#(yeah watch them release it in march 2025)

[miyku]

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[the-bejeesus]

To Those Who Say “I’m not gonna catch up on One Piece until it’s finished. Why would I watch/read 1000+ episodes/chapters when I don’t even get to know how the story ends?”

      Now for the past few years, when I came across somebody who said this, my rebute would be something like “Well the series is great already. It doesn’t really matter if I don’t know how it ends, because the journey itself is enjoyable.” or “Man if that’s your excuse, who you gonna explain why you read/watch stuff like Berserk, Hunter X Hunter, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and My Hero Academia? Newsflash, they aren’t done yet.” But it came across my mind that I can now apply a completely different approach:

“If you start watching/reading at this pace right now, it will be over by the time you catch up.”

      If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll know that for awhile now Oda has been saying that he plans to end the series in just 5-4 years. Now he’s made lots of claims in the past that turned out to be ridiculous. However, many One Piece researchers have compiled his claims and found out that they only get more accurate as time goes on, with the most ridiculous claims being found to be myths. And with the most recent claims of ending the series in less than 5 years, even his editors who are usually skeptical have started to trust that he can do this. After all, he has officially set there to be only one more saga (which isn’t necessarily one arc, but it’s either going to be 1-2 major arcs or an anthology of 5-6 shorter arcs). And now that we can trust this claim, we can essentially extrapolate how many chapters/episodes are left and what pace we have to binge to catch up at just the right time.

If you plan to read the manga (black and white):

The manga in black in white is a perfectly fine way to enjoy One Piece. It’s what Oda draws, it’s how he intends it to be viewed, and best of all, it will be the first version of publication to finish.

     Out of the 1223 weeks since the first chapter published in July 19, 1997, 1000 chapters have published, meaning on average he publishes 42 chapters per year, or in other words, there are only 10 hiatuses per year (including holidays where WSJ does not publish). Now if I wanted to be more accurate, I’d only look at the chapters published this year, to exclude outliers like how he had no hiatuses for the first 200 chapters, or how he had a 4-week hiatus during the timeskip, but 2020 has been a bit crazy, so we’re not doing that for this or any of the others.

     Going off of this, the final chapter would be chapter 1212 in December 28, 2025 (yes, the 28th would be a Sunday again.) So here’s how you’d calculate the pace in which you need to read One Piece, and really this is how we’ll calculate it for every version)

     Now I know math is boring, but the reason I’m showing this to you is because the amount of weeks until One Piece ends will vary based on when you start this binge. Chances are you aren’t going to start the day you see this post, and there’s an even greater chance you won’t see this post the day it’s posted. For every example I’m going to assume you started binging on December 28, 2020. Now let’s try to use it for this example.

     And there’s your answer, just read 4-5 chapters per week. By the end, One Piece should be nearly over or have very recently ended. To put that into a different perspective, you could purchase and read just two volumes per month and you’ll be at prime pace. Or you could read one chapter every day, but only on weekdays.  If you want to, you can see this calculation in action in graph form.

     While this is a very rudimentary graph, it’s a basic visualization of what we’re calculating here. We’re calculating what speed we need to binge to catch up at exactly the right moment. I say exact, but ultimately no one can predict how many chapters there will be exactly, nor how many hiatuses Oda will go on during it. It will be important, as you’re nearing the end, to find a spoiler-free way to keep up on how close One Piece is to ending. To know whether you ought to speed up or slow down.

If you plan to watch the anime (subtitled):

For years now people have hated on the anime “terrible animation!” “terrible pacing” but at the end of the day, it’s the more popular version. Or the more viewed version I should say. And personally, I think that once you acknowledge its problems and learn how to deal with them, it’s a perfectly fine experience. There’s enough good voice acting and enough good storytelling that you’re easily able to ignore the problems. Plus, the animation has substantially improved since Wano.

