One Piece animation cost
How much does it cost to animate one One Piece episode now? (Image via Toei Animation)

Being one of the longest-running anime of all time, One Piece has surely framed itself in the hall of fame of the most successful anime ever created. As an enormous franchise in itself, this anime has been constantly putting out visually stunning episodes each year.

After the recent Episode 1061, the fans were simply awestruck. The finale of Sanji vs Queen implemented some of the best animators in the market. Hence, it came out as one of the best animations of 2023. Amidst these visually stunning episodes, fans wonder about the cost of each episode of One Piece. Therefore, keep reading as this article throws light upon all the details we know so far about the animation budget of the anime.

One Piece is one of the most expensive anime series of all time

The animation budget is huge in One Piece. As one of the longest-running anime, the animation will definitely be a recurring motif to match the standards of 2023. Hence, the anime has constantly been putting out brilliantly animated episodes for its enormous fandom.

  • On average, each episode of One Piece costs about $80,000 to $100,000 (which is about 10 million Yen to 13.5 million Yen) to animate. This figure makes it one of the most expensive anime of all time. Although the animation cost is huge, the revenue generated by the anime is more than enough to cover it. For example, if 1000 episodes cost Toei Animation $100 million to animate, it has probably already generated more than $2 billion in revenue.
  • However, the cost of animation depends on the level the studios want to strive for.  For example, with intense fight scenes like in Episode 1061, the budget might even stretch to the regions of $120, 000 and more (16 million Yen roughly). 

One Piece has also received backlash about their animation

Although One Piece has produced some of the best-animated episodes in anime history, it still did not save them from backlash from the fans. The most noticeable change animation-wise in One Piece was the shift from their traditional style in Wano Arc. Fans all over the world conveyed their mixed opinions about the animation in Wano.

  • Although it received a few backlashes at the beginning of Wano, fans have accepted the new style now. Moreover, the best animation sequences in One Piece have all been from this arc. Toei Animation has done a great job so far in animating the beautiful chapters created by none other than Eiichiro Oda, and fans expect more work of such a level.
  • However, One Piece has been targeted recently by a large number of fans for reusing animations from previous episodes. Critics have called out Toei, and blamed them for “lazy animation.” Although a few fans think that they are saving for the upcoming Luffy’s Gear 5 episode, most fans are dissatisfied with this action.

Conclusion

It is no wonder that One Piece still stands at the top of shonen anime in anime history. Although there have been a few cases of reused animation in recent episodes, fans have not lost a single bit of love for the anime. Moreover, with such a high budget for each episode, fans should be thankful that the anime they have loved for almost 25 years is still producing content at the highest level.

Hence, with the level of animation fans receive on a regular basis, such a high budget totally justified for One Piece.

Souhardya Choudhury
https://www.spieltimes.com/author/souhardya
Souhardya Choudhury is a veteran musician and an audio engineer but has now been writing as a journalist at Spiel Times. He is currently pursuing Media Science and Film Making as his major. He also considers himself a hardcore gamer as Souls games like Elden Ring, Sekiro, and Dark Souls series are his go-to genre for gaming. RPG open-world games come next.