Anime: Live Action ‘One Piece’ Netflix Series Sets Sail & Begins Filming
The Straw Hat Pirates are on their way to streaming as the live-action Netflix One Piece adaptation begins production.
Netflix’s next attempt to produce a live-action adaption of a popular anime is officially off the ground as One Piece begins filming.
Netflix One Piece
Executive producer, Steven Maeda as well as members of the cast appeared on Twitter this week in behind-the-scenes pictures of early production.
The cast includes Inaki Godoy as Monkey D. Luffy, Mackenyu as Zoro, Emily Rudd as Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji. A few key members of the crew are missing from this lineup. So the Netflix series will likely take place in the early parts of the manga. Netflix will be exclusively streaming this ten-episode series.
ONE PIECE is officially in production the road for Luffy to become the Pirate King has just begun pic.twitter.com/n2CzadWXh7
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) February 1, 2022
In addition to Steve Maeda, the team includes Tomorrow Studios (2021’s Cowboy Bebop), Marty Adelstein (Prison Break, Teen Wolf) as producer, Matt Owens (Agents of Shield, Luke Cage) as the show’s writer, and Eiichiro Oda himself as an executive producer.
It seems that One Piece creator, Oda, has been heavily involved with Netflix’s live-action One Piece adaptation since the beginning. In addition to his executive producer credit, Adelstein has discussed the series with Oda personally.
In what looks like an enthusiastic show of support, Oda designed special matching shirts for the main cast. Adelstein is confident that they are creating “a true One Piece” and an adaptation that is faithful to the source material.
The Day of the Beginning… pic.twitter.com/yvwy03874j
— Steven Maeda (@stevemaeda) January 31, 2022
At this point, it’s too early to know how the Netflix project will be. But so far, the team seems to be saying all the right things. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn’t have the best history when it comes to producing live-action takes on anime favorites. Cowboy Bebop‘s 2021 streaming series may have been the best possible live-action anime series we could have hoped for, and it didn’t make it past one season.
What is One Piece?
One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy in his quest to find the legendary “one-piece” treasure and become king of the pirates. Along the way, he collects a ship, crew members, friends, and rivals. Since the manga’s first issue in 1997, it has enjoyed a huge amount of popularity. It has inspired several tabletop games, including a One Piece CCG.
More than a thousand manga chapters and anime episodes each have sold millions of copies. In 2015, Oda set a Guinness World Record for “the most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author.”
We’re cautiously optimistic for the upcoming One Piece series. It’s easy to be wary where live-action anime and Netflix are involved. But the entire cast and team seem to love the series and make a quality show. And of course, Oda’s nod of approval makes it a little easier to hope One Piece could be great in live-action.
What is your favorite live-action anime? Are you looking forward to Netflix’s One Piece? Who would you cast for future and yet unannounced characters? Let us know in the comments!
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