One Piece

It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me happy. I feel like I spent my time cheerfully while enjoying a fantastic whimsical journey.

Standing ovation for all the casts (yes, all of them even the ones that performed while wearing full prosthetics), especially Inaki Godoy. A very talented young actor. The show literally would never work without him.

Amazing production with practical sets, finally.

But the best part of it was the story telling, all the backstories broke me, I adore these characters and I want to support them.

All I can say is give it a chance, an episode or two, if you open your mind this is a magical world of entertainment that we all love and adore.

Every live action anime that I've briefly seen has been nothing short of a disaster, and considering how many times Netflix tried to bring Anime's to life I thought One Piece was about to receive the same fate. But to my surprise I was wrong.

Just 3 episodes in you could tell the care the creators put into this show. The set designs, the action sequences, and even to my surprise the actors bring so much.

Iñaki Godoy as Luffy is to my surprise holding his own in this role. Luffy is such a love or hate character and imagining a live action for him seems like a recipe for disaster. But Godoy somehow is able to maintain the goofiness within the character without making him unbearable, and that deserves some applause. I think Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Morgan Davies, and Jacob Romero are great as well.

And as someone who's only watched the first 10-15 episodes of One Piece, I love the route they went with Buggy in episode 2 compared to the beginning of the Anime/Manga. Jeff Ward made him extremely terrifying in the show and the way they used the crowd as prisoners, forcing them to clap was slightly terrifying.

I wasn't even sure if they'd do the iconic Shanks moment early on for budget reasons, but they did it and it was actually great. Not to say everything is perfect because at times the show can get a little too cartoony for me, but my low expectations were blown away. I'm glad to see the awful live action anime stereotype take a hit and potentially make room for other people who aspire to bring an anime to life, and even with a very small chance, potentially do it justice like we saw here.

It's only season 1 and there is plenty of room for error, but I'm glad to say I've been proven wrong and I actually have hope for this adaptation.

Parenthetically I don't know anything about the source material in particular or anime in general.

The series is compulsively watchable for several reasons.

The first is the world-building. The setting is fantastical but the show makes it effortlessly understandable and relatable.

The second is the characters. The characters here are mostly tropes but they're so likeable and well-realized by the performers that you can't help getting invested in them.

The third is the sense of light-hearted positivity that pervades the series. It touches on some pretty dark issues but the show and its irrepressibly-optimistic protagonist always have a positive outlook. People's faith in one another is actually rewarded rather than being mocked or denigrated. Image that in 2023.

I'm a 60yo man & old school like the The Marine Admiral 😄. I've never heard of One Piece anime, in fact I'm not into anime at all. But this, this was a complete experience, it is bloody addictive.

The main characters optimism & acceptance of others pursuing their dreams regardless of whether or not he agrees with them or indeed they're the dreams of his enemies is a thing of beauty. The kids attitude to his fellow man is admirable & his attitude toward pursuing his own life should serve as a lesson to us all.

The other characters come together nicely too, each different but each with unique problems & gifts - they gel nicely.

I can't put my finger on why I loved this show, I just did. It's quirky, it's violent, it's gentle, it's about battles, friendships, dreams, courage, fear & loyalty, & all of it done meaningfully.

It's also beautiful to look at.

I hope there is a season 2. It deserves to continue.

Bravo 👏

This is bar none one of the best live-action adaptions to any animated source material I have ever seen. I have been a diehard One Piece fan since I was a preteen; it was one of the first manga I ever read and I still watch it to this day. Admittedly, when I first saw a remake was in the works and saw the promos for it, I could feel myself almost instinctively getting nauseous. I saw the characters and bauked at the mere aesthetics of the show, let alone the other details. My heart sank into a pit as I pleaded pitifully in my head, "Please, PLEASE don't touch this one. I still haven't recovered from the massacring of Avatar TLA, Dragonball Evolution (I know those weren't Netflix, but still), Death Note, AND FullMetal Alchemist, please don't destroy something else from my childhood just for the sake of playing pretend and trying to get subscriptions ."

But lo and behold, I watched the trailer for it and every previously described feeling of dread in me was evaporated by a sudden rush of euphoria and excitement. I had goosebumps on my goosebumps and my heart was in my throat. I immediately resubscribed to Netflix and began watching and MY-GOSH, guys.

I will restate that this is the best adaption of any source material I've ever seen. I will warn you the more "human" looking rendition of the characters takes some getting used to, but my gosh, it's all there - the humor, the action, the heart, and barely a single editorial or filmographic choice is wasted. You're not going to find a cut-by-cut (no pun intended, Zoro) rendition of the original story, but that actually works here and keeps things moving and working in a cohesive way.

For first time fans or devoted veterans like me, you could not ask for a better introduction to an anime series in this medium. Please give it a chance.