One Piece remake is happening for two specific reasons, says WIT Studio

Luffy in One PieceCrunchyroll

WIT Studio is currently working on the One Piece anime remake, and the co-founder and resident George Wada has addressed two major issues in the original anime.

One Piece is a popular manga created by Eiichiro Oda, which was later adapted into anime in 1999. The series received further global recognition after the Netflix’s live-action adaptation. During Jump Festa 2024, the franchise announced that Netflix partnered with Wit Studio for a One Piece remake.

The remake will cover the entire East Blue Saga. It is the first One Piece Saga, where Luffy begins his journey and gathers the best crew in the world. After more than six months of silence, the studio has shared the first update about the anime remake.

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“We’re making The One Piece anime to reach a wider audience,” Wada states. “Many hesitate to watch the current series because of its old 4:3 format and the high number of episodes. We’re addressing these issues in the remake.”

One Piece has been airing since 1999, and fans’ major complaint is the pacing. The original anime adds a lot of non-canon scenes and extends the fight scenes to have enough material for new episodes. The problem is that One Piece, being a weekly show, needs to keep up with the manga.

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However, a lot of anime enthusiasts hesitate to watch the anime because of the number of episodes. There are currently over 1100 One Piece episodes. However, WIT Studio is turning it into a seasonal anime by likely cutting off a lot of unnecessary scenes. Furthermore, the East Blue Saga in the original anime also has a 4:3 aspect ratio, which will also be fixed in the new version.

One fan shares, “This will literally be the greatest piece of fiction. One Piece without pacing issues can’t be beaten.”

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“One Piece finally getting a good anime adaptation from the start with good dubs would boost the popularity tenfold,” shares another.

Another fan also shares, “I know a lot of people hesitate to start One Piece because of the episode count and pacing. The 4:3 aspect ratio is not one of the problems. I hope they’ll turn this adaptation into something special. Waiting for updates by the way.”

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