We all know about those anime that have been running for so long, newbies to anime are too scared to even touch them because of the immense time investment into them. Which is sad because they have amazing stories and character development (so I have heard).



What’s also funny is that when you read “longest running anime”, your mind immediately jumped to one of three options: One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto, or even Dragon Ball Z and extras, or Yu-Gi-Oh!.

This article will take a look at some of the anime from the early 2000s (as mentioned above), as well as some of the newer, longer running anime (part 2 on the way), and give you an approximate timeframe as to how long it would take you to complete these anime (each watch time will include both the intro and outro times as well). This will either inspire you to start watching them, or completely scare you off of them. Either way, I do apologise in advance for the wormhole that you are about to fall down.

DISCLAIMER: Just because I have calculated how much time it will take you to watch these long-running TV shows, it does not mean you should attempt to watch them in the approximate timeframe provided.

One Piece
(1999 - Present)
Studio: Fuji Television and Toei Animation



One Piece is one of the most popular and longest running anime globally. Even if you know nothing about anime, you are sure to have heard about Luffy and his quest with his pirate crew to obtain the ultimate treasure simply known as the “One Piece”.

It has also been announced that Netflix will air a complete remake of the popular series from 2027, and that the remake will be animated by WIT Studio. What makes the remake interesting is that it will have more modern animation to reach a newer audience, and the pacing of the story will be much faster.

Currently, One Piece is sitting at a grand total of 22 seasons, with a total of 1,168 episodes across them. And it’s potentially still airing, even though it was announced earlier this year that it would come to a well-deserved production break and return with a 13-episode season in a few months’ time, which has since started with the Elbaph arc.

Episodes 1-65 had a runtime of 24 minutes, while from episode 66 the runtime decreased to 23 minutes.

Watch time: First 65 episodes – 26 hours. From episode 66 to now, it is approximately 423 hours (including intro and outro animations). This is approximately 19 full 24-hour days of watch time without skipping filler episodes.

Naruto / Naruto: Shippuden
(2002 - 2007; 2007 - 2017)
Studio: Studio Pierrot



Even if you don’t know Naruto the anime, you are at least familiar with what is known as the “Naruto run”, where you run with your arms spread out behind you. And you maybe know that Naruto is about a young ninja with whiskers on his face who is trying to do something (it’s become chief, or Hokage, of a special ninja village, FYI).

Naruto had two different animation parts: part 1 focuses on Naruto and the world of ninjas, and part 2 (known as Naruto: Shippuden) focuses on Naruto as a teenager. Naruto ran for 220 episodes with a runtime of about 23 minutes per episode.

Naruto: Shippuden ran for 500 episodes with a runtime of about 23 minutes per episode.

Naruto Watch time: 5,060 minutes, which is about 85 hours, which is about 3 and a half full 24-hour days of watch time.

Naruto: Shippuden Watch time: 11,500 minutes, which is about 192 hours, which is about 8 full 24-hour days of watch time.

Bleach
(2004 - 2012)
Studio: Studio Pierrot



I don’t know much about Bleach, so the only short description I can give of it is what I can find on streaming services and online: Ichigo Kurosaki can see ghosts, which makes his new life as a Soul Reaper much easier after meeting Rukia Kuchiki.

Bleach consists of 16 seasons with a total of 366 episodes. From episode 1 to 51, the episodes ran for 23 minutes, and from episode 52 to 366, the episodes ran for 24 minutes. Bleach is followed by a sequel series titled Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, which consists of 40 episodes over 3 seasons, with each episode running at 24 minutes.



Bleach watch time: The first 51 episodes have a total watch time of 1,173 minutes, while the remaining episodes have a total watch time of 7,560 minutes. This is a total of 8,733 minutes, which is about 145 and a half hours, which is approximately just over 6 full 24-hour days of watch time.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War watch time: The 40 episodes have a combined minute watch time of 960 minutes, which gives you a 16-hour watch time. Added to the original Bleach watch time, you’re looking at a total watch time of close to 7 full 24-hour days.

Dragon Ball... Everything
(1986 - 2025)
Studio: Toei Animation



Back in the early 2000s, I remember coming home from school and turning on the TV to one of the Dragon Ball series on SABC 2. I never really understood what was happening, I just knew that they were chasing some magical balls, and that it was bright animation with lots of yelling to power up. Dragon Ball essentially follows Goku as he travels to find the mystical dragon balls to summon the mythical dragon Shenron and make wishes.

While researching for this article, I was informed that the only canon Dragon Ball series were Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball Super, with Dragon Ball Super Broly being the only canon movie. For the sake of the article topic, I will include all Dragon Ball series, and all 21 movies to tally up.



Dragon Ball, the original series, consists of 9 seasons with a total of 153 episodes. Each episode ran for 24 minutes, leading to a total watch time of 3,672 minutes, 62ish hours, and 2 and a half full 24-hour days.

Dragon Ball Z, a direct sequel to Dragon Ball, ran for 9 seasons with a total of 291 episodes. Each episode ran for 24 minutes, leading to a total watch time of 6,984 minutes, 116-ish hours, and almost 5 full 24-hour days.

Dragon Ball Super, a direct continuation of Dragon Ball Z, consists of 131 episodes, each with a 23 minute runtime. This gives a total watch time of 3,013 minutes, just over 50 hours, and just over 2 full 24-hour days.

Dragon Ball GT, an anime-exclusive sequel to Dragon Ball Z, consists of 4 seasons of 64 episodes total, which each had a 24 minute runtime. This gives a total watch time of 1,526 minutes, just over 25 and a half hours, and just over 1 full 24-hour day.

Dragon Ball Z Kai, the remastered version of Dragon Ball Z, consists of 167 episodes internationally (Japan only got 159) with each episode running for 23 minutes. This gives a total watch time of 3,841 minutes, just over 64 hours, and just over 2 and a half full 24-hour days.

Dragon Ball Daima, a side story set after Dragon Ball Z but before the 10-year time-skip, consists of 1 season with 20 episodes. Episode 1 had a 32 minute runtime, but the rest of the episodes ran for 23 minutes each. This gives a total watch time of 469 minutes, which is almost 8 hours.

Overall watch time for all Dragon Ball series content: 19,505 minutes, which is just over 325 hours, which gives us just over 13 and a half full 24-hour days.

Overall watch time for all Dragon Ball movies: 1,300 minutes, which translates to just over 21 and a half hours, which is just under a full 24-hour day.

Additional notable long-running anime consists of Yu-Gi-Oh! (1998 – 2025, excluding the original net animation) with 251 episodes, Pokémon (1997 – present) with 1,376 episodes, and Fairy Tail (2009 – 2019) with 328 episodes and 9 OVAs.

Written by Samantha Crerar