      Now for this we’re going to have to change a lot of variables to get this right. We’re going to have to adjust when publication started, and recalculate when One Piece will end by looking at how slowly the anime adapts the manga, and how behind it is. The anime aired on October 20, 1999, and has aired 956 episodes since then. This means on average they air 44.9 episodes per year, meaning there is pretty much only 7 breaks the entire year. With these 956 episodes, they have adapted 955 chapters, making the pace almost exactly one chapter per episode. However this is really inaccurate, considering all the better-paced arcs earlier on in the story. Looking solely at episodes 2012 and onwards, the anime adapts at a pace of 0.65 chapters/episode.

     Knowing that there are roughly 212 chapters left, and Toei adapts at 0.65 chapters per episode, we can assume that there are going to be roughly 324 episodes left. That sounds like too many, but keep in mind that there will be several, several instances where the manga will be on hiatus whereas the anime will keep on airing. Knowing there are approximately 324 episodes left, and that the anime only takes about 7 breaks a year, we can assume that it will take 7 years, or 374.49 weeks before the anime will end. So now we have the information we need to do the math again.

x = 1280/374.49

x = 3.417 episodes/week.

     It may seem like a more relaxed binge, since you get a whole 2 extra years to binge, and you only have to do 3-4 episodes per week, compared to the 4-5 chapters. But keep in mind that these episodes are 24 minutes each. Still not at all bad, but you will be spending more time on it overall.

If you plan to watch One Pace:

One Pace is a fan project that edits the anime so that filler and padding is cut, other edits will be made to make the anime more manga-accurate, such as reorganizing scenes, or adding title cards where absent. Originally only used by a niche number of One Piece fans, One Pace has grown in popularity, and has tried to improve its quality to accommodate more fans, such as making their episodes Dual Audio (meaning you can switch between the dub and original Japanese audio tracks), and including Spanish subtitles.

      You’d think we’d have to adjust for when One Pace began, how slowly One Pace catches up, and the works, but there’s not much to calculate. Fortunately for us, no matter how far behind One Pace is on editing the current arc, they always like to wrap things up just a few weeks within when an arc ended, if not the very same week. So really all we have to calculate is how many One Pace episodes there will be by the end of all this, so that we know how many you’ll need to watch per week.

      Looking solely at what they’ve covered so far, One Pace has taken 573 episodes and condensed it down to 259 episodes. That’s a pace of 2.21 anime episodes/ paced episode. Earlier we calculated that there would be 324 episodes of the anime left, making for 1280 episodes total. This would mean that there would be around 578 One Pace episodes by the end. And One Pace would probably wrap up in, let’s say 376 weeks, because as I said, they’ll probably finish editing the final arc a week or two after the last episode airs.

x = 578/376

x = 1.53 episodes per week

      Now that’s a relaxed pace. 1-2 episodes per week? That’s so slow, I’m not even sure if I’ll remember what I watched last week next time I watch some episodes. The only problem is some of the pre-timeskip still haven’t been edited. They’ll probably be done by the time they finish the final arc, but that’s not gonna work out fast enough. You’ll hit your first roadblock about 7 weeks in when you need to watch the Baratie arc and it’s not done. And don’t even get me started on how many arcs aren’t done in dub or Spanish sub yet. Hopefully you could just switch to the anime or manga when you hit these arcs, readjusting how many episodes/chapters you need to watch/read when you do. But that’s a bit of an excessive amount of math for something that’s supposed to be fun. So yeah, if you’re still convinced you shouldn’t get into One Piece until it’s ended, maybe this is the option for you.

If you plan to read the manga (Colored):

Since 2012, Shueisha has made a colorization of One Piece. It’s not a fan coloring, it’s as official as it gets. Many consider the color schemes portrayed in this version as the most canon, as the majority are pulled straight from whatever colored illustrations of Oda’s they can find. And quite frankly it makes the manga at least 10 times more beautiful. It’s especially great if you have trouble interpreting dense, small black and white panels.

