The anime adaptation that nobody thought could happen, One Piece has smashed expectations for everyone with the live-action adaptation. While many have tried before, nothing has ever pulled it off, much less with an English adaptation, but somehow this goofy pirate manga did it. So, check out Gamescooper’s review of One Piece’s first live-action season to see just what makes it work so well.
Fair warning! This article contains spoilers for the first season of One Piece, and some spoilers for the same arc throughout the manga. The series is streaming on Netflix, so go watch it before reading!
Is One Piece Live Action Good?
The answer everyone has been waiting for since the show was announced almost five years ago is surprising to most – yes! The One Piece live-action adaptation is great, and that isn’t even by anime-adaptation standards. Everyone knows the genre has some really bad history. Especially when English studios try to adapt and Americanize them (Death Note), losing most of the appeal. One Piece does something different though, made by fans and overseen by series creator Eichiiro Oda. The series shows so much love in adapting the goofy world it works perfectly. Things will look odd, and some like the Transponder Snails or some Fishmen are outright strange at first. They still work thanks to how well the show embraces the campiness.
The series uses some cartoony CGI to bring life to the Gum-Gum Fruit powers Luffy uses, but there’s a surprising amount of practical effects. The Fishmen are made almost entirely with makeup and prosthetics, which makes the effort and resulting product seem even more real beside the human characters. The writing even incorporates the silly anime cliches, no matter how goofy they may sound, and makes them endearing character quirks.
The Straw Hat Pirates
One of the most critical aspects of making the show work is casting the Straw Hat Pirates right. Every single one of them is perfection, from start to finish, with final approval by Oda himself. Inaki Godoy pulls off the manic energy of Luffy with amazing ease, hopping around like a real anime character. Emily Rudd is a perfect Nami, and exudes the quiet cunning of the character. Mackenyu’s quiet stoicism as Zoro is only improved by the occasional straight-faced wisecracks, and he pulls off the fighter physique amazingly. Jacob Romero even has the convincing liar tendencies of Usopp, and delights in the tall tales he recites.
Taz Skylar was one of the standouts as Sanji, giving the character a smooth, womanizing attitude and improvement. One great thing the writers of the series did was tone Sanji down some. In the original source he’s a full-on pervert, constantly trying to get with women and being incredibly risque. Here it’s nice to see he’s just smooth-talking and charismatic, more of a hopeless romantic instead of a lecherous creep. The antagonistic relationship he has with Mackenyu’s Zoro is also great, and needs more exploration in future seasons.
Koby’s Story
One Piece’s original manga in the East Blue Saga is great, but suffers from some issues prevalent in manga. One such issue was the lack of time to give Koby and Helmeppo’s development, which was left to single-page cover stories in each chapter. Instead, the live-action series gives Koby and Helmeppo a parallel plotline to the Straw Hats. They end up under the command of Garp, Vice-Admiral and hero of the Marines. He’s been after the Straw Hat Pirate for some reason since he took down Morgan. Seeing Koby grow from a precocious kid to a confident Marine is great, as it happens offscreen for the most part in the source material.
Gotta say though, was not expecting to see full-on Helmeppo ass in the first episode. Definitely wasn’t on the One Piece bingo card to see any character’s pasty cheeks, much less Helmeppo’s. Great comedy though.
Buggy the Clown’s Reign Begins
If the internet has proven one thing time and time again, it’s that they’ll latch onto the worst character personality-wise. Buggy is by all accounts a despicable human, murderous and sadistic with no mercy for anyone. Not just that, but his jokes suck, so he has to literally chain up the audience to watch him. Yet Buggy actor Jeff Ward pulls off the sleazy character with such charming, manic glee that he’s become the internet darling of One Piece’s first season.
It’s the most Buggy move that could happen too, as the character is constantly failing upward. Buggy’s expanded part in the season was welcome though, obviously a blast for Jeff Ward to play. From hiding an ear in Luffy’s hat to finally getting his body back at Arlong Park, he was definitely the underdog of the season. I personally want to welcome everyone to the cult of Buggy the Clown, our future Pirate King.
