One Piece ends its first major stage after more than two decades on air

One Piece has officially closed its first major stage after more than 26 years of uninterrupted broadcasting. With the broadcast of its most recent episode, the series based on Eiichirō Oda’s manga enters a historic pause that marks the end of an era for Japanese animation.

Launched in 1999, One Piece has become one of the longest-running and most popular anime of all time, far surpassing a thousand episodes. Throughout these years, the series has maintained a nearly constant weekly broadcast schedule, with minimal interruptions.

Following this symbolic closure, the series will take a break of several months before returning with a new broadcast model. Upon its return, the anime will be organized into seasons divided into blocks, with scheduled breaks between batches of episodes, thus abandoning the continuous weekly format it had maintained until now.

This change coincides with the advance towards the so-called final saga of the story, a key stage in which many of the mysteries and plots developed since the beginning of the work will be resolved. Eiichirō Oda himself has pointed out on several occasions that the ending of One Piece is already underway.

The news has generated mixed reactions among fans: while some regret the reduction in the number of annual episodes, others celebrate the new approach, trusting that it will allow for better planning, greater narrative quality, and a more faithful adaptation of the manga.

With this turning point, One Piece bids farewell to its most extensive stage and prepares to face the final stretch of one of the most important adventures in anime history.