Anyone who
has tried to convince a friend to watch One Piece knows the
classic and painful phrase: "I swear it gets good in the 300th
episode." Watching the original anime produced by Toei Animation
requires superhuman patience to endure the terrible pace and scenes stretched
to infinity. And, apparently, Eiichiro Oda himself is
completely aware of this disaster, so he decided to take matters into his own
hands.
Toei Animation was exposed
In a recent
interview at the beginning of 2026, George Wada, the CEO of Wit
Studio, uncovered the real reason behind the long-awaited remake
THE ONE PIECE. According to the executive, the decision to revive the play
was not a corporate whim, but a direct request from Oda. The mangaka confessed
to feeling "regret" when he realized that today's teenagers,
accustomed to modern and fluid animation, see the 1999 anime as an old,
prehistoric and almost impossible to digest relic.
To fix this problem, Oda commissioned Wit Studio to make a fresh version that won't scare off Gen Z. Wada was brutally honest about the solution: "With the remake, we aim to deliver it in a way that's more efficient and faster, while condensing the fun." Translation for otakus: they're going to get rid of the trash. No more chapters where a character runs down the same hallway for ten minutes or static facial reactions that took up half an episode just to not catch up with the manga.
Faithful
to the manga, but without wasting time
Wada
clarified that while the team will use cutting-edge animation technology to
visually update the East Blue saga, the main goal is to
protect the essence of the original story and respond exactly to Oda's vision.
In a very diplomatic way, the CEO of Wit Studio added that Toei Animation has
been "supporting" the project and that this remake does not seek to
replace the original series, but to "coexist" (although we all know
which version new fans will prefer).
Currently,
production is still underway with the high quality standards to which Wit
Studio has accustomed us, although there is still no official trailer or a
confirmed release date. However, the promise of having a direct, clean and to
the point adaptation is already enough to make more than one cry with joy.
