Will 'One Piece' Do Right By Its Source Material?

Monkey D. Luffy—ever heard of him? Well, he's the main character of a manga called One Piece, which is currently the number-one best-selling series in history. Surpassing over 516.5 million copies sold worldwide, the pirate adventure series's popularity—over the past 25 years, at least—is comparable to sales of the Harry Potter books, Dragon Ball Z, and even Superman.

So, when Netflix announced a live-action adaptation of the highly-celebrated story, the world took notice. After all, Netflix hasn't had an amazing critical reputation when it comes to previous projects in the anime genre, like Cowboy Bebop and Death Note. But One Piece, a wacky and comical adventure about a boy who wants to sail the seas and become "The King of the Pirates," may be a better fit.

The streamer recently proved that it could have some campy fun with Wednesday—and just like the celebrated choice of Jenna Ortega's Wednesday Addams, One Piece's casting also feel spot-on. At Netflix's recent Tudum event, the five main cast members introduced the world to the first official trailer for One Piece to rapturous applause. Newcomer Iñaki Godoy, who plays Luffy, spoke as loud as his character. Mackenyu, the son of legendary Japanese actor Sonny Chiba, felt ripped from the page as the silent swordsman Roronoa Zoro. Hell, they even constructed all the massive ships as real sets!

Despite an exciting trailer, which debuted Monday morning, the show still has many hurdles to overcome. Netflix plans to tackle the first 100 chapters of the series in just eight episodes, which is incredibly ambitious. Likewise, audiences are likely anxiously waiting to judge some of the more CGI-enhanced fights that detail various character's superpowers throughout the series. We're talking Pirates of the Caribbean-esque fish-men, anime finishing moves, and Luffy's famous Mr. Fantastic-like rubber body. We get a glimpse in the new trailer above, including some classic anime fighting move call outs.

According to One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, "numerous reshoots" were done until he felt like the show was "good enough to put out into the world." There were, "some lines that I thought didn't feel like Luffy on paper," Oda wrote in a note on Twitter, and "there were some things that had to be done to keep things from from looking too unnatural in live action." The series looks like it will not be close to a 1-to-1 adaptation, either, with Oda urging fans to "stop counting what you've lost" and just enjoy the adaptation. "Whatever feelings you choose to harbor in the meantime, it's still going to be a month," he continued. So, essentially: Quit your griping. Just wait.

We're hoping Netflix get it right when One Piece premieres on Netflix on August 31, 2023. Until then, check out the trailer above.

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