After a long hiatus caused by a hack at Toei Animation's servers, the One Piece anime is finally making a grand return as the Wano Country arc hurtles towards its biggest fights. With the Raid on Onigashima having begun, the stage is set for the biggest of events which sees Luffy and the Worst Generation go up against Kaido and Big Mom for the very first time. It goes without saying that since the War of Marineford, this is the biggest event in the entire story and it wouldn't be a stretch to say that this is possibly even bigger.
Although the series returns with Episode 1014 on April 17, all eyes are on One Piece episode 1015, which is going to be the adaptation of the iconic chapter 1000 of the series and is going to be, perhaps, the very best One Piece episode in all its years of airing since it began in 1999 - all thanks to the brilliant team handling the episode, led by the talented Megumi Ishitani.
Who Is Megumi Ishitani?
Known to be one of the most talented young directors in the anime industry, Megumi Ishitani attended the Tokyo University of the Arts and due to her immense skill, she succeeded in making her way to the GEIDAI Animation Program – an extremely prestigious program known to admit only about a dozen students a year. In 2015, Megumi Ishitani graduated from the program and a year later, she was already a part of the Dragon Ball Super staff, which just goes to show how quickly she made progress. At Toei Animation, Ishitani has risen through the ranks incredibly fast and become what is one of the best directors the studio currently has, if not the very best. Her first work on the Dragon BallSuper series was directing the fifth ending in 2016, and the seventh ending in 2017. Making quite a mark, she eventually directed the last episode of the series in her directorial debut, which still stands out as the very best that the series has produced to date.
When it comes to One Piece, Megumi Ishitani's debut was with Episode 957, which handled the dissolution of the Shichibukai system and an overview of the news about the Reverie. The episode took months of work and with a very talented staff behind her, Ishitani was able to deliver what is considered one of the very best episodes in anime. Following this Ishitani also directed One Piece Episode 982, which, just like 957, is considered to be a spectacle from start to finish. As the director of Episode 1015, all eyes are on Megumi Ishitani to deliver yet another one of her incredible episodes, which are usually laden with seamless transitions, vibrant colors, great compositing, and most importantly, her storyboarding, which stands out spectacularly.
With her storyboarding skills, fans are certainly going to see every scene getting the gravitas that they deserve. At the same time, Ishitani goes much deeper than that to ensure her episodes are like mini-movies themselves. Her storyboards are incredibly direct, with astounding framing and terrific lighting to complement the narrative. All this is accomplished in a stupendously dynamic way to ensure nothing feels boring, all of which takes months upon months of work. It is almost impossible for One Piece fans to not be excited about what's coming their way.
One Piece Episode 1015 Staff
Along with Megumi Ishitani at the helm of One Piece episode 1015, fans are going to see Masami Mori handle the animation supervision. Masami Mori, also known as Soty, is one of the most skilled animators working with the One Piece team. The episode is set to mark his debut on the series as an animation supervisor, and given his immense talent, fans can rest assured that One Piece will look as good as it possibly can. Mori has previously worked on some incredibly animated scenes, such as the Whitebeard Pirates' clash with Roger Pirates, Katakuri's Zangiri Mochi on Luffy, and more recently, reanimated a chunk of Law's flashback for One Piece's 1000 Logs mini-movie event. It is safe to say that his unique approach to animation will make the episode look as gorgeous as it as possible can.
Along with Mori, the working on the episode is certainly going to be brilliant with regulars such as Yong-ce Tu working on it. In terms of both animation and direction, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that One Piece Episode 1015 will be a sight to behold.
Why One Piece Episode 1015 Is Special
One Piece episode 1015 is doubly special as not just is it going to have a terrific staff at the helm but the content that it is adapting is going to be equally good. The episode is set to adapt the iconic 1000th chapter of the manga, which many fans know to be one of the very best the story has to offer. Episode 1015 will see Luffy finally reach the rooftop of Onigashima and face off against Yonko Kaido for the first time since his crushing defeat in Kuri. With a Rock Roc that carries the weight of an entire country in it, Luffy will finally announce himself as the man who will become the next Pirate King to the Yonko Kaido and Big Mom and lead the Worst Generation in a monstrous battle.
It won't be a surprise to see Toei improvise on the source material and make the episode even better. With a jaw-dropping staff behind it, it is almost expected for the episode to simply blow everyone away. Given that Ishitani's episodes take almost half a year to complete, fans are certainly going to see one of the most spectacular chapters done justice and perhaps be set as one of the best anime episodes of all time.
When Will One Piece Episode 1015 Release?
Although One Piece fans had to wait quite a lot for the episode to air due to the indefinite hiatus at Toei, the episode's release date has finally been made known now. The One Piece anime is set to return from its hiatus on April 17, 2022, with Episode 1014. One Piece Episode 1015 will be released on April 24, 2022, a week later. As usual, the episode can be streamed on various platforms such as Crunchyroll and Funimation.