It’s not the first time Netflix dares with live action adaptations of iconic animes. We already had an attempt at the time with its American version of ‘Death Note’ and also the ill-fated ‘Cowboy Bebop’, but without a doubt the platform is trying to hold on to that third time charm and is giving it all with its series from ‘One Piece’.
The good news for anime fans is that the Eichiro Ode is heavily involved in the production of this live-action adaptation. The ‘One Piece’ series for Netflix was confirmed back in January 2020, with Oda revealing that a 10-episode first season was in the works.
When does the journey start?
Production on the series began in the summer of 2020 in South Africa and has had its ups and downs, with some delays halting development. Filming finally started in February 2022 and in theory it will close next July, so there is still no specific filming date.
Taking into account this calendar, and that there is still post-production ahead, the safest thing is to point to a possible premiere in 2023 at the earliest.
meeting the crew
Little by little they have been getting to know the first names in the cast of ‘One Piece’including the main crew members. Inaki Godoy will play the protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, with taz skylar like sanji, Emily Rudd like Nami, Jacob Romero Gibson as Usopp, and Mackenyu like Roronoa Zoro.
meet the Straw Hats in Netflix’s live action ONE PIECE:
Inaki Godoy as Luffy pic.twitter.com/TJj24AOTr7
—Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) November 9, 2021
During the following months, more of the cast of the series continued to be revealed and we know that there will be Morgan Davis like Koby, Ilia Isorelys Paulino like Alvida, McKinley Belcher like Arlong, Jeff Ward like buggy, Vincent Regan like Garp and Aidan Scott like Helmeppo. It has also been confirmed to peter gadiot as Shanks, Sven Ruygrok as Cabaji, Len-Barry Simons as Chu, Richard Wright-Firth as Officer Ukkari, and Jean Henry as Fullbody.
As if that weren’t enough cast, six new cast members have been revealed during Netflix’s Geeked Week. Now we also know that we will have Langley Kirkwood as Captain Morgan, Celeste Loots as Kaya, Alexander Maniatis as Klahadore, Craig Fairbrass as Chef Zeff, Seteven Ward as Mihawk, and Chioma Umeala as Nojiko.
the first glimpses
A trailer for the series and an official reveal of the characterization of the characters have not yet been revealed, but Geeked Week has also given us a first look at the settings and some images of the series. For the filming of ‘One Piece’ they have built some huge real scenarios to reproduce several of the ships of the seriesincluding the going merry and the Miss Love Duck.
✔️ The Going Merry
✔️ Miss Love Duck
✔️ CheapTake a tour inside the massive sets of ONE PIECE, now in production #geekedweek pic.twitter.com/104rCQmXsj
—Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) June 6, 2022
Using anime as a map
Steven Maeda is the showrunner of the ‘One Piece’ series and has a long career in the industry, having participated in ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Lost’. Matt Owens (‘Agents of SHIELD’) will also be the main writer working alongside Maeda. It is not known to what extent Oda is involved in the development of the series, but it is known that he is credited as an executive producer and is one of the main promoters of the project.
In principle, the direction of the first episode of ‘One Piece’ will be borne by Marc Jobst, who has already directed for Netflix in ‘Daredevil’, ‘The Punisher’, and ‘The Witcher’. Yes ‘OnePiece’ It stays true to the tone of the anime, of course, it is a big change of record, but from the outset it is a fabulous resume.
In principle the first season points to 10 episodes but there are rumors that it could finally only have 8 chapters. It’s too early to get wet but of course there is plenty of material to make a series of several seasons.
How to start watching ‘One Piece’ from scratch
if start ‘OnePiece’ is still a pending task and the wait until the Netflix series is too long, it is the perfect time to try to catch up with the original anime series.
Beware, it is a monumental task because it has been broadcast for more than 20 years and It has more than 1000 chapters behind it. If you are not afraid of these figures and you are looking for a good marathon, ‘OnePiece’ is available in full on Crunchyroll.