Exploring the Success of Live Action One Piece Adaptation

So why on earth would I decide to watch one of the longest anime ever created? Well, I caved and watched the live-action adaptation. 8 episodes wasn’t long and I figured what was the harm? It is safe to assume I binged the whole show in one night and was instantly hooked.

I am not a new anime watcher, I have finished hundreds of shows throughout the past 10+ years. Yet I knew very little of one piece. All I knew was it was long and very popular. Two things that make me not want to watch an anime. To my surprise, I enjoyed the Netflix adaptation so much that I wanted to watch the anime.

Now that I have completed the East Blue Saga, I want to go back and see how well the live-action did. Let’s get into it.

Want to watch One Piece with me? Check out the full episode guide.

I want to start with the characters. Whoever is in charge of casting the live-action One Piece needs a huge raise. I thought the main characters were spot on but the side characters were as well.

The casting is what normally makes or breaks a live-action. It’s hard to find a real person to match an animated one. We see this failed more often than not. With the live-action One Piece, they did the right research on the character's race, the mannerisms, and every small detail.

I think the best casting was for Buggy the Clown, and I don’t think I’m alone in that thought. That actor absolutely killed that role.

How about the storyline? Considering they had 61 episodes to fit into 8 episodes they did an amazing job.

Romance Down Arc Episodes 1–3: They started with the anime opening. this was the perfect opening and shocked me. I hadn’t seen the opening before so to start with the execution of the king of the pirates was a shock. They did a perfect introduction to Luffy and his character. We also meet Koby and the Pirate Alvina. They didn’t have to cut down on much with this arc. They did add much more to the marine base when they stole the map. I thought it was the perfect setup for the story.

Orange Town Arc Episodes 4 to 8: I thought the live-action did better than the actual anime. They did cut out some of the characters and story, but they made up for it with a creep factor. Buggy is the first pirate we meet as a crew and we see the true evil pirates are. I think that showing their cruelty more than the anime did explains why everyone hates pirates so much.

Syrup Village Arc Episodes 9 to 18: I thought the story made more sense in the live-action than in the anime. Considering Klahadore holds the characteristics of a cat his choice of slowly poisoning Kaya seems like a more thought-out and less risky plan. In the anime, he planned on killing her and having his pirates raid the village to make her murder just look like a casualty, but before then he was going to use his hypnotist to make Kaya sign over her family wealth. Seemed less thought out and sloppy.

The night before the plan is put into place Merry discovers what Klahadore is doing. In the anime, he is just left for dead, but he recovers by the end of the arc. In the live-action, Merry is murdered, and they name the ship in his honor. In the live-action, the fight between Luffy and Klahadore was one of the best in the show. It was well choreographed and the camera angles made the fight slightly creepy. However, in the anime, I felt it was one of the silliest fights. The crew is useless and there is a lot of yelling without a lot of fighting. The Nyaban Brothers were very dramatic and not great fighters in the anime either. Yet in the live-action, they go toe to toe with Zoro. I thought the writers of the live-action made this arc the best part of the show. I might have thought differently if I had seen the anime first.

Baratie Arc Episodes 19–30: This was my favorite arc in the East Blue Saga. It is a long arc so I understand why they felt they need to cut a lot of it out. I thought switching the marine interaction with Arlong was a smart move. They needed to show the fear of his character and crew and didn’t have a lot of time to do it. They also cut out the Don Krieg pirates which I understand. They did keep the important part of the story, which was the introduction of Sanji and his backstory, as well as Zoro’s backstory.

Arlong Park Episodes 31 to 44: There was a lot of jam in this show. They did an amazing job with this arc, showing Nami’s pain and her backstory. They did an awesome job of making the fish people like the show. I wish we had seen the octopus man, but I am happy with what we did get. The fight between Luffy and Arlong was a wild ride.

Loguetown Arc & Buggy’s Crew Adventures Arc & Warship Island Arc: They will have to at least add in some character introduction in Lougetown. But I doubt we will see much of any of these arcs. They are mostly filler anyway.

They gave this show the perfect ending for season 1. I am excited to see how they will tackle the Alabasta Saga, and how they will animate Chopper. I have seen some posts about their casting and it has made me hopeful for a great second season.

My final thoughts: This is the first time the anime has been done well in a live-action. Picking such a popular and iconic anime is a bold move. If you make any mistake, you will have a huge flop. I can tell the creators put a lot of research and thought into this first season. They took their time and made an amazing show, which has brought new fans to the anime (Myself included) If more anime is created into live-action I would hope they follow their lead.

What were your thoughts on the live-action One Piece?

Thanks for reading!!

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One Piece Fan Letter

We follow everyday people as they stumble across the Straw Hat crew. I thought this was such a fascinating look into the lives of the non-pirates in this world. The inspiration and terror they face. We follow a young girl who has found inspiration through Nami. In a world of muscle and devil fruit powers, normal people are seen as less than. She sees how Nami can go on grand adventures without any special powers and finds courage through Nami’s bravery.

My Thoughts on The East Blue Saga

It took me about a week to watch through this saga. It was the fastest I think I have ever watched any anime over 20 episodes. I know the pacing will slow down, and we got a taste of some filler at the end of this saga, but overall I thought this saga had amazing pacing.

Bye for now!!