Inaki Godoy stars as Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece, the Netflix live-action adaption of the popular Japanese manga and anime franchise.
Netflix has a mixed track record when it comes to adapting beloved Japanese anime series into live action formats. I liked 2021’s Cowboy Bebop more than most diehard fans—just for the pitch-perfect casting alone, despite the fact that the fight choreography left a lot to be desired. It was certainly better than the live-action versions of Fullmetal Alchemist (another of my personal anime faves), but Netflix opted not to renew Cowboy Bebop. So we’ll never know if it would have worked out its issues, although the cameo appearance tacked onto the finale of a particularly grating version of Radical Ed didn’t bode well.
Given that checkered history, one could be forgiven for feelings of trepidation about the streaming platform’s forthcoming live-action series adaptation of One Piece, a hugely popular manga and anime series created by Eiichiro Oda. Who doesn’t love pirates? The first trailer debuted at San Diego Comic-Con, and honestly, the live-action series looks great. Then again, so did the trailers for Cowboy Bebop.
The original One Piece manga debuted in 1997, following the adventures of one Monkey D. Luffy, who heads a motley crew called the Straw Hat Pirates. There’s swordsman Roronoa Zoro, thief and navigator Nami, sniper and compulsive liar Usopp, and a cook named Sanji. They’re searching for the legendary One Piece, a mythical treasure that would make anyone who possesses it King of the Pirates. Monkey wants to be the Pirate King, but so do a host of other pirates with their own ships and crews.
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