Netflix is now all hands on deck with the promotion of its latest live action, “One Piece.” The new series will come out with high anticipation, considering the fact that manga and anime adaptations usually have a bad history and receive backlash when they are done by and for Western audiences. However, the streaming platform is not holding back on the premiere of the show and decided to put out the first trailer for the series.
The sneak-peak gives a little glimpse of what the One Piece live action will look like. The video shows protagonist Luffy, played by Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy, in an adventure that will bring TV screens the first arc of the beloved manga. The adaptation will show how the pirate crew was first put together, along Luffy’s elastic powers and his intrepid battles with the rest of the cast, including Emily Rudd as Nami, Mackenyu Arata as Zoro Roronoa, Jacob Romero Gibbs as Usopp, and Taz Skylar as Sanji.
The premiere of the series is set to happen on August 31, 2023, on Netflix, and it will be 8 episodes long during its first season. The announcement follows weeks of online promotion by the cast and statements made by One Piece manga creator himself, Eiichirō Oda, who played a major role in the development of the series. In an open letter, he confessed that had been supervising the project and that Netflix and him teamed up to bring One Piece to the entire world. This came as a surprise, as usually Western studios and producers take many creative licenses when adapting oriental material and fantasy series.
The trailer was met with excitement and mostly positive reviews by fans of the original anime show and the manga. This live action adaptation expects to bring One Piece to a broader audience and make the franchise even more universal than it already is.