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It's the end of an iconic period for long-running series, with the production studio announcing a new production schedule for the beloved series, which has been airing for more than 25 years and featured dozens of filler arcs. Commencing in the new year, once the current storyline wraps up, the anime will go on a three-month hiatus until spring, when the next major arc kicks off.

Updated Production Plan

Going forward, the series will produce two seasons every annually for a cap of two dozen installments. The studio states this will help the anime to “dive even deeper into the heart of the universe — including more material, tempo, and pacing of the original manga.” Yet, producers end by promising “thrilling developments” during the series' break, which means more related projects, such as Netflix's live-action season 2, scheduled to debut during this gap.

Learning from Past Breaks

The series anime previously took a six-month pause that started in October 2024 and ended in early 2025. The intermission was for the production team to enhance the animation quality and let the comic to build a lead to prevent a rushed adaptation and lengthy recap episodes. The anime couldn't benefit more from this respite, and it has managed to supply fans with countless fight scenes, high-quality animation, and less filler than ever before.

Embracing Seasonal Format

While some recap episodes sprouted up during the recent run, the benefits of this updated approach far surpass the occasional interruption in the action. This also gives the manga, which is currently in the thick of the Elbaph arc, to gain more ground on the adaptation. Per the news, this may lead to one episode of the series covering one chapter, with others alternatively handling one and a half chapters or additional to compensate for time.

This concludes of an era for Japanese animation, as the epic saga is the last big series to ditch the traditional method of production, which focused on being on air for almost the entire year. This explains why iconic series such as Naruto, and naturally itself have numerous filler arcs, and the quality of the art can vary widely between one episode and the following. Nowadays, anime production is organized in cours, with a couple at most coming out each annually, allowing for improved visuals and greater accuracy to the source material.