It's the end of an iconic period for long-running series, with the production studio revealing a revised release plan for the beloved series, which has been airing for more than 25 years and featured numerous non-canon storylines. Starting in January, once the current storyline wraps up, the animated series will go on a quarterly break until spring, when the Elbaph arc kicks off.
Updated Production Plan
From now on, the series will release a pair of cours every year for a maximum of 26 episodes. The studio states this will help the anime to “dive even deeper into the heart of the universe — including more material, rhythm, and timing of the original manga.” Yet, producers conclude by hinting at “thrilling developments” during the series' break, which suggests additional related projects, such as the upcoming live-action adaptation, scheduled to debut during this gap.
Previous Hiatus Benefits
The series anime had a half-year pause that began in late 2024 and ended in April 2025. The hiatus was for the animators to improve the animation quality and let the manga to build a lead to prevent a rushed adaptation and lengthy recap episodes. The anime greatly benefited from this respite, and it has managed to deliver viewers with countless fight scenes, high-quality animation, and reduced non-canon content than previously.
Embracing Seasonal Format
While a few summary installments sprouted up during the recent run, the benefits of this updated approach greatly outweigh the odd pause in the story. This also gives the manga, which is currently in the thick of the latest arc, to extend its lead on the anime. Per the news, this may result in a single installment of the anime adapting a single manga chapter, with others alternatively covering one and a half chapters or more to compensate for scheduling.
This concludes of a generation for anime, as the epic saga is the final major title to abandon the traditional method of creation, which focused on airing for almost the entire year. It's the reason why iconic series such as Naruto, and naturally itself have numerous side stories, and the standard of the art can vary widely between installments and the next. Nowadays, series creation is structured in seasons, with one or two at most coming out each year, allowing for better quality and greater accuracy to the original work.