      This one is a doozy. You’d think all I gotta do is calculate how far behind the colored manga usually and just adjust from there, right? Wrong. Because how far behind the colored manga is, or how frequently they release volumes in full color, is one of the most inconsistent things I have ever seen. You wanna see what I’m talking about? This is how they’ve chosen to release each volume since 2012:

Volume 1-12: July 15, 2012

Volume 13-23: September 28, 2012

Volume 24-63: December 4, 2012

Volume 64-65: April 4, 2013

Volume 66-68: December 20, 2013

Volume 69-70: August 25, 2014

Volume 71-72: September 16, 2015

Volume 73-75: October 4, 2016

Volume 76: December 2, 2016

Volume 77: March 3, 2017

Volume 78: July 2, 2017

Volume 79: September 4, 2017

Volume 80: December 4, 2017

Volume 81-82: March 3, 2018

Volume 83: October 4, 2018

Volume 84-86: August 2, 2019

Volume 87-92: September 16, 2020

     How I am supposed to find out how long it will take for Shueisha to colorize the final volume of One Piece is beyond me. I guess the first step would be to look at how far behind the manga each release was on average, but I’m going to ignore all the ones before 2013, because those were clearly just Shueisha catching up really fast cause they just started and didn’t want to be dozens of volumes behind forever. So of the 14 publications between 2013 and now, on average the last chapter of the last volume they colored was 97.78 weeks after that chapter had published in Weekly Shonen Jump. This means that if the final chapter of One Piece is chapter 1212 on December 28, 2025, then you can expect the final colored volume to publish November 14, 2027.

x = 1212/359

x = 3.37 chapters/week

     So if you prefer the manga but don’t want to read 5 chapters every week for 5 years, this might be a better option for ya. But yea, I have no doubt my prediction is at least a little off for this one.

If you plan to watch the anime (dubbed):

Unlike the 4KidsTV and Odex dubs of One Piece, the FUNimation dub is a perfect way to enjoy One Piece. The DVDs come with enjoyable commentary and a marathon mode, great for binging.

       FUNimation’s releases of the dub are inconsistent, although not nearly as erratic as the colored manga release. However, there was recently a 2-year hiatus we only just got out of. Since Episode 1′s dub in May 27, 2008, the dub has gotten as far as Episode 614. But that’s only looking at the DVD releases. If you’re willing to stream on FUNimationnow, the dub is as far as 641, and if you’re willing to digitally purchase it from an e-shop such as the Microsoft store, it goes all the way to Episode 654. With that being said, that would mean that on average, FUNimation dubs 1.004 episodes per week. Although if we go back to before the two-year hiatus so as to exclude it from the average, it’s actually 1.10 episodes per week. Not a huge difference, actually. And then if we look solely after the two-year hiatus, it’s actually 2.25 episodes per week, which is insanely faster. It’s hard to tell what the future of the dub will be. I can’t assume they’ll go this fast forever, so I’m just going to take the average of all 3 and say it’s 1.45 episodes per week. Don’t know if that’s the best mathematical approach, but the number seems about right.

     So knowing that the dub is at Episode 654 and looking at our previous guesstimation that the anime will be 1280 episodes long, we can predict that it will take 431 weeks before the dub catches up and ends. That would be in 2029! Sounds quick at first until you notice it’s 4 years behind!

x = 1280/431

x = 2.96 episodes per week

      Looks like it’s almost exactly 3 episodes per week. Not as much less of a workload as I expected, compared to catching up to the sub. You know, I figured those 4 extra years would make you binge a lot slower.

Final Thoughts:

      There’s a lot of my math that was estimation, approximations, extrapolations. Feel free to correct me or fact check me, especially if you plan on using this. I figured this would be a fun thought excercise. There’s also a lot of smaller variables I simply didn’t want to take into account because of how long this is already. For example, reading the black and white manga. The calculation can vary slightly depending on if you read it the day it’s published (which I assume would have to be a fanscan unless you can read Japanese), reading the weekly publication legally on Viz.com, waiting for the physical volume release. The dub can also vary depending on whether you buy from Microsoft, wait for the FUNimationnow release, wait for the DVDs, or wait for the Collection sets. So feel free to take this into account.

