Ahsoka Can’t Compete With Netflix’s New Pirate Show
Ahsoka, a Star Wars spin-off series, was probably one of the most highly anticipated releases of 2023, which makes its current ratings quite disappointing. While the series currently holds very high positions across various charts, the fact remains that it has weaker viewership compared to Disney’s previous Star Wars projects. Now, its ratings are being destroyed by One-Piece, Netflix’s live-action adaptation of a popular anime.
Ahsoka has drifted to #2 on IMDb’s Charts Most Popular TV Shows as Netflix’s One Piece takes the lead.
Netflix’s recently released One-Piece anime is currently destroying Ahsoka in viewership ratings, dethroning the series as #1 on IMDb Charts Most Popular TV Shows. This isn’t all that surprising, considering that the live-action One-Piece owes its overwhelming success to the original anime series, which garnered a massive fandom over the course of 20 years. Ahsoka, on the other hand, has been less accessible to those who haven’t seen the animated Star Wars Rebel and Clone War series, in which the character first debuted.
Please don’t get us wrong; we’re not saying that Ahsoka is bad or that One Piece is a better IP than Star Wars. However, while Ahsoka has been hitting the spot of many critics and viewers, the numbers don’t lie, and a portion of the fandom has voiced its concerns over the fact that the show has low viewership ratings, most likely because it isn’t directly connected to any ongoing Disney+ Star Wars project. Sure, the character has made an appearance in The Mandalorian, but that’s about it. The only true connection is with Star Wars Rebels.
Many are now questioning whether Disney+ will commission the making of the second season of Ahsoka.
On that point, even Rosario Dawson, the actress portraying Ahsoka Tano, admitted that Ahsoka is basically Season 5 of Rebels (via The Hollywood Reporter). Furthermore, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, the actress behind the character of Sabrine Wren, also stated that seeing Rebels before diving into Ahsoka would add more context and weight to the narrative of the recently released show.
Some fans might debate the Rebels’ connections with the show, but that won’t change the fact that Ahsoka won’t break viewership rating records any time soon.
The low ratings probably have more to do with the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike rather than the series’ quality, and while its viewership ratings aren’t something to write home about, being pushed from #1 to #2 doesn’t exactly count as a failure. With that said, and taking the ongoing strike into consideration, many are now questioning whether Disney+ will commission the making of the second season of Ahsoka.
One Piece is also beating Ahsoka in IMDb ratings – the Netflix live-action anime currently holds an 8.5 while Ahsoka sits at 8.0.
One Piece, on the other hand, has a massive worldwide audience, and both the manga and its anime adaptation will likely go down in history as some of the finest works ever created. So, while its success isn’t anything surprising, the series is far from perfect, as it condensed too much material into eight hour-long episodes.
In fact, while it remains the highest-watching release at the moment—after dethroning Ahsoka—many fans have already stated that too much material has been trimmed down to fit Netflix’s adaptation.
This most likely won’t affect those who chose to enter the franchise via the live-action adaptation, which basically tells the abridged story of East Blue Saga while also including as much fan service as possible. But for true fans of the franchise, it simply isn’t enough. Yet, considering that we got it from Netflix, it’s the best we got. Both Ahsoka and One-Piece are currently available for streaming at their respective streaming platforms, Disney+ and Netflix.
