Television Netflix seems to be pouring all the money it doesn't have into its live action One Piece adaptation...

[EternallDarkness]

okay I enjoyed the hell out of this...and so of course knowing Netflix we'll find out it's been cancelled in a week or two 

[Ghost_MH]

5 hours ago, EternallDarkness said:

okay I enjoyed the hell out of this...and so of course knowing Netflix we'll find out it's been cancelled in a week or two 

 

The only reason I watched this was because there was no way for Netflix to cancel the series and leave me on an unresolved cliffhanger.

 

It'll be interesting to see if this gets a second season. I know it's very expensive, but what information we do have says it's been pretty successful. I see early reports saying it's #1 in a record number of countries.

[Massdriver]

I just watched the first episode. Aside from seeing parts of random anime episodes years ago, I had no prior experience going into it and had no idea what to expect.
 

I had a lot of fun. I connected with all the characters right away, the pacing seems right for a pirate adventure, and the fact it is an anime hasn’t made it suck so far. Count me in for more!

 

For clarification, I have no problem with good anime. What’s difficult to do is transpose it to live action, so I’m impressed this felt like a show worth continuing.  

[Keyser_Soze]

 

[TheLeon]

Just watched the first episode. Never paid much attention to One Piece because I’m never going to watch a 1000 episodes of an anime or read 100 volumes of a manga, but this is fun. 

[legend]

3 hours ago, TheLeon said:

Just watched the first episode. Never paid much attention to One Piece because I’m never going to watch a 1000 episodes of an anime or read 100 volumes of a manga, but this is fun. 

 

Same situation for me. Giving it a try since it feels more bounded. I'm enjoying it and at least considering trying the anime, but I still dunno about that length  

[Ghost_MH]

10 minutes ago, legend said:

Same situation for me. Giving it a try since it feels more bounded. I'm enjoying it and at least considering trying the anime, but I still dunno about that length  

 

Nobody should watch One Piece unmolested.

 

One Pace | The Definitive One Piece Viewing Experience

ONEPACE.NET

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One Pace is a fan project that recuts the One Piece anime in an endeavor to bring it more in line with the pacing of the original manga by Eiichiro Oda. The...

 

I like One Piece, but it is very overdone. Too many characters and often times too many things going on at once. Multiple plot lines is fine, but One Piece has never had good pacing. It's the number one reason I don't watch the anime. I read manga and then dip into the anime anytime I feel like seeing a particularly good scene or event in motion.

[legend]

18 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Nobody should watch One Piece unmolested.

 

One Pace | The Definitive One Piece Viewing Experience

ONEPACE.NET

---

One Pace is a fan project that recuts the One Piece anime in an endeavor to bring it more in line with the pacing of the original manga by Eiichiro Oda. The...

 

I like One Piece, but it is very overdone. Too many characters and often times too many things going on at once. Multiple plot lines is fine, but One Piece has never had good pacing. It's the number one reason I don't watch the anime. I read manga and then dip into the anime anytime I feel like seeing a particularly good scene or event in motion.

 

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely keep this mind if I decide I want to take the plunge!

[Bacon]

2 hours ago, legend said:

 

Thanks for the link! I'll definitely keep this mind if I decide I want to take the plunge!

One of the complaints I have seen about One Pace is that if you are diving in for the first time, it can be confusing or rushed and that One Pace is best for manga readers or people who just want to rewatch the show.

 

Still give it a shot tho maybe. Just wanted to mention it.

[Firewithin]

i finished a couple days ago and with almost no knowledge of the source other than the name i would say i actually enjoyed it.  kind of nice to see actual practical sets for a change (for the most part probably).  nami and zoro were easily the standouts 

[Greatoneshere]

As much as people are enjoying the live-action show, absolutely be prepared for the adaptation to never be finished (or they cut out major canonical arcs from the manga or something). I'm not really sure what the long term game plan is with cast members aging, etc. but I guess we'll see.

[Keyser_Soze]

1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said:

 I'm not really sure what the long term game plan is with cast members aging,

 

Anti-age CG

 

[Keyser_Soze]

I watched the first episode and I like it. As someone who has not read the manga or anime I can't really say too much about that but I do like how the show leans in to the absurdity of the source material rather than try to hide it from people.

