One Piece creator had two “major” demands for Netflix live-action series

The creator of hit manga and anime One Piece had some major demands for the live-action Netflix series.

Get ready to sail the four seas, because Netflix’s One Piece is almost here! For those who don’t know what One Piece is, One Piece was originally a manga – the highest-selling manga of all time, in fact – written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It was then adapted into an anime by Toei Animation in 1999, and is still going strong 1,000 episodes later.

But the One Piece train – or boat in this case – isn’t stopping, because a live-action series has been in the works for a few years now. Ever since Netflix announced a One Piece live-action adaptation in 2020, fans have been waiting excitedly to hear any information about the show.

And in a recent interview, the showrunner of Netflix’s One Piece has revealed what Eiichiro Oda wants from the upcoming series.

Eiichiro Oda made two demands of live-action One Piece

Recently, Shueisha posted a statement from One Piece live-action showrunner Matt Owens. In this statement, he mentioned a number of requests that One Piece creator Oda had made, with two in particular being “major.”

The first was that the Straw Hats’ backstories had to be kept the same: “They’re so pivotal to who they are as people, what their dreams and motivations are, and how Luffy digs into that as he meets them and helps them rediscover those dreams.”

The second was based on the characters’ different skills: “Specific devil fruit powers and other skill sets were all carefully crafted by Oda and a lot of imagination went into what different people can do and what the rules are with that,” Owen explained.

So while some fans may have their reservations about the upcoming series, we can at least know that Oda was very involved in the process. Check out the synopsis for the series below:

“As a child, Monkey D. Luffy was inspired to become a pirate by listening to the tales of the buccaneer “Red-Haired” Shanks. But Luffy’s life changed when he accidentally ate the Gum-Gum Devil Fruit and gained the power to stretch like rubber…at the cost of never being able to swim again! Years later, still vowing to become the king of the pirates, Luffy sets out on his adventure…one guy alone in a rowboat, in search of the legendary “One Piece,” said to be the greatest treasure in the world…”

The One Piece live-action series will officially drop on Netflix on August 31, 2023. Click here to find out more.

The One Piece anime can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll, and be sure to check out our other anime hubs below:

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