Shonen anime tend to run for a long time, as has been the pattern for decades. However, no anime is bigger than the one that first aired 27 years ago and shows no signs of stopping. The anime in question is none other than Toei Animation’s One Piece, which began adapting Eiichiro Oda’s magnum opus just two years after the manga was first released. Although Oda initially planned to end the series within five years, the manga continued to grow, and so did the anime. Since its debut on October 20, 1999, the anime has followed a weekly release schedule, with breaks here and there, and evolved in many different ways.
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Looking back, everything was aligned for One Piece to emerge as one of the leading anime. Toei Animation essentially aimed to replace the Dragon Ball franchise with One Piece, and it did so wonderfully, as Shueisha also recognized the potential of Oda’s creation. Throughout its run, the anime has taken a few breaks, with one of the most significant coming during the timeskip following the Marineford arc. However, the One Piece anime has evolved in recent years, and while some fans might have been disappointed by this change, it fortunately reinforces the idea that One Piece will continue airing for years to come, if not another decade.
27 Years Later, This Shonen Anime Is Still Going Strong
One Piece saw a major change in 2025 when it announced that the anime would embrace a seasonal format the following year, with a total of 26 episodes per year. In 2026, this new format was put into practice, with the anime airing from spring through the end of summer and adapting the first major events of the Elbaph arc. The intriguing aspect of this new format was that it did not significantly improve the pacing, with the anime still adapting only two to three chapters per episode. This means that even with the new format, the anime will take even longer to reach its conclusion than it would have under the old schedule. On top of that, the One Piece anime is expanding in other ways as well.
It was expected that a new anime movie was in the works, and the franchise announced just that. However, the surprise was that there would be two new anime projects, one of which would be a new canon story adapted from the manga. This is the first time the anime franchise has taken such a step, and with anime movies taking longer to produce, it further reinforces the idea that the series will continue for years to come. All these elements point to one thing: despite running for 27 years, the One Piece anime isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. While Toei Animation’s projects alone are enough to confirm the series’ longevity, the franchise is expanding in other ways, too.
Netflix announced the anime’s reboot in late 2023, and after years of silence, it is set to arrive in February 2027. The intriguing aspect is that the reboot’s first season will adapt around 60 chapters across its first seven episodes. If its development cycle follows this approach, even the reboot could continue for at least another decade. Lastly, the One Piece live-action series is thriving, with no end in sight either. The One Piece fleet, ever since the anime began in 1999, has continued to reach new horizons, and given how the franchise has developed in recent years, it is evident that this shonen series is only going to get bigger, continuing its run for the next decade and achieving what no other shonen anime could even hope to surpass.
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