The one thing One Piece live-action should have never changed

❘ Updated: 2023-07-30T07:10:09

A still from One Piece live-action trailer

Netflix

The official trailer of Netflix’s One Piece live-action adaptation feature slight modifications to suit the older audience. However, there’s one thing that completely changed the story — and not in a good way.

The One Piece live-action adaptation is creating quite the buzz, especially since the release of its new trailer. The series will retell Luffy’s journey and how he gathers the best crew possible. The trailer is getting a lot of positive reviews, for obvious reasons, of course.

It perfectly portrays the level of attention each scene has, doing justice to the seven years of hard work that has been put into the production. Furthermore, since the series is targeted toward an older audience, which is different from the original series, fans will notice several modifications in the series.

Changing a few things in other adaptations is nothing unheard of. Sometimes these changes are good as they allow more creative freedom to the staff members. However, it seems that there’s one slight change One Piece live-action has made that might backfire in the future.

Gol D. Roger looks menacing and sinister in One Piece live-action

A still of Roger from Netflix's One Piece trailer

The scene of Pirate King Roger’s execution was briefly shown in the East Blue Saga, and fans also learned of his story through simple illustrations and narration. However, while it’s good that One Piece live-action has decided to incorporate this scene, it was executed very poorly.

Anime and manga fans would be aware of Roger’s true nature. He was the brightest and most cheerful person in the world, which never changed, even when he was publicly executed. Roger lived life to the fullest and accomplished all his goals. This is why he died without any regrets and was instead grateful for all he had achieved. It’s the main reason Roger was admired by his allies and enemies alike.

He was properly introduced in Oden’s backstory featured in the Wano Country Saga. Even the execution scene was animated during then. However, in the trailer, Roger looks inappropriately menacing and even sinister. His creepy smile is nothing like the original series. Roger did die with a smile on his face, but it wasn’t eerie at all.

But in the live-action trailer, it appears as if he is feeling bitter about his death. It also looks like since he is unable to accept his fate, he is laughing crazily. The editing also made the scene look more intense than it actually was. This completely changes Roger’s true character, who is still the most influential person in the expansive world of One Piece. While it is alright for the series to change a few things here and there, this particular scene has a risk of ruining the essence of the main story.

One Piece can currently be streamed on Crunchyroll. In the meantime, check out our other anime coverage below: