With the live-action One Piece due to set sail in 2023, we want to answer one of the biggest questions surrounding the show. How many seasons of the live-action One Piece series can we expect to see on Netflix? Let’s discuss this.
At the time of writing, there are currently 1073 published chapters of One Piece and 1049 episodes of the anime adaptation.
The anime alone equates to roughly 25,152 minutes or 419.2 hours of runtime. This means without stopping, it would take a minimum of 59.2 days to watch all of One Piece. The astronomical amount of time it takes to watch the One Piece anime will only grow in size over the next several years thanks to the ongoing manga, and its anime adaptation, which will see hundreds more episodes produced.
One of the largest criticisms the One Piece anime is often met with is its pacing, sometimes taking an entire 24-minute episode just to adapt one chapter when it can feasibly cover 3 or 4 chapters at a time. However, the pacing issues facing the anime are also due to the fact that it can’t exceed the story beyond the manga, forcing Toei Animation into writing filler, or ruining the pacing.
This provides the live-action series with the chance to give the story the pacing it deserves.
Season 1 Pacing
While the live-action series has the huge challenge of adapting the mammoth-sized story, it also holds the advantage of having plenty of time on its hands and not having to worry about exceeding the source material.
Runtimes have yet to be confirmed, however, we can assume that each episode will have an approximate runtime between 45 to 60 minutes.
We’re certain the first season of the live-action adaptation will cover the story up to the end of Arlong Park. This means per live-action episode roughly 4.4 anime episodes are covered.
We’re speculating each episode to cover the following arcs:
| Episodes | Story Arc | Anime Episodes | Manga Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romance Dawn | 1-3 | 1-7 |
| 2-3 | Orange Town Arc | 4-8 | 8-21 |
| 4-5 | Syrup Village Arc | 9-18 | 22-41 |
| 6-7 | Baratie Arc | 19-30 | 42-68 |
| 8-10 | Arlong Park Arc | 31-44 | 69-95 |
What about future seasons?
With as much filler as possible reduced, good pacing, and at least ten episodes per season, then we are speculating each season can cover the following sagas/arcs;
| Seasons | Saga/Arc |
|---|---|
| 1 | Romance Dawn – Arlong Park |
| 2 | Logue Town – Arabasta |
| 3 | Jaya – Skypiea |
| 4 | Water 7 – Post Enies Lobby |
| 5 | Thriller Bark – Amazon Lily |
| 6 | Impel Down to Post-War Arc |
| 7 | Return to Sabaody – Dressrosa |
| 8 | Zou – Whole Cake Island |
| 9 | Levely – Wano Country |
| 10+ | Final Saga |
Is it feasibly possible to cover story arcs such as Dressrosa and Wano Country in one season?
It has to be.
The scale of the One Piece story is huge, and adapting the story for a live-action series is an immense undertaking. Thanks to the sheer number of story arcs, it’s hard to see how the series won’t be a minimum of ten seasons. That’s one hell of a commitment from the cast, crew, and Netflix if the story is to be adapted from start to finish.
How many seasons of One Piece do you think we’ll see on Netflix? Let us know in the comments below!