Legendary One Piece director Megumi Ishitani returns for episode 1072

One of the youngest and most highly respected directorial talents in the contemporary anime industry is the famed One Piece director, Megumi Ishitani. Despite being young and relatively inexperienced, Ishitani has made a major and impressive splash in the three episode’s she has directed so far, those being episodes 957, 982, and 1015.

In fact, her reputation within the series’ fanbase is so prestigious and well respected that fans have been asking Toei Animation to let her direct another exciting episode. Without going into too many spoilers on what that episode will have within its runtime, fans do know that the episode they want her to be involved with is One Piece episode 1072.

While fans were requesting Toei Animation for Ishitani’s return on One Piece episode 1072, there had been a complete and utter lack of communication on the matter from the studio's end. However, that has changed with the latest leaked news on the anime series from Boji, a prominent and respected figure in the anime series’ leaker community.

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One Piece director Megumi Ishitani set to return in productive capacity for episode 1072

According to Boji, whose news was reposted to Twitter by @OP_SPOILERS2Ø23, legendary One Piece director Megumi Ishitani will be returning for episode 1072 in some capacity. Unfortunately, Boji and their sources were unable to confirm exactly what her role will be, instead focusing on the fact that she will be back in some way.

However, as per Boji’s message,it seems that an Episode Director or Storyboarder role is most likely for Ishitani’s contributions to episode 1072. As Boji points out, Ishitani’s involvement (whatever the context) will likely lead to the episode being “immortalized” in the minds of fans, urging fans to “wait for the wonder” she’ll bring.

While this may seem an over-the-top reaction to such news for some fans of Oda's series, Ishitani’s works for the series prior to One Piece episode 1072 demonstrate why her involvement is so exciting. Each episode she has directed is regarded as a major high point for the anime series, almost to the point of completely reinventing the wheel for an isolated 23-minute period.

As of this writing, episode 1072 is set to release during the second week of August 2023. However, this could end up getting pushed back if Toei chooses to delay any of the episodes leading up to its eventual release. In such a scenario, fans could see the episode pushed back to the final week of August or even the first week of September.

Viewers can expect a full list of staff and animators for the episode to be released in the weeks prior to its airing. As such, this information should hopefully confirm Ishitani’s exact role, as well as officially confirm her involvement in general.

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Be sure to keep up with all One Piece anime, manga, film, and live-action news as 2023 progresses.