As a fan of One Piece, I’ve enjoyed Luffy’s journey through the One Piece manga and Toei Animation’s anime adaptation with unwavering enthusiasm. The series is a cultural juggernaut, and I’m Suuuuperrr excited to be a part of this fandom. However, I cannot help but acknowledge the fact that the anime’s pacing has long been a point of contention.
The Dressrosa Arc is notorious for stretching chapters over multiple episodes, and while the Wano Arc promised a shift, it damaged the pacing further with its overcorrected nature. Toei’s animation was breathtaking, sure, but a single episode would adapt multiple manga chapters, causing the anime’s pace to match up to the manga’s.
As One Piece reaches its Final Saga, I’m growing concerned. The faster pace is setting One Piece up for a pacing crisis as it catches up to the manga, potentially forcing Toei to revert to a one-chapter-per-episode model, or something worse.
Toei nailed One Piece’s pacing for the Wano Arc, but it came at a price
The Wano Arc was a turning point for One Piece’s anime, and several fans, including myself, consider it to be the peak of the anime (Roof Piece, lessgo). Toei elevated the series with its vibrant visuals, cherry blossoms, a kabuki-inspired structure, and amazing sakuga-heavy fight scenes.
The Wano arc gave us a lot of great things. The Enma, Zoro’s King of Hell moments, Sanji’s upgrade, Roof Piece, and of course, Luffy’s Gear 5 debut. The Gear 5 transformation in particular blended Looney Tunes’ absurdity with Shonen’s intensity, and people loved it. Another aspect that Wano got right (at least during the start) was the pacing.
One Piece’s Wano Arc (in the anime) improved the story’s pacing by a huge margin, often adapting a full chapter or more per episode, especially during battles. This was a huge change from arcs like Dressrosa, where episodes sometimes covered less than half a chapter. The Dressrosa arc, in particular, is infamous for having more episodes than chapters.
While I enjoyed the fast pacing (and the Gear 5 Transformation), it came with a catch. The manga releases 45-48 chapters annually, while the anime airs about 50 episodes. I hope you’re starting to see the problem. Wano’s faster adaptation rate shrank the gap between the anime and manga.
What was the point of the hiatus
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As a fan, I love the momentum, but I can’t ignore the obvious: the closer the anime gets to the manga, the fewer chapters remain to adapt. You don’t need to be a genius to figure this out. Toei’s weekly schedule will force the anime to either slow down or use fillers to increase the gap between the anime and manga. It may also push Toei toward a pacing model that will worsen the One Piece experience.
The looming “One-Chapter-Per-Episode” style of adaptation
Egghead Arc is the first major arc of the story’s final saga (I guess that’s why Oda improved his butt-drawing skills), and the One Piece anime is about to enter one of the most pivotal moments of that arc. The animation is amazing, but as expected, the show’s pacing issues are resurfacing, and I don’t know who else to blame other than Toei.
This is especially disappointing when we take into account that the anime went on a long hiatus before this arc. Fans are frustrated with the pacing, and I think Toei needs to chill out and fix its schedule. If Toei continues adapting the manga at its current pace, it could close the gap within a year (why don’t you use AI to fix the pacing, Toei? I’m kidding, by the way).
We all know what’s gonna happen then. Toei will start to stretch each episode with prolonged recaps and will adapt a single chapter per episode. It may get even worse, like during Punk Hazard, where episodes were only adapted from as little as nine pages.
The way Toei handled One Piece’s pacing during Wano was a triumph, but this accelerated adaptation rate has brought the anime dangerously close to the manga. This pacing, if not fixed, risks a return to the one-chapter-per-episode model that plagued earlier arcs. As a fan, I hope Toei can fix the issue and find a balance before the situation worsens.
One Piece is currently available to stream on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
