Buggy the Star Clown has been a key staple of One Piece since his debut in Chapter 9, Episode 4 of the manga. The whacky pirate with delusions of grandeur has often been a thorn in the Straw Hat’s side and though he certainly is a villain to be wary of, the live-action adaption for Netflix has finally given us the truly creepy side of this particular clown.
Buggy is a pirate captain, captaining the Buggy Pirates, and has a lot of similarities with our main protagonist. Like Monkey D. Luffy, Buggy has also consumed one of the Devil Fruit, which imbues the consumer with magical abilities. In Luffy’s case, his body has the properties of rubber, allowing him to stretch and expand body parts, but Buggy’s is just a tad more terrifying.
Buggy can detach his limbs from his main body and control them independently, allowing them to fly about, attack from a long distance, and split his body to avoid attacks; it gives new meaning to the term “body popping.” This may come across as a little jokey in the anime, but it makes for a rather terrifying look in the live action.
Like Luffy, Buggy is also after the One Piece in the hopes of becoming the Pirate King, though his methods of attaining it are a little less… moral, than our rubbery protagonist. The similarities between the two abound, which make them great adversaries, but to up the stakes a little more for the live-action, Buggy, who is played by actor Jeff Ward, is just a fraction more menacing than his cartoon equivalent.
Now fans of the show on Reddit are discussing whether or not the difference is that drastic, or whether we always should have feared the creepy, attention-grabbing clown.
The OP praised Ward’s portrayal of Buggy, especially his menacing attitude, but also made sure to shout out the production design for adding that extra little pizazz.
Many agree with the casting choice, even if it would cause old Buggy to lose his head (don’t worry, he can always reattach it).
For fans of the manga and anime, it’s been so long since they first met the character that they forgot just how scary he was initially.
For some, the manga’s introduction feels like eons ago.
Perhaps, much as what happened in the manga, the live-action Buggy will also turn into the joke he is, as the villains get more and more treacherous.
For some fans, the live-action version is definitely the scariest of his many incarnations.
There are a lot who disagree with the OP, stating Buggy was always terrifying, we just forgot about it.
One thing that perhaps is very different from the response for the character in the manga is how attracted many have become to the live-action version.
We hope that, like in the manga, we will be seeing more of Buggy further down the line, assuming Netflix goes ahead and gives it a second season. You can never be sure these days.