One Piece Live-Action has elegantly won the fandom’s hearts, and fans can’t wait for Season 2 of One Piece Live-Action. Fans feel that One Piece has broken the curse of bad live-action films that have plagued us. From the actors to the CGI, One Piece is now trending at the top on Netflix. Thanks to Eiichiro Oda for his extensive engagement with the series and for providing fans with an incredible One Piece Live-Action experience.
Here Is An Exclusive Interview With Eiichiro Oda Discusses His Experience With One Piece Live-Action, Cast, And More About One Piece.
So what has made the Live Action of One Piece so unique compared to the other Live-Action series? Oda believes that he and his team did not have to deviate from the source material to produce the One Piece Live-Action. Instead, he feels that staying true to the original characteristics made fans like the One Piece live-action series.
A live-action adaptation of a manga doesn’t simply re-enact the source material on a one-to-one basis: It involves really thinking about what fans love about the characters, the dynamics among them — and being faithful to those elements. A good live-action show doesn’t have to change the story too much. The most important thing is whether the actors can reproduce the characters in a way that will satisfy the people who read the manga. I think we did it well, so I hope audiences will accept it.
Oda also discussed his main character, Monkey D. Luffy, who wishes to be King of the Pirates. He disclosed that he drew Luffy as he is now because Oda believed it would be easier for him to come up with the sketch whenever fans requested.
I knew I wanted to write a pirate manga, and just drew from instinct the kind of young boy I imagined in the role. As the adventure continued, I realized that various kinds of pirates would appear, so I decided to give Luffy a face that would be very easy to draw. Later, when I had to give autographs and needed to sketch Luffy, it was easy to do.
What defines the One Piece series from other shounen mangas? Eiichiro Oda thinks that many women in adventure mangas are underutilized despite having a lot of promise. This concept did not sit well with Oda, especially since these women had become damsels in distress, waiting for someone to save them, and he wanted to change this scenario. This is where Nami and Robin enter the picture.
There are many strong women in the world of “One Piece” — women with intelligence like Robin, or with abilities like Nami. There are even attractive and strong women among the enemy pirates. In the manga I read as a kid, there was always a point where the heroine existed just to be rescued. That didn’t sit well with me; I didn’t want to create a story about women being kidnapped and saved. I depict women who know how to fight for themselves and don’t need to be saved. If a moment comes where they’re overpowered, their shipmates will help them out, and vice versa.
Speaking of Iñaki Godoy, the actor who plays Monkey D. Luffy, Eiichiro Oda disclosed that the instant he met Iaki, he knew he was the right man for the role. He was also happy that Netflix had granted him complete creative control over the One Piece Live-Action, and he served as a “guard dog,” providing feedback and assistance to the production and actors.
I thought the biggest challenge was going to be finding somebody to play Luffy — I didn’t expect to find anyone quite like Iñaki Godoy. When I first created Luffy, I drew the most energetic child I could imagine: a normal child on the outside, but not at all normal on the inside. Iñaki was just like the person I drew; he felt absolutely natural. Before I saw the first cut of the show, a lot of my notes were based on how the manga Luffy would act. But after seeing Iñaki’s performance, I was able to shift gears and give notes on how the live-action Luffy should act.
Eiichiro Oda explains why there is a vast difference in dialogue between the One Piece Live-Action series and the One Piece manga. He intentionally cut out words from the manga to have more space for his drawings. However, in the series, he felt it was natural for the real-life actors to speak and express emotions through words. That is why the One Piece Live-Action series has more extensive dialogue than in the manga.
In a manga, the more dialogue you put in, the less space you have to draw, so I cut the words as much as possible. But when people actually talk, the conversations are different. In live-action dramas, there’s always a lot of dialogue. If the characters spoke in real life, their speeches would have the natural feel that’s in the scripts. I’m very happy about how that turned out.
Watch the live-action of One Piece streaming on Netflix.
