where an anime season has 20-30 episodes at max.
So, how did One Piece ends with more than 1100 episodes? The answer is quite simple. It was due to the choice that Toei Animation made, which resulted in the anime being so slow and drawn out. The pacing was good until the anime reached the Loguetown part of the East Blue Saga. Some episodes only covered 10 pages, which did the episodes painful to watch.
One Piece Anime's quality went down over time
Unfortunately, things continued to deteriorate over time, causing even ardent fans to despise One Piece. For example, Oda covered the entire Dressrosa arc in 102 chapters, while the anime took 118 episodes to do the same. The Whole Cake Island arc has 78 chapters, and Toei somehow took 95 episodes to cover the same.
Even Wano, which many fans consider better than other arcs, has the same problem. In the manga, the Wano Country arc was completed in 149 chapters, while the anime required 191 episodes to complete. The Egghead arc, which is the most recent, has 68 episodes, and they've been adapted into 70 episodes. After some calculation, it is clear that Toei Animation adapted almost a chapter to an episode.
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Since that's One Piece's biggest problem, many fans wonder when the pacing of the anime really gets bad.
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But it falls short of the standard maintained by some of the better anime released in recent years. Solo Leveling, for example, covered 110 chapters in just 25 episodes, which is why anime fans fell in love with the series. The episodes were excellently paced, so the audience didn't feel like they were watching paint dry. Gachiakuta is another example of an anime adaptation done right. The first season had 24 episodes, and they covered 87 chapters. Viewers were happy with the adaptation and they praised it on all social networking sites.
By taking the slow approach, Toei Animation ruined the One Piece anime. There's no doubt that the story is phenomenal, and the action sequences are amazing, which is why fans haven't been blown away by it. Unfortunately, the Elbaf arc will be no different, as it has been confirmed that the anime will maintain the pace of one chapter per episode.
The One Piece remake must happen soon
Not long ago, it was confirmed that the One Piece remake would be produced by Wit Studio, who previously worked on titles such as Spy x Family, Vinland Saga and Attack on Titan. While some fans may think it's unnecessary, there's absolutely no doubt that One Piece needs a remake.
The president of Wit Studio, George Wada, revealed that there were two reasons for the One Piece remake. He said one of them was the old 4:3 format. In the 90s, the format may have been acceptable, but it is outdated now. Second, the studio intends to improve the abysmal pacing. By fixing these two issues, Wit Studio will make the One Piece anime more palatable to viewers.
Unfortunately, the studio has not shared a release date for the project, suggesting that production is far from over. Wit Studio may have its hands full with other projects, which is why things are running behind schedule. The studio has shared new character designs for the Straw Hats and those on various islands. Hopefully an update will be shared next One Piece Day.
One Piece
- Release date
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October 20, 1999
- Network
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Fuji TV
- Directors
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Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Toshihiro Ma Shihi Endo, Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
- Author
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Jin Tanaka, Akiko Inoue, Junki Takegami, Shinzo Fujita, Shouji Yonemura, Yoshiyuki Suga, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hirohiko Uesaka, Michiru Shimada, Isao Murayama, Takuya Masumoto, Yoichi Takahashi, Momoka Toyoda
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Mayumi Tanaka
Monkey D. Luffy (voice)
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Kazuya Nakai
Roronoa Zoro (voice)
