For more than 25 years, the journey of Monkey D. Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates in search of legendary treasure has garnered countless hordes of fans of all generations around the world. But now Eiichirō Oda’s work will make its riskiest bet to date: a leap into real action. Will it break one piece with the curse of sad adaptations live action of successful manga/anime or will this project be added to such an infamous list?
Here we tell you everything we know so far about this production:
What is it about?
one piece has its origin in the eponymous manga by Eiichirō Oda, which began its serialization in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump in 1997. The Shūeisha publishing house has compiled the work in 106 volumes to date, being the best-selling manga in history with more than 516 million copies in circulation. Toei Animation (dragonball) is in charge of its anime adaptation with more than a thousand episodes and 15 movies since 1999.
Netflix provides the following synopsis of one piece:
“Monkey D. Luffy is a young adventurer who has longed for a free life for as long as he can remember. Luffy leaves his town and embarks on a dangerous adventure to find the mythical treasure called ‘One Piece’ and become the king of pirates. However, to achieve his mission, Luffy must assemble his ideal crew and find a ship to board. In it, he will search for treasure in all corners of the wide seas while fleeing from the Marines and outwitting his dangerous rivals at every turn ”.
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Production team and cast
The adaptation live action of one piece It is produced by the Japanese publisher Shueisha and Tomorrow Studiosthe same company behind the series live action of cowboy bebop. Steven Maeda (lost, The secret X files) and matt owens (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Luke cage) act as co-showrunners, writers and executive producers. Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios are also credited as executive producers, along with himself. Eiichiro Oda.
“We are not exaggerating when we say how involved they were [Oda-sensei] and his team in this series. They saw schematics, scripts, notes, cuts, ”explains Owens in Netflix’s press releases. “Sometimes he would see something and say, ‘I pictured it like this!’ Which was always amazing to hear. But if he saw something he had a question about, he didn’t hesitate to ask. He would explain to us what his original intention was, and the process became an ever-evolving conversation.”
The main cast is led by the Mexican Inaki Godoy (Cheer up Youth!; Who killed Sarah?) as Monkey D. Luffy; Mackenyu (Rurouni Kenshin: The Finale) as Roronoa Zoro; Emily Rudd (the street of terror) as Nami; Jacob Romero Gibson (Greenleaf) as Usopp and Taz Skylar (Villains) as Sanji.
The rest of the cast includes Peter Gadiot (Shanks), McKinley Belcher III (Arlong), Morgan Davies (Koby), Aidan Scott (Helmeppo), Vincent Regan (Garp), Jeff Ward (Buggy), Craig Fairbrass (Zeff), Langley Kirkwood as Morgan, Celeste Loots as Kaya, Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino as Alvida, Chioma Umeala as Nojiko, and Steven Ward as Dracule Mihawk.
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Eiichirō Oda’s message on the live action of one piece
On One Piece Day 2023, Eiichirō Oda reflected on the long journey to bring this live-action project to fruition, first announced in July 2017. He also shared his first impressions of the final product in a personalized letter written for fans.
“I bring you news about the adaptation live action from One Piece…
The teaser and trailer for the series have already been revealed, in addition to confirming that the premiere date will be August 31. And I want to highlight something: in this series we never lower the bar!
The festivities began! It has been very exciting to see the flurry of reactions every time there is news about One Piece. It’s amazing to think that this adaptation with flesh and blood actors was conceived 7 years ago! How will this world come to life? The effort has been enormous. The cast, wardrobe crew, and everyone who has worked on the design of this universe have gone out of their way to show things in a way that could only be achieved in a movie format. live-action. The script and the whole process of combining the ideas of so many people has been a holiday in itself.
I am sure that, after its premiere, some will comment that a character is missing, a scene or that there are small details other than the manga. But I know those comments will come from his love for One Piece, so I’ll try to enjoy even those comments. The story will span eight episodes and take us where you already know!
Even after filming ended, there were several scenes that he wanted to reshoot, as he felt they weren’t good enough to be included in the One Piece world. Then again, there were also some lines that, on paper, didn’t feel like Luffy to me. However, when I saw the recorded scenes, I thought: ‘they sound good when Iñaki says them as Luffy. In fact, they work great!’ (Iñaki is the actor who plays Luffy). Several things had to be changed to make this adaptation look realistic.
The production and crew are truly live-action pros, plus they’re super fans of One Piece. The more they know about the manga, the more easily they will notice all the passion they put into the adaptation.
It was last June that we made the final decision to go ahead and release the series. My editor, who gave his all to the project, even cried as he said, ‘it was such a long journey.’ Of course, we know that working this hard does not ensure success.
By now, I admire the production team and cast so much that I can’t wait for them to receive the recognition they deserve from the entire world. And if someone has a complaint, I will be by the side of the whole team to receive it!
Now, whatever your current feelings are, the premiere is still a month away, so I recommend you have some tea while you wait.”
Eiichiro Oda
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When does it premiere and where to see it? live action of one piece?
The eight episodes of the series live action of one piece will be available from August 31, 2023 in Netflix.
official poster
Trailer of live action of one piece (July 21, 2023)
anime series one piece is available on Netflix, Crunchyroll, HBO Max, and Pluto TV. For its part, Panini Manga publishes the print in Mexico.