This review contains spoilers for One Piece Season 2.
When it comes to anime, it has been known that a curse has been lingering surrounding live-action adaptations. It wasn’t just exclusive to anime; video games also suffered the same curse, but video game adaptations have gotten better over the years. When Netflix originally announced they were doing a live-action adaptation of One Piece, there was so much worry, considering how the Death Note movie turned out for them.
Well, we were all wrong! Despite One Piece being an anime that’s so wacky and colourful and has the most insane character designs and powersets, Netflix and Tomorrow Studios proved that working closely with Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece, can make for the first good western live-action adaptation of an anime.
One Piece is one of the longest-running manga series in Shonen Jump, and there’s always the question of how far the live action can go before they’re forced to stop due to either budget restraints or casting issues. That’s something we shouldn’t think about now because Netflix’s One Piece is thriving and is currently doing well with the pacing. The first season covered the entirety of the East Blue saga aside from the Loguetown arc, which finds itself at the start of Season 2, while the rest of Season 2 adapts a good chunk of the Alabasta saga, leaving fans with a little something to be excited for with the upcoming season.
One Piece Season 2 sees the Straw Hats finally venturing “Into the Grand Line”, where danger and wonder await them at every turn. They’ll discover new islands, new enemies, allies and devil fruits, which will give Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and his crew a challenge.
The first three episodes of One Piece Season 2 are easily some of the show’s best work for various reasons. It’s still a show that allows newcomers to be introduced to the vast and epic world of One Piece, but showrunners Matt Owens and Joe Tracz ensure that there’s also something there for the hardcore fans who have been following the show for years. The first season highlighted how the show will have improvements from the manga series by having Koby (Morgan Davies) get bumped up to a supporting character when usually we only got updates about his Marine adventures through chapter covers of the manga.
Season 2 continues this but goes full force with how they continue to expand the world of One Piece by rearranging certain events and when they take place. It will lead some fans to be confused about why we are learning some things earlier, but I think it works massively in favour of the show and provides greater context to the story that’s taking place now rather than saving it for seasons down the line.
The early appearance of characters like Bartolomeo (Nahum Hughes), Sabo and Brook (Martial Batchamen) is a One Piece fan’s dream come to life. They’re not only the teases for the great future that’s ahead but also specifically the introduction of Bartolomeo and Brook works so well, as readers of the manga are already aware that although Bartolomeo appears post-timeskip for the first time, it’s known that he was present in Loguetown. To see the interaction between him and Luffy and to see for ourselves where his love and obsession for Luffy came from made for a delightful watch.
With Brook, we get a flashback that’s usually found later down the line where he’s officially introduced, but as it involves Crocus, Reverse Mountain and Laboon, it just made sense to include the bulk of the backstory here, as it connected better with the story being told. These changes and additions don’t only help set the live action apart from the manga and anime, but they truly make the world seem alive and a lot more grand.
The early mention of God Valley by Gold Roger (Michael Dorman) is also something that will go past viewers’ heads but surprise fans of the manga, but it’s Easter eggs like this which show that everyone working on the show is doing their absolute best to create the best One Piece viewing experience in live action that we could possibly have.
It’s not just a show being made by people who want to make money for the sake of it; One Piece is a show made by hardcore and dedicated fans with the close help of Eiichiro Oda, and that’s why it’s proving to be the success that it is, with Season 2 being a massive improvement over the first season.
It’s to be expected with the Straw Hats finally travelling to the Grand Line that One Piece Season 2 takes us on grander adventures with unbelievable fight sequences and some impressive visuals. We get the introduction of Baroque Works, who are a dangerous secret society of bounty hunters who work for the elusive Mr. 0 (Joe Manganiello). Their introduction brings along a new line of Devil Fruits that the Straw Hats have to deal with, from Miss Valentine (Jazzara Jaslyn) being able to change what she weighs to Mr. 5 (Camrus Johnson) turning any part of his body into an explosive. It finally provides a challenge for the Straw Hats but also puts the visuals to the test.
