One Piece Creator Shares Strong Feelings About the Live-Action Netflix Series
Eiichiro Oda, the creator of the One-Piece manga, shared his thoughts on the Netflix live-action adaptation, expressing his full support. The support for the live adaptation, however, extends beyond the manga’s creation, as Tokyo’s subway system shows promotional material featuring messages from Eiichiro Oda.
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda is excited over Netflix’s live-aciton adaptation since he thinks the cast really understands the characters.
According to Threads handle @sandman_AP, Oda’s wall of messages expressing his support for Netlix’s live-action adaptation of One-Piece is displayed in Japan. The messages, as translated by @sandman_AP, read that the live-action adaptation is many times better than what Oda expected and that he’s glad that the cast understood the characters they portray. The live-action is scheduled to launch on August 31, 2023, and it remains to be seen whether it will click with the audiences or if we’re in for another flop—Cowboy Bebop-style.
So, whether or not the One-Piece adaptation breaks the pattern of mixed or outright horrible reviews for Western adaptations of anime remains to be seen. To be honest, the One-Piece cast is comprised of a talented ensemble and passionate team dedicated to capturing the essence of the beloved manga and anime, and Oda apparently acknowledges the team’s dedication to bringing live-action to the silver screen.
One-Piece is an extremely popular manga, and the whole IP became even more popular in the West, following the release of the anime series in 2004, five years after its Japanese debut. The animated series recently brought new changes to the narrative, such as Luffy’s Gear 5 transformation, which propelled him to new heights of power. To be entirely honest, the evolution of fan-favorite narratives into new formats, such as One-Piece being adapted into live-action, is pretty much inevitable at this point.
One Piece fans are nervous over the upcoming Netflix adaptation, given the streamer’s dubious track record which includes Death Note and Cowboy Bebop.
But the question remains: is it necessary? And will the audiences resonate with the adaptation? Cowboy Bebop proved to be a massive miss; the same applies to Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, Gantz, and the list goes on and on, reaching the very beginning of horrible anime live-action adaptations—the dreaded and outright blasphemous Dragon Ball: Evolution.
Even the Death Note and Avatar adaptations were horrible, and no one ever believed moviemakers could ruin Death Note. So, we can understand the audience’s apprehension when it comes to the One-Piece adaptation.
On the bright side, it would seem that Netflix learned its lesson from their Cowboy Bebop adaptation and brought in Oda to weigh in on the adaptation’s quality—hence the words of support from the manga’s creator.
The One Piece anime is currently at an all-time high following the debut of Luffy’s Gear 5, but will the live-action adaptation destroy all of the good will?
If only Netflix considered Henry Cavill’s creative advice when it came to The Witcher series, we wouldn’t have to waste time on the dreadfully written Season Three of the series. But it is what it is, and One-Piece fandom should feel reassured in the adaptation’s quality, at least a little bit, considering that it was approved by the very person who conceived the IP.
Whatever the case may be, it would seem that Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the One-Piece crew are charting new courses under Oda’s watchful eyes. This only raised the expectations bar higher, and hopefully, the talented cast and the series writers provide the fandom with worthy material. We’re not questioning the cast’s acting ability; quite the contrary. It’s the writers we’re worried about.
