In any form, Eiichiro Oda's One Piece is a marvel of shonen storytelling, but the adventure doesn't hit the same way in every medium. In any form, One Piece is a breathtaking epic across the Grand Line's islands as the Straw Hats seek out the fabled One Piece treasure, and fans will have a good time regardless. Still, longtime fans can make the case that the One Piece manga is a much more worthwhile road map to the treasure than the anime is.
Toei Animation has upped its game in recent years to make the One Piece anime look and sound better than ever, and the studio is owed some credit for that. All the same, Luffy's adventure is stronger in manga form and offers a better experience overall. The manga may lack the color and sound of the anime, but its undeniable perks make up for that and then some. Some franchises only got huge when the anime launched, such as Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan, but that's not quite as true for One Piece.
One Piece's Manga Doesn't Stretch Out Its Scenes
This is a Problem Only an Anime Adaptation Could Have
One way another, it will take a long time for any pop culture fan to march through the story of One Piece, but the anime makes this even tougher, and notoriously so. Typical pacing calls for 2-3 manga chapters to form one anime episode, with titles like My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen more or less sticking to that norm. One Piece has other ideas, and the result is an anime that's bloated even if filler episodes aren't counted. The manga never has this issue.
That's a problem, since anime fans can usually skip filler episodes and even recap episodes to resume the story to preserve the pacing. One Piece viewers are out of luck, with the anime infamously stretching out less than one chapter to make one episode. That results in countless canon episodes that barely do anything, making a canon-only watch a tiresome marathon. This is the result of Toei Animation refusing to take One Piece off the air, an issue that most modern anime don't have. It's a shame to have to wait so long for new Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen episodes, but at least those episodes are densely packed with material.
One Piece's Manga Has No Filler Content
Filler Can Be Fun, But it Also Hurts the Pacing
One Piece's anime does have some fun filler content that fans may like, and what's more, the filler content blends into the canon material better than most anime fillers do. The most die-hard and patient One Piece anime fans may actually welcome the filler as more of a good thing, but not everyone is so devoted to Luffy's adventures. And of course, watching the anime's fillers means even more time is getting eaten up, time that can be spent on other anime or the One Piece manga.
By nature, manga doesn't have filler, partly because manga series can't afford to pad the runtime with weak, non-canon material in competitive magazines like Shonen Jump. Above all, One Piece and other anime have filler to give the manga time to stay ahead. The original shonen "big three" do this a lot, with Naruto having years of filler at a time, which is why all three titles are better off in manga format. Masashi Kishimoto, Tite Kubo, and Eiichiro Oda all worked too hard for their hand-drawn art to go to waste in favor of filler-bloated anime.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
One Piece's Manga Doesn't Suffer From Dated Animation Quality
The Anime Hasn't Always Looked As Good as It Does Now
This is a natural consequence of One Piece's incredibly long runtime, and Toei Animation shouldn't take any blame for this. The anime launched in 1999, so of course, the early episodes look rather dated as a product of their time. In the many years since, Toei Animation has upped its game and treated fans to stellar animation in the Wano Saga and the more recent Egghead Island Arc as well. The anime looks great now, but rewatching the East Blue Saga feels jarring.
The early episodes were neither high-def nor widescreen, and the animation was simpler as well. The early episodes of Naruto and Bleach have this issue too, though not quite to the same extent. As for manga vs anime, the manga version of all of Shonen's "big three" may look different in the early chapters, but not worse. The three authors' art styles evolved and got more refined over time, which is a matter of artistic expression, not dated production values. It's fun to watch Mr. Oda's art evolve over time, in fact.
One Piece's Manga is Further Ahead in the Story
Manga Readers Are Waist-Deep in the Epic of Elbaph
This is a major advantage not just for One Piece manga readers, but manga readers in general, along with light novel readers in some cases. An anime adaptation can help make a series such as One Piece, Demon Slayer, and Solo Leveling look incredible while drawing in new fans, but manga readers still have reasons to feel smug. The manga readers can claim to be original fans who were there from the start, but aside from seeing the oldest material first, they also see the newest material first.
Anyone who follows the One Piece manga is farther ahead in the story than anime viewers. As of early 2026, manga readers are already enjoying the climaxes of the Elbaph story arc, such as the showdown with the God Knights and the incredible flashback of Loki and Rocks D. Xebec. The anime, meanwhile, is teasing fans about the Elbaph Arc, which ought to launch in April, but manga fans will be even further ahead by then. Most of all, manga readers will discover the One Piece treasure with Luffy and see the long-awaited ending well before anime viewers can get there.
One Piece's Manga Has Bonus Content Like SBS and Chapter Cover Pages
These Stories Are Fully Canon and Often Quite Interesting
If One Piece fans are focusing entirely on the story, then this difference between the manga and anime is a minor one. The most devoted One Piece fans, by contrast, will love the manga much more thanks to its bonus content. While the One Piece anime is all about the proper story in episode and movie format, the manga goes above and beyond. It's typical for manga to treat viewers to a little more, from authors' comments to the poetic lines found in Bleach's manga volumes.
One Piece features the author's comments, as well as interviews with Oda himself and even the famed SBS section. It's always a pleasure seeing Mr. Oda interact with his fans in informative, amusing, and even idiosyncratic ways, time and again. On top of that, the One Piece manga includes its famed chapter covers, which are singular, giant panels that chronicle the side plots. It's almost like a manga in the manga, giving fans even more storylines to juggle and ponder while the Straw Hats continue their adventures elsewhere. Many disgraced villains appear in those chapter covers, such as Enel, who promises to return with his lunar army someday.
One Piece
Display card tags widget Display card community and brand rating widget Display card main info widget- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Number of Episodes
- 1122
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
- MyAnimeList Score
- 8.72
- Creator(s)
- Eiichiro Oda
