Live-action drama “One Piece” receives favorable reviews & successfully soothes viewers’ worries

Unlike the concerns before its premiere, Netflix’s live-action “One Piece” surprised everyone with its high-quality content.

Released on August 31st, Netflix’s live-action drama “One Piece” gained many compliments from overseas viewers, signaling a successful start.

As of the morning of September 1st, “One Piece” achieved a freshness score of 80% and a 94% popcorn score on Rotten Tomatoes. In addition, it also recorded a high rating of 8.6 on IMDB.

Based on a manga of the same name that achieved the highest sales in Japan’s history, “One Piece” tells stories centering around the adventure of the main character Monkey D. Luffy, who got special abilities after eating the mysterious Devil Fruit, traveling around the sea searching for the legendary treasure called ‘One Piece’. On the journey, he forms the Straw Hat Pirates with Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, who also have excellent talents. 

It was reported that the production cost for “One Piece” reached 144 million USD (18 million USD per episode) before its official release. This is the largest budget that Netflix invested in a series production.

In addition, the news that the original author Eiichiro Oda also participated in the project as an executive producer also attracted more attention to the drama version.

Since the original manga includes many fantasy elements and has not yet ended despite having released 106 volumes, many people voiced concerns over the drama adaptation. Moreover, fans of the series were even more worried knowing the majority of the cast are unknown actors.

Before its official premiere, fans around the world poured negative reactions to the leaked photos of “One Piece” filming set.

However, after the drama was released, “One Piece” received favorable reviews from not only the public but also fans of the original work. Viewers praised the actors’ acting performance, excellent special effects, and also the directing.

In particular, Japanese fans became more interested in the live-action. They left comments on SNS, saying “Luffy’s movements were directed better than expected”, “The actors did so well”, “Usopp is so sexy. I’m shocked”, “I really thought Sanji came out from the manga”, “I was very worried but the episodes were made with great quality”, “But isn’t Buggy too scary?”, etc.

Source: Wikitree