After more than a year of silence, WIT Studio has finally given fans a proper look at The One Piece with its first teaser. The remake already looks gorgeous, but its biggest job has nothing to do with sharper visuals or smoother animation. Long before the pacing problems, filler episodes, and stretched-out reaction shots became the biggest complaints about Toei Animation's adaptation, the anime made a surprising decision in its very first episode that changed how One Piece began. Nearly three decades later, WIT Studio finally has the chance to tell the opening of Eiichiro Oda's story the way it was originally written.
Whenever fans talk about problems with the original anime, the conversation almost always goes in the same direction. Dressrosa, Fish-Man Island, and Wano are usually the first arcs brought up because of their slow pacing. Those criticisms are completely fair, but they have also overshadowed a much older issue. The anime's first major departure from the manga happened right at the beginning, long before the series had to worry about catching up to Oda's weekly chapters.
That is what makes The One Piece so exciting. WIT Studio is not simply remaking a beloved anime with modern animation. It has the rare opportunity to revisit the story from page one and stay much closer to Oda's original vision. For longtime readers, that means finally seeing the opening of One Piece unfold the way the manga introduced it nearly three decades ago.
Anyone who only watched the 1999 anime might not even realize how drastically Toei Animation altered the beginning of One Piece. Eiichiro Oda started the manga with Chapter 1, "Romance Dawn," focusing entirely on Luffy's childhood. It introduced his bond with Shanks, revealed how he ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, and explained how he got the scar under his eye.
The 1999 anime totally ignored this setup. Instead of adapting the first chapter, Episode 1 jumped straight to the present day, where Luffy bursts out of a barrel aboard Alvida's ship, while his childhood story was pushed back until Episode 4. His departure from Foosha Village, where he first claimed to be the King of the Pirates, was not shown until Episode 504, more than 500 episodes later.
While many may think that it is not that big a problem, as Toei did show it later. That was not the only change. When the anime finally covered Luffy's backstory, it removed one of One Piece's most memorable scenes. In Oda's original version, Luffy stabs himself beneath the eye with a knife to prove to Shanks that he is serious about becoming a pirate. The anime cuts the moment entirely, leaving many viewers wondering where his scar even came from.
That is exactly why The One Piece feels so promising. Everything revealed so far suggests WIT Studio is sticking much closer to Oda's manga. The teaser already shows Luffy setting out alone in his small boat, and the first episode is titled "Romance Dawn," just like the manga's opening chapter. If that approach carries into the full series, the remake could finally give fans the introduction One Piece was always meant to have.
While fans usually point to the original anime's slow pacing and endless recaps, the early censorship arguably had a much bigger impact on One Piece’s story. Toei Animation did not just rearrange scenes from the manga; it also softened some of Eiichiro Oda's most powerful moments. The Baratie arc remains the clearest example. In the anime, Zeff loses his leg after it gets caught in an anchor chain while saving Sanji. It is still an emotional scene, but the manga tells a much darker story.
After being stranded on a barren rock with almost nothing to eat, Zeff realizes there is only enough food for one of them. To keep Sanji alive, he smashes off his own leg and eats it himself, leaving every remaining ration to the young boy. That moment completely changes the weight of Zeff's sacrifice. It is one of the first times Oda shows just how cruel the world of One Piece can be and how far its characters are willing to go for someone they care for.
As the anime undergoes major production changes, switching to the manga is a great way to experience the rest of the story safely without spoilers.
Those kinds of changes were common throughout the East Blue saga. While the censorship made sense for a daytime television series aimed at younger viewers in the late '90s, it also took away some of the edge that made the manga stand out. That is one of the reasons why The One Piece has so many longtime fans excited. With WIT Studio producing the remake for Netflix instead of traditional television, it finally has the opportunity to bring those scenes to the screen much closer to the way Oda originally wrote them.
