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Guide

Where to start with long anime: One Piece, Naruto, Detective Conan and more

Mochibayo ·

A series with hundreds of episodes can look like a wall. One Piece has passed 1,150 episodes and Detective Conan 1,200, and both are still airing. You do not have to climb it all at once, and for some series the bottom of the wall is not even the best place to start.

This guide covers the usual ways in: from episode one with the filler skipped, through a newer version that retells the same story, or by dipping into a series built from stories that stand alone. The episode counts and labels are MyAnimeList’s, as in our filler guides.

Start at episode one

For most long series the honest answer is the first episode. Long adventure series build on their early arcs: characters, rivalries and promises from the first season pay off hundreds of episodes later, and a summary does not carry them.

What you can skip is the filler. Each of these series has a filler guide on Mochibayo that marks every episode canon, filler or recap, with a tracker that remembers on this device which episodes you have watched.

  1. One Piece

    TV series · Toei Animation · from 20 October 1999 · based on the manga

    Start at episode 1, and expect a long voyage. Of the first 1,163 episodes, MyAnimeList marks 97 as filler and 7 as recaps, so skipping them saves less than you might hope: One Piece is long because its story is long. At three episodes a day, those 1,163 episodes take more than a year.

  2. Naruto

    TV series · Studio Pierrot · from 3 October 2002 · based on the manga

    220 episodes, of which MyAnimeList marks 89 as filler. Most of it comes at the end: from episode 136 to 219, only episodes 141 and 142 are canon, because the anime had caught up with the manga. The story continues in Naruto: Shippuden, after a time skip.

  3. Bleach

    TV series · Studio Pierrot · from 5 October 2004 · based on the manga

    366 episodes from 2004 to 2012, of which MyAnimeList marks 162 as filler. The series stopped before the manga’s final arc, so after episode 366 the story goes on in Thousand-Year Blood War, below.

  4. BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War

    TV series · Studio Pierrot · from 11 October 2022 · based on the manga

    The manga’s final arc, made ten years after the original series ended and shown in parts from October 2022. It begins where episode 366 leaves off; Bleach’s filler guide tells you which of the earlier episodes to skip on the way.

When a newer version is the better door

Some series were adapted twice. When the second version tells the story from the start and follows the manga more closely, it is usually the better first watch, and the older one is something to enjoy later.

Fullmetal Alchemist is the classic case, covered in our guide to filler: Brotherhood follows the manga to its end, while the 2003 series ends with a story of its own. Two more:

  1. Hunter x Hunter (2011)

    TV series · MADHOUSE · from 2 October 2011 · based on the manga

    Madhouse’s 2011 series retells the story from the beginning and carries on well past where the 1999 series and the OVAs after it stopped, in 148 episodes. Start here.

  2. Dragon Ball Z Kai

    TV series · Toei Animation · from 5 April 2009 · based on the manga

    Dragon Ball Z, re-edited in 2009 to follow the manga more closely: most of the anime’s additions are cut, the original cast recorded the dialogue again, and the picture is in HD. Its 97 episodes run to the end of the Cell saga; the Buu saga followed as a second series in 2014. The whole story begins earlier, with Dragon Ball and Goku’s childhood.

Series you can dip into

Some long series are built from cases or sketches that stand alone, with a main story that surfaces now and then. Watch the beginning for the setup, then follow the episodes that interest you.

  1. Detective Conan

    TV series · TMS Entertainment · from 8 January 1996 · based on the manga

    Most cases are solved within an episode or two, and MyAnimeList marks 548 of the first 1,205 episodes as filler: cases made for the anime. The hunt for the men who shrank Shinichi returns now and then in canon episodes, so start at episode 1 and use the filler guide when you want the main story.

  2. Gintama

    TV series · Sunrise · from 4 April 2006 · based on the manga

    A comedy of short stories in an Edo-era Japan taken over by aliens, with longer serious arcs between them. Episodes 1 and 2 are a story made for the anime that aired together on 4 April 2006; the manga’s story starts at episode 3, where you can safely begin. The later series are in order on its watch order page.

Series told in parts

A few long stories are split into parts with new heroes, and each part becomes a series of its own. Start with the first part: the later ones build on it, even when the main character changes.

  1. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (TV)

    TV series · david production · from 6 October 2012 · based on the manga

    Each part of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure follows a new member of the Joestar family. This 2012 series adapts the first two parts, Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, in 26 episodes; the later parts follow as series of their own, starting with Stardust Crusaders.

Keeping going

Pick a pace you can keep. Three episodes a day is a little over an hour; at that pace Naruto’s 220 episodes take under three months, and under two if you skip the filler.

Take breaks between arcs, not in the middle of one. The end of an arc is a natural place to stop and an easy place to come back to.

And use the tools: the tracker in each filler guide shows your next canon episode, and each title’s watch order page puts its sequels, films and specials in order.

Which long series should we cover next? Write to hello@mochibayo.com.

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