The hit Japanese manga “One Piece” is coming to Netflix as a live-action series — a development that is both exciting and worrying for fans, who have seen a growing list of Hollywood adaptations meet with mixed success.
The world’s best-selling manga series has already been adapted into an anime TV series with over 900 episodes, chronicling the coming-of-age adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young pirate with a heart of gold . There are also 13 animated films, a “One Piece” video game, and merchandise.
Ready to give her verdict is Nina Oki, a gender and politics researcher at Tokyo’s Waseda University who has been a fan of “One Piece” since she was in elementary school. When he first appeared in Shōnen Jump magazine in 1997, he had read the manga created by Eiichiro Oda, and watched the animated show that followed shortly after.
“I know some people are concerned about what might happen with a Hollywood remake,” she said, noting that past American attempts to portray Japanese comics and animated works have at times proved disappointing.
The 2017 Netflix film adaptation of “Death Note”, a manga and anime about a book that can kill people, was widely criticized as a flop. In December 2021, Netflix canceled “Cowboy Bebop”, the live-action adaptation of the space western manga and anime of the same name, after only one season.
The cross-pollination of Hollywood and Japan has gone on for decades. The 1982 sci-fi film “Blade Runner” directed by Ridley Scott abounds in references to Japan, such as the image of a geisha on a screen.
In turn, the film influenced anime, including the “Blade Runner: Black Lotus” anime, which first aired in 2021.
Japanese pop culture expert Roland Kelts says this is a “wonderful moment for anime” due to streaming on platforms such as Netflix, which has helped make entertainment borderless.
The live-action “One Piece,” expected later this year, comes on the heels of the global success of “Demon Slayer,” another manga that made its debut in Shonen Jump and was adapted into a film and an anime. was adapted into a series that was picked up by Netflix.
In February, The Pokémon Company announced “Pokémon Concierge,” a stop-motion anime collaboration with Netflix. According to a 2021 Statista report, Pokémon is the world’s most valuable media franchise, with estimated sales of $100 billion. After Hello Kitty, the two Japanese products overtook Western products such as Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, and Star Wars. Hollywood live-action adaptations of other popular Japanese products — from Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 body-swap anime “Your Name” to the “Gundam” franchise of giant robots that began in 1979 — are also in progress.
Anime has lower production costs than live-action films, and computer-generated protagonists do not get sick or injured or make offensive remarks like real-life actors, making it a marketable medium, Kelts said. Japanamerica,” which documents the influence of Japanese pop culture in the United States.
“They are stylized and stateless characters. What I mean by that is that anime characters travel pretty well globally,” Kelts said. “Human celebrities don’t always travel so well.”
Established bestsellers offer the benefits of a built-in fanbase, but they also come with rigorous scrutiny. Some, such as “Ghost in the Shell”, have been criticized for “whitewashing” Asian origins. The 1995 animated film was made into Hollywood live-action in 2017 amid complaints about casting white American actor Scarlett Johansson as the lead character – though Asia largely stayed out of the debate.
The live-action “One Piece” will star Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy (“The Imperfects”) as Luffy — whose nationality is authentically a mystery — alongside American actors Emily Rudd (“The Romanoffs”) as well as Naomi and Japanese-American actor as Mackenue (“The Imperfects”). Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar,” “Fullmetal Alchemist: Final Transmutation”) as Roronoa Zoro.
The main character’s reclusive personality attracts more and more peers to join his quest throughout the story, evoking the kind of school, office or workplace environment people crave in modern society, fan Oki Said.
“Luffy is the leader we all want to be,” she said. “Luffy is a hero but not an extraordinary hero. He is one of us. He wants to be king of the pirates, but not so that he can rule, but so that everyone can be free.”