Netflix have announced they will be making a live-action One Piece TV series.
The news came via the official Twitter account for NX (“Netflix’s home of all things geek”), along with a letter from the manga’s creator Eiichiro Oda. This was later translated by NX and the new One Piece Netflix Twitter account.
“I know I announced the production of this back in 2017, but these things take time! Preparations have been slowly progressing behind the scenes, and it seems that I can finally make the big announcement:
Netflix, the world’s leading streaming entertainment service, will be lending us their tremendous production support! This is so encouraging!! How far will the story progress over the 10 episodes of Season 1? Who will be cast!? Please be patient a little longer and stay tuned!!”
The tweet also mentioned Eiichiro Oda will be the Executive Producer. Considering how wild One Piece can get in both action, super-powers, character designs, and even character’s reactions- it should be interesting to see what the final product turns out like.
Another factor is the length of the series. At currently 95 volumes in the manga, and with Oda stating when the series ends it will have “just over 100 volumes,” how much is adapted and how much is cut will need to be seen. A one-to-one adaption could have some of the main cast become too old to play the role. This is assuming filler arcs from the anime are abandoned.
Unfaithful adaptions are something fans are dreading, with the infamy of Netflix’ live-action Death Note. Though technically Netflix only distributed Death Note. Their adaption of The Witcher however has been highly successful, with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt seeing a surge in player numbers greater than its launch week.
One Piece fans also had to endure the 4Kids dub. The series censored blood, smoking, and sexual scenes as it was intended for a younger audience, to the frustration of fans who had (at that point) no legitimate way to enjoy the anime.
It only grew worse with more non-nonsensical changes, such as changing guns to water-pistols, renaming the Marines to “the Navy,” and an infamous rap-song opening. After 4Kids cancelled their dub of One Piece in 2007, Funimation later acquired the rights to dub the series.
Netflix are also currently working on a live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Cowboy Bebop. However, production was halted on the latter in October 2019 as John Cho (Spike Spiegel) suffered a “freak accident” that would require surgery. Adjusting for the time of the incident, production is not set to continue for another four to seven months.
What do you think? Who do you hope will be cast? Sound off in the comments below!
