Last year, I started watching “One Piece,” and I’ve been documenting my journey getting through the show on InReview’s TikTok page. However, followers will know that I haven’t posted an update in a little while.

After watching the “Fish-Man Island” arc, I just felt like I needed a break. For almost a year, “One Piece” has been the primary anime I’ve been watching and while it has been great, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to get into other shows. I didn’t want to burn myself out on it and end up disliking it because of that.

“One Piece” is a legendary shonen anime, but it still suffers from the tropes of that genre, particularly the at-times snail pacing that came as a result of its serialization. It’s no secret that the anime has a propensity to stretch what where single panels in the “One Piece” manga into almost episode-long sequences, which can be taxing, especially if you’re watching the show for the first time like I’m doing.

I do plan to return to the show and I’ll post Part 8 of my “Watching ‘One Piece’ For The First Time” series here after accumulating another batch of TikToks, but I’m not sure exactly when that will be. I’m currently getting through the show’s Punk Hazard Arc at my own pace, so it will probably come after I finish it.

“One Piece” has over 1,000 episodes, which is a lot to take in. Some people binge it and are able to get caught up in under a year; it appears I will not be one of those people — and that’s OK. I’m already more than halfway through the currently-available episodes; I intend to finish this show one day.