----- ADS-----
Jump Festa 2024, which was held in December 2023, took the internet by storm by announcing a One Piece remake by WIT Studio. Netflix has officially confirmed to be the streaming platform of the show, and fans couldn’t be more excited. WIT Studio is one of the most popular anime studios in the industry, known for its gorgeous animation, as we have seen in the first three seasons of Attack on Titan and Netflix’s Moonrise. However, the only update about the remake we ever got from the studio was in August 2024 when they shared a bunch of gorgeous concept sketches. They were widely praised by the fandom, making them anticipate the upcoming series even more.
One Piece was already popular thanks to Eiichiro Oda’s brilliant storytelling and worldbuilding, but it reached new heights after Netflix’s live-action adaptation. Considering that the original anime debuted in 1999, many fans would love to witness the same story in modern animation. The remake is expected to adapt the entire East Blue Saga, the first saga of the series, where Luffy sets out to sea and meets Nami, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp before heading towards the Grand Line. However, it’s quite clear now that the remake will be released a lot later than expected.
One Piece Remake Is Making Slow Progress
According to the reputable One Piece fan account, @pewpiece, insiders suggest fans may be waiting awhile for The One Piece by Wit Studio, stating, “Kyoji Asano, the character designer for the One Piece remake, said in an interview yesterday that he was drawing some One Piece cuts just the day before. He’s still actively working on it, but progress has been pretty slow.” The report comes from a reliable source, and although these claims are not at all shocking, it’s still disappointing, given the general hopes for other classic anime remakes in the works that have run into similar slowdowns.
Asano is known for his work in Attack on Titan (2013), Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (2016). He will also be the character designer of the show, so his latest interview confirms that they are working on the remake. The anime remake will make use of modern technology and even have a new soundtrack and cast members, which means the studio is working on everything from scratch.
Wit Studio Has Had Scheduling Issues in the Past
With the ever-growing anime industry, it’s common for animation studios to struggle with tight deadlines and capacity challenges. Wit Studio is one of them, considering they had to let go of Attack on Titan and Vinland Saga because of a time crunch. Because of both series’ popularity, MAPPA wasted no time in taking them over. They couldn’t keep up with the burden of working on several ambitious projects at once.
Not to mention, the studio spent six years in development on Netflix’s original anime series Moonrise. It was initially announced in 2018, and production began around 2021, with the final product released in April 2025. With two of the biggest projects gone from their hands, WIT Studio now has a considerably better schedule to work on their upcoming series.
One Piece Remake Will Be Worth the Wait
Toei Animation has been working on One Piece’s anime since 1999 and has played a significant role in making it famous overseas. They have also released some of the most wonderfully animated episodes during the Wano Country Saga and the ongoing Egghead Incident Arc. However, the biggest issue with the anime is the pacing, which is a lot worse now than it used to be in the beginning. Usually, an anime episode consists of three to five chapters worth of content, but One Piece adapts only one chapter.
The studio makes up for it with extremely slow scenes and anime fillers. Of course, since both the anime and manga are weekly shows, there’s no way for Toei to adopt the same method as other shows. However, Wit Studio aims to fix this problem in the remake. One Piece’s anime, having more than 1100 episodes, also keeps it from gaining new fans who aren’t ready to commit themselves to such a long story.
However, it’s a different story if they have to watch a seasonal anime with a limited number of episodes. Not only that, but the animation in the East Blue Saga is quite dated, and the 4:3 aspect ratio isn’t used anymore, which Wit Studio also aims to fix. So while it may be taking longer than usual for the anime to be released, it will definitely be worth the wait if we consider the studio’s past works have always been exceptional.
H/T: @pewpiece
