One Piece is one of the longest-running anime series of all time, with over 1,000 episodes and dozens of movies. The series has been running for nearly three decades and has gone through major transitions, from older animation styles to modern animation. However, despite airing consistently for so long, the anime has not remained perfect. In order to continue weekly without ever catching up to its source material, the series has been heavily affected by one major issue: pacing. Therefore, when Netflix announced the anime remake in December 2023, it gave fans hope that this beloved series would finally receive proper pacing alongside modern animation from the very beginning.
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After years of silence, with only a few concept arts released here and there, it was recently announced that the remake, The One Piece, is scheduled to premiere in February 2027. The first release will reportedly consist of seven episodes, covering a total of 50 manga chapters. This is a very different approach for the franchise, and while the lengthy production and episode format seem intriguing and promising in terms of quality over quantity, it may also be missing the mark of what this ambitious project was meant to achieve. At this point, it even feels possible that One Piece Live-action could conclude before this ambitious remake truly takes off.
The One Piece’s Current Schedule May Ironically Create a Pacing Problem
The first batch of The One Piece episodes is set to release more than three years after the project’s initial announcement, and it is reportedly only covering 50 chapters from the source material. In comparison, the first season of One Piece Live-Action adapted more than that, while its second season, which arrived a little over two years later, covered more than 150 chapters in total. Meanwhile, a third season is already in production and is reportedly planned for next year. Comparatively, the live-action adaptation is moving far ahead of the remake, and if this pacing continues, the live-action series could outpace the remake and even conclude before it.
This possibility becomes even more likely if the live-action adaptation makes major changes in future seasons and eventually introduces its own original ending long before the remake reaches that point. Meanwhile, the remake’s pacing appears considerably slower, which is ironic considering the project was created to address one of One Piece’s biggest flaws. If the remake continues adapting only 50 chapters across seven episodes with each yearly release, then covering over 1,000 manga chapters could realistically take nearly two decades.
Thus, in the long run, the purpose of this ambitious project, to fix the pacing issues of One Piece, could become somewhat redundant, mainly benefiting new viewers discovering the franchise years from now. That said, one fortunate aspect of The One Piece is that fans who still want the series to remain part of their lives and continue experiencing “new” content may at least have it around for another two decades or more.
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