Oda Gets Frank(y) About Netflix’s Live-Action One Piece
Netflix has this weird habit of taking beloved Japanese properties and turning them into bad American shows and movies. It’s something I wish they’d stop doing, but they try to get the original Japanese creators involved to some degree, whether it works or not. Their infamous Cowboy Bebop adaption did contain some input from Watanabe, who said the series was great prior to its premiere but sang a different tune months afterward, calling it a disappointment now.
So if One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda says something publicly about Netflix’s impending adaption of his long-running series, can we take it as true or not? We won’t know for sure until the show appears, but to his credit, Oda didn’t mince words when discussing his relationship to Netflix and the series’ production…
“I’ve been working with Tomorrow Studios and Netflix for quite some time now,” Oda said in a letter posted to Twitter. “Even though they understand each of the characters, we obviously come from very different cultures so, when it comes to entertainment, we have different codes, skill sets, and aims. Sometimes it could be frustrating for both sides. It felt like, ‘We’re all trying to get to the same place so how come we’re not on the same wavelength?’ There was even a time when I thought, ‘Is a foreign production even possible?!’”
The main problem is that One Piece is more of a CARTOON than most other cartoons from Japan, with giant mouths, bulging eyes, and “GUM GUM PISTOL” stretchy powers. You can’t make a “real” version of a world like this without changing everything about it.
However, Oda remains committed to the project and getting something he’s comfortable with, mainly for age reasons. “Considering my expected life span, I believe this is the last chance to bring One Piece to the entire world. If we’re going to do it, I want to be able to supervise things while I’m still active. That’s why I agreed to the live-action adaptation of One Piece back in 2016.”
Netflix has promised their version of One Piece will hit before 2023 is through, but Oda implied in the letter he has final approval, so…no one knows for sure. If you ask us, it can take its time.
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