Netflix’s live-action One Piece season 1 came out in the summer of 2023, and viewers have been waiting for season 2's release date confirmation ever since. While that wait is normal for big-budget streaming shows, this scenario isn’t ideal for such an epic and long-running franchise as One Piece, which has plenty of material to cover.

Thankfully, One Piece season 2, as the show needs to introduce several new characters and locations before it can even come close to catching up with the manga and anime.

One Piece Season 2 Will Arrive More Than 2 Years After Season 1

It's A Long Gap Between Seasons That Has Become Common For Streaming

It was recently confirmed that One Piece season 2 will arrive in late 2025, which is over two years since the first season was released. Thankfully, there’s a silver lining to the news; while it’s disappointing that audiences will have to wait another eight or nine months before jumping back into One Piece, it’s encouraging that a firm release window has finally been confirmed. This means the show is well on track to being completed and is likely already in post-production.

The One Piece, an One Piece anime remake from Wit Studio, is currently in development at Netflix.

ittedly, two years isn’t too long to wait between seasons of a TV show - particularly for Netflix shows, which aren’t always guaranteed renewal in the first place. The only problem is that One Piece’s first season felt like a set-up for what’s to come in the future, and without knowing exactly what that is, it’s hard for audiences not familiar with the material to fully engage with this show yet. There’s no doubt that later seasons of One Piece will only get better as this universe expands, but this wait between seasons risks deterring new audiences from coming back.

One Piece Taking So Long Between Seasons Makes It Even More Difficult For It To Cover The Anime

The Show Will Struggle To Get Through The Whole Story

The main problem with One Piece’s two-year wait between seasons is the fact that Netflix’s show simply has so much material to cover. There are currently over 1,100 episodes of the One Piece anime, so it’s hard to imagine that Netflix’s adaptation will even come close to navigating the whole story if a two-year wait can be expected between each season. This is obviously a result of live-action filmmaking being more complicated and requiring more time to carry out, but it’s still a disappointment.

Additionally, the One Piece anime is still running - which means Netflix will be lagging for the foreseeable future. It might even be difficult for long-time fans of the anime will get too invested in the live-action adaptation when the original show is still on air, as there’s a constant stream of new material to keep them entertained. With One Piece only covering Arabasta in season 3, the show might need to condense several storylines into shorter, more bite-size narratives that fit within a single season in the future.

Don’t Worry, One Piece Season 3 Might Not That Take Long To Premiere

The Gap Between Seasons 2 And 3 May Be Shorter

Coincidentally, Netflix may be planning a coordinated release strategy for One Piece’s second and third seasons, as they’ve been doing with other popular shows recently. Squid Game is a prime example - the show’s second and third seasons were both renewed at the same time, and the filming process for both seasons was somewhat intertwined. This meant that the gap between seasons was much shorter, with Squid Game season 3 releasing in 2025. Netflix could be planning a similar release strategy with One Piece.

This theory looks increasingly likely when considering the actual content of One Piece ​​​​​​season 2, and how easily it could tie into the next collection of episodes. It’s already been confirmed that One Piece season 2 will end shortly before the Arabasta arc, so it may lead directly into season 3 - just as Squid Game did. This would be a brilliant way of tying the two seasons together, but it only works if the wait for season 3 is not as long.

The best solution to overcome these inherent obstacles for Netflix’s One Piece is to view the show as totally separate from both the manga and the anime.

If this is the case, One Piece could definitely become one of Netflix’s biggest properties in the future. This release strategy has proven incredibly successful for the streaming service, as it allows shows to connect their narrative arcs more clearly - and it's less of a strain on audiences’ memories between seasons. Stranger Things is another great example of this, as the show’s fourth season was split into two parts which were released a few months apart. This made the wait for Stranger Things ​season 5 much more bearable.

Netflix’s One Piece Has A Virtually Impossible Mission In Covering The Entire Manga

Netflix's Show Won't Come Close To Covering The Whole Manga

Even if Netflix’s One Piece manages to condense the anime into bite-size pieces that prevent it from feeling too far behind, there’s virtually no way the show will be able to catch up with the original manga. It’s impossible to imagine that One Piece will go on long enough to cover over 1,000 chapters of storytelling, many of which have plenty of new characters and locations. The decision to save Arabasta for season 3 is confirmation of this - the live-action show isn’t in a rush, and there’s an ocean of material ahead of it.

Ultimately, the best solution to overcome these inherent obstacles for Netflix’s One Piece is to view the show as totally separate from both the manga and the anime. It’s never going to cover the same ground, so expecting that is essentially just setting the show up for failure. Instead, it’s much easier to understand the live-action show as its own story that follows a more traditional release format (as opposed to the 1,000+ episodes of the anime) and takes creative liberties along the way.