On August 31, 2023, Netflix released the long-awaited live action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s hit manga One Piece.
Netflix’s One Piece released to critical acclaim, achieving an 86% critic rating on the Tomatometer and a 95% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes.
For the live action adaptation, Netflix has been commended for its casting choices. “[The author] Oda did a really good job getting the actors for it,” said Carter Knox, avid fan of the One Piece brand. The cast has been very vocal of their love for One Piece. “All the interviews I’ve seen really show that, like, they were probably the perfect people for the role,” Knox said.
Monkey D. Luffy, the main character of One Piece and captain of the “Straw Hat Pirates,” is played by Iñaki Godoy, who’s known for his role as Juan Ruiz in The Imperfects. Godoy has been praised for his portrayal of Monkey D. Luffy, and even met with the manga’s author Eiichiro Oda. Although Oda made large contributions to the production of Netflix’s One Piece, he has elected to stay out of the public eye.
The first season of One Piece live action set out to adapt the “East Blue” story arc of One Piece, using eight separate one hour-long episodes to adapt around 100 chapters of the manga. The eight episode limit required the showrunners to hasten the show’s pacing, and rearrange plot events, which some fans found strange.
“They still portrayed it, but it was weird, not gonna lie,” Knox said.
Recently, Netflix and Eiichiro Oda released a video, in which Oda announced that Netflix will produce a second season of One Piece, which has overjoyed fans.
Ryan Radlinski, a viewer of One Piece, said via direct message, “I’m excited; they pulled off the first season really well.”
The WGA/AMPTP strikes have currently delayed the production of the new season, but as both parties have reached an agreement, production may begin soon.
