‘One Piece’ Closes Out the Year With Its Highest-Rated Episode Ever on IMDb

Few anime have lasted as long as ‘One Piece,’ and fewer still keep getting better with age. The Toei Animation series has passed 1,100 episodes and keeps drawing passionate audiences every week. That long history makes the latest ‘One Piece’ highest-rated episode milestone especially notable.

The series has always been a target for both love and controversy online. Review-bombing has been a recurring problem, with rival fandoms flooding episodes with negative scores. That made a perfect rating something of a white whale for fans.

The final episode of the year debuted with an IMDb rating of 9.9/10, which it called the highest-rated episode in the series. That episode is Episode 1180, titled “Elbaph in Despair – Diabolical Covenant, ‘Domi Reversi,'” and it aired on September 27. The post drew more than 41,000 views within hours.

To put that in perspective, some of the most celebrated episodes sit just below the mark. The episode adapting the manga’s 1000th chapter holds a 9.8 on IMDb, while the Luffy versus Kaido climax, “Believe in Momo,” holds a 9.5.

It’s worth noting that early scores can move. A previous report said that none of the show’s episodes had achieved a stable 9.9, with episodes 377 and 1136 the top-rated at 9.8. It added that several episodes initially hit 9.9 before settling lower due to varied user feedback.

So the 9.9 for Episode 1180 is a debut score, and it may change as more votes come in. Even so, a launch rating this high says a lot about how fans reacted.

The episode picks up the fallout from Imu seizing control of Gunko, leaving the Giants of Elbaph in an even more desperate position than fans expected. It closes the first season of the Elbaph Arc, stopping right where Imu appears after possessing Saint Manmeyer Gunko, just as she is about to remember her life with Brook. One reviewer said the episode shows what happens when Imu stops watching from afar and takes matters into their own hands.

The ‘Domi Reversi’ sequence is the standout. The reviewer described it as the point where the episode becomes genuinely disturbing, and praised the eerie visuals around Imu. The transformation of Dorry and Brogy also gives the episode emotional weight.

The cliffhanger is grim by design. The Straw Hats are separated from the main battlefield, Gaban has fallen into the Underworld, and the children remain trapped. Imu is openly talking about breaking Elbaph’s spirit.

Even the closing card got a creative touch. In a reference to Imu’s Domi Reversi, the ‘To Be Continued’ screen is initially shown in negative space before flipping back to normal. It’s the kind of small detail that fans love to dissect.

The Elbaph Arc began on April 5 as the 22nd season of the anime and has run for 21 episodes so far. It follows the Egghead arc, which ran for 67 episodes from January 2024 through late December 2025. Together, they have carried the series through a major stretch of the final saga.

Viewers have praised how different this stretch feels from the earlier battles in Elbaph. The tone has moved toward dread, and the show has leaned into that shift. That may explain why fans were so eager to rate it highly.

The bittersweet part is that the achievement marks the end of the road for now. ‘One Piece’ confirmed on social media that Episode 1180 is the finale for the year, and the anime will return in 2027. No exact date has been announced.

That leaves fans with a long stretch of speculation. With the arc paused on such a tense note, theories about Imu, Gunko, and the fate of Elbaph will likely dominate discussion. The series has a way of turning a pause into an event.

For now, the rating is a reminder of how strongly the series connects with its audience. A score this high, even if it eventually shifts, shows the anticipation is as strong as ever.

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