Speaking of which, there's Toei's TV anime adaptation of One Piece, which first debuted on October 20, 1999 (following a 1998 anime pilot done by Production I.G.) & ran on a weekly basis (mostly) consistently for just over 1,120 episodes until October 13, 2024. At that point it was decided that the One Piece anime would start having long hiatuses from weekly TV, mainly due to the fact that the anime had long caught up very close to the manga & therefore have many episodes in which very little of note would really happen. It got so bad that many episodes literally only adapted a single manga chapter, or even less, in an effort to avoid catching right up to where the manga was at; this was a problem that had been around for the better part of at least 15 years, at least. The One Piece TV anime most recently returned from April to December of 2025 to finish off the Egghead Arc, & is currently set to return once again this April to start the Elbaph Arc. Now some might wonder "Why not just do a filler arc to allow the manga to move on?", but the simple fact of the matter is that the One Piece anime isn't really known for doing filler arcs, despite its sheer length. There have been a number done throughout the show's history, but most of them wind up only being around two to five episodes long, and a number of the later ones were made simply to act as advertisement prologues for various movies. Still, there are a handful that actually went beyond a mere handful of episodes, & I want to focus on the longest one of them all right now. Namely, from June 20 to October 10 of 2004 Toei produced what is officially titled Escape! The Marine Fortress but is often simply called the G-8 Arc, an 11-episode filler arc (Episodes 196 to 206) that took place between the end of Skypeia & the start of the Davy Back Fight with the Foxy Pirates at Long Ring Long Land. Not just that, but the G-8 Arc would actually mark the end of an era, production-wise, as Episode 206 (the final episode of the filler arc) would also be the final episode of the One Piece TV anime to ever be produced in 4:3 aspect ratio, as after a two-week hiatus the anime would return to TV on October 31, 2004 with Episode 207, the first one to be produced in 16:9 widescreen, which the show has maintained ever since.
Today the G-8 Arc is often cited by fans as the absolute greatest filler arc One Piece has ever had, regarded so highly for its quality that some even prefer it to the immediate canon story arc that followed it, the Davy Back Fight. In fact, it's the only filler to get acknowledged in one of the Episode of TV specials that recap earlier events, namely Episode of Merry (where the arc even got brand new animation). So, with the One Piece anime on the verge of returning to Japanese TV once again, let's dive into the longest filler arc this series has ever had & see if the G-8 Arc still holds up after nearly 22 years.
After saving the sky island of Skypeia from the tyrannical rule of "God" Eneru, the Straw Hat Pirates maker their way back to the Grand Line via a controlled fall back to the surface... only for them land right in the middle of G-8, a giant rock of a Marine fortress in a giant crater lake surrounded by a natural rock wall all on all sides, & only a single gate for an exit. G-8 is infamous for how impenetrable & inescapable it is, having been nicknamed "Navarone", and while its CO Vice Admiral Jonathan looks laid-back & easy-going he's actually immensely sharp & attentive. The Straw Hats manage to escape immediate capture, though Zoro & Usopp are both captured later on, but have to abandon their ship the Going Merry to do so, resulting in it being taken in by the Marines. Now the Straw Hats have to fully reunite, rescue Zoro & Usopp, recover the Going Merry (plus the treasure they got from Skypeia), & do what has never been done before: Escape G-8.
