Netflix’sOne Piecehas done an impressive job of bringing the world created by Eiichiro Oda to live-action, but the trickiest characters and storylines from the manga are yet to come.One Piecewas never considered an easy anime to adapt to other media, which is why it was arguably surprising that the Netflix series worked so well.Hollywood’s previous live-action anime adaptationshad been mostly disappointing, butOne Pieceseason 1managed to both honor the source material and tell a story that new fans could connect with even if they weren’t familiar with the anime.
One Piece, as with most long-running shonen properties, becomes weirder and more fantastical as it goes on. The firstOne Piecesaga,East Blue barely scratches the potential and the complexity of that world.As pointed out by Nami in the first season of the live-action series, the Grand Line is where the bigger treasures and pirates can be found.One Pieceseason 2is heading to a whole new world as Luffy and the Straw Hats enter the Grand Line, and they will run into some pretty unusual characters.
One Piece’s Characters Will Become Increasingly More Difficult To Portray In Live-Action
One Piece Has Giants, Mermaids, Cyborgs, Zombies, And More
From giants and cyborgs to fish-men and mermaids, the world ofOne Pieceseems to know no bounds and welcomes the most different types of characters. Whereas some anime series have a very “simple” worldbuilding,One Piecetakes place in such a unique world that is impossible to predict what or who the Straw Hats will meet next.One Pieceseason 1 already had to portray some challenging characters, including but not limited to Arlong and the rest of his fish-men, but things will only get more difficult as the show goes on.
Lera Abova
Miss All Sunday
For example, looking atOne Pieceseason 2 only, the series will now include a CG character that becomes as important to the story as the original Straw Hats – Tony Tony Chopper. VirtuallyeveryOne Piecesaga from this point onward will include at least a few characters who will need either visual effects or clever makeup and prostheticsto be created, with some examples being Franky, Tom, Jaguar D. Saul, Oars, Brook, Gecko Moria, and Kuma. Each of those characters will bring a different challenge for the show in terms of both design and execution.
One Piece Live-Action Chopper Suggests The Netflix Show Won’t Cut Corners
The First Look At Chopper Looks Incredibly Promising
The first look atChopper inOne Pieceseason 2does not reveal too much, but it at least confirms that the Netflix show will not cut corners with such an important character. Ever since a live-actionOne Pieceshow was announced,those familiar with the anime had been speculating how the series was going to portray Chopper.Some even argued that the best way to do Chopper in live-action would be to have his human form be played by an actual human combined with reindeer prosthetics to avoid the challenges of a CG character.
Netflix has yet to reveal who will play Chopper inOne Pieceseason 2.
However, it is now confirmed thatChopper will be a CG character, although puppets and other filmmaking tricks will likely be used as well. Netflix’sOne Piececommitting to portray Chopper as accurately as possible is great news not only for season 2 but for the future of the show. Chopper is very important, but he is just one of manyOne Piececharacters that will require a lot of work to be brought to live-action. I cannot wait to see what future Straw Hats such as Franky, Brook, and Jinbe will look like in the Netflix series.
Why Getting One Piece’s Character Designs Right In Live-Action Is So Important
One Piece’s World Hides A Lot Of Secrets That Are Important To The Story
One Piece’s worldbuilding is one of the best things about the story. Given that the very premise of the manga is that Luffy has to go from island to island as he crosses the world in search ofthe One Piece, we never know what the next saga will bring.Each corner of theOne Pieceworld hides a piece of to puzzlethat is the story created by Oda, and that includes how the characters are designed. This is why getting tricky characters like Franky or Gecko Moria right in live-action without cutting corners is so important.
One Piece’s Final Treasure: Where Is It & How To Find It, Explained
The former Pirate King teased the world to find the ultimate treasure, the One Piece, and this is precisely how Luffy’s Straw Hat crew can find it.
Of course, a live-action TV show has many limitations that an anime series does not. Netflix’sOne Pieceunderstandably has to make changes to the source material, both in terms of visuals and pacing. For example, the Arlong Park fight in season 1 was significantly shorter than in the anime and didn’t include certain moments but was still fun to watch. Likewise, Don Krieg only made a cameo in season 1 and was replaced by Arlong during the Baratie episodes. Those changes were justifiable, andOne Piecewill hopefully continue to find this balance in future seasons.
One Piece
Cast
One Piece follows young pirate Monkey D. Luffy and his diverse crew as they embark on a daring quest for treasure. Released in 2023, the film brings the adventurous world of the popular manga to life, capturing Luffy’s relentless pursuit of the legendary One Piece treasure.
