Summary

  • Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, has an "overarching presence" on the show and all creative decisions go through him, even to the extent of reshooting scenes.
  • Oda's involvement in the live-action adaptation is seen as critical to delivering the show the way fans want it, and his blessing is highly sought after by the team.
  • Oda's involvement in the adaptation is different from his involvement in the anime, as he has a bigger presence and has a say in creative decisions that may challenge traditional TV practices.

With the source material being so close to his heart, creatives behind Netflix's live-action One Piece reveal the extent of Eiichiro Oda's involvement in the show. The Netflix title acts as an adaptation of Oda's beloved manga centered on young pirate Monkey D. Luffy as he builds a crew in search of the eponymous treasure to become the King of the Pirates. Iñaki Godoy leads the show's cast as Luffy alongside Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero Gibson, Taz Skylar, Vincent Regan, and Morgan Davies.

While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant for Emma Sullivan and Tessa Verfuss shared their insight into Oda's involvement in the live-action adaptation. The director and editor detailed the manga creator's "overarching presence" on the show, assuring that all creative decisions "went through Oda" and even recalling how certain scenes were reshot at his insistence. See what Sullivan and Verfuss explained below:

Emma Sullivan: Only as much [freedom] as Oda gave us, because everything went through Oda. For example, I had a scene where Kuina and young Zoro are fighting, and we shot that originally. Oda watched it, and he said, "I don't want the Kendo masks on. I want it reshot." So, we went back to Cape Town, and we shot it again. It was better, and it was good. Everything went through him. It's an incredibly creative IP, so you're constantly trying to do it justice, and you find the most beautiful visual way to tell his stories. But at the same time you have to go within the parameters of show.

Tessa Verfuss: And then, since Oda had this overarching presence over the whole thing, our team was all like, "Cool, we're feeling like we're in a good space. Let's get his , and do what we need to do to make him happy." Because, obviously, having his blessing is absolutely critical to delivering the show the way the fans want it done.

You're certainly holding your breath a little bit specifically for that step. I've worked with Netflix before, so getting up to their level was par for the course; it's just part of the process. You're used to the rhythm of that, and having the studio give notes. But [he has] this much bigger presence and bigger personality, even knowing that he's not a TV guy while we are TV people who make TV.

He's obviously been involved with anime, but this is his baby in a very different way. Some things might occur to us as a way of doing things, because this is how TV works, and he might have a comment that sort of throws that out the window. It’s like, "Okay, cool, let's put a different hat on here and give this another go." If we need to find something else in the footage, look at doing some things a slightly different way, or do another for him, then we would.

Editor's Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the show covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.

Oda's Involvement Is Already Paying Off For Netflix's One Piece

Inaki Godoy as Monkey D Luffy in Netflix's live-action One Piece remake

Oda's involvement with the live-action One Piece has been well-documented by this point in its development cycle, with the creator himself being very involved in the promotion of the adaptation. Sullivan's recollection above of having to reshoot Kuina and young Zoro's fight even lines up with a letter released by Oda in honor of the show's San Diego Comic-Con 2023 , in which he said he forced some scenes to be reshot as he felt they "weren't good enough." He recently also revealed some of his rules for the adaptation, namely that he wouldn't say anything about the show that wasn't true.

Early reactions for One Piece began rolling out a week ahead of its premiere, which were almost unanimously positive as journalists who watched the show early praised its faithfulness to its source material's story, as well as successfully capturing the scale of its fantasy world and fight scenes. This overwhelming praise has established further anticipation among longtime fans of the franchise for its impending premiere, a dramatic shift from the reservations had going into Netflix's Death Note and Cowboy Bebop adaptations.

With this anticipation, it will be interesting to see if One Piece can similarly prove to be a viewership success for the streamer. Unlike Cowboy Bebop, which had season 2 storylines already mapped out beforehand, there hasn't been any word from the creatives behind the new adaptation where they envision the show going next, potentially wanting to wait and see whether another season gets ordered, or if it suffers a similar fate to the previously canceled show. With over 1,000 manga chapters and anime episodes to date, one can hope Oda's involvement results in a similar longevity.

One Piece begins streaming on Netflix on August 31.