Just last week, anime streaming platform Crunchyroll announced that you'll no longer be able to watch the entirety of the One Piece anime for free. The popular anime series will soon be moved behind the service's Premium Membership, meaning you'll have to pay to watch.
While the first 206 episodes — the East Blue to Sky Island arcs — will remain free to watch, every arc after that will be locked behind the paywall. The switch begins on December 23rd with episodes 207 to 574. The Punk Hazard to Whole Cake Island arcs plus six specials will move to the Premium Membership on January 20, 2025, followed by the Reverie, Wano Kuni to Egghead Island Arcs on February 17, 2025.
Naturally, the announcement was met with swift backlash by anime fans who are now being forced to pay to watch one of the most popular anime series in the world. It also led to threats of simply pirating the series — a problem that has long plagued the anime industry.
If you're reading this, you're probably wondering how you can now watch One Piece for free without having to resort to piracy. Unfortunately, the options are limited.
Really, the only place to watch One Piece in its entirety for free now is BBC iPlayer, which unfortunately is only available to UK audiences. Both subbed and dubbed versions of One Piece are streaming on iPlayer with 746 episodes (up to the Dressrosa Arc) available to stream. BBC iPlayer does plan to host all 1,000-plus episodes by the end of December, though.
BBC iPlayer is free to all UK residents who pay their annual TV license fee. For those of us outside of the U.K., we're out of luck.
As of right now, One Piece episodes are available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu. None of these streaming services are free so if you want to watch the anime series, you're going to have to pay up.
Hulu currently has the first 11 seasons — the first 744 episodes — available with dubs. Netflix has only 517 of the 1,000-plus total episodes available; however, it does offer the latest arc, Egghead. Crunchyroll still remains the best option for those who want to watch One Piece in its entirety from beginning to end. Sadly, none of these options are free.
The only truly free option right now is Pluto TV. The free, ad-supported streaming television service has the first nine seasons of One Piece available to watch. If you don't mind commercials, this is also a good option.
If you're new to anime and want to watch One Piece, a good place to at least get started is Crunchyroll. Watch the first 200 episodes and decide if it's worth paying to access the rest.