The Marines are an interesting part of One Piece, as while they're the main military force of the World Government they rarely get focus as an actual antagonistic force, at least for the majority of the series; later on they become more important, but only via specific individuals. Therefore the Marines make for perfect filler story villains, & the G-8 Arc makes interesting use of them by doing the inverse of what usually happens in filler stories like this for One Piece, i.e. instead of the Marines coming to the Straw Hats, the Straw Hats have now (accidentally) come to the Marines. However, rather than make this purely an action-focused battle between the Straw Hats & the Marines of G-8 this arc instead takes advantage of the parts of a Marine base that you normally wouldn't see in other arcs, since now the focus is on their territory. For example, Sanji (with Luffy in tow) wind up disguising themselves as cooks, which in turn get them confused with new cooks who were meant to arrive at G-8 that same day, resulting in Sanji needing to showcase his cooking skills to Jessica, the head chef. Meanwhile, Chopper & Nami eventually find themselves in the medical bay currently headed up by Dr. Kobato, a hemophobic pediatrician who winds up being the only active doctor right as a bunch of injured Marines arrive at G-8, and Chopper's pride as a doctor results in him inspiring & assisting Dr. Kobato in performing the needed surgery. There's also a small element of the bureaucracy within the Marines that's showcased in this filler arc, which is neat to see. Namely, because G-8 is so utterly effective in how impregnable it is it's also gained a reputation by the higher-ups for being too "peace-loving", since so many of the 1,000+ staffed officers there really haven't seen consistent combat, with the base itself even having a number of abandoned docks due to reduced funding. Therefore, about halfway into the arc, Major Shepard from Marine HQ arrives to inspect the base, hoping to find it too "useless" for continual use & remove Jonathan from command for being too aloof... only for Robin to take him out & disguise herself as him. Shepard does play a role in the latter half, but mainly as a foil that creates more harm, even ruining some of Jonathan's plans in the process.
However, the real appeal of the G-8 Arc is really in seeing how a proper Marine force handle an unpredictable factor like the Straw Hats on their own territory, and especially in seeing how Commander Jonathan works as a leader. Truly, Jonathan is the best character that's original to this filler arc, as his generally calm & affable demeanor hides an immensely clever & patient man, one who's willing to allow the Straw Hats a remarkable degree of freedom to move about the base by design. In fact, the capture of Zoro & Usopp aren't because of pure force or trickery, but rather they're simply because of natural character flaws found within both (Zoro's obsession with his swords & Usopp's impetutous nature, both in how much he loves the Going Merry & his penchant for lying) that result in moments of weakness where they can be caught. However, when push comes to shove Jonathan isn't one to react purely off of emotion or the moment, instead having contingencies & the knowledge that G-8 is indeed that hard to simply escape from. As mentioned, up to this point in the story the Marines had mostly been more simply cannon fodder for the Straw Hats to defeat easily, with few exceptions (most notably Smoker & Tashigi), but Jonathan is a proper adversary for our heroes that isn't prone to the inherent weaknesses of prior anime-exclusive Marine commanders, as seen in the likes of TV specials & movies. In fact, technically, by being a Vice Admiral Jonathan would actually be considered a rather powerful foe, capable of using Haki, & is even stated as being a protege (or "lapdog", as the official subs used) of Akainu/Sakazuki (a recurring, & later primary, villain of the entire series), but it's really cool to see him here as more of a thinking man's opponent, rather than a direct combat opponent.
Meanwhile, the G-8 Arc also acts as a sort of continuation of a couple of the One Piece movies by way of including Lt. Commander Drake (no relation to X/Diez Drake, though the two would share a voice actor), a Marine officer who first appeared in Dead End Adventure, the fourth movie, & was seen in The Cursed Holy Sword, the fifth movie, both times chasing after the Straw Hats; he's apparently the only movie character to ever appear later on in the TV series. Here Drake is the more active officer who directly confronts the Straw Hats more often than Jonathan does, relentless in his actions (though always adhering to Jonathan's orders, even if it's to retreat), but also steadfast in his convictions. For example, when the Straw Hats (inadvertently) hold Dr. Kobato hostage so as to escape on the Going Merry, Drake is willing to let them approach their ship, but secretly has a plan to safely recover Kobato during the moment. The other notable character exclusive to his filler would be Mechao, the head mechanic at the docks who admires the work & love put into Merry's repairs, which in turn makes him side with (at the very least) Usopp at points. There are also Jessica & Dr. Kobato themselves, who play smaller supporting roles but also play into the other main appeal of the arc, which is that despite being enemies to each other the Marines & Straw Hats are still just people, in the grand scheme of things. Sanji cooks food for the Marines, while in disguise, that's so good that Jessica's own crew of cooks are inspired to follow his recipe (which he does leave behind), and it's up to Jessica to reconsider what's more important: Their pride as Marines, or embracing help from a pirate who came to them in peace. Same with Dr. Kobato & Mechao, who both know that assisting pirates could result in punishment, but at the same time they understand that the Straw Hats are good people, deep down.
