'One Piece' Anime Sets a 2025 Return Date — With a Catch

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One Piece

After announcing a hiatus back in October, the One Piece anime has finally set a release date to continue the Egghead arc. However, fans will still have to wait a while to find out what happens with Luffy (voiced by Mayumi Tanaka in the original, and by Colleen Clinkenbeard in the English dub) and his friends next. The long-running anime series is returning on April 6, 2025, and will also air at a later time slot: Fuji TV announced that One Piece will now air new episodes at 11:15pm in Japan. The hit series' previous time slot will now be filled by the new anime series To Be Hero X.

The Egghead arc (or Future Island arc) kicked off in the first week of January 2024, so a lot happened before the series stopped to "recharge," as its creators announced. It follows the Straw Hats as they find a futuristic island named Egghead where they finally meet villain Dr. Vegapunk. The villain was teased several episodes earlier than when the arc started, and fans are considering it one of the most lore-heavy arcs in the entire series. In the manga series, franchise creator Eiichiro Oda himself had to address some of its plot points after massive fan speculation.

While fans wait for the return of the Egghead arc, a remastered version of the Fish-man Island saga is being aired, but as a treat to fans it was redone with improvements that include re-shot scenes and improved artwork. The saga is also an abridged version of the arc, with 21 episodes instead of the 51 from the original arc. This is the arc in which Luffy and the Straw Hats better understand the discrimination against Fish-Men and the troubles of the Ryugu Kingdom.

There's Plenty of 'One Piece' To Go Around While You Wait for New Episodes

Gear 5 Luffy wearing goggles and winding up a punch in One Piece

Of course, it's not like One Piece fans have nothing to do while they wait for the Egghead arc to return. So far, the series has put out 1,122 episodes, so binge-watching sessions are always in order. If they don't feel like revisiting the whole series, fans can just go to their favorite arc – or dive once more into the hugely popular live-action adaptation of the series, which is gearing up to debut its second season.

Recently, the flesh-and-bone Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) spoke face-to-face with Eiichiro Oda and the creator revealed he visited the sets of the new episodes after being a consultant in Season 1. Oda had the final say in every decision that made it to the screen, which means that all changes that the live-action series made didn't go without his approval. He revealed that some of the changes that showrunners Steven Maeda, Matt Owens, and their team came up with are things he wishes he had thought of when he was creating the hugely popular manga series.

The One Piece anime series returns on April 6, 2025. You can check out the announcement video below (in Japanese):