by The Live Action One Piece Remake breaks the curse of anime adaptations. Every time an anime is turned into live action, the results are tragic. It's disrespectful to the source material, directed by people who don't watch the source material, and they cast actors who look nothing like the characters. Additionally, characters get race-bended. However, the live action version of One Piece is exceptional. It's something that people who have never read the manga or watched the anime will love. At the same time, it's something that fans of the source material will adore.
It manages to strike a balance between the casual audience and the obsessed fans.I also love the fact that they built sets in South Africa, actual cities instead of using CGI green screen sets. What makes this live action adaptation work is the fact that Oda, the writer of One Piece, was part of the creative process. Eiichiro Oda handpicked the actors who will play the characters. He is also involved in the scriptwriting process and ensured that everyone in the writing team are fans of the source material. Even though this live action series respects the source material, it's not a 100% copy of the source material.
They had to make changes because the original One Piece anime has 1,000 episodes. An episode of the live action series is like an abridged version of 10 episodes.Iñaki Godoy, the Mexican actor they hired to play Luffy, not only looks like the character but also embodies the character in real life, even though he's Mexican. Luffy is supposed to be Brazilian, but finding ethnic Brazilian actors can be challenging since most actors in Brazil are either white or black. To achieve the Native American look for Luffy, they hired a Mexican actor. Everyone in the cast resembles the characters from the pages of the manga and episodes of the anime. They reimagined it without insulting the source material.
Additionally, whatever changes they made are not insulting to the fans; instead, they improved the characters, which is a miracle. This is the first time I've seen an anime adaptation in live action that looks good. The costumes are also well-designed; they don't look like cosplayers. They aimed to strike a balance to make the costumes look good in real life. Some people may have complaints, but it has received 94% positive reviews from the audience and 80% positive reviews from critics. This could be Netflix's next big show after Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Squid Game."
