This weekend, One Piece fans were potentially facing an unprecedented feast: a new manga chapter, a new episode of the anime, and all eight episodes of Netflix’s live-action adaptation to binge. However, a course was unexpectedly cut from that Luffy-sized banquet when Toei Animation announced that episode 1074—entitled “Trust Momo! Luffy’s Final Powerful Technique!”—is being pushed back a week. The episode is now airing on September 3, 2023.
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The last couple of weeks have finally unveiled Luffy’s Gear 5 in all its absurdist glory. And the word “final” lingering in the episode title makes you think that 1074 could be the end of Luffy and Kaido’s epic battle. Or, if they follow the Big Mom battle model, it could be the episode before the end. This would be a huge deal because Luffy first reached the rooftop to fight Kaido in May 2022. The various stages of this battle have lasted about a year and a half. On the other side, whatever happens, One Piece and its characters are entering a dramatically different era.
The reason for 1074’s delay has not been given by Toei Animation. Of course, people have some theories. One is simply that the all the stunning Gear 5 animation took a lot of time and resources, and Toei’s hardworking team needs to catch their breath. One Piece directors can recruit outside animators for their episodes, but this is still plausible.
Another theory is that Toei pushed the episode to make space for Netflix’s live-action adaptation. On one hand, Netflix and Toei are unrelated companies, so Toei doesn’t really have an incentive to do that. On the other hand, there’s no denying that—especially with a new manga chapter, too—fans’ attention is going to be very divided this weekend. Through that lens, it’s a shrewd call to make, especially if it means giving animators a break.
Additionally, at this current juncture, I think that anything which helps put more space between the manga and the anime is a good thing. Most anime adapt three or four chapters of manga per episode. But One Piece‘s anime is rapidly approaching the manga, to the point that most episodes now are covering about one chapter each. One Piece writer and illustrator Eiichiro Oda has been taking off about every other week in the last month to work on the live-action series, too.
What I’m saying is—as much as I’m deeply looking forward to episode 1074, I don’t mind waiting another week for it. I still have a nine-course dinner planned for this weekend. 17 courses, if I decide to watch OPLA again with the Japanese dub.
(featured image: Toei Animation)
