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One Piece episode 1136 is "impossible to watch without tears" even for the series director - but that is important for the rest of the series

At New York Comic Con 2025, the One Piece series directed explained why those painful moments are so important for the joyful payoff later.

One Piece Episode 1134 Kuma And Bonny — Image credit: Toei Animation

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Sun Oct 12 2025

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Episode 1136 of One Piece is certainly one of those “if you know, you know” episodes. Eiichiro Oda’s manga has always made us cry, but this episode, which was predominantly a flashback to Kuma’s actions throughout the series, left us broken. At New York Comic Con 2025, series director Wataru Matsumi explained that, even for him, it was the episode that was impossible to watch without crying.

We’re going to be discussing some spoilers for recent episodes of One Piece here, so be warned. During the One Piece panel at NYCC 2025, a lot of the discussion focused on the long flashback that has played out during the Egghead Island arc. In particular, the focus was on Kuma’s backstory and actions to protect his adopted daughter, Bonney, and the Straw Hats, reframing the terrifying figure as a protector rather than a mysterious villain. In the episode, Bonney finds the last memory bubble that Kuma left for her, showing her how he has tried to do what was best for her and the whole world, even if it meant giving up his humanity.

“So I knew from the start, you know, by reading the original manga and also the storyboard that director [Yasunori] Koyama came up with,” Matsumi explained. “That episode 1136 would be impossible to watch without tears, right? So I focused on how Bonney must be feeling as she witnessed that. So we needed to kind of drive her to the bottom of despair. That’s what the plot required. So I was thinking about how she must be feeling, and it was really heartbreaking for me.”

That pain was also in service to something important in One Piece; the light at the end of it. “But, at last, that’s the moment, you know, that they come out of the flashback and Bonney and Kuma get to embrace each other. So to make that joy absolutely maximum, I had to kind of create the whole thing.”

The joy at the reunion between Bonney and Kuma was only as intense as it was because of how heartbreaking everything that came before was, which is something that One Piece always delivers.

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