One Piece’s Chopper spin-off anime scheduled for January premiere
The broadcast schedule for the One Piece mini-anime spinoff, CHOPPER’s, has officially been finalized.
During the franchise’s stage presentation at Jump Festa ’26 on Sunday, it was confirmed that the short-form series featuring Tony Tony Chopper will premiere on January 5.
The mini-anime is set to air within the Japanese morning program Mezamashi TV at 7:36 a.m.
The project, which was previously announced, reimagines the Straw Hat Pirates’ doctor leaving the world of high-seas adventure to live among humans in the real world.
Voice actress Ikue Ōtani will reprise her role as the titular character.
This broadcast fills a programming gap created by a significant structural change to the main television series.
Toei Animation producer Ryūta Koike previously announced that the One Piece anime will reduce its annual output to a maximum of 26 episodes starting in 2026 to improve production quality and pacing.
Consequently, the main series will enter a planned hiatus from January through March 2026 following the conclusion of the current Egghead Arc.
While CHOPPER’s keeps the franchise on air during the winter, the main storyline is scheduled to resume in the spring when the television anime begins the Elbaph Arc on April 5, 2026.
The One Piece scheduling news was part of a wider wave of release date confirmations at Jump Festa ’26.
The winter season will also see the premiere of Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 on January 8.
The spring lineup for April 2026 includes the debuts of Kill Blue and Akane-banashi, coinciding with the return of the main One Piece series.
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is scheduled to conclude in July 2026, with Blue Box Season 2 following in the fall and a new Black Clover season also slated for 2026.
Looking further ahead to 2027, third seasons for both DAN DA DAN and Mashle: Magic and Muscles have been confirmed.
The event also solidified production plans for second seasons of Sakamoto Days, a 10th-anniversary project for My Hero Academia, and a complete reboot of the World Trigger anime.
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