Production Of One Piece Anime Put On Hiatus
A pandemic is a global problem, and it affects life in Japan just as badly as it does here. Animated shows have been less affected by the shutdown of studios — when you’re creating imaginary worlds, you don’t need sets, you just need a Cintiq in a home office. It’s even possible for the actors to record the dialogue from their houses, if they have the right equipment.
Even still, like any large production, there’s a lot of little parts that have to function in harmony, and any one element out of place can shut down the whole thing. We’re not sure what the full circumstances are, but Toei Animation has announced it cannot go forward with new episodes of One Piece from this point, and the weekly Japanese airings of the series will go into reruns until it becomes possible to produce new shows again.
Due to the state of emergency in Japan caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have carefully considered the safety measures for the spread and have decided to suspend the simulcast and Japanese broadcasting of both “One Piece” & our new series, “Digimon Adventure:” for the time being. Updates on the return of both series will be provided as soon as we know. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time. Please stay safe and healthy.
What this means is, if you haven’t started watching One Piece yet, here’s your perfect chance to get caught up. It’s the ultimate quarantine binging challenge: start from Episode 1 now, and maybe you’ll finish all 800-plus episodes by the time the show comes back!