According to a recent report, Toei Animation is planning something big after the hiatus of One Piece that will bring a big change to the franchise.
SUMMARY
Ever since One Piece announced its six month hiatus, fans have been a little disappointed.
However, it looks like this is going to change soon as Toei has big plans after the hiatus.
A few months ago, fans of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece got a piece of disappointing news about the anime series going on a six-month hiatus, which was its longest break in history. It will make a comeback in April 2025 and continue the storyline of the Egghead Island arc, which, as many might know, portrays one of the greatest battles in the history of One Piece.
Egghead Arc of One Piece | Credit: Toei Animation
It was assumed that the break was taken to prepare for the war that was to be adapted in the One Piece anime series, as it holds a lot of significant moments that establish precedence for the upcoming storyline. Also, in order to compensate for the break, Toei Animation decided to release a remake of the Fish-Man Island saga with better animation quality and a smaller storyline.
However, it looks like Toei Animation has an even bigger ace up its sleeve, as it has been reported that the studio might make a comeback with a One Piece movie announcement for the fiscal year 2026. Thus, One Piece fans are in for a treat following the hiatus of the anime.
Toei Animation’s surprise after One Piece’s return
One Piece anime’s hiatus was disappointing news considering the fact that the series has recently entered its final saga and is getting closer to the much-awaited final war, and hence the conclusion.
The series has been going on for 25 years, and it finally reached its last saga, which gave hope to fans that they might see the end of One Piece by 2025 or 2026.
However, it looks like the hiatus may not be so bad after all because, according to the popular One Piece fan account @pewpiece on X, Toei’s latest report confirms that it has planned for two global movie releases in Fiscal Year 2026 (April 2025 – March 2026). And considering the timeline, one of them most likely will be related to One Piece.
Shanks, in a still from One Piece Film: Red | Credit: Toei Animation
The last One Piece movie was One Piece Film: Red, which came out in 2022, and the franchise has followed a pattern in releasing the different movies for the series. And if Toei continues to follow this pattern, then 2025 will be the perfect time for another One Piece movie, which most likely will be canon.
One Piece fans are excited for a new movie
While Toei has not confirmed the titles or the franchise for which the studio will release a movie, the chances of it being from the One Piece universe are quite high. One Piece still has a lot of narrative to cover, and a movie would be the perfect medium to not only take care of the six-month hiatus but also build up a new storyline.
One Piece | Credit: Toei AnimationThis is why when One Piece fans heard about Toei working on a movie for the fiscal year 2026, they got excited and forgot about the disappointment they felt about the hiatus.
Fans took to X to share their opinion about how this upcoming One Piece movie could be the biggest thing for the franchise.
While it is still a rumor about one of the movies being from the One Piece franchise, it has still got the hopes of the fans up. Still, they will have to wait and find out about what Toei Animation is planning and how they are going to move forward with it.
