Thursday, November 21, 2024
One Piece to Go on One-Month Hiatus Starting June 27

One Piece is a name that every anime fan should know.  It's reached a mythical status thanks to the longevity of its author, Eiichiro Oda, and has over one-thousand chapters, and likewise over one-thousand episodes of anime.  It seemed that it would go on forever.  Well, all good things...

 
 
 
Oda announced that he would be taking one month off to prepare for the next part of the story.  He's been writing and drawing almost continuously for twenty-five years, minus a couple of hiatuses here and there.  This is an impressive feat for any tale and is unheard of except
for a scant few other mangaka like the now departed Kentaro Miura.  Even the biggest manga and anime have a rise and fall, but One Piece just keeps going and going.  The break is formally so that Oda can plan accordingly for the build-up to the final chapter.  The hiatus will begin on June 27 and ends on July 25.  
 
But, fret not, as it may be a while until the actual end of One Piece.  One Piece's arcs are measured in months at a time, if not years, and the current one has been ongoing since 2018.  Going even farther than that, One Piece's sagas (multiple arcs put together) are even longer. Back in 2020, Oda said that he would be ending One Piece within five years, which would theoretically give it a 2025 maximum.  Times tend to slip, especially when you're talking years, so I wouldn't be surprised if we will be talking about a still-ongoing One Piece towards the end of the decade.  
 
In any case, once Oda reaches the end of One Piece, he will have earned his rest.  He once said that he decided to become a mangaka so he wouldn't have to work a "normal" job and I believe he's succeeded.  Three decades is a good career for any human out there, and I think he's had a lot more fun than the rest of us, all things considered.
 
As a side note, One Piece Film: Red, the latest animated movie of One Piece, will be released in Japan this August.  Anime Expo has a tie-in event with Steve Aoki.  Check out details here.  Oda has put a lot of himself into the film itself, and has participated as executive producer, character designer, and script reviewer for it.  He's a busy man.
 
 
onepiece red
 
Princess Uta from the upcoming movie