When it comes to doing live-action adaptations of classic anime shows the results haven't exactly been what one would call "favorable". After all, one only needs to look at the "Cowboy Bebop" adaptation as one example. Plus, there's also that Dragonball movie that no one talks about, and with good reason.
So naturally when a One Piece adaptation was announced, there was a healthy amount of skepticism. How could you do a live-action version of yet another beloved anime when others haven't worked out?
Well, once I saw this teaser, some of those doubts began to melt.
And then these two trailers sent my doubts straight to Davy Jone's locker.
Even though I hadn't seen the anime beforehand, I knew the manga had quite the audience. However, that didn't mean I knew what to expect. But when I saw the first episode I was hooked right from the get go. Both the world building and especially the characters just brought me in in such a way that in hindsight I wish I had discovered the original anime years earlier.
What I found interesting is that they were able to condense the East Blue arc into an eight-episode season, yet none of it felt contrived and the story pacing flowed very well.
Going on to the characters themselves - now given the nature of anime, translating it into live-action is not exactly impossible, but it's very difficult. Fortunately that is not the case here. Iñaki Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero and Taz Skylar just nailed their parts so well to the point where they don't just look like the characters, they transformed into them. So while newcomers will be enthralled with them, the diehard fans will see the characters they have loved for so long leap off the page and into the live-action space effortlessly. The fact that the cast are also big fans of One Piece also lends more credibility to this project and that it isn't going to be like what had been before with other anime adaptations.
Just like with the anime, Monkey D. Luffy is on a quest find the One Piece treasure and become King of The Pirates. As one can imagine, his quest to achieve his goal will give the audience the comedic moments as well as epic action, but the show will also have some of the smaller yet heartfelt moments that will emotionally hit you.
Even the score lends itself very well to the series. In some ways it almost has that same vibe of the original three Pirates of The Caribbean films, which is a really good thing.
Having just finished watching the season and now getting into the anime itself for the first time I can say that this live-action series is a breath of fresh air and is a perfect adaptation. And with Season 2 being green-lit as of this post I can say we are going to be in for an awesome time.
So if you love pirates and swashbuckling action, especially the original manga/anime by Oda-sensei, check this series out! You'll be glad you did!
Also, check these out!
The man behind Hawk (Cobra Kai ) visits the set!
Iñaki meets the creator of One Piece!
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