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The manga has taken brief breaks, but is that really worth complaining about?

One Piece began publication in 1997, and has now surpassed 1,000 chapters. There’s a lot for fans to celebrate! But according to website My Jitsu, some manga readers in Japan are not happy about how things are going.

My Jitsu reports that a segment of fans in Japan are not only annoyed by the pacing of the current Wano Country Arc, which began in 2018, but also by the manga going on hiatus.

That last complaint is rather silly, if not selfish, to be honest, considering how hard manga creator Eiichiro Oda has worked and for how long. The guy isn’t a machine. He needs time to recharge and do things like sleep!

Below, via My Jitsu, are some recent complaints from Japanese readers:
“One Piece going on hiatus is no good.”
“One Piece of late has been going on hiatus a bunch. Plus, the story development has been sloppy.”
“The most recent Shonen Jump was pretty interesting. But One Piece, you’re taking too much time off.”
“One Piece is going on too many breaks. It’s like every other week.”
“Don’t take the week off because the story isn’t going well!”

As noted on My Jitsu, the problem could be with the pacing of the Wano Country Arc, which is said to be dragging on and losing the interest of fans. This, in turn, impacts the anime, and it becomes harder to win over new readers.

Meanwhile, in the past few years, One Piece has been outsold by manga like Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen. Make no mistake, it’s still an incredibly successful and popular manga.

All of this seems rather stressful and relentless for Oda! One Piece has had an impressive run, and it’s not over just yet. There are still adventures to be had.

If you’ve never read One Piece, check out this look at 1,025 chapters of the manga by Kotaku’s own Isaiah Colbert.