[mrs00clean001-blog]

Department of State - press briefing notes from 7th of March 2019

While browsing twitter stumbled on this press briefing and decided to watch it to get info directly from the “horse”s mouth - https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1vAGRywYRLYKl

I recommend people watch it for themselves, if curious, instead of “readers digests” media provides - especially since some believe that media it too biased.

Well, going to the source and forming your opinion on the subject is how you can objectively deal with that.

I will try to keep this as unbiased as possible, but again - check the #briefing out for yourself.

Legend:

From this point on I will be referring to the State Department representative (don’t know what his name is - don’t really care) as The Horse.

Journalists from around the Globe will be refereed to as The Birds (just because, and it’s shorter than typing out Journalists).

My opinions will be labeled as such and adding @Mrs00Clean001

Department of State - press briefing notes from 7th of March 2019

Briefing began with The Horse making an announcement on deployment of new US sponsored program to help women entrepreneurs around the world to help communities around the world. Goal to have notable progress by 2025. Targets are 26 countries in Latin America, Caribbean and Africa. Source - https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2019/03/290040.htm

My opinion ( @Mrs00Clean001 ): good, these are some of the countries that could use such a program the most. Enterprises create more jobs and jobs allow people to have means for supporting families without resorting to desperate actions and violence.

Floor was than opened up for questions from the the Birds.

1. Bird asked about revocation of visas and flagging people based on passport information. Why?

Horse responded that this is Homeland Security domain and they should be asked why?

Follow up question from Bird was along the lines of if someone like France began doing the same how would The Horse and the Gov’t feel about it?

Horse responded with refusal to engage in speculation and... 

@Mrs00Clean001 : my opinion is it is like asking the why did police arrest someone ? Check in with them and get their statement instead and you will know, Mr Bird!

2. Bird asked about North Korea and it’s science and development.

Horse responded that there will be another briefing at 1600 (7th of March 2019) dedicated to North Korea and to ask that then.

Follow up question from Bird was about a ~1. earthquake registered in North Korea and if this was due to more missile testing.

Horse responded that he knew of no evidence of that and a reminder about 1600 briefing on North Korea.

Bird then asked about policy on satellite launches by North Korea and policy on that.

Horse answered with “briefing”, etc...

@Mrs00Clean001 : yeah, curious what went on in that 1600 briefing and what the situation is. Ether way, North Korea situation sucks, because if satellites get launched = better targeting and weapons capability for the evil troll that runs that sad, ravaged, country. 

2. Bird said he is bringing this up again, and asked about Israel prisoner women being held in deplorable conditions, some of whom are young and are growing up in prison with no hope of rehabilitation or re-integration into society. He asked if it bothered the Horse that Israel, the ally, is doing this and if he could please bring the question up regarding the cases.

Horse responded that he knew nothing about these cases and that talks with allies are done regularly and he does not know anything on the subject. 

@Mrs00Clean001 : this was total new to me, and I am tempted to look into this further, as the Horse did not say he was going to bring it up or check into it as was asked. Not his job, I’m guessing, but still - human rights violations should not be allowed and must be investigated further, especially if it is a developed country where it is *supposedly* a crime.

3. Bird asked about sanctions against Iran as related to Iraq.

Horse responded that US is committed in helping Iraqi Gov’t  keep control of the fighting forces and preventing Iran from attempting to compromise Iraq independence.

@Mrs00Clean001 : I paraphrased it hard, but I think the point was that Iraq people want to stay Iraq people and keep their independence from someone like Iran, hence the sanctions against Iran since they are trying to take over.

4.Bird asked about Hwai (or whatever that huge Chinese hardware/tech company is called) 

Horse replied it is involved in a legal battle and he can’t talk about it. He then talked about unauthorized access, malicious activity and other shenanigans some vendors are forced to engage in by the Nation in control and that each vendor must be evaluated for risks.

