One Piece remake: Trailer breakdown, studio, and everything we know so far

The One Piece manga by Eiichiro Oda was first serialized in Shueisha’s shonen manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump on July 22, 1997. The anime adaptation of the manga started a little later, on October 20, 1999, and has been airing ever since. 2024 marks the 25th year of the anime, and in honor of this event, a much needed remake of the series is being produced, which will stream on Netflix.

WIT Studio, a Japanese animation studio known for producing popular series such as Spy x Family, Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, and The Ancient Magus' Bride, will be behind this new adaptation as well.

The remake, titled The One Piece, has the potential to become the definitive edition, given the advantages it has over Toei Animation’s long-running series. Nonetheless, it is rather amusing to think that this manga, which already has a popular anime and a recent live-action adaptation approved for a second season, is now getting a second anime adaptation.

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Jump Festa 2024 panel reveals that the production of The One Piece has begun

The One Piece announcement (Image via Netflix/WIT Studio)

The announcement of the One Piece remake was one of the highlights of Jump Festa 2024's spectacular One Piece stage, which took place on December 17, 2023. Fans also learned about the new voice cast for the characters that will be introduced in the Egghead arc of the anime, as well as the news that the Straw Hats will be headed to Elbaf after Egghead in the manga.

The announcement of The One Piece was made through a video shown at the very end of the event. The video depicted an artist, surrounded by One Piece mangas, sketching a boy on a cliff near a windmill. A page titled “Romance Dawn” was then displayed, followed by a rapid succession of manga panels.

The on-screen text invited viewers to join the Straw Hats’ journey from the beginning, suggesting that the remake would start from the first chapter of the manga, also titled Romance Dawn. The video description confirmed that the remake would begin with the East Blue arc. Unfortunately, a release date for the remake is not yet available.

Toei Animation’s One Piece adaptation is notorious for its inconsistent pacing, often slowing down to maintain a gap with the manga. This has sometimes resulted in a single manga chapter being stretched out, with only half of it being adapted in an entire twenty-minute episode. This issue will reportedly persist in the upcoming Egghead Arc, as the anime is close to catching up with the manga.

As a result, many viewers have opted to watch One Pace, a fan-edited version of the series that removes pacing issues and filler content to more closely resemble the manga’s pacing. Many fans have even expressed that they would rather prefer for the series to take a break rather than continue at a snail’s pace.

Brook and Usopp as seen in One Piece (Image via Toei Animation)

Thus, the announcement of the One Piece remake has made many hopeful that the pacing issues will be addressed. The remake provides an opportunity for the creators to improve the pacing, remove the fillers, and align the series more closely with modern-day anime masterpieces like Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. This could potentially lead to the series adopting a seasonal format, which would be a suitable approach for a series of this length.

Eiichiro Oda, known for his knack for foreshadowing and revisiting older chapters, could also make the story more compact and layered. For instance, one of the earliest examples of foreshadowing in the series is Haki, which was introduced in the first chapter when Shanks shooed away a Sea King with a deadly glare.

Shanks (Image via Toei Animation)

However, some of these foreshadowing elements have been less convincing to readers and viewers, particularly those from the series’ early days, when Oda had not planned for the series to run as long as it has. For example, Mythical Zoans were not initially established as the strongest, but currently, all powerful characters seem to possess them.

Thus, reworking some aspects would reduce the effect of feeling that the mangaka, at some point, forcefully tried to establish a connection or changed his mind about certain things.

Another advantage of a One Piece remake is the potential for a fresh and consistent animation style. Toei has been animating the series for decades, and the art style and technology have evolved significantly over that time. As a result, some viewers find the older episodes difficult to watch, and this issue could become a more pronounced problem in the future.

However, one thing is for sure, WIT Studio will need to ensure that they retain the series’ unique charm and goofiness.