The teaser trailer for Netflix’s live-action One Piece series was recently released, and to nobody’s surprise, it was met with a vast array of reactions from fans. The infamous live-action curse of Anime has afflicted various series in the past, time and time again. While it is important to stay hopeful, let’s look at 5 Issues that could ruin the One Piece live-action series.
5 Issues that could ruin the One Piece live-action series
5. Dialogue and Humor
This is part of an inevitable quirk when it comes to live-action adaptations. As much as fans would love it, it is impossible to recreate an anime in the live-action medium while adapting every dialogue, word for word.
Netflix will have to make some changes considering the language shift and these changes could make or break the show. Hints of these changes can already be seen in the trailer, with some of the jokes made by the characters sounding a little out of character.
4. Length of the Series
Another huge aspect of the series would be how it chooses to tackle One Piece’s length. While fans love to argue otherwise, the truth is, One Piece indeed is very long. However, the true issue lies in how they tackle each season rather than the overall length.
We can assume that the series would end somewhere before Drum Island since no one has been cast for Chopper yet. One possible solution would be using shorter and faster-paced fight sequences, which would eliminate most of the lag from the series.
3. Oda’s Foreshadowing
Oda loves to utilize the length of the series to hide and bury plot points across the story. This would play a key role in determining how true the Netflix series could stay to the source material since some creative liberties might direct the show astray.
The Netflix series would have to make sure that any decision that they make within the show wouldn’t change the overall course of the series. But since Oda was involved with the development, this might not be a huge issue.
2. Character Designs
Oda loves to draw and create characters with absurd designs, which might fit the theme of an anime, but not a live-action series.
We can already see that Netflix decided to skip Usopp’s nose and Sanji’s eyebrows, both of which are understandable choices. However, they’d have to deal with characters like Franky with utmost finesse to ensure that the show wouldn’t turn into a cosplay fest.
1. Devil Fruit Powers
While all the above factors are crucial for the success of the Netflix series, the way Devil Fruits are handled could single-handedly decide the fate of the series.
Devil Fruit powers play a very prominent role in the series, and given how crazy, bizarre, and varied they can be, Netflix would have to ensure that a proper budget is spent on CGI and that all powers synchronize well with their users. We saw a shot of Luffy using the Gum-Gum Pistol and the CGI looked satisfying, which is a good start.
Conclusion
Regardless of views and the type of expectations they hold, all One Piece fans are looking forward to witnessing Netflix’s Live action One Piece. There is only so much that one can discern from a short trailer, but so far it looks quite promising although it does have some quirkiness. The One Piece live-action series is set to release on August 31st, 2023.