Wit Studio President George Wada Is Ready to Bring One Piece to a New Generation
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Wit Studio has built its stellar reputation over the past 15 years with popular series like Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, and Spy x Family. These anime all garnered international success and praise, but the Japanese studio now faces perhaps its biggest challenge: bringing another masterpiece manga to the screen as an anime remake: One Piece.
With over 1190 chapters of the manga and 1170 episodes of its first (and still ongoing) anime adaptation from Toei Animation, One Piece has built an impressive world with hundreds of characters and locations, and deep lore spanning almost a millennium of history. That’s a lot for new fans to catch up on. Enter Wit, which is about to release a truncated new One Piece anime designed to quickly bring audiences up to speed.
Wit Studio president wants to bring Japan’s ‘treasure’ to a new audience
Wit Studio president Joji “George” Wada is well aware of the magnitude of this endeavor. Speaking to Polygon via email, Wada describes One Piece as “a treasure Japan can be proud of.”
The first seven episodes of the remake, titled The One Piece, will begin airing on Netflix in February 2027. They will depict the beginning of Luffy’s journey in the East Blue, adapting the first 50 chapters of Eiichiro Oda’s manga, but Wada suggested that the studio is taking a holistic approach.
“We have deeply absorbed the vast world of One Piece from its enormous body of source material,” Wada says. “Carrying that world with us, our task was to depict the opening of a new voyage all over again, with all of its heart-racing excitement.”
The goal is clear: To bring this “treasure” to a new generation of fans who might be stepping into the story for the first time. Wada describes it as “fresh imagery clothed in the air of the present day.”
Wada is aware of how much influence anime can hold on young audiences; that’s what got him started in the business.
“The origin of my ambition to work in anime is Patlabor 2: The Movie, produced by Production I.G,” Wada says. “Having known nothing but works made for children, I was shocked by it to the point that my whole value system was overturned. As a result, I did not stop at simply being impressed — of all things, I ended up joining the company itself. And now I lead that studio myself, so perhaps the way I let myself be influenced went a little too far.”
Wit is used to handling massively popular IPs. Attack on Titan is one of the most influential anime of its generation, and even if Wit didn’t work on the later seasons, the studio’s style and careful craft pushed the franchise to the top of the anime world. Still, Wit Studio’s philosophy and approach remain the same, no matter what property it’s working on.
“What we value most in all of our works is depicting a world,” Wada says. “A creator’s desire to say something is what gives birth to characters and shapes a story. When we turn those feelings into animation, the world we build has real work to do: it grounds the characters’ emotional drama and gives these overflowing emotions a solid vessel to hold them.”
Wit Studio wants to raise the brand value of the anime industry
When the creator in question is Eiichiro Oda, even a veteran such as Wada must feel the pressure. But the world of anime moves fast, and there’s no time to stay idle, even with a project like The One Piece underway. Wit has announced a new original anime set to premiere in spring 2027: LONA, a sci-fi story about a team of researchers investigating the thoughts of the dead. If that weren’t enough, Wada has also been busy launching a new anime award show, Tokyo Anime Next.
“The biggest reason for establishing Tokyo Anime Next is to give the delicate nuances that Japanese creators put into their work a fair evaluation from a Japanese point of view, and to send that out to the world,” Wada says. “It is precisely because anime is now being recognized all around the world that we came to see criteria originating in Japan as indispensable.”
Whether or not that’s a subtle jab at the current most famous anime awards, the Crunchyroll Anime Awards, remains to be seen. Other important Japanese anime awards already exist, but they lack the international visibility Wada is striving for. “There are two outcomes we hope for,” Wada said. “First, that high recognition in their own country will bring creators pride and motivation. Second, showing the world an award unique to Japan will raise the brand value of the anime industry as a whole.”
Between working on massive IPs and ambitious original projects, Studio Wit is also aware of the importance of finding the next breakout series.
“My strongest wish is to send out into the world, as animation, an entirely new work created by an undiscovered talent the world has not yet noticed,” Wada says. “I am certain that there are still countless talents out there waiting to be found. Meeting those next-generation creators and building new work together with them is the greatest joy there is for me.”
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