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One Piece Anime Casts 1998 Special's Original Luffy Voice Actor Urara Takano

Voice actress Urara Takano revealed on Sunday that she is voicing Joy Boy in the One Piece anime. Takano originally voiced the series' main character Monkey D. Luffy in the One Piece: Defeat The Pirate Ganzak! Jump Super Anime Tour 1998 special prior to Mayumi Tanaka voicing him in the main One Piece anime in 1999. Joy Boy [spoilers below, highlight the white text to read] is a character who not only looks like Luffy, but also ate the same Devil Fruit as him centuries ago. Takano talked about her role as a repost of the One Piece franchise's official X/Twitter account's post for episode 1,151, which aired on Sunday. The franchise's official YouTube channel also streamed a next episode preview for the 1,152nd episode.

Toei Animation and One Piece anime producer Ryūta Koike announced on October 28 that the anime will reduce its annual episode output to a maximum of 26 episodes moving forward starting in 2026. Following the conclusion of the Egghead arc this year, the anime will take a three-month production hiatus from January-March 2026. The anime will return in April 2026 for the first of two cours (quarters of a year) with the start of the new Elbaph arc.

According to Toei Animation, the new schedule will allow episodes to "incorporate more content, tempo, and pacing of the manga while continuing to leverage the unique storytelling that is only possible with animation." Historically, with only few exceptions, the anime has aired most weeks since its premiere in 1999. However, the pace has slowed considerably over the years, such that a single anime episode adapts about a single manga chapter on average.

The Egghead arc in the anime debuted in January 2024. In mid-October, the franchise announced that the anime's Egghead arc would pause to "recharge," and then the arc would continue in April 2025. Part 2 of the Egghead arc premiered with its first episode (1,123rd overall episode) on Fuji TV on April 5 and aired alongside a recap episode of Part 1 of the Egghead arc. The second episode (1,124th overall episode) aired on April 6 with its new timeslot at 11:15 p.m. JST (10:15 a.m. EDT).

During the Egghead arc's break, One Piece Log: Fish-Man Island Saga; a 21-episode abridged version of the Fish-Man Island arc of the anime with reshot scenes, retouched art, and other improvements; aired in its place.

The ongoing anime adaptation of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga premiered in 1999.

Source: Urara Takano's X/Twitter account