Firmly awaited by fans of the manga, Netflix’s One Piece live-action series has gone to great lengths for its sets.
Determined to capitalize on the straw hat pirate, Netflix is pulling out all the stops for its live-action adaptation of One Piece. The SVOD platform had already formalized the casting of the Going Merry crew a few months ago, in particular via the young Mexican actor Iñaki Godoy, already known for his role in the soap ¿Quién mató a Sara? (Who killed Sara?). This time, the streaming giant introduces three equally important new characters from the manga: the pirate ships.
First photos of Shanks’ Red Force, Luffy’s Going Merry and Alvida’s Miss Love Duck in the One Piece Netflix live action. pic.twitter.com/pvb7RJuGhR
— Kamal & Kyta – Mount Corvo (@MontCorvo_Off) March 3, 2022
Netflix invests heavily in piracy
Unveiled on Mount Corvo’s Twitter account, these first official images feature Luffy’s mythical Going Merry, but also Shanks’ Red Force, and Alvida’s Miss Love Duck. Constructions that are impressive to say the least, since they are probably life-size ships that were built for the occasion. It must be said that the series cost Netflix dearly, with nearly $100 million disbursed to stage the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy.
Whether it will be successful remains to be seen. Japanese anime adaptations haven’t necessarily been a hit on Netflix in recent months, and the painful memory of failure Cowboy Bebop is still very present with the fans.
At any rate, One Piece no longer has much to prove to the fans. Started in 1997, Eiichiro Oda’s cult series has published its hundredth volume in France. Internationally, it even entered the Guinness Book, becoming the most distributed manga worldwide with 490 million prints last year according to the Shonen Jump. A figure that must have greatly evolved since then. Whereas the saga begins its final journey this yearthe future pirate king could still have some surprises in store for us.