It finally has happened after so many years…the curse that plagued Hollywood with its live-action adaptations of manga and anime has been broken! And it’s all because of a Netflix series that has adapted one of the most beloved properties of the millennium: One Piece.

Premiering on August 31, word spread that this is a series that did justice to the manga and anime series. Created by Eiichiro Oda, the series revolves around the Straw Hat Pirates, a crew formed by a very excited youngster named Monkey D. Luffy, who aspires to become the “king of the Pirates” by finding the One Piece, a treasure trove once belonging to the late Gol D. Roger.

Hollywood has had its share of failure of live-action adaptations of Japanese manga and anime properties. Dragonball Evolution should never be mentioned for one. Then there are others such as Ghost in the Shell and Knights of the Zodiac that failed to boost audience interest in their properties amongst others. And with good reason: the creators of the original properties were not directly involved in the adaptations. The same went with Netflix’s previous attempt at a live-action manga or anime, Cowboy Bebop, which was cancelled after one season.

Well, Netflix had learned their lesson. When they planned to adapt One Piece, Oda made it clear that he would have to be involved directly in the series or it wasn’t happening. After all, the manga is still ongoing after over 25 years with the first chapter premiering on July 22, 1997 in Jump Comics. In addition, publisher Shueisha would be involved in the series as well.

Showrunners Steven Maeda and Matt Owens, both of who are fans of the manga and anime adaptations, were excited that Oda would be involved. Going for the practical, massive sets of the ships and many locations involving the first saga of the story, “The East Blue Saga”, would be built from scratch in Cape Town, South Africa.

Casting is vital to a series to work as well as the series has one of the perfect ensembles in a series. Inaki Godoy brings his real-life personality to the role of Monkey D. Luffy with Mackenyu bringing his martial arts experience to the role of Roronoa Zoro, who aspires to be the “greatest swordsman on the seas”. Emily Rudd‘s Nami is a blunt navigator who tells it like it is no matter what. Jacob Gibson‘s Usopp is definitely the comic relief of the group Taz Skylar‘s Sanji couldn’t be more perfect thanks to the actor’s hard-working style of training in both taekwondo for nearly a year before production as well as learning cooking skills necessary for the character.

It should be noted that Mackenyu also has experience in live-action manga and anime. His performances include the roles of Yukihiro Enishi in Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, Scar in Fullmetal Alchemist: The Revenge of Scar and The Final Alchemy. He also was the lead in the failed adaptation of Saint Seiya, the aforementioned Knights of the Zodiac, which has gained a bit of a cult following not only due to his performance but the action scenes were hailed as quite good.

So how come One Piece did what other adaptations couldn’t do? Well, most importantly, with Oda’s involvement, it is clear that the creator of the property should be involved. There have been a few cases where a creator is being called upon or one was contacted but refused to let Hollywood adapt their property with good reason.

Michael Gracey, the director of The Greatest Showman, had been hired a few years back by Lionsgate to direct a live-action adaptation of the ninja action-comedy manga Naruto. Gracey, in 2018, in an interview with Collider, said he would not direct the movie without final approval of the script by Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of the property.

Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, was on TBS Radio in 2017 when he said that Warner Bros. Pictures had interest in adapting his tale of a teenager who is given the powers to become a “Soul Reaper” in a war against demons. However, when Warner Bros. gave their ideas on what they wanted (including a setting at a U.S. high school), Kubo declined to give them the rights to the property.

However, a live-action Japanese version of Bleach was released in 2018 and was given critical acclaim for its faithful adaptation of the property. After five years, the film sadly left Netflix with no known availability to stream. You can see my review of the film HERE.

So in conclusion, One Piece has done what many have failed to do in the past: make a Hollywood adaptation of a Japanese manga and anime property work! And it should be important that to make an adaptation work, get the creators of the original property involved…after all, you are talking about their “babies” and messing things up are not a good idea at all.

If you have Netflix, I recommend One Piece and you can see my video review right HERE.