 

I will say though it did have me eyeballing the anime (which is all on Netflix as well)

The biggest deterrent from me with one piece was always the art style but maybe everything else is cool enough to get past the look of the show.

[Firewithin]

S2 has been made official 

[TheLeon]

On 9/5/2023 at 12:19 PM, Greatoneshere said:

As much as people are enjoying the live-action show, absolutely be prepared for the adaptation to never be finished (or they cut out major canonical arcs from the manga or something). I'm not really sure what the long term game plan is with cast members aging, etc. but I guess we'll see.

I would hope they had some kind of plan for this that wasn’t “let’s just do this endless story again for decades or until Netflix cancels us lol”. Whether it’s highly abridged, or they branch off and tell their own story or whatever, it would be insane to me if they didn’t have some kind of plan for this show that involves a reasonable scope. What’s the longest run a Netflix show has had, 7 seasons? There’s no way they could expect to go longer than that. But hey, insane things happen all the time. What do I know?

[Ghost_MH]

1 hour ago, Firewithin said:

S2 has been made official 

 

 

5 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

I would hope they had some kind of plan for this that wasn’t “let’s just do this endless story again for decades or until Netflix cancels us lol”. Whether it’s highly abridged, or they branch off and tell their own story or whatever, it would be insane to me if they didn’t have some kind of plan for this show that involves a reasonable scope. What’s the longest run a Netflix show has had, 7 seasons? There’s no way they could expect to go longer than that. But hey, insane things happen all the time. What do I know?

 

They are 100% going to extend the timeline for the series. All the main cast is fairly young, but old enough that we aren't dealing with teens that will literally grow up. However, it should be very easy to say this is a much longer journey than it has been in the manga/anime. There's a lot of stuff that happens in One Office that happens in a very short timespan even if the story was told over years. There are some five real world years chunks of manga that cover like a week of time.

[silentbob]

I had never watched the anime and but gave the show a try and kinda loved it. Sure some stuff comes off looking a little cheap (metal jaw) but I really dug the character arcs/origins and the side characters that got them too today. Glad to see a 2nd season is coming, but we’re gonna be like +2 years away from that happening probably.

[Greatoneshere]

16 minutes ago, TheLeon said:

I would hope they had some kind of plan for this that wasn’t “let’s just do this endless story again for decades or until Netflix cancels us lol”. Whether it’s highly abridged, or they branch off and tell their own story or whatever, it would be insane to me if they didn’t have some kind of plan for this show that involves a reasonable scope. What’s the longest run a Netflix show has had, 7 seasons? There’s no way they could expect to go longer than that. But hey, insane things happen all the time. What do I know?

 

4 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

 

 

They are 100% going to extend the timeline for the series. All the main cast is fairly young, but old enough that we aren't dealing with teens that will literally grow up. However, it should be very easy to say this is a much longer journey than it has been in the manga/anime. There's a lot of stuff that happens in One Office that happens in a very short timespan even if the story was told over years. There are some five real world years chunks of manga that cover like a week of time.

 

Their website is usually click-bait, but ScreenRant broke it down and said it would require 14 seasons at the pace it adapted the manga/anime in season 1. However, the number could be even higher given the sheer amount of what happens in later arcs where there just is no fat to cut even if you combined and cut characters. I'm not saying the live-action show even needs to adapt the whole manga, but there's no way there's a plan to account for that this early on. I'm enjoying the live-action show so far, though I'm not far in, been distracted by other things to watch. And yeah the timespan will be interesting to take into account. I'm glad the show is solid but the earliest parts of One Piece are the easiest to adapt, I wonder how they'll adapt certain locations, etc.

[Ghost_MH]

13 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

Their website is usually click-bait, but ScreenRant broke it down and said it would require 14 seasons at the pace it adapted the manga/anime in season 1. However, the number could be even higher given the sheer amount of what happens in later arcs where there just is no fat to cut even if you combined and cut characters. I'm not saying the live-action show even needs to adapt the whole manga, but there's no way there's a plan to account for that this early on. I'm enjoying the live-action show so far, though I'm not far in, been distracted by other things to watch. And yeah the timespan will be interesting to take into account. I'm glad the show is solid but the earliest parts of One Piece are the easiest to adapt, I wonder how they'll adapt certain locations, etc.

