Netflix’s Live-Action One Piece Trailer Is Great, but We’re Still Concerned

I have been nervous ever since the announcement of a live-action One Piece adaptation many years ago. Live-action anime adaptations have an incredibly poor track record, and One Piece is, frankly, one of the weirdest choices for an adaptation, from the visual style, to what actually happens in the series.

Despite all of that, Netflix dropped the full-length trailer for its One Piece series, and the reception has been… positive? In fact, it actually looks pretty darn good.

The main cast has looked the part since their unveiling, and while I could spend time nitpicking about Sanji’s wig, they honestly look great, as does their selection of outfits we see in the trailer.

There are some key choices made here, like Buggy’s Chop-Chop ability being showcased in a darkened circus tent, and Arlong showing up at Baratie with a few members of his crew – well before the usually intended first encounter with the Straw Hats.

The changes are minor, and it’s too hard to tell what impact they’ll have on the flow of the story from just what we’ve seen in the trailer. But my personal, primary concern is what new fans will make of the One Piece world.

Don’t misunderstand me: I love One Piece. The world Eiichiro Oda has fleshed out is incredible, from its geography to its flora, fauna, and inhabitants: the whole thing, I love it. It’s also really weird. As a big One Piece fan it’s sometimes difficult to step back, but then a colleague watched the teaser trailer and asked me: “Gum Gum Pistol? Is this that ‘greatest story ever told’ you keep talking about?”

A scathing remark if I’ve received one, and I’ve taken a few in my time. Anime attack names aside, a live-action series like this is basically designed first and foremost to attract new fans to One Piece, and the secondary goal is to keep existing fans happy. With One Piece, this might be the most difficult line to tow.

In the trailer we see characters like Luffy, Garp, Gold Roger, Koby, and more. Koby, as one example, feels out of place, with his nerdy bright-pink hairdo.

But when we see Koby, they’re looking at a board of wanted poster, one of which features the star of the most controversial arc in whole series, Foxy.

Foxy looks ridiculous. Straight-up ridiculous, with the eyebrows looking more like they’re drawn on with mascara. It’s brilliant, honestly, because that sums up Foxy to a tee, but the transition from One Piece’s pastel anime world to this more gritty realism is just a bit jarring.

This becomes far more difficult to ignore when we see Arlong. Arlong is an intimidating Fishman, a humanoid that is capable of speech, but is naturally aquatic. He’s based on a shark, with a long serrated nose, and he’s built like a brick outhouse. The live-action version is decidedly more, well, slender, shall we say. Hey, still big, but human proportions arguably aren’t enough for Arlong.

His presence is intimidating and his voice grumbles oppressively – great stuff – but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that he’s wearing a leather pilot hat. Again, don’t misunderstand me, this is absolutely accurate to the original depiction of the character. But also? It’s weird. Why is this big fish wearing a pilot’s hat? Honestly, I don’t have an explanation for you. Oda likes to get real funky with his character designs.

That sense of style only gets funkier as the series progresses, and fans already know all too well that the goofiest-looking characters can often have the hardest-hitting stories to tell. But then we have Merry being snuck up on by the malicious Captain Kuro, and the scene looks great – brilliantly shot – but Merry is a sheep-man thing.

Honestly, this one isn’t even ever explained in the series: there is a race of animal-human hybrids (distinct from Fishmen), but Merry doesn’t actually appear to be one of them. Is he a person that just likes dressing like a sheep, complete with horns? I don’t know. I have zero explanation for you. It’s weird, I know, but it’s fine.

One Piece is fantastic, always has been and, unless Oda performs an almost unthinkable misstep at the end, always will be. The live-action series also gives me hope that a new generation of fans just might get into One Piece, just in time for the series to hurtle towards its final conclusion. But I’m also afraid that the distinctly weird style of the greatest story ever told might put off some viewers. If that’s you, hey, let me assure: it’s weird. It’s super weird. It’s also fantastic. Give One Piece a chance, just as I’m going to give this live-action series one.