Series One Piece, adaptation signed Netflix, can it speak to beginners of this universe, who do not know Luffy and his crew at all? Is it worth a look, even for those who are not used to manga and anime? Our verdict on these questions (spoiler-free).
There is hardly a more famous manga — and more famous anime — than One Piece. Eiichido Ora’s work is known to everyone, whether you have already tried the adventure or not; whether you like manga or not. With the live action adaptation on Netflix, we may be tempted to get started. But, is the journey successful when, not knowing at all One Piece as an individual, do we have any positive preconceptions or particular expectations?
The Netflix series has the merit of picking up the story from the beginning. So, here’s a first lifeline: we don’t take anything along the way. The first episodes of the adaptation all of a origin story. We discover Luffy, a young man whose biggest dream is to become king of the pirates. Regular flashbacks take us back to his childhood — and explain the reason for his strange magical power.
Then Luffy, driven by his goal of building a crew and finding the greatest treasure (the “One Piece”), continues the encounters. The characters around him are therefore presented in this way: we discover their particularities, their character, as they themselves get to know each other.
It is clear that the Netflix adaptation has been designed to take everyone on board, including the most foreign neophytes to the world of One Piece. It remains to be seen whether the series itself is a hit, when we discover Luffy for the first time like this.
One Piece, is it worth watching?
The fans of One Piece many are validating this live action version on Netflix, as we can read on social networks. This is also the finding of our critic, who concludes that the series is successful as an adaptation, and even the first of its kind to be successful. The rather high Rotten Tomatoes score — 83% for critics, 94% for viewers — seems to confirm this.
If we enter One Piece as a beginner, without knowing the least of the world this universe, the journey can be disconcerting at first sight. It’s an offbeat, even totally crazy and wacky work, but which, in live action, seems despite everything to be rooted in reality. This slight shift disturbs, while proving quite exciting in the end: One Piece is a beautiful exotic surprise of humor and adventure.
It must be said that, in terms of artistic direction, it’s quite miraculous: from the costumes to the sets and special effects, it holds up well. And, we can always count on excellently choreographed fights, which, on the staging side, always manages to captivate. The entertainment is largely there – even if the series may seem a bit overexcited at times, with a childish side that will not be able to be unanimous.
The endearing galaxy of characters adds to the strengths of One Piece. We appreciate when the series takes a slight step aside on its wacky approach to sprinkle emotions – thanks to Nami and Usopp in particular. The crew’s relations are touching: we like to see this team forming before our eyes. This notion of team spirit is perhaps even what is at the heart of One Pieceand what makes you want to watch all the episodes of these maritime adventures the most.
The quality of the series as a whole, as an adaptation and as a voyage on the seas of piracy in a crazy world, is more than worth succumbing to curiosity to meet Luffy, Nami, Roronoa, Usopp and Sanji. In a way, by discovering the work through this adaptation, we understand better why manga and anime fans are precisely fans of these characters.
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