Follow up question from Bird was about Energy sector and if it will be warned against using chines tech.

Horse responded that in a matter of national security every vendor must be rigorously tested and evaluated for risks.

@Mrs00Clean001 : paraphrased this one - hard. Accents were very thick even if English was phenomena.

5. Bird asked about US/UN/France/Britain adding another name to terrorist list - <not adding the name of a terrorist here - look it up yourself, if you want>.

Horse responded with a name of a terror group, as per UN, that is responsible for terrorist acts and <newly-listed terrorist> was the founder.

@Mrs00Clean001 : yeah, founding a terrorist organisation should absolutely land you on some lists and hopefully eventually caught and tried to the fullest extent of the Law.

6. Bird asked about Pakistan arresting 44 people for terrorism and the feelings on the subject.

Horse responded that US noted this action and urged Pakistan to make this a sustainable thing and not sheltering or supporting terrorists.

@Mrs00Clean001 : more accents and big words were spoken here. Overall, time will tell what happens with Pakistan and their terrorism issues...

7. Bird asked about journalist being deported from Venezuela.

Horse responded that it is good.

@Mrs00Clean001  : i think this was something along the lines of it’s good the journalist is safe.

8. Bird asked, saying that this question will be coming up again soon, about Kongo and human rights abuses of people getting executed without trials.

Horse responded that more information was needed.

@Mrs00Clean001 : journalist said more people were going to be executed soon as more trials were ongoing. WTF. Might have to look this one up too.

8. Bird asked about Nicaragua and Catholic Church being a witness to peace talks.

Horse responded that peace dialog facilitated by the Catholic Church was good.

@Mrs00Clean001 : trying not to mess up on the word too badly here, I think the response was extremely in support of peace talks.

10. Bird asked about Syria and 1000 ISIS brides and should their children be punished for the crimes of parents.

Horse responded that organisations on the ground in Syria are trying to do their best to keep children safe, etc...

@Mrs00Clean001 : this one broke my heard, especially when the journalist pointed out that children growing up in refugee camps will simply turn into more terrorists. Not sure what the solution is here, well none of the options are very good and ether way - poor children!

11. Bird asked about <something I didn’t catch> and why it took 6 days to release info.

Horse responded that he was just coming back from a business trip and, etc... Ended with saying him and his team will do better in the future.

@Mrs00Clean001 : this one was kind of funny and the journalist ended up sounding like an entitled **** and the State Department Communications team ended up sounding semi-lazy.

12.Bird asked about Russia and it’s S500 developments and the US policy on that.

Horse responded that the policy on that did not change.

@Mrs00Clean001 : this one is really sad and scary (S500 are short-range missiles) - the arms-race is back on and hopefully we can avoid world war three, as I doubt humanity will survive it very well (or at all).

13. Bird asked about Zimbabwe and extension of sanctions and impeding country’s progress.

Horse answered  that these are targeted sanctions, that renewed on 4th of March, as sanctions renew yearly. Then he explained the targeted were individuals and organisations with human rights abuses, etc.. and that political and economic overhaul was not done to prevent this, so sanctions were not lifted of those specific people and organisations.

@Mrs00Clean001 : more ugliness with human rights abuses... and a lot of paraphrasing.

14. Bird asked about Afghanistan and talks with Taliban.

Horse said there were no updates from yesterday and the talks were still ongoing. Talked about how US is committed to continuing the talks.

@Mrs00Clean001 : ..... 

15. Bird asked about some sort of Riyadh report.

Horse responded he did not know what report it was.

Bird asked about Finnish journalist receiving women of bravery award.

Horse responded that it was a mistake and journalist was notified of the award erroneously. Said Embassies submitted names of journalists and they then picked winners in an manner they were not going to disclose.

@Mrs00Clean001 : not sure what this was about, but might look it up. Mistakes *are* sometimes funny :)

The End.