Sad news for fans of One Piece. The anime, which has been recently gunning its way through the Wano arc, is being forced to slow down. And this time, not because they caught up to the manga too quickly. It seems that earlier this week, Toei was involved in a hacking incident that they publicly announced earlier today. As a result, some of the internal systems have stopped. This means the production of One Piece, among other weekly anime, has been heavily hindered. Subsequently, the One Piece anime has been put on indefinite hiatus.
Toei Has Been at the Center of Plenty of Issues
Toei Animation doesn’t have the most outstanding reputation among fans these days for those who don’t know. This is for a multitude of reasons. One of which is a quantity over quality approach, which has been very apparent in One Piece over the last few years. Toei is one of the only companies that still do weekly releases rather than seasonal ones. This means they’re constantly producing new episodes. With this in mind, plenty of stretching or filler can occur.
Furthermore, Toei has been involved in many cases over copyright lately. They’ve refused YouTubers streaming rights for their music, which has damaged a lot of fan-based channels. This hacking incident may have been meant to target Toei maliciously.
One Piece Still Has a Lot of Steam
The One Piece anime may be on hiatus for the immediate future, but that doesn’t mean the series is doomed. Netflix is still recruiting cast members for its ambitious adaptation of the East Blue Arc. And the next movie, One Piece: Red, is in full production alongside author Eiichiro Oda’s creative influence. Not to mention, the manga is currently in the final battle of the Wano arc as well.
Though the anime is on indefinite hiatus while the hacking issue is fixed, there’s still some hope. Toei has announced they will come forward with more news on March 20. They promise to outline the future release schedule as well. Hopefully, it’s good news for one of the world’s most popular manga.
