Culture news The One Piece prequel like you’ve never seen it: Netflix gives fans a nice gift
One Piece has been everywhere for months and it’s not going to stop now. After the successful live action series, Netflix recently offered fans another quality adaptation. The world-famous mangaka Eiichiro Oda still has many things to delve into.
In September 2023, Netflix adapted the first part of One Piece entitled “East Blue Saga” into live action. While live action adaptations from anime or manga often scared fans away (Dragonball Evolution for those who remember it…), the streaming platform surprised everyone by offering eight quality episodes that made honor the original material. And while the majority were satisfied with the work provided, Netflix decided to give its subscribers another taste of One Piece by adapting, for the first time, a story by Eiichiro Oda written before One Piece. Be careful, banger in sight !
Ryuma, the legendary hero
Indeed, before writing One Piece and like many mangakas at the start of their career, Oda published short stories of a few pages. In a collection called Wanted!, we can find these five stories set in western and pirate universes. It is among them that we discover Monsters, the most famous story of the five. It introduces the character of Ryuma Shimotsuki, who will appear as a ghost in the Thriller Bark arc, and he is a legendary samurai. He is taken in by a young woman in a village terrorized by the presence of an immense dragon. After many adventures, the swordsman manages to cut the dragon (almost in two), and his legend will remain in the annals, including in One Piece. This adaptation was released on January 12 and received many rave reviews. And as the saying goes, when there’s more there’s more, Netflix isn’t about to stop with One Piece…
One Piece galore
In addition to this unexpected adaptation, Netflix has announced numerous content around the cult manga. On the one hand, the Live action series will return for a season 2, but we will have to wait at least two years before seeing it on our screens. In terms of plot, this season should resume the Loguetown and Drum arcs and could conclude in apotheosis with the great war of Alabasta. We will therefore be able to see the characters of Robin and Chopper join the crew, as well as Princess Vivi who is of great importance to the Mugiwaras. But that’s not all, Netflix announced a few weeks ago the remake of the anime by the Wit studio. In charge of Spy x Family, this studio could give a second wind to the One Piece anime to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Titled The One Piece, the series currently has no release date.