One of the biggest anime events, AnimeJapan 2025 shares the latest updates regarding several anime. One Piece took the stage on March 22nd, the first day of the event, and announced an upcoming vertical anime spin-off, titled Koisuru One Piece, which can be translated as One Piece in Love. Created by Daiki Ihara and serialized in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+, the story revolves around a young boy and a girl, along with their companions who share names with members of the Straw Hat crew and form a bond over their mutual love for Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece franchise. Toei will be handling the series with Miki Kobayashi as the producer as well as Yu Kamatani and Hazuki Omoya as directors.
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Additionally, fans also got new updates about Egghead Part 2, One Piece’s highly anticipated anime return. One Piece will be releasing two episodes back to back on April 5th and 6th for the first time in history. There will also be a special 83-minute-long recap episode. The anime will return with a new opening theme by Gre4n Boyz and an ending theme by Muque. While all these announcements are exciting for sure, the franchise still hasn’t shared any updates about the remake in months.
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Netflix’s One Piece Remake Was Announced in December 2023
One Piece took the internet by storm during Jump Festa 2024 when a Netflix remake by WIT Studio was announced. WIT is one of the most renowned animation studios in the industry, best known for creating the first three seasons of Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga Season 1, and Spy x Family in collaboration with CloverWorks. The director of Attack on Titan Seasons 2 and 3, Masashi Koizuka will be working on this project as a director. Fans were thrilled with the remake announcement since it meant experiencing their favorite series in modern animation.
After more than half a year of silence, WIT Studio shared a bunch of concept art and character designs, which were well-received by the fandom. The illustrations include several beautiful scenes from the East Blue Saga, which will be covered in the first season of the remake. Additionally, the concept also highlights that WIT won’t be censoring the manga’s brutality, unlike Toei. These were shared in August 2024, and the studio went silent again with no new updates since then.
What to Expect From The One Piece?
Unlike the long-running anime series by Toei, the remake will be seasonal, with the first season likely featuring the first saga of the manga. The East Blue Saga is where Luffy sets out on his journey and gathers four people in his crew from different islands. Each crew member has their own dreams to follow, so they join the protagonist’s journey and swear to help him become King of the Pirates. The episode count is unknown, but if the first season is planning to adapt the entire first saga, we can expect at least more than 20 episodes.
Why Is There a Need for One Piece’s Remake?
One Piece has always been a popular franchise but it reached greater heights than ever after Netflix’s live-action adaptation. Netflix has been working on more One Piece projects including the one-episode spin-off Monsters and the anime remake. The platform also began streaming the original anime from the Egghead Incident Arc. Furthermore, One Piece’s pacing has been a problem for several years now. When the anime originally began, it adapted around one and a half chapters per episode which later got decreased to less than one chapter.
The story’s flow has since taken a major hit, with the anime often getting criticism for it. However, Toei has been working on the anime for over 25 years as a long-running show instead of a seasonal one. Therefore, with the manga and the anime simultaneously releasing every week with a two-year gap since the debut, Toei couldn’t give One Piece a normal pacing like other anime. Even so, the studio made up for it with anime-only scenes and gorgeous animation that only got better over the years. However, they are striving to fix this issue with the longest anime hiatus in history.
In July 2024, the President of WIT Studio, George Wada explained the reasons behind the remake in an interview with Real Sound. He talked about Oda’s goal to make Japanese manga more popular around the world. In order to do that, it is necessary to reach people who aren’t familiar with One Piece with a remake as an entry point. Additionally, Wada noted that the original anime was produced in a 4:3 aspect ratio and features animation that may feel dated since it was created over two decades ago. This format can be a barrier for young viewers who are used to modern animation standards.
H/T: Real Sound