 

I don't think we're going to see many characters get combined, but we certainly are going to see locations combined. Building out sets is expensive and I'm trucking locations in stores take up time. Also, I'm sure Garp having a larger role this early was partially to give these huge sets additional uses, so it makes sense for Netflix on both ends. Like they could totally delete Little Garden as a place in S2 and just move those events and characters elsewhere and nothing really gets lost while saving a ton of time having to introduce a new island.

[Greatoneshere]

20 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

I don't think we're going to see many characters get combined, but we certainly are going to see locations combined. Building out sets is expensive and I'm trucking locations in stores take up time. Also, I'm sure Garp having a larger role this early was partially to give these huge sets additional uses, so it makes sense for Netflix on both ends. Like they could totally delete Little Garden as a place in S2 and just move those events and characters elsewhere and nothing really gets lost while saving a ton of time having to introduce a new island.

 

Agreed, and I'd be totally good with that. I'm more curious how you'd even portray Skypeia? That'll require a budget, or you just make it look like everyone's walking on clouds I suppose could work too. Things like that or the Sea Kings or the weirder looking supporting characters I hope they find a way to find a balance like they seem to have with season 1.

[Ghost_MH]

13 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Agreed, and I'd be totally good with that. I'm more curious how you'd even portray Skypeia? That'll require a budget, or you just make it look like everyone's walking on clouds I suppose could work too. Things like that or the Sea Kings or the weirder looking supporting characters I hope they find a way to find a balance like they seem to have with season 1.

 

The most cost effective move while still being mostly practical would likely be head out to Bora Bora...

 

...delete water, insert clouds.

[Keyser_Soze]

9 hours ago, Ghost_MH said:

 Also, I'm sure Garp having a larger role this early was partially to give these huge sets additional uses, so it makes sense for Netflix on both ends.

 

They need an old scary white guy on the show otherwise viewers won't connect.

[Ghost_MH]

We already knew she was interested in the role, but it's still cool to see her make it official.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) • Instagram photos and videos

WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM

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111K likes, 1,407 comments - jamieleecurtis on September 22, 2023: "ONCE the STRIKE against the greed of the AMTPT is SETTLED with a FAIR...

 

Netflix would be stupid not to pull the trigger here. She'd be perfectly cast.

[Ghost_MH]

For those that haven't been keeping up, live action One Piece's show runner replied and said they always wanted her to have the role.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis’ Plea for ‘One Piece’ Role Leads to Response From Showrunner

WWW.HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM

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The star is angling to play Dr. Kureha on the Netflix live-action series that was promptly picked up for a second season.

 

Seems only scheduling conflicts can stop this from happening.

[johnny]

i’ve watched 6 episodes and i like it. only thing i don’t like are the flashbacks. 

[silentbob]

2 hours ago, johnny said:

i’ve watched 6 episodes and i like it. only thing i don’t like are the flashbacks. 

Funny, I really enjoyed the flashbacks and were sometimes the highlight of the episode for me. Glad you’re enjoying it 

[Keyser_Soze]

Yeah the flashbacks are much needed for character background and whatnot. I find them enjoyable as well.

[johnny]

i actually don’t think they’ve been necessary besides some of luffy’s 

[Keyser_Soze]

Without the backstories these characters have no depth.

 

Zoro would just be some jerk hot shot swordsman. Instead we are showed exactly why he's motivated and where he got his sword from.

Same goes for Nami as well.

 

Usopp's backstory wasn't super in depth so I don't think there's much to complain about there. But Sanji's was necessary as well I think. He and Zeff wouldn't be anyone in the story except cooks without a backstory.

[johnny]

idk i don’t care for them i feel like we can learn as we go 

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, johnny said:

idk i don’t care for them i feel like we can learn as we go 

 

It's a huge aspect of the manga and anime so they won't be going away.  One of the tropes of the show is the group gets to a new place, does a bunch of things while discovering what the situation currently is on the island/place, and then cutting to flashbacks to the backstories of the main characters of that island, friend and foe alike. Right now it's just of the main characters, but as the show's world expands (considerably) you'll be getting a lot of flashbacks. I'd say about 4-5 characters per arc get backstories that'll involve flashbacks. The live-action show may not go that way every time though.