The two most important characters from Baroque Works that we’re introduced to this season are Miss Wednesday (Charithra Chandran) and Miss All Sunday (Lera Abova). With Miss Wednesday, we get to see how Luffy has a great eye for good-intentioned people that he can trust despite them not showcasing it at first. Charithra Chandran does a magnificent job as Miss Wednesday, packing in an emotional and powerful performance as we begin to learn more about her character’s background. It might be Iñaki Godoy’s gift as an actor, but they also have wonderful chemistry together, making you cheer them on as they take down their enemies.
The main highlight of One Piece is that Eiichiro Oda works closely with the production and approves every casting that takes place. It’s because of this that One Piece might have what might be one of the most accurate castings when it comes from comic book to live action. Lera Abova plays the mysterious but dangerous Miss All Sunday, and despite me already knowing everything there is to know about the character, it still feels like I’m left in the dark with how Abova portrays her.
The production design and costume design remain at a high-level standard. There’s detail in almost every aspect and area of One Piece, and the most important part is every location we get to visit feels real despite how fantastical it’s all made out to be. The costumes are impressive, and we even get some original designs which I wish were available for sale. Miss All Sunday has three outfits throughout the season, but their accuracy is almost scary with not only how good they look but also how they bring these characters to life, creating literal spitting images of their manga counterparts.
There’s not a moment where fight sequences looked bad, no matter how chaotic it got with the display of devil fruit abilities, but admittedly, there are a few areas where the visuals aren’t their best, and that’s with Laboon during the Reverse Mountain arc with any of the wide shots, which just made the whale look unfinished, and Dorry (Werner Coetser) and Brogy (Sean Murray), the two giants that they come across in Little Garden who look odd when onscreen with the Straw Hats. There’s another instance where the VFX isn’t up to scratch, but firstly, we must introduce the Straw Hats’ latest crew member.
One Piece Season 2 ends on the Drum Island arc, where we finally get to meet their newest addition to the team, Tony Tony Chopper (Mikaela Hoover), a reindeer-boy hybrid who ate the Human-Human fruit and has been studying to become a doctor. There was some initial worry about how this series was going to handle this character that’s an animal and also a very present part of the show, but without fail, they do a magnificent job in bringing Chopper into this world. He’s cute, has immense strength and is just someone you want to protect with your life.
The struggles arrive when Chopper transforms into his Heavy Point, which gives him more of a humanoid form. It’s horrifying, and unfortunately not in a positive light. While I think it’s intriguing that they’ve got Gavin Gomes to portray Heavy Point Chopper, it’s a distracting look from his other forms, which have a more cartoonish look to them, and the overall execution fails despite the initial idea being there.
With Chopper now a part of the crew, we got a quick glimpse of them interacting as a team, and it’s one of the strongest highlights of this show. Throughout the season, the crew have these fun interactions that highlight the relationships between the various crew members. It’s like watching a real family who fight over silly things, such as who killed a dinosaur, and also seeing them help each other when in need. The chemistry between everyone makes One Piece a show that just fills you with euphoria and makes you wish that it could continue forever.
One Piece Season 2 is a vast improvement from the first season that takes you further into the world, introducing you to new characters and enemies while also providing great teases for what’s to come in Season 3. There was some slight disappointment not getting to see certain scenes adapted or the absence of Miss Wednesday’s Karoo, but the dedication and overall love that gets put into this show completely makes up for the changes that are made to help make this show work in live-action. I got to witness Zoro take down 100 bounty hunters on screen; what more could I ask for as a fan of the series?
It’s clear that with each season, we’re going to see massive jumps in improvements, and for that alone, I can’t wait for Season 3 and to see characters like Miss All Sunday, Mr 0 and Miss Wednesday get a bigger spotlight, with some more iconic moments from the Straw Hat crew come to life. Netflix has provided One Piece with its own unique indent and has put the first two episodes in theatres. If that’s not enough to say that they believe in the IP and that it’s here to stay for a long time, then I don’t know what is.
