The straw hats are back, and more realistic than ever. The One Piece live-action adaptation, announced in 2020, is finally gaining momentum as Netflix announces the new project drop to fall in 2023, via a new first poster with everyone’s favorite group of pirates.
Giving fans a thrilling new look into the live adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s 1997 manga, Netflix dropped the first poster for the One Piece live-action, showing Sanji (Taz Skylar), Nami (Emily Rudd), Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson) and Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu) facing the vast sea and their trusty boat, the Going Merry.
Although the sight alone is enough to give goosebumps to any One Piece fan, live actions aren’t exactly welcomed among anime aficionados after Death Note‘s very own disaster adaptation. This reluctance surrounding western live-action adaptations has remained stagnant among fans who have been hurt one too many times, and this new adaptation is not an exception to this unspoken rule. Without even one episode out, some fans are already nitpicking at some of the details on the cover, namely, how robust some characters look.
Upon sharing the first glimpse on Reddit, some users on the platform have pointed out that some of the characters are looking particularly muscular on the poster. Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro’s large shoulders have taken the stage for fans, who have cleverly pointed out that the characters in the anime and manga weren’t nearly as sturdy at the beginning of the story.
The show is expected to convey the first few additions to the crew led by Luffy. While Zoro and Usopp undoubtedly become much more physically endowed as the story progresses, it is safe to say that all three of them are as scrawny looking as Luffy right at the start. Many have since recalled that the actors have been ceaselessly working on their physique, training to portray the physically demanding scenes that will undoubtedly be on the show. For this reason, it’s nearly impossible that the actors’ bodies wouldn’t change according to their own arduous training.
In spite of this weirdly specific gripe, expectations are still high among fans. While information regarding the live adaptation’s budget has yet to be unveiled, One Piece is expected to have one of the highest production budgets on the streaming platform mogul. Nonetheless, fans have been riding on a hopeful wave of high expectations, despite all previous evidence that live actions are just a bit too risky.
One Piece the live-action series will be released on Netflix in 2023.