REVIEW: ‘One Piece’ Is Near Perfect

One Piece is a manga series that spans generations. Created, illustrated, and written by mangaka Eiichiro Oda, it’s the longest-running single series ever written and has the highest-selling title to boot. While the United States and Hollywood has an abysmal track record with live-action adaptations of Japanese animated or illustrated work, Japan itself makes a stunning number of quality live-actions that span genre and demographic. While I didn’t write off the One Piece Netflix live-action, it did have the weight of a legendary series that has inspired literal generations of readers to live up to. It’s a tall task, and one that would take not just writers or directors who are in love with Oda’s original story but also a cast that could bring the iconic Straw Hat Pirates to life with heart and care.

Amazingly enough, this Netflix original series has just that.

Created by Matt Owens and Steven Maeda, who also serve as series writers with Tom Hyndman, Ian Stokes, Tiffany Greshler, Laura Jacqmin, and Damani Johnson, One Piece picks up at the start of the story. Netflix’s One Piece follows Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy), a young adventurer whose lifelong dream has always been to become King of the Pirates. This goal is only achievable if he finds the legendary One Piece left behind by Gold Roger (Michael Dorman) that kick-started the Great Pirate Age.

Throughout the series, we follow present-day Luffy as he picks up friends across three distinct locations to form his pirate crew in order to get closer to finding the ultimate prize, getting his first bounty poster, and living his dream. Throughout all of that, Luffy must evade capture by the Marines, fight the bad kind of pirates, and unify his crew all at the same time.

His crew for this first season of the series includes the oringal Straw Hats, Zoro (Mackenyu), Nami (Emily Rudd), Usopp (Jacob Romero), and Sanji (Taz Skylar), with Koby (Morgan Davies) taking on a more prominent role through his friendship with Luffy from the Marine side. While the timeline between each recruitment is condensed to make the series work as are the locations in which they meet, each of the characters still has their individual moments that makes them stand out against each other, creating a cohesive crew with individual strengths.

One Piece doesn’t shy away from the absurdity of the source material but it cleverly uses emotional flashback sequences to the Straw Hats past to build emotional buy-in for the audience in a similar way that Oda has done in the source. The chaos that One Piece finds in its eccentric characters and fight sequences are always balanced against the humanity of the characters involved as they pursue their dreams. To only capture the wacky designs is to lose why the Straw Hats resonate with so many and was my primary fear going into this live-action adaptation.

While the unavoidable tonal shift that comes from moving action moments from animation to live action makes the series a tad more violent than the source material, One Piece captures the charisma and endearing determination of Oda’s series due to the cast. Our Straw Hat crew is lovable, empathetic, hilarious, and able to deliver on pirate action too. Every actor captures the heart of the Straw Hat they are bringing to life. Whether it’s through solid visual storytelling through their silhouettes of costumes taken from One Piece tankobon covers or embodying the temperament and emotions of the characters, everything, and I do mean everything, works.

As Monkey D. Luffy, Iñaki Godoy is our delight. His joy and his devotion to his friends is infectious. His voice, his mannerisms, and his ability to find chemistry with every character, either in the main cast or just spoken to in passing, is perfection. While his line delivery is endearing, especially with his accent, it’s the way in which he captures the small movements that Luffy is known for that makes him the perfect casting choice.

The way he approaches food, his quick to act mentality, and his moments of confusion that only come from absolute optimism are true to who Luffy is beyond just yelling “gum gum bazooka.” Not to mention Godoy’s comedic timing for both spoken and physical humor, which round out his physical ability to perform some rather intense stunt work during fight sequences. It’s rare for an actor to embody a role so assuredly that you can’t imagine someone else in it, but Godoy is Luffy.

Lightning has struck multiple times when it comes to the cast of One Piece on Netflix. While Godoy is Luffy, so too is Mackenyu Roronoa Zoro, both aesthetically and in his ability to deliver grizzled, deadpan humor. The first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates, Zoro and his three-sword technique could easily look silly. However, Mackenyu sells Zoro’s wandering and ability to fight with a sword in his mouth wonderfully. Mackenyu captures Zoro’s physicality, with the director and cinematography team working well to use his silhouette to showcase how they paid attention to manga panels and anime scenes.

Mackenyu is no stranger to anime live-actions, having stared in two Fullmetal Alchemist films, the most recent Kaiji adaptation, Tokyo Ghoul ‘S,’ and Rurouni Kenshin: Final Chapter Part I, just to name a few. This knowledge of embodying a character that began on the page isn’t a new concept for the actor, but it’s one he takes to the max with Zoro. Posture, gaze, everything is Roronoa Zoro in the same way that Godoy captures Luffy.

