Thank God for Live Action One Piece

Look, I had no intention of watching this show. I had heard about One Piece all my life - literally, since the manga came out before I was even born - but it never seemed interesting to me. Even when I was in my high school’s anime club during the geekiest time of my life, I was much more interested in “girly” shoujo stories or more artistic content and never bothered myself with shonen since I was under the impression that it would only ever appeal to boys. Years later, though, I met my partner who is unfortunately obsessed with the One Piece anime and constantly wanted me to watch it with him… all 1000+ episodes.

Yeah, no thanks. But when Netflix’s live-action version came out with only eight episodes, I didn’t have an excuse anymore, which is why I am overjoyed to say that despite my fears, the show was actually really entertaining. What exactly makes the show such an enjoyable watch is hard to pin down, but overall, I’d say it comes down to good casting choices, a well-balanced story, and a campiness that society has been missing for far too long.

One of the best parts of One Piece is its actors, who seem truly passionate about bringing the series to life. Iñaki Godoy, for example, who plays Luffy, discussed in an interview how he felt that his job as Luffy was to embody fun, bringing that energy whether or not he was on camera by blasting music and dancing with the cast and crew. It's no surprise, then, that he was chosen in part for making One Piece’s creator, Eiichiro Oda, laugh with his audition - he has the perfect attitude for the part. It’s not just him, of course. Emily Rudd, who plays Nami, grew up watching anime and clearly brought her love for the medium to her performance as well, and there are fanmade videos about how the rest of the main cast embody their characters too. The overall diversity of the cast is also worthy of praise, despite the really uncomfortable depiction of the fish-men. Most importantly, though, the cast has amazing chemistry which translates onto the screen and really brings the heart of the story - the Straw Hat crew and their relationships - to life.

Those relationships and that story are, of course, another highlight that made One Piece so enjoyable to watch. While I can’t compare it to the anime, only having heard that the original is much longer and in-depth, the show still managed to tell a well-rounded and complete story with surprisingly good pacing given how much ground it has to cover. The story isn’t just pure fun as I originally expected - it has plenty of moments that are touching and even some that are a little bit traumatising. I won’t spoil anything, but let’s just say there's one moment in particular that left me feeling queasy even though the show never has explicit gore and limits itself to cartoon violence most of the time. The script neither rushes itself nor lingers, giving just the right amount of time to both action scenes and character development and exploration, creating a satisfying balance that lets the audience have fun without feeling meaningless.

Unexpectedly, however, what I enjoy most about One Piece was just how campy it let itself be. While the cast and story are what make the show worth watching, the campy fun is what made the show really stand out. The show features crazy superpowers brought to life by amazing special effects and a myriad of bizzaro villains, among them a man who is also somehow a cat, a shark-man, and a sexy swordsman who is Catholic? Or maybe a vampire? Who knows. In any case, the show is chock full of ridiculousness, and yet everything is played completely straight. Nowadays, DC and Marvel movies strive to be gritty, dark, and edgy, with a few exceptions, like Thor: Ragnarok and Guardians of the Galaxy. Given its willingness to be silly, then, One Piece stands out, and I can only hope that it will inspire Western media adaptations to stop taking themselves so seriously and lean into the innocent fun side of comics, especially since One Piece proves that this approach doesn’t imply a meaningless story.

Altogether, the show is entertaining and has a decently inspiring message. I would even recommend it to non-anime fans for the punchy and moving story it tells so well. The main complaints One Piece has gotten so far are basically that it isn’t a one-to-one replication of the anime and isn’t in Japanese, but if it did, what would be the point? It would just be the same story, and in that case, why wouldn't people just watch the anime. Godoy himself said that for all the respect he has for the original, it was never his goal to copy it; instead, the show takes inspiration from the anime and then becomes a unique work in its own right. So thank god for live-action One Piece - for helping me understand why my partner liked the original so much, for proving that a show can be fun and meaningful at the same time, and for showing that not all live-action anime adaptations are doomed.