Netflix’s Live-Action One Piece Clears the Major Hurdle of Reintroducing a Beloved Series

One Piece, the world’s best-selling manga series, has outperformed the likes of Batman, Spider-Man, Peanuts, and Asterix in its lifetime. Its anime adaptation has also been highly revered, with tie-in media similarly keeping the series popular since its creation in 1997.

With the series still ongoing, some fans firmly believe that the monumental impact of One Piece will remain unrivalled for the foreseeable future. As a work of fiction, One Piece boasts world-building and intricate lore that can be compared to the likes of fantasy epics like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars.

Encompassing more than 1,000 manga chapters and a comparable number of anime episodes, immersing oneself in the world of One Piece presents a monumental challenge. Beyond these two mediums, many fans have expressed the view that One Piece in a live-action format would be an insurmountable feat.

This is where the live-action Netflix adaptation comes into the picture, killing two birds with one stone: serving as an entry point for newcomers and demonstrating the feasibility of expanding the world of One Piece beyond the confines of two dimensions. Does it succeed? Let’s take a closer look.

On The Cruise

The story of One Piece begins with the protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, sailing off from his village in pursuit of the legendary treasure known as the One Piece, with the aspiration of becoming the King of the Pirates. To do so, he must assemble a crew of rogue misfits and navigate the vast expanse of the world’s oceans.

Along the way, Luffy encounters resistance not only from fellow pirates who share his ambitions but also from the Marines of the World Government, who hunt down pirates under the banner of justice. This first season of the live-action series covers the East Blue Saga, a storyline drawn from manga and anime.

Similar to the initial episodes of the anime, several events in the live-action adaptation are presented in a non-sequential manner compared to the manga. Also, numerous pivotal moments have been subtly altered to create a more unified narrative throughout the season. This includes modifications to aspects such as the introduction of characters Roronoa Zoro and Nami, as well as an expanded role for the fan-favourite villain, Buggy the Clown.

At the same time, certain elements are left out, and although this might rub fans the wrong way, it serves as a necessary trade-off to establish a more structured story and introduction to the world of One Piece. Given that the series doesn’t follow a weekly release format like the manga and anime, getting rid of things like the side-adventure involving Gaimon is forgivable.

The Straw Hats

Let’s take a look at the five main characters introduced in the first season – the initial members of the Straw Hat Pirates – starting with Luffy himself. Portrayed by Inaki Godoy, the actor infuses the character with the same childlike marvel, offering a refreshing take on a character so deeply ingrained in popular culture.

He is not portrayed as a pure cartoonish figure like in the manga; instead, the live-action series bestows Luffy with a more well-rounded character arc, a facet that was absent originally. This approach imparts greater humanity to Luffy, particularly in the early stages of the series, quickly fostering a sense of endearment between him and the audience.

The first mate, Roronoa Zoro, known for his unique three-sword fighting style, is portrayed by Japanese actor Mackenyu. His experience in live-action anime adaptations, gained from his roles in Rurouni Kenshin and Saint Seiya, shines through. Zoro is still his stoic and simple-minded self, and while his character backstory is delayed by an episode, his struggle with self-doubt about his own strength is still the biggest obstacle for him to surmount.

Nami, portrayed by Emily Rudd, stands out as one of the pivotal characters in this phase of the story. Embodying the role of the team’s protective older sister, her femme fatale-like qualities are toned down in favour of highlighting her heroic side, which comes to light much sooner than in the manga and anime.

The resident sniper and compulsive liar Usopp, portrayed by Jacob Romero, is also not as zany as his original incarnation. That said, his part of the story is one that has had the most modifications, which may or may not be liked by fans. His more cartoony antics are also downplayed here, but he does retain his role as the comic relief of the crew.

Hot-headed chef Sanji has had a history of being badly translated before, with the original English dub giving him an uncharacteristic Brooklyn accent. This time, in live-action, Sanji comes with a British accent, which gives him this young Gordon Ramsay-like flair, which adds to his chivalrous charms immensely.

Colour of Observation

Balancing One Piece’s outright cartoony world is already a challenge, but the cast and crew expertly toe the line, especially with the production design. The mix of practical and special effects is brilliant, which is clearly seen with each locale like the restaurant-ship Baratie, and the Transponder Snails that characters use to call one another.

This extends to the action scenes and the non-human characters like the Fish-Men. Luffy’s rubber powers are translated quite well, with the show limiting his use of it somewhat. But they are strategically employed to finish off battles with remarkable impact. Zoro and Sanji’s unique fighting styles are also adeptly transposed onto the screen, though this part of the story doesn’t allow Zoro to wield all three swords yet.

The villains of this arc, namely Buggy, Kuro, and Arlong, all get to showcase their unique abilities and are quite skillfully executed in live-action. Even side characters like Koby, Helmeppo, and Garp are given bigger roles, which is a surprising but overall effective inclusion that sets the stage for seasons to come.

What this live-action adaptation has in its favour is hindsight, drawing from over 20 years of the series’ history and benefiting from Eiichiro Oda’s refined storytelling acumen. The Netflix adaptation gets to tell a more compact but effective story while sneaking in a number of easter eggs and foreshadowing for fans to comb through.

To the Grand Line

Anime and manga adaptations usually get a bad reputation for not following the source material closely enough, which is a criticism that Marvel and DC movies don’t usually get with their more liberal adaptations.

Netflix’s live-action series is exactly that, an adaptation. It is not a one-to-one translation and instead retools the plot points and story beats to fit an eight-episode series. We can confidently say that it achieves this goal, an amazing feat considering it condenses the first 100 chapters of the manga.

It is also a great entry point for those who have always been curious about One Piece but find the high anime episode count daunting. These eight episodes give an introduction to this world and its characters in a digestible and fun way.

We truly can’t wait to see the rest of One Piece be adapted into live-action as it may well become a force to be reckoned with from here on out. More importantly, we hope more people will become fans of One Piece as the manga reaches its end in a few years.