Devil Fruits
Another important aspect that the show needed to get right immediately, the Devil Fruits were well handled. Granted there are only two in the season, the Gum-Gum Fruit Luffy eats and Buggy’s Chop-Chop Fruit. Thankfully the crew uses sneaky practical effects mixed with CGI and Inaki Godoy’s lanky limbs to achieve the right effect. Luffy’s stretchiness doesn’t look too far into the uncanny valley, but works in just the cartoonishly right way. Gum-Gum Balloon was a little terrifying though, not gonna lie.
Buggy’s Chop-Chop Fruit presents fewer challenges but still was a great show of the powers in One Piece. The manic glee of Buggy’s head flying around or just his body hanging on a wall was hilarious. Chop-Chop Festival even looked cool, with all of his various parts flying around every which way.
Easter Eggs in One Piece
So many easter eggs for fans to pick up on are scattered throughout the series. Hell, there are probably a ton still waiting for an eagle eye fan to spot them, but the ones found so far are great. When Zoro is unconscious and Nami is reading to him in Episode Six, it’s the story of Noland the Liar. This plays into the Skypiea arc, which sees the Straw Hats find the lost city of gold Noland insists exists.
Although this may not be an easter egg since it’s also in the manga, the Fishmen name-drop Jimbei in Episode Eight. Jimbei is one of the seven Warlords of the Sea like Mihawk, and the only Fishman to ever hold the title. He later becomes an ally to Luffy before joining the Straw Hats, so it’s nice to see him get a mention.
The various bounty posters on the wall are fantastic, and some that aren’t entirely visible. Of the ones seen, there were One Piece villains like Silver Fox Foxy, Bellamy the Hyena, and Cavendish on the walls. Fans even caught a bounty poster for Jango, who was originally Captain Kuro’s first mate in the manga.
Bringing One Piece to Life
One of the most essential things to bring this series into live-action is making sure the world feels real. Everything in One Piece is such an odd blend of cartoon surrealness that fans doubted it could work. The dedication to building practical sets for many of the towns and ships was a step in the right direction. Finishing by touching things up with CGI really made it work. While things still have a surreal look, they actually come across as somewhere the viewer could insert themselves into. There’s a great amount of immersion that goes into the sets and costuming.
Speaking of costuming, what a damn achievement! The costumes for One Piece change up every arc in the manga, but not until after the East Blue saga. They found a way around that by dressing everyone in various outfits characters wore in manga covers! The outfits they use are fantastic, and great fits for the characters. Nami even gets her concept art design from a much earlier version of One Piece as her first costume onscreen in episode one, which is a fantastic detail.
Will One Piece Season Two Happen?
Almost without a doubt at this point, One Piece will get a season two on Netflix. They would be dumbasses not to greenlight a second season, especially with the praise the show is already receiving from outlets online and fans. It’s already a curse breaker for anime adaptations, and quite literally broke Netflix for a brief time on release. People who don’t know what anime or manga is are watching this show and getting drawn into the adventures of One Piece. There are plenty of setups in the finale for season two, and the source material has even more to draw from.
The story of One Piece could easily lead to ten seasons. With the actors relatively young and some tinkering with the in-world timeline, things can definitely work out to make the entire thing a reality. Even better, the manga will finish within the next five years according to creator Eichiiro Oda, so there’s no danger of a Game of Thrones situation. The last thing anyone has to worry about with One Piece is the show passing the source material.
Final Thoughts
It’s honestly so goddamn impressive to see just how great One Piece is into live-action. It’s been such a stalwart piece of the anime scene for so long nobody thought it could be done. Despite the pressure, the creators have really made something special. The casting for every character is lovingly faithful, and it’s obvious that Oda had the final say over everyone’s character. The writing was a fantastic blend of adventure, humor, and drama encapsulating all the laughs and tears One Piece holds. Everyone in the show deserves a ton of credit for what they’ve accomplished here, and there is so, so much more good to come from them.
One Piece is an achievement of live-action adaptations. Not only for anime, but for any medium. The joy of the series shines through brightly, even in the emotional moments that seem heartbreaking. There’s always some line of hope on the horizon when Monkey D Luffy is around, and his presence in One Piece’s live-action is something the world needs right now. The show has a long way to go in the story, but this is a fantastic start to a great adventure.
