I Was Wrong About Live Action One Piece

Most people hate being wrong. Me? I love being wrong about things. Being a pessimist, only good things can come about of me being wrong.

Netflix has a downright historic catalogue of failed live action anime adaptations. Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Cowboy Bebop just to name a few. People keep screaming at them to stop, and they just… don’t.

When news came regarding their plans to adapt One Piece, I braced myself for the worst. How do you take a series that cartoonish, that long, and that intricate and put real people into it? It seemed a recipe doomed to fail.

Imagine my surprise then, when it not only didn’t fail, but succeeded. By quite a lot.

You all know the story. Monkey D. Luffy aims to become the King of the Pirates. To do this, he travels the seas, gathering a crew to share in his adventures. But with hundreds of rival captains aiming for the throne, and the Marines out to catch him, can our young pirate find the One Piece and claim his crown?

These initial episodes cover the East Blue saga, One Piece’s first major arc. Everything from the first episode all the way up to Arlong Park gets covered here. You’d think the show would struggle with pacing, but no. It brings these stories to live action surprisingly smoothly.

Granted, it’s not a one-to-one transition. Plenty of the story has been cut out or altered. It strikes an interesting balance between respecting and adapting the source material and doing its own thing. Honestly, I really like it!

All the new stuff is honestly the stuff I enjoyed the most. When it’s just being a one-to-one adaptation, it still works. I’ve watched the Zoro VS Mihawk scene more times than I’d like to admit.

In terms of production, this show is downright insane. Crazy bastards actually went and built the ships! Not to mention how well they adapted the designs into live action. In spite of all odds, Buggy looks incredible! Not to mention the fight scenes; the choreography, the wire-work, it looks and feels like anime!

My only real gripe is with the CGI. Namely with Luffy’s powers. It doesn’t look awful, mind you. But compared to the costumes or the sets, you can definitely tell where the money went.

I’d say it went to the right place, but you get my point.

Finally, let’s talk about the cast. This is, by far, the most important part to get right in regards to One Piece. If the Straw Hats are wrong, then One Piece is wrong.

And yeah, they’re all perfect. Iñaki Godoy is perfect as Luffy; the look, the energy, the heart, he’s got it all! Emily Rudd is awesome as Nami, Mackenyu is so perfect as Zoro that he apparently took naps on set, Jacob Gibson is only missing Usopp’s nose, and Taz Skylar is the perfect wannabe suave chef that is Sanji. These guys all clearly had a ton of fun with this show. They even did their own stunts!

I’m legitimately amazed with how good live action One Piece is. This is a prime example of how to do live action anime. If you’re not gonna go the safe route and just not, then it should be done like this.

Just please. If I can get one thing, please give me this.

Jamie Lee Curtis as Kureha. Also actual puppet Chopper.

Hang on, I’ve got a whole list here, gimme a sec…