It's the end of a long-standing era for long-running series, with Toei Animation announcing a new production schedule for the beloved series, which has run continuously for more than 25 years and included numerous non-canon storylines. Commencing in January, after the current storyline wraps up, the animated series will go on a quarterly break until April, when the next major arc kicks off.
Updated Production Plan
Going forward, the series will release a pair of cours every year for a maximum of 26 episodes. Toei states this will help the anime to “explore further into the core of the universe — including more material, tempo, and pacing of the original manga.” Yet, producers end by promising “thrilling developments” during the hiatus period, which suggests additional related projects, such as Netflix's live-action season 2, set to premiere in the interim.
Learning from Past Breaks
The series anime previously took a half-year pause that began in October 2024 and ended in April 2025. The intermission was for the production team to enhance the visuals and let the comic to build a lead to avoid a rushed adaptation and repetitive summaries. The show couldn't benefit more from this break, and it has managed to deliver fans with countless action sequences, superior graphics, and less filler than previously.
Adopting Modern Trends
While some recap episodes sprouted up during this season, the positive effects of this updated approach greatly outweigh the odd pause in the action. This additionally allows the manga, which is currently in the middle of the latest arc, to extend its lead on the anime. According to the announcement, this may lead to one episode of the anime covering a single manga chapter, with some instead covering one and a half chapters or additional to make up for scheduling.
It's the end of an era for Japanese animation, as the epic saga is the final major title to abandon the old-school way of production, which prioritized airing for almost the entire year. This explains why classics such as Naruto, and naturally One Piece have numerous side stories, and the quality of the art can change drastically between one episode and the following. Nowadays, anime production is structured in cours, with a couple at most releasing each year, enabling better quality and more faithfulness to the original work.
