It's the end of a long-standing era for long-running series, with the production studio revealing a revised release plan for the beloved series, which has run continuously for more than 25 years and featured numerous non-canon storylines. Commencing in the new year, once the Egghead Island arc wraps up, the anime will take a quarterly hiatus until spring, when the next major arc kicks off.
Updated Production Plan
From now on, the series will release two seasons every annually for a cap of two dozen installments. The studio explains this will enable the anime to “dive even deeper into the core of the universe — incorporating more content, tempo, and pacing of the original manga.” Yet, producers conclude by hinting at “thrilling developments” during the series' break, which means more related projects, such as the upcoming live-action adaptation, scheduled to debut during this gap.
Previous Hiatus Benefits
The series anime previously took a half-year break that began in October 2024 and ended in early 2025. The hiatus was for the animators to enhance the animation quality and allow the manga to get further ahead to prevent a rushed adaptation and lengthy recap episodes. The anime greatly benefited from this respite, and it has been able to supply fans with numerous fight scenes, high-quality animation, and less filler than ever before.
Embracing Seasonal Format
While some recap episodes sprouted up during this season, the benefits of this new production schedule greatly outweigh the odd pause in the story. This additionally allows the manga, which is currently in the middle of the Elbaph arc, to extend its lead on the anime. Per the announcement, this may result in one episode of the series covering a single manga chapter, with some instead handling one and a half chapters or more to make up for time.
It's the end of a generation for anime, as the epic saga is the final major title to abandon the traditional method of production, which focused on being on air for most of the calendar. It's the reason why classics such as Naruto, and of course One Piece have numerous filler arcs, and the quality of the art can vary widely between one episode and the next. Today, anime production is structured in cours, with a couple maximum releasing each year, enabling better quality and greater accuracy to the source material.
