One Piece Used the Same Manga-Pacing Tactic as Naruto — So Why Did Only Naruto Get the Backlash?

Anime gets roasted all the time for dragging, and somehow Naruto became the internet's favorite punchline while One Piece mostly skated by. The funny part? Both shows pulled the same move for the same reason: the anime was catching up to the manga. Different studios, different tactics, same goal. One of them got memed to death. The other got called cinematic. Let’s talk about why.

What Naruto did (and why everyone yelled 'filler')

Back when Naruto was the king of shonen, Studio Pierrot had a very real production problem: the anime was closing in on Masashi Kishimoto's manga. Their solution was blunt but effective — stall. That meant full-on filler arcs like 'Mizuki Returns' and 'Three-Tails', plus stretching out the big canon fights across way too many episodes.

You remember the drill: Naruto vs. Pain, Itachi vs. Sasuke — massive showdowns turned into 8–10 episode sagas padded with internal monologues, recaps, and flashbacks just to keep the train moving. The fights were often good, sometimes great, but the pacing was glacial. Eventually the show became shorthand for 'filler hell'.

What One Piece did (and why people clapped)

Toei Animation ran into the same issue with Eiichiro Oda's manga: the anime kept nipping at the manga's heels. But instead of rolling out tons of side stories, they mostly kept things canon and stretched within episodes. In Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and especially Wano, fights sprawled across multiple episodes built out of slow-motion shots, stare-downs, and reaction cuts. Luffy winding up a single punch could eat half an episode.

On paper, that's the same stall tactic. In practice, fans rarely rioted. Instead, you saw praise for the 'cinematic direction', 'emotional buildup', and 'beautiful animation'. And to be fair, Toei's recent visual upgrade really did a lot of heavy lifting.

Why the reactions were so different

The timing and the way we watch TV changed. One Piece hit its long, slow arcs during the streaming era, where people binge and skim. You can skip recaps, fast-forward the draggy bits, and keep momentum. Naruto's worst pacing stretches landed in weekly broadcast reality, where a slow episode just sat there for seven days.

There’s also recency bias. Naruto wrapped a while ago; One Piece is still going and currently looks the best it ever has. That shiny present-day production makes fans more forgiving of the molasses pacing underneath.

And here’s a very nerdy production wrinkle: Toei is actually planning to change the machine. Starting in 2026, One Piece will move from a weekly year-round schedule to a seasonal model of roughly 26 episodes per year, split into two cours. Translation: two half-season chunks (around 12–13 episodes each), which usually means tighter pacing and more consistent quality.

The honest bottom line

Both shows used the same survival strategy to avoid overtaking the manga. Naruto leaned on filler and flashbacks. One Piece leaned on stretching canon with reaction shots and slow-roll directing. One got laughed at; the other got lauded. Different vibes, same playbook.

Quick snapshot

• Where to watch: both Naruto/Naruto Shippuden and One Piece are on Crunchyroll.
• IMDb scores: Naruto 8.4/10, Naruto Shippuden 8.7/10, One Piece 9/10.
• Production tactics: Naruto used filler arcs like 'Mizuki Returns' and 'Three-Tails'; One Piece stretched canon in arcs like Dressrosa, Whole Cake Island, and Wano with slow-motion, standoffs, and extended reactions.
• Why One Piece got a pass: binge-era viewing, flashier recent animation, and ongoing momentum.
• What’s next: Toei plans to shift One Piece to a seasonal format in 2026 — about 26 episodes per year across two cours.

So yeah, same game, different jerseys. If you’re catching up now, streaming makes both shows easier to swallow — you can skim the fluff and mainline the good stuff.