Pleasantly surprised by the Netflix live action adaptation of One Piece – and with Netflix’s meme-level reputation for horrific anime adaptations, that’s really saying something!
It’s not an easy anime to portray with the original’s outlandish action, slapstick comedy and sometimes bizarre character designs (compared to something much more grounded like Rurouni Kenshin’s five historical setting films), but I feel they landed on a palatable selection & blend of realism and fantastic.
They went for a more ‘Caribbean’ pirates feel with a mix of different races (makes sense e.g. with Yasopp & Usopp having curly hair) and shanty-ish background music, something which the anime doesn’t go for. The sets and locations feel real while still looking very reminiscent of the source material – Baratie feels like a classy restaurant inside and a Club Med hotel outside, Arlong Park feels like a pool party. The plot changes and rearranging are sensible without straying too far.
Plenty of easter eggs or foreshadowing for the fans, like young Mihawk witnessing Roger’s execution, the News Coo’s gear, or wanted posters of Bellamy and Foxy.
The casting is spot on too, with a grounded take on the exaggerated personalities of the manga/anime that still falls within the orbit of the originals – Luffy is much less hyperactive and childish than the original, while Zoro is suitably serious and stoic (all while his look keeps reminding me of Great Teacher Onizuka lol). Especially the side characters they could easily have done a slapdash interpretation of – like Coby, Helmeppo, Morgan, and Garp (with a gruff Scottish accent that somehow fits lol).
Overall worth a watch, just that fans shouldn’t expect a 100% direct conversion of the anime and it’ll be enjoyable enough – including for normies, who might find this a much more comprehensible introduction to the franchise than the anime.
THE SCOTTTCAST 