When it was announced that the One Piece anime would be altering its production/release schedule in 2026, opting for the more modern structure of releasing 26 episodes per year rather than the one-per-week line-up that has been the norm for the show since 1999, the fans were in favor.
After all, this would help ameliorate the anime's pacing issues, which had long been a by-product of trying not to catch up (and possibly lap) the output of the manga source material. No longer would the One Piece anime be subject to "filler," an infamous term in the anime community that serves as the label for any content that isn't from the manga (and is often created in order to buy the show some time).
