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With One Piece‘s popularity skyrocketing once more due to the Netflix adaptation, it’s about time you finally watched it, right?
What’s stopping you?
Could it be the 1,100+ episodes and counting (movies were counted) that will take nearly 400 hours for you to catch up? If it’s that, then the fanbase has that covered with One Pace.
What is One Pace, you ask? Well, let’s shed some light on that.
As new fans eagerly dive into the One Piece maelstrom, a debate has emerged among the community regarding the best way to experience the anime adaptation. Enter One Pace, a fan project that offers a unique solution to address some of the criticisms of the original One Piece anime.
Understanding One Pace
Simply put, One Pace is a fan-made cut of the anime adaptation.
But One Pace is more than just a fan edit according to its creators; it’s also a dedicated effort to enhance the viewing experience of the One Piece anime.
Recognizing the slow pacing, filler scenes, and excessive flashbacks/recaps in the original series, One Pace’s goal is to align the anime more closely with the direction of Eiichiro Oda’s original manga.
The project’s impact becomes evident as early as the Enies Lobby arc, where One Pace significantly trimmed down the content, cutting out over seven hours of what it deems as “unnecessary” material. Or in other words, what the community counts as filler.
For the record, there are now more One Piece anime episodes than there are One Piece manga chapters. That usually doesn’t happen for anime adaptations.
What was Cut?
Other arcs, like Amazon Lily, see a more moderate reduction of around three hours, while the Dressrosa and Whole Cake Island arcs experience substantial cuts of over 25 and 16 hours, respectively. Thus, One Pace effectively trims down more than a fourth of the total runtime for the One Piece anime.
The reasoning and motivation behind these extensive edits lie in the gradual slowdown of the One Piece anime’s pace over time. That’s because the adaptation ratio was 3/4 of a manga per episode, leading to a lot of empty moments that contributed nothing to the overarching plot.
Hence, One Pace came to existence as a remedy for those seeking a more streamlined viewing experience. It’s still longer than the One Piece Netflix adaptation, of course.
Is it Better to Watch One Pace or One Piece?
The recommendation to watch One Pace has garnered both support and skepticism within the One Piece community, as expected.
Advocates argue that the fan edit eliminates the dull moments, providing a faster-paced narrative that keeps viewers engaged. However, critics contend that this approach sacrifices the essence of the series, essentially fast-forwarding through parts that, while considered slow, contribute to the overall storytelling.
One of the key criticisms revolves around the divergence from the anime’s original vision. After all, a lot of anime directors choose to change what was in the manga. While One Pace offers time-saving benefits, it comes at the cost of missing out on the intended viewing experience crafted by the anime’s creators.
Meanwhile, One Pace’s creators estimate their cut’s pacing is 45 percent faster or shorter compared to the original One Piece anime. So that 400-hour total watch time will be cut to a more manageable 200+.
The decision to watch One Pace ultimately hinges on your individual preference for pacing over adherence to the original storyline. But we daresay that for the sake of catching up, One Pace is your better bet.
One Pace Keeps Growing and Improving
Beyond the editing aspect, One Pace has evolved into a community-driven project with its own comprehensive website, which was even revamped in 2019 to cater to a growing international audience.
The website not only serves as a hub for watching edited episodes but also offers detailed arc and episode information, supporting multiple languages. In total, and at the moment, there are around 380 episodes and counting.
It’s worth noting that One Pace is a non-profit passion project so it’s not complete yet so expect some missing arcs, particularly the newest ones in the anime. They’re currently in the process of editing Wano Act 3 at the time of writing, which is around episodes 957-1085 in the original anime. So it’s pretty close and updated.
The project actively seeks contributions from the community and runs on active volunteers for the editing, subtitle syncs, and other aspects of media production.
In essence, One Pace presents a compelling alternative for those seeking a more streamlined One Piece experience, but it also raises important questions about the balance between pacing and preserving the creator’s original vision. Now, however, there’s less excuse not to watch One Piece, as we now have One Pace in its most updated form.
It would seem that when it comes to treasure, less is more in the case of One Pace vs One Piece.