The director of One Piece during this arc was the OG himself, Konosuke Uda, though he was slowly nearing the end of his run at this point, as he'd start co-directing with Munehisa Sakai less than a year later with Episode 244, before leaving Sakai to run things himself after Episode 278. By this point Uda knew how to direct One Piece, so it's no surprise to see that this entire arc is a joy to watch from start to finish, and while there aren't necessarily any mind-blowing moments of "sakuga" to be found here everything is very consistently animated, while the limited animation tricks used are done so in ways that simply enhance moments for effect. As for the writing the G-8 Arc actually marked the start of Hirohiko Uesaka's run as the person in charge of series composition, taking over from Junki Takegami, and it'd wind up being a hell of a run as Uesaka would be the "head writer" of the One Piece anime all the way through Episode 798, just over 13 years later! Uesaka personally wrote three episodes of the G-8 Arc, followed by Junki Takegami with another three (they'd write four more before leaving the series after Episode 223), Yoshiyuki Suga with yet another three episodes (who'd write episodes for the series all the way until Episode 681), & finally Michiru Shimada with two (this arc would mark their end with the series). As I indicated above, the writing for the G-8 Arc is outstanding, with a memorable cast of original characters, an immensely strong antagonist who challenges the Straw Hats in a way most others tend not to, and an overall story that puts a good shine on the Marines as capable foes when put in the right scenarios, while also allowing the Straw Hats to showcase their kinder nature. For example, during a fight on the only bridge in the base, Zoro actually doesn't use his swords to fight back, instead using his bare fists to showcase him not wanting to inadvertently kill anyone. In terms of character designs Noboru Koizumi was still in charge here (he'd be around until up through Episode 402), so this arc features the "classic" look of the anime, so to speak.
The music, as it always has been, is by the duo of Kohei Tanaka & Shiro Hamaguchi, though I couldn't recognize any new tracks made specifically for this filler arc, like what Seiji Yokoyama had done for Saint Seiya's Asgard Chapter. Regardless, One Piece's musical score has always been simply fantastic, so the same is true for this specific batch of episodes. As for the opening theme, much like how it marked the end of One Piece's OG era of 4:3 episodes, the G-8 Arc also marked the final stretch to use the fourth OP, "Bon Voyage" by Bon-Bon Blanco; it's also the last OP that FUNimation did an English version of for its dub, sung by Brina Palencia. Personally, I love "Bon Voyage" & feel it can sometimes be a bit of a underrated OP for the series, but with close to 30 opening themes (so far) it's only natural that some will fall through the cracks a bit. However, I certainly can't say the same for the ED that's only used for this stretch of episodes, (the 13th one) "Dreamship" by Aiko Ikuta. While by no means a bad song, & it did stick with me slightly at points, it's honestly kind of a bland rock/pop song that falters greatly behind a good majority of the EDs that came before it.
When it comes to the voice cast (& only the Japanese one, since Diagnosis: Filler isn't a traditional review segment), there's really no point in going over the main cast, due to their iconic status at this point. Therefore, I'll just go over the cast for the characters seen in this filler arc specifically. Leading our filler-only cast was the late Nobuo Tanaka (Geo in the Bastard!! OVA, Dio in the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure [Part 3] OVA) as Jonathan, who absolutely nailed the character down pat. Almost never angered, Tanaka's calm voice matched Jonathan extremely well & helped a lot in making the antagonist of this arc work so well. Following up Tanaka is Eiji Takemoto (Tsukishima in Golden Kamuy, Captain Harlock in various Leijiverse anime) as Drake, who does a good job as the much more straightforward & emotional Lt. Commander of G-8, making for a proper balance to Tanaka's Jonathan, & the fact that Takemoto had already voiced Drake previously in two of the movies likely helped, as well. As mentioned earlier, Takemoto would later be cast as X Drake, possibly as a reference to Takemoto's prior non-canon role, & I honestly would love to see the two Drakes meet up one day in a One Piece movie, where the writers could have some fun & reveal that they're actually distant cousins, or something. Up next we have the prolific Keiichi Nanba (Axl Low in Guilty Gear, Aphrodite & Poseidon in Saint Seiya) as Condoriano Shepard, and he does a great job in making the Major an utterly unlikable but enjoyable character, & by having him be the exact kind of character Marine heads are usually like in filler stories like these it helps show how good Jonathan (& Drake, as well) is. Beyond them the last notable voice actors for this arc would be Akiko Hiramatsu (Dr. Kobato), Kazue Ikura (Jessica), & Keiichi Sonobe (Mechao), who all also do good jobs here.
