I started reading One Piece back in 2001, and it has been a constant in my life ever since. But despite loving the manga, I never managed to get into the original anime. The heavy censorship, the uneven pacing, the awkward early art style, and translations that stripped away half the jokes made it hard to enjoy. For years, it felt like the animated version was holding back a story that deserved much more care and respect.
Recently I gave One Pace a try with English subs, and it immediately solved many of the problems that pushed me away from the anime in the first place. Not being forced to sit through stretched episodes is an enormous relief. It finally feels like a version that values the audience’s time instead of padding every panel into a scene.
And now with this fishman island remake, even having ONLY one project that treats the source material with this level of attention is something I didn’t expect to see in my lifetime.
The Wano era artstyle fits surprisingly well with the underwater setting. The animation is fluid, polished, and far more consistent than what we used to get, (at lest in the pre zou arcs) and the pacing is finally where it should be. Watching it feels closer to reading the manga again. Entire story beats move with a natural rhythm, instead of dragging one chapter into twenty minutes. Yes, a bit of fluff and a few side-jokes didn’t make it into the remake, but honestly, the trade-off is worth it. The story breathes properly without the constant interruption of filler or prolonged reaction shots.
Compared to the old anime, the difference is massive. Losing the sluggish pacing alone elevates the material. It highlights how much One Piece benefits when it isn’t weighed down by production schedules that artificially inflate episode length. This remake isn’t perfect, it’s not a full rebuild, not a definitive adaptation, and not a replacement for the manga, but it shows what the series could look like with consistent effort behind it. And that glimpse is enough to make me genuinely excited again.
It also raises the question of what a true, large-scale re-adaptation could achieve. Imagine a version of One Piece with strong animation from beginning to end, steady pacing throughout every arc, humor-faithful translation work, and maybe even, if we're lucky, a good English dub. That might sound unrealistic, but projects like this remake make it feel slightly less impossible.
And with that in mind, I’m honestly looking forward to the upcoming East Blue Remake. If it continues the trend of respecting the material rather than stretching it thin, it might finally give us an adaptation worthy of the manga.
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