[johnny]

18 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

It's a huge aspect of the manga and anime so they won't be going away.  One of the tropes of the show is the group gets to a new place, does a bunch of things while discovering what the situation currently is on the island/place, and then cutting to flashbacks to the backstories of the main characters of that island, friend and foe alike. Right now it's just of the main characters, but as the show's world expands (considerably) you'll be getting a lot of flashbacks.

yeah see i really like the part where they go to a new place and do a bunch of things 

[Greatoneshere]

49 minutes ago, johnny said:

yeah see i really like the part where they go to a new place and do a bunch of things 

 

Yes, that is frequently the best part is when they go around doing things without the context of the flashbacks yet, I'm with you. And then the end of the arc where you get the insane fight scenes. But the heart of the show is that it wears its emotions on its sleeve and the flashbacks are where they do that the most.

[Greatoneshere]

So I finally sat down to watch this in full this week and I'm finished. As someone who had absolutely no faith this could be pulled off, I have to say - they did it! This was good, even great at times. I thoroughly enjoyed it - I'll try to keep my review short.

 

What worked:

The casting was spot on, as was the chemistry between the young actors, they nailed it. In fact, this version of Usopp is far more tolerable (I actually like him here) vs. original Usopp. The direction, cinematography, etc. are all really well done, really nailing the tone of One Piece, which was my biggest worry. They have somehow made it in such a way as to not make everything seem fake and ludicrous while at the same time toning down the anime enough for live-action so you can take things seriously even when the CG is obvious. In fact, the CG's somewhat fake nature worked with the way they used it to heighten the magical realism of everything in the One Piece world. The music is such an important thing to nail for anime to live-action adaptations and the music in this fit the high spirited pirate-y tone of the original show, even using the One Piece theme rarely but appropriately, but amping it to bass beats to pump us up for the action scenes. Keeping all of the weird stuff; this was key as One Piece is such an imaginative and wild place so from the den den mushi's to the strange outfits and fighting styles and calling out your moves, I was glad to see all of this kept. It's mostly a good adaptation, they made sure to keep in all the drinking, partying, smoking and killing while balancing the tone well enough to also keep the show's heart on its sleeve and sell the idea of the power of friendship, etc. I was glad to see they kept people's character traits, but so far in subtle ways like Zoro always wanting a drink and getting lost, Sanji trying to flirt with women but always failing, Sanji and Zoro always butting heads, Usopp being a storyteller, etc.

 

What didn't work:

Very little didn't work, this adaptation is better than it has any right to be, but my biggest complaint is that while the anime tends to drag things out just a little too long, ironically on the flipside the live-action adaptation moves way too fast. It still works, but the anime does a better job of having a lot more character building scenes with the characters from each arc. Here, for instance, Luffy has one scene with Zeff, one scene with Sanji, and then the next scene with Zeff Luffy is in his face. This is ultimately what happens in the anime but we're at Baratie for far longer in the anime and these moments feel much more earned there whereas here they felt explained, but rushed. I get the show probably wants to speed through this early stuff since things pick up considerably after the Arlong Park arc but they need to slow things down a bit. I think 10 episodes instead of 8 would have made this work far better. You can't take 47 anime episodes and adapt them into 8 hours of live-action television, which adds up to about 24 anime length episodes. Taking 47 episodes and adapting it into 24 episodes, you're going to lose stuff. Losing stuff like Django I don't care about but rushing through both Baratie and moreso Arlong Park is a shame. I was pretty impressed with the action scenes but the Baratie not having a full blown battle and the Arlong fight barely being a fight just don't get close to matching the scale (small scale compared to later One Piece, but scale nonetheless) of the same fights in the anime (Mihawk slicing the boat in two and Garp throwing the canonball is the right kind of stuff). I assume some of this is due to season 1's budget, so I can forgive this. And lastly, I love they're keeping the weird stuff, including the costumes, but they need to up the quality of some of them as they seem fake-ish amongst the amazing sets and production design. A lot of anime to live-action productions have this problem.

 

TL;DR - season 1 gets an 8/10 from me. @Ghost_MH

[Keyser_Soze]

10 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

TL;DR - season 1 gets an 8/10 from me. @Ghost_MH

 

Nice short 14 page essay. But we agree on the score, maybe my opinion isn't so horrible after all.

 

Also, I went to the Dentist today and told him to watch this, only because I was talking about shark teeth.