The live action series One Piece is finally released on Netflix and inevitably, not everything is like in the manga. Big changes have been made, some of which fans don’t like.
One Piece’s live action was one of the most anticipated series of the year. After years of waiting, that’s it, all eight episodes of season 1 were released on Netflix on August 31st. The first reviews were reassuring and fans can finally form their opinion on this colossal adaptation. However, it is impossible to be 100% faithful to the base material and that, the showrunners Matt Owens and Steven Maeda knew it. Changes therefore had to be made and the thinking heads justified their decision. Warning, the article contains quite minor spoilers on the history of the series.
Changes to Netflix’s One Piece series
Some of these changes are not very significant and go relatively unnoticed. For example, the exact moment Luffy meets Zoro and Nami isn’t quite the same as in the manga. In a similar vein, a few characters have undergone physical alterations. This is the case of Usopp and his long nose or Sanji with his very particular eyebrow. But these small changes do not seriously impact the story of One Piece. Maeda has also provided an explanation behind this choice. He didn’t want to give the impression of dealing with cartoons or cosplay.
I felt the nose was going to be unintentionally comical, that it was going to distract from the character. Same for Sanji’s eyebrow—his curled eyebrow—and we had a very heated debate about that. But in the end, we decided not to use the eyebrow in order to make the show more real, more grounded in reality.
Steven Maeda
That being said, big changes are to be noted and they have not gone down well with the fans. We note in particular that Don Krieg, the first real villain with whom Luffy rubs shoulders in the anime, is only there for a handful of minutes in the live action series. This decision was not taken without reason. Indeed, the idea was to introduce more quickly the character of Arlong, major antagonist of the story of Nami. Maeda and Owens wanted the fish-man to be the big piece of this season 1 of the One Piece series. A choice far from agreeing the entire One Piece community, but never mind, Eiichiro Oda gave his blessing.
We made the decision, and Oda gave us his blessing to bring Arlong to the Baratie to introduce him earlier than in the manga.
Season 2 already approaching?
Finally, there are two other changes. The first is about Vice Admiral Garp (spoiler alert). In the middle of the season, we are told that he is Luffy’s grandfather. In the manga, this revelation comes much later. For neophytes, this is nothing very serious. For some fans, this can be problematic. But we must not forget that an adaptation as substantial as that of One Piece must take liberties. The second applies to the anime’s narrators: Mahito Ohba for the original version and Bill Jenkins for the English version. They were replaced by Ian McShane.
The One Piece series is already an insane success. Thus, a season 2 seems inevitable, but for the moment, it is not in Netflix’s plans. On the contrary, the showrunner Maeda is not against the idea of stacking up for a sequel. After all, all that remains is to help yourself, since the script has already been written. If the second season does see the light of day, we can expect to meet some familiar faces. We think in particular of that of Chopper, Nico Robin or Smoker, the latter having been shown at the end of season 1.