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Warning: Contains spoilers for One Piece Log: Fishman Islan episode #1.In a surprising twist, not only isOne Piece’s anime going on hiatus until April 2025, but rather than just going off the air for that time,One Piecewill air a remastered version of the Fishman Island arc. The visuals have been redone to be more in line with the modern anime, and the story, itself, will be condensed to just 21 episodes as opposed to the original 58.
WithOne Piece’s Fishman Island remasterless than half the length of the original arc, that means the pacing has to be much faster to cover everything in a short amount of time. Only one episode has aired so far, and not only is the pacing as good as people expected it to be, butthe pacing ofOne Piece’s remaster is so good that it emphasizes just how bad the regular anime’s pacing can be. A lot of that is out of the anime’s control, of course, but the stark contrast between them is still worth thinking about, regardless.
One Piece’s Anime Remaster Proves That One Piece Can Have Good Pacing
One Piece’s Fishman Island remaster promised a version of the anime with better pacing, and it’s already delivering on that front. As opposed to the slow and monotonous pacing that’s often plagued the anime, the remaster does a great job of pacing things out closer to the manga, and it’s to the point thatthe first episode ofOne Piece’s Fishman Island remaster covered what took two episodes in the original anime.
After years ofOne Piecebeing a slog to get through more often than not, the anime being redone with proper pacing is nothing but great to see.
Not everything about the pacing is perfect, however. Since the remaster is mostly just editing the original anime as opposed to creating new material, the remaster has to work within the framework of the original anime’s infamously poor pacing, and because of that,the pacing forOne Piece’s Fishman Island remaster, while mostly good, ironically ends up being too fast at times, which does sometimes underscore the improved visuals and overall quality. Those moments are fortunately rare in episode #1, however, and with any luck, the remaster will have more even pacing, going forward.
One Piece’s Pacing Issues Explained
WhenOne Piecefirst started, it was common for popular anime to run for years at a time without any breaks, and to avoid catching up to the original manga and running out of material to adapt, they would often pad things out with filler episodes or, inOne Piece’s case, by dragging things out so that barely anything is covered in a single episode.One Piece’s pacing issues were largely a product of the era it started in, and as it went on, it became too big to justify changing things, completely.
One Piecehas been taking measures to improve things, of course. Not only has the anime received a complete visual overhaul since the Wano arc, something that includes using gorgeously animated fight scenes to make filler scenes more palatable, but the anime is on hiatus so the team behind it can have time to keep delivering episodes at a consistent quality.One Piece’s remaster wouldn’t exist without the production team acknowledging that they needed to change things for the better, and with the quality of the finished product, that was certainly the right decision.
Will One Piece’s Hiatus Help Fix The Anime’s Pacing Issues?
One Piece’s Fishman Island remaster perfectly highlights how lackluster the original anime has often been, and that begs the question of whether things will change, going forward. The anime is currently on hiatus to help maintain consistent quality, and while that’s mostly regarding visuals,One Piece’s six-month long hiatuscould allow the anime to adapt the manga at a faster pace for the first time in decades. The fact that the anime will have more material to adapt than usual also helps with that, and for anyone who’s grown frustrated with the anime’s pacing, it would be great to see.
The hiatus having an impact on how the anime is handled is purely hypothetical, of course, and even if the pacing did improve, there will only be so many chapters in the anime’s backlog to adapt, so unfortunately,One Piecehaving consistently faster pacing after its hiatus is unlikely to happen outside of a few episodes. At the very least, though, the Fishman Island remaster offers a great look into what a version ofOne Piecewith more consistent pacing would have looked like, and hopefully, at least some of that work will make its way into the main series.
One Piece
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The One Piece anime began in 1999 and follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a boy with rubber-like abilities, as he embarks on a journey to find the legendary treasure “One Piece.” Inspired by the pirate Shanks, Luffy aims to become the King of the Pirates, accompanied by a diverse crew.
