One-piece” Live action has broken the live action curse! According to Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score reached an impressive 95%, an astonishing change from the usual anime adaptation scores.

One Piece is the bestselling manga in Japanese history, selling over 500 million copies globally .Taking place in ‘The Pirate Era’, the story is about a rubber boy who wanted to be king of the pirates. During his journey in achieving his goal, met friends along the way and faced many obstacles. Despite its animation style and how lighthearted the manga series seems, it has many serious topics that one could tie to the real world.

I started watching the Japanese series One piece two years ago, and I have grown to love it. I may go so far to say that it is my favorite animated series. However, this is also the reason I was partially worried about the challenging storyline and the wide room for error the adaptation could make. Thankfully, I was quickly proven wrong by the amazing producers and workers.

My worries faded on whether the live action would be successful or not after the creator of One Piece, Eiichiro Oda himself, was largely involved in the project. In addition, Oda met the actor who played Luffy, Inaki Godoy, and gave him a straw-hat as a symbol of respect and admiration for how much the actor looks like his character. Though the episodes were modified, the story stayed true to its roots and maintained its foolish yet firm spirit.  This could be why the show became the #1 streamed show on Netflix in 84 countries, beating both “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday” in its streaming weekend.

Some worried it would be difficult for the actors to portray the characters given how lively they are in the animated series, yet they went above and beyond to succeed. For example, Inaki Godoy who plays the main character Luffy, trained in martial arts to manage the numerous air stunts he had to accomplish. Mackenyu Maeda, who plays Luffy’s first mate Zoro, was trained in swordsmanship to play his character. Taz Skylar, who plays Sanji the chef, practiced cooking and was trained in leg combat since his character fights with mostly kicks. Emily Rudd, who plays the navigator Nami, was trained to use a staff to fight. Finally, Jacob Gibson, who plays the sharpshooter Usopp, learned how to use a slingshot as his weapon, as his character uses a slingshot for combat. All of this was possible thanks to the determination of the cast and the help of stunt coordinators.

The live action not only made an impact on those who watched the anime, but also on those who were not fond of the series in the first place. Many picked up the series after watching the live action which goes to show the series’ large impact.  This live action show was one of the most expensive TV shows made on Netflix. Because the series is composed of eight episodes, they spent a total of $144 million dollars on this production. One could say the budget was well used. A great example are the sets they created, like “Baratie”, “Syrup Village”, and “Arlong Park”; all life-sized sets with large ships, restaurants, and village that were part of the animated series.

Each episode spanned from 40 minutes to an hour in length and the series covered the first 61 episodes of the animated series. The special effects for the rubber powers of the main character were the most daunting part of the series for the creators, especially since anime live actions are known for low quality special effects. Despite this, the special effects received good feedback from viewers, and the accuracy of the fictional creatures is an impressive feat.

The question on everyone’s mind is; will there be multiple seasons? This is difficult to ensure, since the live action series introduced plot points and characters from the original series earlier than expected.  However, it would not be far-fetched to say that there is a season two in the works given the success of season one.

Overall, the One Piece live action was a considerable surprise for all viewers including me. The storyline achieved what it was set out to do, which was making me feel nostalgic and satisfied with the execution of the story. The diversity of the cast added to its appeal, and the actors embodied their assigned characters effectively. The music choices and action sequences were executed fluently and despite the small number of episodes aired, it was a successful series. I would give it an 8/10!