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Wit Studio President George Wada Confirms Tight Pacing, Modern Artistic Styles for The One Piece Anime Series Remake

President and CEO of Production I.G and President of Wit Studio George Wada said an interview with The Ai Show posted on Thursday that The One Piece, Wit Studio's remake of the One Piece anime for Netflix, will have tighter pacing without unnecessary padding, when compared to Toei Animation's original anime. Wada stated that they were motivated to remake the story using modern techniques, combining new visuals with strong pacing and storytelling. This idea was a response to original creator Eiichiro Oda's thoughts that Toei's anime might not reach a younger generation because it was long, started many years ago, and featured outdated animation in early episodes. The interview is streaming with English subtitles (One Piece questions begin at around 4:08 in video below):

In terms or directorial and artistic style, Wada added that Wit Studio aims to produce the new remake with similar strength and quality to its other anime; such as Attack on Titan, SPY x FAMILY, and Vinland Saga; which have aired at late night in Japan. This is in comparison to Toei's anime, which airs on a children's timeslot, Sunday mornings. At the same time, he expressed that he wants the new anime to fully respect Toei Animation's work.

Masashi Koizuka (Attack on Titan, Moonrise) is directing the anime at Wit Studio, and Hideaki Abe (key animator for Detective Conan: The Scarlet Bullet film, episode 5 of Suicide Squad ISEKAI) is the assistant director. Kyoji Asano (Attack on Titan, chief animation director for Spy×Family) and Takatoshi Honda (animation director for The First Slam Dunk film) are the character designers and chief animation directors. Yasuhiro Kajino (design and key animator for In/Spectre, conceptual design and key animator for RIN-NE 2nd season) is in charge of image board and creature design, and Eri Taguchi (animation director for Vampire in the Garden, character designer for Play It Cool, Guys) is in charge of prop design. Taku Kishimoto (Haikyu!!, Ranking of Kings) is in charge of series scripts, Ken Imaizumi (animation director for Boruto: Naruto Next Generations) and Shuhei Fukuda (animation director for My Hero Academia seasons 4 and 6, My Hero Academia: You're Next film) is the action animator, Tomonori Kuroda (A Certain Magical Index, A Certain Scientific Railgun) is the art director, and Ryōma Kawamura (Moonrise) is the animation producer.

The One Piece anime remake was first announced at the Jump Festa '24 event in December 2023. The announcement stated that the anime series is adapting "starting from" the East Blue Saga (hinting it might cover more than the East Blue Saga, but this is not confirmed). The remake's announcement is commemorated 25 years of the anime.

One Piece anime producer Ryūta Koike announced on October 28 that Toei Animation's One Piece anime is reducing its annual episode output to a maximum of 26 episodes moving forward starting in 2026. Following the conclusion of the Egghead arc last year, the anime is taking a three-month production hiatus from January-March 2026. The anime will return in Japan on April 5 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.

The Egghead arc in the anime debuted in January 2024. In mid-October 2024, 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.

One Piece: Into the Grand Line, the second live-action season based on Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga, debuted on Netflix on March 10. The first two episodes played in over 200 theaters in Canada, the United States, and Japan on the same day.

Source: The Ai Show's YouTube channel