Mackenyu’s execution of fight choreography is unmatched. His attention to the movement of his body is a skill that takes time and care to craft. His arms match iconic Zoro poses, his switch from defense to offense is fluid, and Mackenyu embodies the power and drive that Zoro is known for. But it’s not just the action. Mackenyu’s comedic ability it fantastic and levels our Godoy’s joyous and raucous charm perfectly, just like we see with animated Luffy and Zoro.

That said, while Mackenyu and Godoy steal the Straw Hat show, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar also bring their characters to detailed life. Each actor demonstrates a clear love for the source material in a way that felt real as an anime fan in their promotional activities and posts prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which is still ongoing due to the AMPTP’s resistance to embrace workers’ rights. Thankfully, the connection they had on the promo circuit is wonderfully captured on screen with chemistry that captures the familial bond that grows quickly among the Straw Hats.

With One Piece, Netflix adds a series to the world of anime and manga live actions that’s worthy to stand with others that have come out of Japan, like Tokyo Revengers and the Rurouni Kenshin series of films. The series adapts what it needs to, making changes to the timeline and introducing characters and concepts from well after the Arlang Park Arc that it runs up to narratively. Despite those changes, it doesn’t lose the heart of Oda’s work.

The overall narrative is robust, with large moments still intact, particularly where the backgrounds of each Straw Hat is concerned. The changes facilitate telling Oda’s story in a new medium with each change lending to condensing around 45 episodes into an eight-episode series that is also laying the foundations for more seasons.

One of the changes to the series is how much time Nami gets to spend with Kaya. While the women of One Piece are all badasses from Nico Robin to Tashigi, the live action gets the chance to give Nami another female friendship outside her familial connection to her sister. Seeing Nami and Kaya get the chance to understand each other and see Nami’s own vulnerabilities through Kaya is a choice that only builds up both characters significantly. This choice allows Nami to not just be the big sister of the group and for Kaya to be more than just a romantic interest for Usopp. The change exemplifies how nearly every decision in One Piece manages to take the Netflix series in a direction that honors the long character journey’s it’s adapting without losing it’s pace.

While some tonal elements feel slightly off, the only real issue the series has is in its final episodes and how the team behind One Piece at Netflix decided to bring Arloang and his Fishmen to life. It’s true that the practical effects in One Piece are some of Netflix’s best. From the ship builds to the sets and attention to extreme detail in the fight choreography that uses dynamic line work instead of using 3D models, the practical magic in One Piece is superb. That said, the choice to use practical effects only for the Fishmen of Arlang Park is the series’ biggest flaw. The Fishmen in the source material are more fish than man and towering in stature. It’s their height and muscle mass that makes them an immediately intimidating foe for the Straw Hats and for the residents of Cocoyasi Villag. To lose that, the series loses its pivotal antagonists for the climactic final episodes.

The practical work on the Fishmen are odd choices, with their limbs not matching the thickness of their necks and the fight features becoming comical instead of intimidating. There has always been humor in how these pirates are presented, but Oda’s strength has been balancing humor against stakes to build tension. Here, it’s nearly lost, only saved by the fight choreography executed by Gogoy’s Luffy and primarily Sanji and Zoro as well.

The character designs of the Fishmen may be lacking but every other creature and person in the series jumps from the manga panels and feels realized. This includes the Lord of the Coast when he comes face to face with a young Luffy and Shanks, Buggy the Clown and his chop chop chaotic glory, Dracule Mihawk and his large sword and the way that the Den Den Mushi snail phones have been brought to life. For a series that knows when to use computer animation and when to use practical effects, the Fishmen choice is out of character for the entirety of the One Piece Netflix live-action series. This is also true for the visualization for Luffy’s Gum Gum fruit powers and how the series captures Captain Kuro’s quick movement too.

Even with that said, One Piece is a success that thrives because of its main cast and the fact that it has been carefully crafted to bring a beloved story to life, instead of just creating a series for the sake of it. Using the anime as a reference, fans will move through the beginning of the series up through the Arlang Park story arc, with a few narrative treats of what’s to come thrown in, including a Baroque Works nod and so much more that plots out the future for a One Piece Season 2.

One Piece is magical with clear reverence for the source material shown through the direction, set designs, the casting, the performances, just everything. One Piece is a surprising success for Netflix, and for the United States in general when it comes to creating a live-action version of a beloved Japanese animation and manga. This is not just astonishing because of the adaptation itself but because One Piece is a juggernaut in storytelling, the series meaning a lot to generations of fans. Netflix rises to that challenge with charisma and a love for Oda’s work. While it was clear the streamer’s last outing with Cowboy Bebop didn’t listen to Shinichiro Watanabe in the writing room, fans will see Oda’s fingerprints throughout One Piece. And Now, we know that we’ll get to see the Straw Hats sail again and see new faces join the crew as the Grand Line comes into view in Season 2.

One Piece is streaming now on Netflix.