From time to time, I found people asking this or saying that anime such as One Piece is the longest ever.
Well, is not, is not even in the top 10 of longest anime ever.
As I recently find this question in a place I frequent, let me share the answer here too, I hope you like it
Though to be fair, One Piece is perhaps indeed the longest anime you can find legally and complete here in the west, you can find all its 841 episodes and counting in Crunchyroll for example, the other contender that have any sort of fanbase here in the west is Detective Conan also know as Case Closed thanks to Funimation for dubbing its first 130 or so episodes back in 2004, after that fansubs were the way to find the rest, but now you can also find it in Crunchyroll, though is region locked to me so I don't know if all its episodes are there, but going for MyAnimeList video section of it, looks like no.
If we ignore the legal aspect, then Detective Conan is the longest anime that you can find fully translated (that I know off) here in the west with its towering 904 episodes and counting.
With that out of the way, lets dive into the actual list of:
The top 10 longest anime ever by episode count
Before I start with it, let me said that One Piece and Detective Conan got number 17 and 16 respectively, the rest of entries are pretty much unknown over here.
10) Soreike! Anpanman 1408 episodes and counting
And this is just the lower side of the list and already none of the aforementioned can even hope to rival it any time soon
you're 10 years too early to get here
9) Hoka Hoka Kazoku 1428 episodes
8) Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi 1488 episodes
7) Kirin Ashita no Calendar 1498 episodes
(is this even the right picture?)
6) Kirin no Monoshiri Yakata 1565 episodes
5) Ojarumaru 1704 episodes and counting
(only by adding the whole of One Piece and Detective Conan you can get over here)
4) Doraemon (1979) 1787 episodes
3) Oyako Club 1818 episodes
2) Nintama Rantarō 2061 episodes and counting
It got a handful of episodes dubbed, I remember watching some of it in my local tv channel back when I was a kid.
And Finally, the jump in the count between this and the top spot in this list is soo large, that is like it said to all the other in this list: are you even trying, punk?
And that is
1) Sazae-san 7542 episodes and counting
If we instead now look at franchises, thing change a little, in the top 20 that is, because there we get some titles that are more knows here in the west
The top 20 longest anime ever by episode count per franchise
This count includes ovas, movies, special, sequel, spinoff, etc
20) One Piece 875 episodes and counting
Droping a few places, even as a franchise it can barely compete
19) Yu-Gi-Oh! 952 episodes and counting
When childrens card games are serious business that decide the fate of the universe!!!
Coming from behind, from number 56, the power of friendship franchise is strong in this one
18) Detective Conan 962 episodes and counting
The forever 7 year old child detective also drop a position, that got snatched by the next player that come from nowhere space
17) Gundam 980 episodes and counting
From war dramas to childrens playing with its titular toys, there is a Gundam for anyone
16) Sekai Monoshiri Ryoko 1006 episodes
15) Crayon Shin-chan 1072 episodes and counting
By this way, this one also drop one position that got stolen by next one coming from number 45
14) Pokemon 1105 episodes and counting
The adventures of another forever child, I liked it until he leave Charizar behind...
13) Shimajirō 1248 episodes and counting
Climbing from number 19, with only 726 episodes by itself
One Piece eat my dust... or fur I guess...
12) Monoshiri Daigaku Ashita no Calendar 1274 episodes
(is this even the right picture? with those old as fuck show is hard to know)
11) Chibi Maruko-chan 1353 episodes and counting
This one also climb 1 level, but not as drastic as Shimajirō, because its longer iteration already have 1152 episodes
10) Hoka Hoka Kazoku 1428 episodes
9) Soreike! Anpanman 1484 episodes and counting
8) Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi 1494 episodes
7) Kirin Ashita no Calendar 1498 episodes
(is this even the right picture?)
6) Kirin Monoshiri Yakata 1565 episodes
5) Ojarumaru 1708 episodes and counting
4) Oyako Club 1818 episodes
3) Nintama Rantarou 2064 episodes and counting
2) Doraemon 2808 episodes and counting
Climbing 2 position with more than a thousand episode bonus.
And by the way Doraemon (2005) is number 15 by itself with 928+ episodes
1) Sazae-san 7542 episodes and counting
And there you have it, the longest animes ever, which one is your favorite?
Did you watched any of those?
Sources:
List of anime series by episode count
List of anime franchises by episode count
(All right of the images belong to its respective owners)