🔗 Share this article The Legendary Anime Concludes a Quarter-Century Era in 2026 This marks the conclusion of a long-standing era for ongoing anime, with Toei Animation announcing a new production schedule for One Piece, which has been airing for more than 25 years and featured numerous non-canon storylines. Starting in the new year, after the Egghead Island arc concludes, the anime will go on a quarterly hiatus until spring, when the next major arc begins. Updated Production Plan Going forward, One Piece will produce a pair of cours every year for a cap of 26 episodes. Toei explains this will help the anime to “explore further into the core of the universe — including more content, rhythm, and pacing of the original manga.” Yet, producers conclude by hinting at “exciting surprises” during the hiatus period, which suggests more related projects, such as Netflix's live-action season 2, scheduled to debut in the interim. Learning from Past Breaks The series anime previously took a half-year pause that began in October 2024 and concluded in April 2025. The intermission was for the animators to improve the animation quality and allow the manga to get further ahead to avoid a rushed adaptation and repetitive summaries. The anime greatly benefited from this respite, and it has been able to supply fans with numerous fight scenes, high-quality animation, and less filler than ever before. Embracing Seasonal Format While a few summary installments appeared during the recent run, the positive effects of this updated approach far surpass the occasional interruption in the story. This additionally allows the manga, which is currently in the middle of the latest arc, to extend its lead on the anime. Per the announcement, this may result in a single installment of the anime covering a single manga chapter, with some alternatively handling more material or additional to compensate for time. It's the end of an era for Japanese animation, as One Piece is the last big series to abandon the old-school way of creation, which focused on being on air for most of the calendar. This explains why classics such as Bleach, and of course One Piece have numerous filler arcs, and the quality of the animation can vary widely between installments and the following. Nowadays, series creation is structured in seasons, with one or two at most releasing each year, enabling better quality and greater accuracy to the source material.