Hello! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind where we’re doing another memories of One Piece. So over the holiday weekend I got a chance to check out the Netflix One Piece live action show. Originally, I was hoping to watch it in August and share my thoughts but unfortunately, I got caught up in work and just didn’t have time to watch it. But, I got time now and wanted to give my thoughts on the live-action show.
So what did I think about it? I liked it. I thought it was great. Going into this adaptation a lot of people were skeptical even with Oda himself announcing that he was working closely on the project. It makes sense. Let’s face it, live adaptations of anime have not been great. Dragonball Z, Death Note, and Cowboy Bebop were disappointments. The only live adaptations that I can say were successful were Battle Angel and Ghost in the Shell (I don’t care what anybody says, I thought it was decent). But take this coming from a man who has been a fan of One Piece for many years, this adaptation was great. I give it an 8/10. Whether you’re a long-time fan of One Piece, looking to get into the series, or just looking for something fun to watch this adaptation is worth checking out.
The adaptation does a good job of staying true to the source material (which apparently is a bad thing for some journalists out there) while also adding in new stuff that stays true to the manga. Now it’s not a chapter for chapter adaptation. They change some things around and condense the arcs down for the sake of time which is understandable but the changes still work out here. For example, we actually focus more on Koby and Garp in this adaptation. Koby joins the Marines where he works under Garp who is going after Luffy. Koby learns under Garp but also sees both sides of the Marines, the good and the bad. We see how he wants to be a good Marine but can’t get behind the warlords and them being free to do whatever they want. We see Garp play a more overprotective grandpa who doesn’t want his grandson to die like Roger but knows that he can’t stop him or the change happening in the world. A new generation is rising up and he can’t stop it he has to accept it. Another good change I like is how they handle Mihawk. In the manga, we were told that he laid waste to Kreig’s crew but never see it. Here, we actually see it. We see him demolish Kreig’s entire armada and kill Kreig himself. It was awesome and quickly established him as a huge threat that nobody should mess with. While it was a little sad to see Kreig get regulated to a minor role I have to admit he was the most forgetful enemy the Strawhats have faced, but him going out at the hands of warlord did make him standout a little more. When Mihawk first meets the Strawhats he doesn’t outright attack them. Instead, Zoro challenges him to a duel and they agree on a time and place for it. While the manga version was good I actually like this version more. While Kreig gets a more minor role here I really liked how they established Mihawk as this badass swordsman that could easily crush an entire pirate armada within minutes like it was nothing for him and his fight against Zoro was also great as recognized Zoro’s potential and even encourages him to keep on getting stronger and fight him again.
Let’s see, the next great thing about the adaptation is the casting. The casting is perfect. Everyone plays their part perfectly. Iñaki Godoy is Luffy. He captures Luffy’s determination, energy, goofiness, and passion. Even Oda himself gave Iñaki his approval saying he brought Luffy to life and you can just tell that meant a lot to Iñaki as he was on the brink of tears when Oda said that to him. Along with Iñaki we have Mackenyu as Zoro who is constantly awesome every time he’s on screen. Emily Rudd plays Nami and captures who early character as this mysterious girl who is carrying a lot of baggage. Her and Mackenyu have excellent onscreen chemistry with each other that captures their brother and sister relationship. I loved whenever these two have a scene with each other. Jacob Romero plays Usopp and captures that lovable liar with a good heart who is in over his head but finds the courage to keep fighting for his friends and become the brave pirate he’s always wanted to be. I think out of all the actors he got the most laughs out of me. Taz Skylar plays Sanji and he nails it as Sanji. His mannerisms, expressions, the way he talks, the way he dresses, that is Sanji. I don’t think you could have found anyone better for this role. But hands down the best character in my opinion is Steven Ward as Mihawk. Holy shit he nailed him. In a world where everyone is overflowing with energy and expressions, Mihawk is the one guy who has to maintain a straight face and keep his emotions in check. He doesn’t get loud or excited, he speaks in a calm and collective manner. As if he was a man bored by the world around him and can’t find anything fun to do. Ward captures all of that and nowhere is this scene better than when he fights Zoro and goes to see Shanks. Oh yeah, speaking of Shanks, Peter Gadiot plays him and next to Ward he’s probably the best person who captures their character. One of my favorite scenes is when Mihawk goes to see Shanks to show him Luffy’s wanted poster and these guys nailed it. I love the way they each respect the other but at the same time aren’t afraid to hurl insults at each other knowing that the other one won’t attack. I like how Shanks isn’t afraid to joke about his missing arm which is perfectly in line with his character. Even his reaction to Luffy’s bounty is on point. He’s surprised but at the same time happy and proud that the little boy he saved all those years ago kept his promise and can’t wait to meet him again out in the ocean.
The action and set pieces are also great. They did a good job animating Luffy’s rubber powers as well as Buggy’s powers as well. The fights are well-choreographed and capture the heart and soul of One Piece. Everybody has their own fighting style and each fight feels different. The world of One Piece gets brought to life here. The set pieces really do look like the panels of One Piece got brought to life. Whether it be a town, a ship, or even a merman (who have great make-up) I was impressed by what I saw. Now with all these great things is the adaptation perfect? No. It does fall short in a few areas. Pretty much all the changes they make work. Like 8 out of 10. However, some areas that could use a little work. The major one being emotion. Now, all of the actors play their parts great but I wanted to see them express more emotions in some scenes. This is mostly the fault of the director as I feel like they should told the actors to show more emotions in some scenes. For example, when Nami is stabbing herself a good chunk of the emotion isn’t there. It’s still a good scene but it’s held back from Emily some receiving direction to show more emotion and it’s not as gory as it was in the anime and manga. The Baratie arc also kind of suffers. While they do a good job showing the relationship between Sanji and Zeff and even Sanji interacting with Luffy and the others they do keep him out of the big moment of the arc when Zoro fights Mihawk. That was kind of the moment that encouraged Sanji to pursue his dream of finding the All Blue and he wasn’t in the scene. Just didn’t make a lot of sense to me.
Still, despite these small setbacks this live adaptation was great. It just might be the best anime adaptation I’ve seen and I can’t wait for it to continue. I think everyone is worried how the show will handle characters like Chopper, Franky, and Brook when they get to them. Which I too share their worries, but I think they’ll be able to handle them when the time comes. Definitely check out this adaptation when you get a chance. It’s worth checking out and you’ll enjoy it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.