Everyone has encountered One Piece at some point or another in their lifetime. As the world’s highest-selling manga and as one of Japan’s most successful anime of all time, the story by Eiichiro Oda has long reached legendary status among comic stories and fantasy authors. Very recently, the franchise extended its success to the live-action realm, when Netflix announced its hand at making a realistic version of the manga series. Well, as realistically as it could get.
Surprising the millions of fans who were understandably concerned about the series, the One Piece live-action actually managed to surpass the little expectations fans had. However, it does not matter how good it may be, a live-action will never be a perfect adaptation. Still, from a long-time fan’s perspective, here are five things the live-action did wrong; and in comparison, five things it did right.
Wrong: Garp’s personality and screentime
Garp’s adaptation is by far the most criticized bit of the story – and unfortunately, I have to agree. Not only was Garp introduced during the wrong arc, but his character was almost designed as an antagonist with an entirely new personality, while he and Koby had just as much screen time as our Straw Hats. It doesn’t help that it was one of the things Oda was vehemently against but was eventually swayed into. Yikes.
Right: The bounty posters
One of the many things that the live-action managed to do correctly, leaving me absolutely flabbergasted every single time was the bounty posters. Not only did they appear once a new pirate showed up, but the sequence afterward was just masterful. Whether it was Arlong ripping up the poster with his nose, Mihawk cutting it up, or Buggy crumpling up the paper, it was just purely satisfying every single time.
Wrong: The series’ pacing
Even before the live-action hit our screens, we were all aware that the story was gonna be much more fast-paced than the anime. It was inevitable. However, the story’s details changed a lot, sometimes for the better, many other times for the worse. Sanji and Zeff’s story ended up not nearly as well-developed as it was in the original story, and the fact that they didn’t have Luffy entering the Arlong Park premises with his “Which one of you is Arlong?” will never sit right with me.
Right: The sets
Considering its ginormous and ridiculous budget, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the villages were one of the many things that completely blew my mind. As any fan of the show will surely agree, seeing the villages and ships that we’ve become so acquainted with coming to live is almost a dream come true – especially if they’re so perfectly done to the smallest of details.
Wrong: Coco Village
Yet another plotline that was changed for the worse was Coco Village, Nami’s hometown. In the original story, every single one of the village’s inhabitants was already aware of her intentions to buy their homeland – but they just pretended not to know. This detail makes Nami’s backstory feel all the more impactful, and unfortunately, the fact that they completely let go of that just lost a lot of the depth that we see in the original One Piece story.
Right: The Straw Hats
To no one’s surprise, the One Piece author took matters into his own hands when it came to picking who would portray the protagonists, and he nailed it in the head. Emily Rudd (can we talk about how perfect of a Nami she was?), Mackenyu, Iñaki Godoy, Taz Skylar, and Jacob Gibson are absolutely the perfect crew to go on this lifelong adventure with.
Wrong: Orange Town
Sadly, one of the things that appear to have fallen under the fast-paced necessity of the series was the exclusion of Orange Town. Well, most of it at least. While we do see this small village falling under the hands of Buggy, we never meet Chouchou. His story solidifies the entire notion of the arc: what treasure means to each person. To Luffy, it’s his straw hat hat. To Buggy, it is money and gold. To Chouchou, it’s the dog food store he swore to protect when his owner was still alive. Instead, this arc lost its meaningful touch.
Right: Easter eggs
While many new fans likely missed cues for future storylines and nods to different characters, eagle-eyed fans quickly took note of all the Easter eggs seen throughout the show. From catching Dragon’s jacket at Roger’s execution to Binks Sake playing in the background, if there is one thing the live-action absolutely nailed, it is the little details for the future of the story.
Wrong: Characters that did not make it into the series
Perhaps the unnecessary amount of time spent on Garp, Koby, and Helmeppo would have been better used to introduce some of the characters that actually took part in the original story. Aside from Chouchou, the live-action took some odd creative liberties like not introducing Django, and perhaps the biggest crime of all: Hatchan never appeared. His eight limbs are a bit of a CGI challenge but still.
Right: The Antagonists
Even if Arlong wasn’t nearly as physically endowed as his anime counterpart, the live-action still absolutely nailed the antagonists, namely Buggy, Arlong, Alvida, and Kuro. The casting was absolutely perfect, and while we’ll meet Buggy again if the series continues, we won’t be seeing McKinley Belcher III as the purple fishman anymore.
The live-action may not have been perfect, but it provided its purpose and thankfully, One Piece is now basking in all the attention it deserved.