Interestingly enough, out of all of these notable filler arc voice actors, only three of them either had prior notable roles in One Piece or would go on to have later major roles. Beyond Eiji Takemoto (who, aside from X Drake, has voiced a metric ton of minor or literal nameless grunt roles), Kazue Ikura would actually later voice Chopper for a spell when Ikue Ohtani wasn't able to (Eps 254-263 & Movie 7) before later being cast as Sentomaru, another major player later on in the story. Meanwhile, Keiichi Sonobe had previously already voiced Igaram (Ma~ma~ma~!!) & would later be cast as Silvers Rayleigh, the former first mate of Gold Roger himself. Keiichi Nanba would also return just a few episodes after the G-8 Arc to voice Itomimizu, the announcer & commentator for the Davy Back Fight who'd later reappear for the (non-canon) Adventure of Nebulandia TV special in 2015, but that's nowhere near a "major" role.
In 2019 director Konosuke Uda would reveal that the G-8 Arc was originally conceived as a potential story for a One Piece movie, and in that regard I think it does show in the final product that we got as a filler arc for the TV series. Conceptually the G-8 Arc does feel like an idea that would have made for a neat film, though with the naturally shorter run time of a movie I imagine it would have been much more fast-paced & had a greater focus on action set pieces, in some way. Instead, what we wound up getting as an 11-episode filler arc is an overall slower paced, more methodical storyline made up of essentially three parts. First is what amounts to reconnaissance for the Straw Hats as they (mostly) try to blend in with the base, & while Zoro & Usopp fail to do so we see the pairs of Sanji+Luffy and Nami+Chopper actually endear themselves to some of the Marines by way of assisting the base in helpful ways. Second is the initial escape attempt, which brings with it a bit more action, followed by a third part that acts as the proper finale, where Jonathan's "slow & steady" methodology nearly awards him the win, due to his knowledge of the base itself & the Straw Hats being more than a bit impatient at points. While I think a G-8 movie would have been fun I do think it benefitted a lot by being expanded out into a proper filler arc, and while I have seen some sour on the arc's slower pace I do feel that this arc has more than earned its cherished status.
Not just that, but the One Piece anime hasn't fully forgotten the G-8 Arc over time. There was the inclusion in the Episode of Merry TV special I mentioned at the start, but Jonathan, Drake, & even Jonathan's nameless General all get an appearance during the anime's adaptation of the Marineford Arc. After that Jonathan would also make further appearances in two of the One Piece movies, namely Film: Z & Stampede, where he appeared in group shots alongside other Marine Vice Admirals. Unfortunately, all of these later appearances were voiceless & Nobuo Tanaka would pass away on October 17, 2018, making Jonathan's cameo in One Piece Stampede (which debuted in August 2019) the first (&, so far, only) appearance of the character after the death of his voice actor. Still, the simple fact that Toei hasn't simply forgotten about G-8 shows the staying power this filler arc has had since it first aired nearly 22 years ago, and I would say that anyone who's a fan of One Piece should give the G-8 Arc a watch. Plus, you never know... Jonathan could always make another (cameo) appearance, one day.
That said, actually owning this filler arc physically isn't as straightforward as you'd think. FUNimation's "Season Three - Fifth Voyage" DVD boxset from 2011 is the closest thing to an isolated, self-contained set... but is missing the final episode, which instead was included in the "Season Four - First Voyage" set in 2012, seemingly due to the fact that FUNimation initially only licensed the first 205 episodes from Toei; considering that Toei only licensed 60 episodes of Saint Seiya to DiC back in the 00s, I can believe that. Beyond that there's the "Collection Eight" set, which also includes the end of Skypeia... but, once again, stops just one episode shy of fully containing all of the G-8 Arc, which is just astounding & has to be some sort of bizarre licensing restriction, at this point.
Anime © Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha・Toei Animation
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