Stream It Or Skip It: ‘One Piece’ on Netflix, an Enjoyably Wacky Live-Action Version of a Beloved Manga/Anime Series

Netfllix’s latest anime-to-live-action adaptation is One Piece, which brings creator Eiichiro Oda’s wildly popular, long-running manga to CGI-enhanced life. The history of this IP is one of relentlessness: The comics number a whopping 100-plus volumes (and counting), and have been adapted as an anime TV series, to the tune of more than 1,000 episodes, which began airing in 1999. So for any newbs looking to dip their toe into this swashbuckling pirate/fantasy/sci-fi epic, hey, good luck! Or you could start with this new series, numbering a far-more-digestible eight hour-long episodes, the first of which illustrates both the positives and negatives of translating an over-the-top aesthetic to live action.

ONE PIECE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An illustrated map morphs into a live-action shot of boats moored in a harbor, as Ian McShane (!) narrates, “This… is a world… of pirates!”

The Gist: TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO. The notorious, diabolically mustached pirate Gold Roger is hauled out in front of everyone and executed – but not before he declares that he’s hidden a great treasure somewhere, a great treasure hereby known as One Piece. That treasure is so great, the masses barely hang around to see him get speared to death – they immediately run off to find his big booty, which kicked off an age of piracy the likes of which you’ve never seen, baby. Consider the premise established!

PRESENT DAY: A lonely boy named Monkey D. Luffy (Inaki Godoy) establishes himself as possibly certifiably insane as he talks to a seagull wearing a pirate hat and climbs into a barrel to float aimlessly in the sea after his miniscule vessel sinks. He’s picked up by a pirate ship, where he befriends a hapless bespectacled scaredycat named Koby (Morgan Davies), who’s the pessimist to Luffy’s eternal optimist. Luffy shares how he dreams of finding the One Piece and becoming king of the pirates – except he’s a good guy, not a skeevy killer like most pirates. We’re privy to a flashback in which nice pirates take Luffy under their wings; he also eats a gum gum fruit that turns his body into rubber, rendering him all stretchy like Plastic Man, a “skill” that comes in handy when he needs to defeat the scummy pirate who lords over Koby, in one of the episodes many fight sequences.

Luffy and Koby disembark at a base run by Marines under the thumb of an evil maniac, Captain Morgan (Langley Kirkwood), who’s hilarious because he has an axe for a hand and is nicknamed “Axe-Hand,” and because he has a big metal lower jaw, and because, you know, “Captain Morgan.” Here, the goal is for Luffy to acquire a map and a ship and a crew, even though he has only the loosey-gooseyest not-really-a-plan on how to do that; this is just how he does everything, and he manages to get by with his smile intact. Koby, meanwhile, wants to become, like, the only Marine who isn’t an asshole and actually intends to help people. 

Luffy’s time at the Marine HQ soon finds him teaming up with reluctant allies: One is Nami (Emily Rudd of Fear Street), a vagabond thief who’s skilled with a bo staff, and happens to be after the very same map as Luffy. The other is Roronoa Zoro (Mackenyu, son of Sonny Chiba!), a pirate hunter who carries three swords, and you don’t want to know how he carries the third one into battle (OK, he holds it in his mouth). This motley trio will become core members of the Straw Hat Pirates, named after Luffy’s signature headwear, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because Zoro and Nami are loner-types who repeatedly correct Luffy when he refers to them as his “crew.” They tangle with Axe-Hand and his foppish son Helmeppo (Aidan Scott), and manage to escape with all appendages and roguish attitudes intact. Then we briefly meet a couple of apparent villains with searing glares and/or laughs that make us question their sanity. To be continued, of course!

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Unavoidable comparison: Cowboy Bebop and the feature film Death Note were notorious anime-adaptation flops for Netflix. Maybe they got it right this time? 

Our Take: So far, so halfway-decent. One Piece fans may find some assurance in Oda giving his nod of approval for the final product, which, from the look of it, seems to have benefitted from Netflix’s deep coffers. It’s not a seamless transition from manga/anime to live action (point-of-reference-wise, 2017’s Ghost in the Shell got the visuals right, if not much else), but it’s consistent in its cheery-goofy-bright tone and aesthetic, maintaining a cartoonishness that doesn’t always translate well, but is nevertheless entertaining. Luffy’s rubber-bod will always be, well, a stretch, but Godoy sells it with his you’ll-find-I’m-full-of-surprises, wide-eyed, impish take on the character – a prime example of an inspired performance transcending the limitations of nutty visual effects.

Godoy sets the tone well for the series; as aesthetically loony as it can be, the first episode establishes a winning character dynamic that one can foresee reverberating throughout the series. Luffy is a won’t-take-no-for-an-answer type who doesn’t try to inspire others – he’s just inspiring in his optimism. Koby shakes off his self-doubt in his presence, and it’s pretty clear that Luffy will soon win over Zoro and Kami, whose pragmatism will yin out his yang. This is what worked well for a One Piece newcomer like myself. Will diehards embrace the inevitable tweaks in translation and the plentiful and entertaining, if not always memorable, blasts of frantic action? I think they might. (They surely get their moments of that valuable 21st-century currency: fan service.) If it’s not an audacious series launch, it’s at least a rock-solid one.

Sex and Skin: Helmeppo shows off his bare assets – rear, not frontal – while posing naked in front of a mirror with his sword.

Parting Shot: Buggy the evil clown pirate (Jeff Ward) leans in for a maniacal cackle, in closeup.

Sleeper Star: Scott draws the debut episode’s biggest laughs, playing a failson who adheres to all the traits of the type: Boastful vanity covering up his many neurotic insecurities and lack of potent fighting skill.

Most Pilot-y Line: Nami sardonically drops the series’ thesis statement: “Every idiot dreams of finding the One Piece.”

Our Call: Let’s split a hair: This version of One Piece is off the wall without being over the top, a highly necessary distinction illustrating that it’s far more watchable than not. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.