Review: One Piece (Live Action) Season One

By J.D. Kelly

Based on Eiichiro Oda’s best-selling manga, One Piece is Netflix’s latest live action anime/manga adaptation. Live action anime adaptations definitely have a spotty record. I’ve definitely enjoyed some of the ones that have come out of Japan like As the Gods Will, the Assassination Classroom films, My Love Story, The Prince of Tennis and most parts of the Bakuman film that weren’t Eiji Nizuma. (They did my boy dirty).

The record for English language adaptations is even spottier. Manuel will attest to liking Dragonball Evolution and the 1995 film version of Fist of the North Star, but he seems to be in the vast minority for that. Netflix’s last big adaptation was 2021’s Cowboy Bebop canceled less than a month after it came out. So I can understand why people would be worried that this was also going to suck but to all those people, as fan for more than a decade, I can safely say: "The One Piece! The One Piece (live action adaptation) is real... good!"

Condensing nearly 100 chapters down to 8 episodes, the first (and hopefully not final) season goes a bit like this: On the day of the execution of Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, tells the world about his great treasure in the dangerous sea known as the Grand Line. There’s no doubt that what the Marines intended to be an end to an era instead ushers in a new Golden Age of Piracy. All the pirates whose eyes are on it, they sing: “I’ll be King of the Pirates. I’m gonna be King.”

Cut to roughly 20 years later, when our main character, his name is Luffy (That’s Monkey D. Luffy. Most names in this world are given family name [and in Luffy’s case middle initial] before personal name.) played by Iñaki Godoy sets out to sea. He’s going to find the One Piece and be King of the Pirates. He’s also made of rubber. “How did that happen?” ask all the new viewers watching. Yo Ho Ho! He took a bit of a Devil Fruit known as the Gum-Gum Fruit. In exchange for his new powers the sea has turned on him rendering him helpless in sea water, and unable to swim. It’s going to be tough living a life at sea with that, but Luffy’s not going to let anything stop him.

To achieve his dream, he’s going to need a crew and luckily, he finds one in that form of Roronoa Zora (Mackenyu), the first mate who’s a swordsman just like a samurai, Nami (Emily Rudd) the navigator and occasional cat burglar definitely not shy, Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) a coward and a lair trying to make his tales of bravery real by doing his marksmen thing, and Sanji (Taz Skylar) a kickboxing chef cooking for the would be king. Together they take down corrupt Marine officers and pirates who terrorize the islands of the East Blue as they head towards the Grand Line in pursuit of their dreams. But pirates aren’t the only ones patrolling the seas. The B Plot of the season follows Marine Vice Admiral Garp (Vincent Regan) and new Marine cadets Koby (Morgan Davies) and Helmeppo (Aidan Scott) as they follow the Strawhat Pirates (Named for Luffy’s signature hat, a gift from the pirate who inspired him to take to the high seas.) across the East Blue.

All of the cast do an excellent job embodying their characters. Iñaki Godoy embodies Luffy to a T nailing his energy, his strength, and his seemingly contradictory naivety and keen intuition into the hearts of people. Mackenyu also does very well as Zoro. He’s no stranger to live action anime adaptation having been a major member of at least six different ones before this including this year’s Knights of the Zodiac film. In the last two episodes, he and Taz Skylar are able to perfectly capture Zoro and Sanji’s banter. The two characters have been described as the eldest sons of the Strawhat family and the sibling rivalry shines through.

Outside of the main cast, Jeff Ward has received well-deserved praise for his portrayal of villain Buggy the Clown. The show’s Buggy is a lot more intimidating than the manga and plays into the show’s darker tone while still being just as funny and sarcastic. If this is Jeff Ward’s audition for the Joker in James Gunn’s DC Universe, I think he may have a shot. I also want to single out Aidan Scott as Helmeppo. As the son of a Marine base captain he very much has the air of “Do you know who my father is?” about him at the start of the series, and his growth from enlisting in the Marines and spending time with the more idealistic Koby gives light to a lot of things that happened off the pages of the original manga.

The structure of the season is very simple to break down. The first episode introduces Luffy, Nami and Zoro as they all arrive at a Marine base town and end up on the bad side of Captain Axe-Hand Morgan while looking for a map of the Grand Line. Episode two is has the three of them dealing with Buggy the Clown as he tries to take the map from them. The last six episodes are all two-part arcs covering the introduction of Usopp and Sanji, and the final arc covers the crews battle against Arlong, a fishman (Think humanoid with fish features rather than mermaids though those do also exist in One Piece.) looking to take over the East Blue in response to the racism and slavery that his people have been subject to.

I greatly appreciate the show’s ability to balance that silly and the series as deftly as the manga does. For example, there’s a scene in which Marine office named Nezumi (the Japanese word for “mouse”) who wears mouse whiskers and ears talks with Arlong, that racism I just mentioned and it provokes more than just laughs at the absurdity of it. I think it also speaks to the quality of the effects and costuming team that all these characters can come to life in a way that feels believable. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do for some of the quirky characters that should be introduced next season.

The darker tone also allows for some interesting twists on the fairly lighthearted opening arcs. For example, in the manga, the Syrup Village arc is relatively light even dealing with betrayal, murder, and having no one believe you. In this series the second episode has parts that play out like a horror movie, with the villain as a Freddy Krueger analog. It’s a nice change and it definitely works out in the series’ favor. Even with the change in tone the series keeps true to heart of the original. All our main characters are driven by their dreams. They’ll suffer and come out alive to stay in pursuit of those dreams.

Though, as I mentioned earlier, this season condenses nearly 100 chapters down and that means some stuff had to be lost. Fight scenes are obviously trimmed down. Especially later in the anime, most fights end up lasting just as long as this series entire run time. Instead they’re replaced by much shorter, but no less intense, scenes. Zoro and Sanji’s fights stand out, especially when they get to fight together during the Arlong Arc. Zoro’s fight with Dracule Mihawk who holds the title of World’s Greatest Swordsman which it is Zoro’s dream to obtain, is also great showing just how lopsided the matchup is and managing to balance the silly and the awesome. It’s hard to describe without spoiling it but once you see it, you should understand.

The Island of Rare Animals is never visited in the show which makes sense from a pacing perspective but I think the chapters about it do a lot to show off Luffy’s, and by extension the story’s, ideal that living without a dream is the same as being dead. The message is still there and not subtle so I’m not going to hold it against the show. The only other thing I greatly missed was Luffy’s speech from his fight with Arlong where he lists of the things that he can’t do but his new crew can before closing with the one thing he can do: Defeat Arlong. Once again, the emotion is still there but I did always like this speech.

In conclusion, the One Piece live action series is off to a good start and hopefully will have more seasons to better explore this wacky world.  Whether you’ve been a fan since chapter/episode 1 or just joining in now, I welcome you to come on board and bring along all your hopes and dreams. Maybe together we can all find a great thing that we’re looking for.

(DISCLAIMER: This show is produced by ITV. A family member of mine works for a division of ITV. Neither she nor anyone else at ITV seen this review before publication.)

Check Out One Piece (2023) on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80217863

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Overall Rating: A

Pros:
+ Excellent costuming and set design
+ Perfect balance of the serious and absurd that makes the series great
+ Fun references to events and characters that were either cut or will show up later
+Great fight scenes especially with Sanji and Zoro.

Cons:
-Cramming so much into eight episode means the pacing can be a little off at times

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