 Hello and welcome to the Grand Line review, your source for everything one piece. Recently I did a video detailing why the Toei anime adaptation should be criticized based on one very simple rule of storytelling, which was, don't tell the audience something they already know. To demonstrate how the anime blatantly fails in regards to this rule, I went through episode 868 and ascertain that roughly 43% of it was unnecessary filler material. But there is a bit more to the conclusion than that and after reading a lot of the comments on that video I realized that there was a lot I should have made clear and I just wanted to take some time today to properly lay the blame for the situation we find ourselves in with the one piece anime. Now Toei is the obvious first offender, given that they are the company that makes the product. Their name is plastered all over it so they are the primary target to face the brunt of fan outrage. And don't get me wrong here, they absolutely deserve it. They are not the sole offenders in this scenario. And to go through who the other actors are, I would first like to point out a brilliantly informative video by Yonko Productions who details the process of the anime's creation which I will link below. But to summarize, one of the main points made there is that Toei is one of three stakeholders in the one piece anime with the other two being Shueisha, the publisher of the manga and the Fuji TV network. Collectively these three groups are the producers of the one piece anime but they rely heavily on a sponsorship system so things can get very convoluted very quickly. To be clear, the goal of all three of these institutions is the same as any company, to generate revenue. And given that a consensus amongst these three companies is required to get anything achieved it is highly unlikely that any one of them is going to be in favor of doing something that harms their bottom line. For example, the formula I personally believe would benefit the one piece anime the most is adopting a seasonal format. You know, making like maybe 24 episodes of one piece a year and condensing it into a well-paced and ideally better animated experience. Now if Toei were the sole entity in charge of this decision making then I believe they could easily make this switch. However that would go on to negatively impact Fuji TV who now have to take the time to find and invest in a new show to cover the rest of the year as well as gather sponsors for it. Which seems like a very painful, painful experience. From the perspective of Fuji TV it's probably much easier to maintain a steady income with secured sponsors over a yearly run. But my argument to that is that less one piece does not necessarily mean less income, you just need to adopt a new strategy. I mean if the quality of the anime was higher and more in demand because we had periods of like half a year without seeing it then it could command a primetime slot rather than the Sunday morning time slot it has now which was given to it after declining viewership. However if one piece could command a primetime slot then it would result in garnering a higher price from sponsors and advertisers who want their product showcased while the program is featured. But once again that's a painful word for Fuji TV to travel down and we also need to consider the third part of this triumvirate, Shueisha. While Shueisha do have a stake in the anime their primary goal with having this adaptation is to sell more manga. What they want is to keep One Piece relevant in the public eye all year round so that they can maintain consistent sales of magazines and volumes. Having One Piece become a seasonal property would result in Shueisha having half a year or more essentially fighting for themselves and there would almost certainly be a drop in sales. So you get the idea it would be next to impossible for the desires of one company to gain any traction without an incentive involved to the other two. As a result what we have is compromise glorious compromise. One Piece as it is makes all three entities enough money to be happy with their particular arrangement at the moment and there is absolutely nothing the western world can do about it. I'd say the only way forward would be to protest and just stop watching the anime but even if the entirety of the western world stopped watching it look Japan simply doesn't care. The One Piece anime is a show marketed towards a young Japanese demographic and the sponsors showing off their products are looking to do so to garner Japanese attention. The only thing that will ever change the state of the anime would be a massive decline in their viewership and that is unlikely to happen in the lifespan of the series because young kids are much more forgiving with their entertainment. They aren't like us annoying adults who have to nitpick everything and demand that something actually be worthy of our time to watch. It's a fantastic mindset one that I really wish I could return to but at the same time it doesn't change the fact that these three entities have a stranglehold on the anime adaptation. The staff of Toei animation in particular may be exceptionally hardworking and dedicated individuals but there is nothing they can do against this corporate mandate. The only hope remaining for One Piece in terms of a well-animated medium is the surely eventual re-release of the series or even a re-animating of the series in a fillerless Dragon Ball Z Kai-esque form but I highly doubt that will happen until after the series has concluded or very close to that. In any case the point of this video was to apologize for my demonizing of Toei alone in the previous video when in fact what I meant to do was demonize Toei, Shueisha, and Fuji TV equally. This access of powers is going to milk the series for everything it's worth and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. But the manga is still out there and it remains one of the most fantastic stories ever told. Even if you're not a manga reader I would strongly encourage you to adopt it in this special case but if you are still a staunch anime watcher then I wish you good luck. I'm really glad that the anime does have its fans and that it brings more people into the wonderful realm of One Piece. The goal of my criticism is not to spread general hate for the anime or its fans, I just desperately want this series to reach its absolute potential and while this is probably a cry that is going to fall on deaf ears in terms of the people that actually have the power to do anything about it, I think it's important that we as a community come together to discuss things like this rather than burying our heads in the sand. If you enjoyed this video and the content this channel produced in general then please do consider donating to the Grand Line Review Patreon because the support of all of your amazing people is what continues to make this channel possible. Also do check out my Teespring store if you're interested in shirts, Woody's and other miscellaneous items but the proceeds are also going directly to support the channel. And if you'd like to join the fun at any time then please do head over to my Discord server where a wide array of shenanigan retakes place on a daily basis. And finally please do comment with your thoughts on the One Piece anime adaptation. This has been the Grand Line Review and I'll see you next time.