One Piece Is No Longer Weekly: The New Seasonal Schedule, Explained

One Piece is no longer a weekly anime. After more than 26 years of new episodes almost every Sunday, Toei Animation ended the weekly run and moved the series to a seasonal format built around two shorter blocks of episodes each year. This guide explains what the new One Piece schedule looks like, why it changed, and what it means if you are watching the Final Saga.

Is One Piece still a weekly anime?

No. The One Piece anime dropped its weekly schedule at the end of 2025. The last weekly episode, number 1155, aired on December 28, 2025, closing out the Egghead arc. The show then went on a production break of about three months and returned on April 5, 2026 with the Elbaf arc as the first storyline of the new era.

One Piece's seasonal format is a release model in which the anime airs in two cours of roughly 13 episodes per year instead of running continuously every week. Toei Animation confirmed the change in an official announcement in October 2025, and it took effect with the 2026 broadcast year.

What the new One Piece schedule looks like

The headline number is the one that matters most to fans: the anime now targets a maximum of about 26 episodes per year, split into two cours of around 13 episodes with a multi-month gap in between. That is a large drop from the 40-plus episodes the show used to produce annually under the weekly model.

Why Toei changed the One Piece format

Toei framed the shift as a way to protect animation quality and keep production sustainable. Weekly anime that run for years put enormous, continuous strain on their staff, and the pressure often shows up as rushed or inconsistent episodes.

Grouping the show into cours with planned breaks gives the studio time to storyboard, animate, and polish ahead of a broadcast block rather than racing the calendar each week. It also lets the anime better match the content and pacing of Eiichiro Oda's manga as the story enters its final act, which is one of the most action-heavy stretches in the series.

What it means for the Final Saga and Elbaf

The Elbaf arc is the first storyline told entirely under the seasonal model, and it launched the new era in April 2026. Because the series now airs in defined blocks, expect the pattern to repeat: a cour of episodes, a gap, then another cour, with the anime working through the Final Saga this way rather than in an unbroken weekly stream.

For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple. There will be fewer episodes in a given year, but each block is meant to arrive in more consistent shape, and the mid-year gap is now a scheduled part of the plan rather than a surprise hiatus.

What it means for One Piece collectors

Seasonal broadcasting does not slow down the merchandise. If anything, arc-based airing tends to line figure and prize releases up with the cours a story is adapting, so waves of Elbaf-era and Final Saga collectibles keep landing between broadcast blocks. Fans who collect the crew often build their shelves around whichever arc is airing.

If you want to add to your One Piece collection while the new season plays out, Akibato ships One Piece scale figures, prize figures, and gashapon worldwide — browse the in-stock lineup in the One Piece collection at Akibato.

The short version

• One Piece is no longer weekly; the last weekly episode (1155) aired December 28, 2025.
• The anime returned April 5, 2026 with the Elbaf arc under a seasonal format.
• The new model targets about 26 episodes a year in two cours of roughly 13.
• Toei made the change to protect animation quality and match the manga's pacing.
• Fewer episodes per year, but planned breaks instead of surprise hiatuses.

For more on where the story goes next, see our guides to the One Piece Elbaf arc English dub schedule, the first canon movie in One Piece Film: God Valley, and the announcements from One Piece Day 2026.