One Piece, as one of the most successful and longest-running anime series, holds a reputation for its ingenious storytelling and has been at the forefront of the anime industry for almost twenty-five years. Thanks to Eiichiro Oda, countless other artists, animators, and crew members, the viewers ofOne Pieceare fortunate to be able to watch one of the greatest adventure stories of all time.
Nonetheless,One Pieceis not without its flaws, which many attribute to its episode count, but it’s not entirely true. Given sucha large number of episodes, any new viewer who wants to give it a shot would think twice and often wonder if they can skip any episodes during the journey. That being said, you can certainly skip a large portion ofOne Piece’s episodes, which we’ll explore in detail below.
Filler Arcs Are Optional
Any anime with over or near 500 episodes is bound to feature at least ten percent fillers because often, these anime series air for years, if not decades,likeOne Piece. So, it would be difficult for creators to maintain balance by providing one episode per week. When they are unable to produce episodes containing the main story, they replace them with filler episodes or arcs.
In that regard,One Piecealso modified the schedule numerous times during the course of its two-and-half-decade run. So far, the anime has released a total of sixteen filler arcs, the first of which isWarship Island Arc, which takes place in theEast Blue Saga, the latest being Uta’s Past from theWanoarc, which recently concluded.
There are 95 filler episodes in the anime that you can safely skip if you simply want to binge through the main storyline and catch up on the ongoing episodes. However, if possible, try towatch some filler arcssuch asG-8andFoxy’s Returnin between the episodes, as they provide a lot of relief with light-hearted and fun exchanges.
Special & Crossover Episodes Are Non-Relevant
It goes without saying that special episodes are created to celebrate a particular festival or to inaugurate a significant addition to the series.One Piececomprises thirteen special episodes, which, while containing a few sequences from the main storyline, are not meant to be watched in between the canon episodes for your own good.
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While some of them are merely amusing specials that function in the same way as fillers, episodes like3D2Y: Luffy’s Pledge to His Friendscontain significant spoilers. As a result, we recommend skipping every special episode in the anime because you can always watch them after you finish the canon episodes. In addition,One Piecealsodoes a few crossoversnow and then.
These crossovers involve characters like Goku, Gintama, and Toriko and consist of an entirely separate story that has no effect on the canon part whatsoever as they are aimed at promoting various anime and manga. So, you can use Google to find a list of all the crossover and special episodes and skip them to reduce the number of episodes you should watch in the anime.
Other Arcs and Episodes You Can Skim or Skip
Even after removing all the filler, special, and crossover episodes,One Piecefeels almost the same since eliminating about 150 episodes from a series with around 1100 episodes is nowhere near enough to deem it a regular anime. While we don’t recommend skipping entire arcs, there are a few tips that novice viewers can use to save time and improve their overall experience.
The initial 400 canonepisodes are absolutely unskippablebecause the anime’s pace does not deteriorate in the least. However, the latter arcs, such asFish-Man Island,Dressrosa,Punk Hazard, and especiallyWano, are dragged to keep the story from catching up to the manga. So, you’re able to skim through a few non-battle episodes that are mostly present to prolong the story, but be careful not to miss any elevated moments since they are the heart ofOne Piece.
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Furthermore,Wanois the only arc where you can skim most of the episodes down to at least 60% because the fights are unnecessarily prolonged in the latter half. Viewers can simply watch the prominent duels and ignore the irrelevant fights that aren’t worth their time. However, caution is always advised because sometimes people intentionally skip an entire episode only to realize that they’ve missed the most defining moment of the ensuing battle.
Alternatively, you can also try readingOne Piecemanga, which is sometimes better at conveying the story to the audience and also stays ahead of the anime’s story. These are merely our suggestions in case you only care about getting to the main story, but if you want to get the most out of the anime, we highly recommend watching all the episodes, including the fillers, which feature some of the best comedic moments.
